Major Brands Finding Valuable Applications for Analytics

Having already been proven as an ideal tool for companies both large and small in the context of the present business world, it is natural that firms will be looking to find new ways to put their analytics tools and

Having already been proven as an ideal tool for companies both large and small in the context of the present business world, it is natural that firms will be looking to find new ways to put their analytics tools and big data to good use in the coming future. Some of the plans that such companies are aiming to put in place are consumer-facing, while others are largely internal. Either way, they have the potential to be quite beneficial to both companies’ bottom lines and the customers or clients who receive their products or services.

Walgreens bolstering Healthcare Clinic operations with analytics
Throughout the entire United States and many of its territories, Walgreens is well-known as the country’s largest drugstore franchise, with 8,200 locations that brought in a total of $72 billion in sales during 2013 and served 6 million customers per day. While it is best known among consumers for its pharmacy and retail offerings, a significant number of its locations also feature Healthcare Clinic departments, which are staffed by nurse practitioners and physicians assistants to offer certain basic health services.

In an effort to improve the efficiency and benefits of these departments, Walgreens announced the expansion of its partnership with tech firm Inovalon that would provide 400 of the clinics with advanced assessment capabilities. These would rely in large part on big data analytics collected from past patient histories and general information regarding over 8.3 billion medical events. Heather Helle, divisional vice president of Walgreens’ Healthcare Clinics, spoke highly of the possibilities.

“By integrating data analytics, we can gain even deeper insights to help improve patient care and, ultimately, outcomes,” Helle said. “We continue to expand the scope of services, capabilities and footprint at Healthcare Clinics. These types of innovative solutions enable our nurse practitioners and physician assistants to play an increasingly important role as part of a patient’s care team.”

Johnson & Johnson publicizing clinical trials data
As one of the biggest personal care and pharmaceutical products conglomerates in the world, Johnson & Johnson has amassed a sizable amount of clinical trial data. Forbes reported that it will be taking a major step by sharing that information with the Yale University Open Data Access Project. This constitutes a giant step for the sector, as the corporation is the first in its industry to openly share data with an independent third party for scientific research and evaluation purposes.

Harlan Krumholz, leader of the Yale initiative, praised Johnson & Johnson’s decision, according to the news source. He said that the cooperation and transparency shown by the firm could set a positive precedent for others in the industry, sharing valuable data for the greater scientific good.