Blog | IMPLAN

The Top 5 Reasons You Should Be Using IMPLAN

Written by Phil Cheney | January 12, 2017

It's not youR STUDY, it's your data.

You need data. And an analytical tool to help put it to use. We’ve got both.

IMPLAN is the leading provider of economic impact data and software solutions. Pairing our regional datasets with our premier analytical tool lets you perform quick and easy economic impact analyses. With IMPLAN, you have the power to model the impacts of real-life events on a given economy, to measure the economic contributions of businesses or organizations to a given region, and much more.

But why IMPLAN? What sets us apart from other providers or other tools? We’re glad you asked!

The list of reasons why you should be turning to IMPLAN for all of your economic needs is a long one, but we’ve worked hard to whittle it down to a mere handful. Below are the Top 5 reasons why you need to be using IMPLAN right now.

5. Universality

We’ll kick things off with an obvious one... IMPLAN is built for everyone.

It doesn’t matter where you work and it doesn’t matter how much you know (or don’t know) about economics, you can use IMPLAN.

Academic institutions. Government organizations. Economic development groups. Corporations. Nonprofits. Consulting firms. It doesn't matter.

This tool is truly designed to benefit any group in any industry.

  • You’re an economic developer working for a state and local government chamber that needs to assess a series of potential projects in the area? You can use IMPLAN.
  • You’re a small business owner that needs to quantify the economic impact of your operations to demonstrate the role that you play in supporting the local economy? You can use IMPLAN.

  • You’re a professor conducting research on the impacts of tourism in a nearby area on behalf of a local academic institution? You can use IMPLAN.

  • You’re a small nonprofit group struggling to secure funding and need to model your group’s economic contributions to the area in order to leverage for an increase in government grants? You can use IMPLAN.

It doesn't matter where you work or what you do, IMPLAN can make your job easier.

4. Powerful metrics

We want to be clearjust because IMPLAN can help anybody does not mean that it’s unsophisticated. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. IMPLAN arrives at its economic impact results through a series of expansive mathematical calculations that span the tool's entire database of interrelated input-output matrices.

This means that, while IMPLAN is easy to use and can be used successfully by all, the task it performs is very powerful. Thanks to its sprawling network of mathematical computations, the tool can deliver you the information you need, and which can serve a myriad of purposes, quickly and conveniently.

Whether you’re seeking to model the economic ramifications of a hypothetical business relocation in order to optimize site selection, assess a proposed renovation project to an institution in the local area, translate your efforts into data in order to demonstrate its value to contributing shareholders, or any of countless other routine economic needs, we know that having powerful metrics in your corner is invaluable.

IMPLAN arms you with cold hard facts. And through them, it presents opportunity without limitation.

3. Perception

In addition to increasing the value of your business or organization, IMPLAN's data and analytical tool can also increase the value of you. That’s rightyou, personally.

The IMPLAN brand and reputation are so widely recognized and respected throughout the economics community and workforce that merely associating your research or work portfolio with IMPLAN makes it, and you, more admirable.

The growing need for businesses to understand and promote their economic value puts candidates with IMPLAN skills at the top of every list.

When it comes down to it, having experience with our data and analytical tool doesn’t just make your company look good, it makes you look good. 

2. No secrets

As sophisticated as our data and tool are, it’s also completely transparent. With IMPLAN there are absolutely no black boxes and absolutely no secrets.

While the tool's calculations are performed using classic input-output techniques paired with regional social accounting matrices (SAMs), everything that it does is completely visible to you, the user. Users are always able to access and view any and all of the tool's underlying regional data in order to choose the economic models which best fit their study's needs.

Plus, that same background data is also completely customizable, so you can actually alter it, or modify spending patterns within the tool, to best reflect your study's geography, firm, or industry even more precisely

Furthermore, in order to actually use IMPLAN and walk away with a number you can report, you only need to bring one piece of information to the table—and that’s it! You provide one data point and the tool will do the rest.

Perhaps you have more than just one data point? Maybe you have access to quite a bit of project-specific data? Even better! One of the best things about IMPLAN is that the more information you can bring to it, the more it can give back to you.

And the whole time, it lets you see as much (or as little) of the inner-workings of that process as you choose.

1. More accuracy

And so we’ve arrived at the top of the listthe number one reason why you should be using IMPLAN.

We’ve said a lot in this article, but at the end of the day, there’s really only one criterion by which you should judge your data provider: accuracy.

Regardless of how universal a product is, how powerful it is, how much respect it brings you or your work, or even its transparency, when it comes down to it...what really matters most is quality. And just as it leads the field in each of the other categories mentioned, IMPLAN also offers the highest quality data of any provider in the industry.

Consider this: Why should you work as hard as you do to model economic impacts if you're going to immediately compromise your work by using inferior base data?

It's really that simple.

IMPLAN data is universally recognized as the most accurate and reliable in economics. Plus, it's constantly vetted by industry-leading research analysts, so that's never gonna change. Because of this, our users know they can stand behind their studies' metrics with unshakeable confidence.

Our reputation as the most trusted in the industry is something we don’t take for granted. As the pioneer of automated economic impact modeling, IMPLAN has a rich history of producing the highest-quality dataand we plan, with enthusiasm, to continue doing so long into the future.

To learn more, take the first step now and request a free personalized demo today!