The Opportunity
- In the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic our clients and other companies needed to adapt their businesses to evolving conditions. We saw our strength in data analytics as a way we could support these companies in their response.
- In most cases we offered our services or data for free.
Our Approach
Our response had three tracks:
- We developed a daily COVID case projection model. In contrast to the myriad of dashboards that emerged, this model was distinct in that it was forward-looking (days ahead), and granular (at the county level). The granularity enabled users to closely match to their physical operational or selling locations. We offered this model as a custom dashboard, or as a raw data feed.
- We developed a statistical segmentation scheme to help clients group products and location into groups for distinctive supply planning.
- We conducted peer-to-peer data scientist consultations to share ideas on modeling the spread and impact of COVID-19.
The Impact
Examples of how our data, models, and services were used:
- Using our case projection model, a company that services the meat industry provided projections on every meat processing plant so that their livestock supplier clients could divert away from plants at risk of closing.
- A manufacturer created a plant risk scoring model to gauge the potential for closure.
- A company with an extensive field sales force created a risk stop lighting system (red/yellow/green) for each rep’s call-on locations.
- A company, considered to be an ‘essential service” used the data to foresee potential transportation staffing risks.
- A food products company used our demand segmentation model to better plan for unusual demand.
- A utility conferred with our modelers to develop their own model to support their incident management team.
- A pharmaceutical company received advisement from our modelers to help forecast demand for an intubation drug.