Disaster Preparedness and Data Analytics

Natural disasters like Hurricanes, Forest fires and Tsunamis were witnessed by the world in recent days. There is little that we can do in the aftermath of these events but I am always struck by the strength, resilience and selflessness of the affected communities. Together, they push through and rebuild a life around the loss and destruction. I knew I had to write an article when I heard about Chef Andres on the radio -

Its people like Chef Andres with their altruistic and visionary leadership who make such a difference in the world. Seemingly ordinary folk, who bring about a change doing what they do best.

Our customer Verisk is one such example. I work with the insurance division of Verisk. This division has state of the art systems to gauge the extent and intensity of a natural disaster when it strikes, but they had a vision to extend their resources to fellow insurers around them and create a peer to peer strong army to combat hurricanes.

The analytics came with our product - Spotfire. The new real-time streaming aspect enhanced the timeliness of visual reporting. Their aim was simple, being insurers they wanted to know real-time about areas that were being affected and then marry data science into the mix to optimize the availability of raw materials for rebuilding. These guys wanted to be ready as soon as they could, working together with everyone who could help.

Their vision was presented at TIBCO's customer conference in September this year and it really struck a chord with me. It had preparedness, data science used for the greater good and a vision that went above and beyond their everyday work.

I hope initiatives like these help recovery work across the southeast.

Special mention

Divya Kapoor, my colleague at TIBCO who helped make the project possible.

Also to Phanom D & Oswaldo Castillo at Verisk. This was their vision.