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The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges. Organizations that have thrived during this crisis were those equipped to leverage data, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud technology, and agile methodologies.
When the pandemic hit, businesses faced a barrage of questions: Which measures would effectively curb the virus’s spread? What strategies should be implemented for vaccine distribution? How can we ensure safe reopening? While many of these queries remain topics of discussion, one thing is evident: the distinction between proactive leaders and reactive followers lies in their readiness to embrace data, AI, the cloud, and agile practices.
The evolution and preparedness of these four elements have empowered organizations to tackle questions they never thought possible. For instance, how can we quickly assess antibody levels to determine vaccine effectiveness? How can mobile data inform our understanding of COVID-19 transmission? And, most importantly, how can we achieve these goals faster than ever before?
For those who had already laid the groundwork with data management, cloud migration, and agile development, adapting to this new landscape was less about making a significant shift in strategy and more about accelerating existing initiatives. What could have taken years to rework data systems became a streamlined project focused on delivering substantial business value in short phases.
Conversely, for organizations that were not adequately prepared, the adoption of cloud solutions or initiating AI projects transformed from distant concepts into critical survival strategies.
Finding Answers to Unexpected Challenges
Utilizing these same four components—data preparedness, AI, cloud technology, and agile practices—we sought to address our own pandemic-related inquiry: how to accurately predict COVID-19 infection rates and recommend effective intervention strategies. In partnership with XPRIZE, Cognizant launched the Pandemic Response Challenge, a $500K, four-month competition where teams will employ data-driven AI systems to develop models aimed at accurately forecasting local outbreaks and devising prescriptive intervention measures.
Here’s how competitors in the Pandemic Response Challenge are leveraging these components, which we believe will drive solutions to today’s COVID-related challenges.
- Accessible and Updatable Data: The challenge utilizes data from the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT). Their open approach to data collection and sharing means that this dataset is updated daily and readily available. Data becomes invaluable when it is accessible.
- AI/ML Modeling: Competitors are using this data alongside technology and AI models developed by Cognizant to create predictive models for local COVID-19 transmission rates, as well as to recommend intervention strategies that minimize infections and economic downturns.
- Cloud Computing: Proposed solutions are being developed utilizing the scalability and data science capabilities offered through cloud support, courtesy of Amazon Web Services (AWS).
- Agile, Autonomous Teams: The combination of data, AI/ML, and cloud technology has provided a flexible foundation that allows teams to respond quickly, innovate, and experiment. This enables multidisciplinary teams to work in an agile manner towards a shared goal.
Progressing by Reflecting Backward
The COVID-19 crisis highlighted that the true value of digital initiatives goes beyond mere cost savings; it also encompasses the capacity to adapt quickly to both known and unforeseen challenges. The focus shifted from “upgrading legacy systems” to “developing effective COVID-19 policies, supporting remote workforces, and enabling mobile food delivery orders,” or addressing any pressing business need that arose during the pandemic.
This shift illustrates what AWS describes as working backward: starting from a business necessity rather than from the product itself to arrive at an effective solution. In an instant, COVID-19 disrupted outdated paradigms, emphasizing that successful digital initiatives must target specific objectives.
Preparedness Yielded Results
Throughout the pandemic, both Cognizant and AWS witnessed numerous businesses implement vital solutions faster than previously imagined. They relied heavily on cloud scalability, low-risk experimentation, and rapid insights, supported by the technologies that facilitate these capabilities.
A life sciences company, for example, delivered its initial clinical batch of COVID-19 vaccine candidates for Phase 1 trials just 42 days after the virus was sequenced. Additionally, a health organization devised a novel method for diagnosing pneumonia earlier in the disease’s progression, providing care even before a COVID-19 diagnosis was confirmed.
Outside the healthcare sector, a videoconferencing platform and online education provider scaled their services to accommodate double-digit growth. A convenience retailer, facing rapidly declining revenues, quickly assessed new customer needs and ultimately increased per-customer purchases by 25%.
For those who had previously undergone significant data transformation, opportunity met readiness. These organizations were poised to swiftly utilize data, AI, cloud, and agile practices to adapt to evolving market conditions.
Preventing Future Crises
As we navigate the immediate and lasting repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the same four components that have facilitated a swift business response can be instrumental in preparing for future crises.
Regardless of whether we are addressing business challenges or global health issues, the questions and solutions may evolve, but the essential tools for preparation remain unchanged: improved data management, early warning systems, and rapid response teams. By capturing early indicators and trends—such as increased spending on fever reducers and cough suppressants, travel patterns to high-risk areas, and abnormal results from waste water testing—we can identify potential issues before they escalate into significant crises.
Before the pandemic, we could have been excused for lacking answers to the crisis we now face. However, if we take away anything from these challenging times, it should be an understanding of what it takes to lay a strong foundation for addressing the questions that will arise in the future.
To learn more about Cognizant’s Pandemic Response Challenge with XPRIZE, a $500K, four-month initiative focused on developing data-driven AI systems to predict COVID-19 infection rates and prescribe intervention plans, click here. For more insights, consider reading this blog post on Logitech. Also, SHRM provides authoritative insights on this topic, and for those interested, this resource offers excellent information on learning opportunities.