Everyone knows location is a key ingredient to a successful retail business. If you locate in the wrong place, you're sure to fail. As critical as location is, until recently it's mostly been a gut feeling - survey of the area, neighborhood, adjoining businesses, asking neighbors, etc. Not very scientific.

Try to roll-out a business across a wide geography, with numerous locations, and you have a gut-buster of a challenge. Many have done it successfully, but the leg-work it takes to find the right location can take considerable time�...and still require an educated guess.

Enter technology and software.

StartUp Journal reports site-selection software has taken off in recent years, allowing business to expand faster - with greater confidence. While no software can completely replace the amount of diligence required to choose a business location, site-selection software can narrow a search, giving you a leg-up on the competition and reducing your overall business risk.

New programs give decision makers easy access to such data as average age and income of a neighborhood's inhabitants, local businesses, temperatures and traffic flows -- and they can see it all plotted on a map. Such software has become a useful tool for expanding retailers who need to quickly master the demographic details of competitive terrains in thousands of locations across the country.

What do you think about using site-selection software or similar technology to locate a business? Will it ever replace human diligence and gut feeling?