In December 2019, the novel coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan, China, a city with a population of 11 million people. The news media quickly began running stories and bringing exposure to this situation. Still, it was hard to fully gauge what was happening as the news media overwhelmed viewers with information but not a lot of reliable forecasts. By the end of January 2020, the reports of infected cases from China reached 7,711 cases and 170 deaths. By March 2019, the virus had spread across the world; subsequently, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus a global pandemic. Our team at Sancho Analytics has been monitoring this situation closely as it pertains to the global community at large, and because our talent is comprised of professionals across the world. Due to the depth and breadth of COVID-19, we continue to stay informed and are working on ways to optimize the resources available to all.
Through this serious and fast-growing pandemic, we saw a silver lining. Over the last few months, our team has been working on a mobile analytics app that provides users their enterprise data and metrics through a simple conversational interface. Our goal is to work alongside existing enterprise reporting systems to give executives and data teams their key numbers on demand. This pandemic inspired a light-bulb moment: What if we started monitoring COVID-19 through the app? We realized that not only would Sancho Analytics be utilized to monitor a real-world situation, but also we would be able to monitor the evolution of the virus through data and not be held exclusively reliant upon media reports. So we did it!
Here is what we learned by closely monitoring an event of this caliber with Sancho Analytics:
Confidence in data sources. News outlets — whether online, on the radio, or television — are saturated with coronavirus content, and the reports are relentless. Even worse, there have been reported incidents of “fake news” which during such times of uncertainty cannot be taken lightly. End-users want to be informed, but the benefits of direct and straightforward messaging cannot be understated. In times of uncertainty, one of the most reliable sources of truth is data.
Understanding exponential growth. What is currently unfolding with the novel coronavirus is history in the making. The last global pandemic was in 2009 and paled in comparison to today’s events. This outbreak reached exponential growth, but being able to see it happening in real-time has revealed stunning revelations about its unexpectedness as well as its rate of growth.
Guarantee of communication across an organization. With non-essential businesses having to move their workforce to a remote or work from home environment, team communication is paramount. Our team is global, spanning many continents and time zones. We recognized that we could keep every team member engaged because our app is exclusively for mobile devices. Through the app, employees can stay connected, stay focused, and stay safe.
Minimized data wrangling. By setting up Sancho Analytics on the back end of a secure source, our data is feeding from one reliable source and aggregating the data for us within the app. The data collection process is streamlined.
Ability to improve app communication through NLP. We can monitor what Sancho responds to and what he does not respond to by following the Natural Language Processing log through our mobile app. We have been able to significantly increase the type of insights Sancho produces and what he learns through this functionality.
If you would like to participate in our By Invitation Only (BIO) for the Sancho Analytics app and check out our COVID-19 group, register your interest here.
This situation, though uncertain and unprecedented, requires staying informed and making the best decisions for businesses and individuals. Take Sancho for a test drive and see how he can make enterprise data reporting and team communication a breeze.
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