Day: June 8, 2020

What Does It Mean to Be ‘Data Driven’?

by tcuzzillo, posted in Big Data
Ted Cuzzillo,
Principal Analyst – Data Analytics

Summary Bullets:

  • To be ‘data driven’ is to be story driven.
  • Understanding data depends on the knowledge brought to it.

It’s stylish these days to be ‘data driven’ even while almost no one talks about what that really means. Data is just a proxy, the spokes on the wheel, the shorthand for what’s really going on. What’s the real driver?

During a blizzard, for example, we may talk about degrees Fahrenheit or Celsius. But that’s shorthand for the cold and snow, which is what actually drives decisions about what to wear or whether to go out at all.

One vendor that seems to look behind the proxy is Narrative Science. At in early May event, several speakers helped explain what it is to be truly data driven. Two in particular were notable. Continue reading “What Does It Mean to Be ‘Data Driven’?” →

How Digital Tech Can Help Address the COVID-19 Mental Health Crisis

by Jonathan Cordwell, posted in Communicate

jJonathan Cordwell – Principal Analyst, UK Health & Social Care TechnologyThe COVID-19 pandemic is quietly damaging the mental health of everyone across the world. During the coronavirus outbreak, we have been laser-focused on black-and-white statistics such as the death toll to measure the gravity of the outbreak, but what about the grey areas in between? Not only must we deal with the immediate threat to life but we must also ready ourselves for the mental health fallout caused by lockdown measures. Continue reading “How Digital Tech Can Help Address the COVID-19 Mental Health Crisis” →

COVID-19 and the Future of Frontline Social Care in the UK

by itconnection, posted in Network

by Leonardo Freitas, Senior Public Sector Analyst

The COVID-19 pandemic continues in the UK and the majority of the world, and even if signs of success on the disease control start to show in some western countries such as Germany, Italy, and Spain, the crisis is still far from its end. By now, governments have realised how fragile their welfare systems can be, and the strong interdependence between their economic output and services provided by the state.

In the UK, the social distancing being enforced in the phase two of the mitigation stage means a significant part of the population is still out of the workforce. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), unemployment claims rose by 69% in April alone, when 2.1 million people applying for benefits, compared to 856,000 in April 2019. Continue reading “COVID-19 and the Future of Frontline Social Care in the UK” →