In the News: The Stitched Insights Data Science Team
In the News: The Stitched Insights Data Science Team
A Fortune magazine article in May 2018 called data science “the sexiest job” this century, and Glassdoor’s 2018 rankings put data scientist at the top of the list for Best Jobs in America. Why are data scientists so valuable these days, and why are we feeling lucky at Stitched Insights to have the best of the best on our team?
The answer, of course, lies in the importance of data to businesses today. The data being created as part of the pervasive digital ecosystem holds a ton of insights as to consumer behavior, operational processes and much, much more. But the insights are only as valuable as the algorithms and know-how of the team in place (or the engine they’ve created) to turn all that raw data into easily understandable analytics that management teams can use to make decisions.
The intersection of big data and psychology is changing the way enterprises interpret consumer data and interact with their customers. Today’s business leaders need to go beyond the obvious metrics (website traffic, convergence rates, and churn) and understand the human reasons behind those metrics. The most exciting developments in data science are helping business leaders understand the mind and how people think. As EQ is critical to successful management, so too is bringing psychology and the human element to data science in order to help enterprises understand customers and the market at large.
Two individuals driving immense innovation at this intersection of psychology and data science are Johannes Eichstaedt and Andy Schwartz of Stitched Insights. This world-renowned data science team has recently been all over the news (see links below) for its ground-breaking work with the World Well Being project. Here is a sampling of the recent articles:
Wired https://www.wired.com/story/your-facebook-posts-can-reveal-if-youre-depressed/
NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/facebook-posts-may-point-depression-study-finds-n920356
US News: https://health.usnews.com/health-care/articles/2018-10-15/facebook-posts-may-hint-at-depression
These articles discuss a study that interpreted language used in Facebook posts to help predict clinical depression, which could help with early detection. As quoted in the IFL science article: "There's a perception that using social media is not good for one's mental health," Schwartz. “But it may turn out to be an important tool for diagnosing, monitoring, and eventually treating it. Here, we've shown that it can be used with clinical records, a step toward improving mental health with social media."
While critics raise some privacy concerns in this era of increased scrutiny on the practices of the major social networks, the underlying technology (from a data science perspective) may hold the key to unlocking billions in enterprise value.
Inspired by the work of Eichstaedt and his team, Dmitriy Pavlov, Stitched Insights CEO, had an interesting thought: How can we take the ability to draw psychological insights from language and deliver this in the language of business to companies struggling with the time and effort it takes to understand consumers and their own internal data?
Pavlov saw that the underlying technology held tremendous promise for bringing unprecedented consumer and market insights to enterprises. By evolving the algorithms created by Eichstaedt and Schwartz and delivering an enterprise-ready engine to enterprises that could quickly parse external product review data and unused internal customer support data, the Stitched Insights team could help accelerate the costly R&D process for enterprises, help them create better products and even reduce warranty claims.
The result is Stitched Insights today. With the help of our famous data science team, Pavlov is helping Fortune 100 companies understand their customers in a way they never thought possible – faster and more affordably than traditional market research.
Interested in learning more? Contact heidi@stitichedinsights.com today.