Statistics Solutions

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We’re a strategic human resources firm. We work with large companies and do organizational alignment at the corporate level. We work in HR, but we also integrate into the operations management concept. It’s based on a theory called TalOp, which is a methodology I created. It’s similar to ISO and Six Sigma Black Belt. It’s a methodology for integrating company practices and standards.

What is your role and responsibilities please?

I am the founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Statistics Solutions?

Statistics Solutions has expertise in managing big data, and they have a tool called a Work-Life Study. I’m looking at doing strategic alignment with a multinational company, and I needed some expertise in how to build a report writing tool and statistical analysis.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work?

We’ve done two betas with two large organizations, where we looked at the scales. So far, they’ve helped me look at the alignment of creating the reports and the methodology for the reporting. I have a Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology, but I don’t have the deep statistical background in regards to doing all the testing of the scales.

For example, I’ve asked Statistics Solutions to do a study with 500 or 600 people in the city of St. John in New Brunswick, Canada. They were involved in doing all the data analysis and helping me look at the results. We’re trying to build a tool that I validated to scale it. We’re getting to the point of running the report for 4,000 to 5,000 companies who want to use the product simultaneously. Before we do that, we have to make sure we have efficacy in the tool and the scales are working. Now, we’re looking at how to create reports and generate it.

That’s my goal, I want to engage them more. Then, they’d have the capability because they’ve already built some proprietary software for fiscal analysis. I want to start leveraging that tool to create an automatic report writer, so the company’s employees go online and they do the report. Then we can put it through the Pachinko machine and produce a generic statistical analysis and report. If they want a deep dive or proprietary thinking around their data, that would require an extra step.

What was your process for selecting Statistics Solutions to work with?

I can’t recall. Somebody must have told me about them.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

I’m not going to get into the proprietary information of what I paid for the project we’re working on right now. We’re working on a scope of work where the revenue upstream is anywhere from $200 million to $400 million.

When was the latest milestone completed for that work?

We just did some work about a month ago. We’ve spent a year working on getting this contract in place. I brought them on from the very get-go. They’ve been through all the beta stages; and they have been working with me to be able to become part of this work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any stats or metrics to track improvement from the project?

I didn’t put any metrics around their work because we’re basically building. They’ve met all their timelines, and their work is high quality. They’re professional, and they’re conscientious. They’re good people to work with.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

I think that most small businesses that are hungry provide good customer service. That’s what they really focus on.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

No.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We’re a healthcare IT company. I also worked with Statistics Solutions when I was a doctoral student. They helped me with my dissertation.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the chief nursing officer. I’m in charge of clinical and content support for internal employees as well as contract work with particular hospitals or clients who are purchasing our products. Our product is a smart phone solution for nurses or staff members in the hospital. I do on-site consultation with them to support workflow analysis or changes in their processes because they’re buying a smart phone as opposed to their previous communion devices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge you were trying to address?

We had Statistics Solutions assist us with a marketing survey of a national sample that we recruited electronically. It was meant to be a marketing solution. The results of the survey helped us to define market needs from nursing leaders and nurses across the country. Our objective was to get a basic idea of what their communication barriers were and their actual usage. We wanted to know which devices they were using.

SOLUTION

Can you describe the scope of the work that Statistics Solutions did?

They assisted us in the analysis of the data for about 1,000 to 1,250 respondents on our online survey. We looked at several different variables. We looked at the demographics of the response. We also looked at comparison and correlation, between one question and another, to see if the chief nursing officers had a different feeling about telephone usage or communication than staff nurses did.

They tried to find correlations. They created some basic descriptive statistics. We were quite happy with the result.

What technologies were used?

Unfortunately, I do not know.

What was your process for selecting Statistics Solutions to work with?

I initially worked with them on my dissertation. They assisted me in getting national data collection. Statistics Solutions was recommended to me before, and I had a wonderful experience when in school.

It was an easy choice for my company to select them. They were local and proven.

Can you provide a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or personnel work hours?

I am not sure because I didn’t handle the budgeting. I know the person in charge of the finances was very pleased with the value relative to price.

When was the project completed?

We collected the data through February 2013. We published the results in May and stopped the engagement in June.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project?

I think they did a great job. The only minor issues were related to visual graphics. I believe that all of the data was accurate.

How did Statistics Solutions perform?

They were responsive. They were very prompt. We were on a tight timeline because my company had anticipated using a different statistical support resource, and that resource fell through. They picked up the work and delivered results quickly and accurately. We were very happy. We met our deadline.

What is unique or special about Statistics Solutions compared to other firms?

They provided great advice related to the statistical analysis that we were doing. I feel like their timeline for turnaround of the work is very strong. They always hit deadlines.

They’re wonderful about helping novice researchers or people that don’t know all the statistical terms. They do a fabulous job of writing out the results, so that you can confidently speak to the data. They explain the graphs and they do a beautiful job creating graphs and tables.

I’ve enjoyed working with them. In fact, we’re partnering on another project now so we are obviously satisfied.

Looking back on the project, is there any area that you think Statistics Solutions could improve upon or you might do differently?

Statistics Solutions had to do a lot of backtracking because the survey questions weren’t written as well as they could have been to give us the kind of data that we wanted. They were wonderful about giving us the best analysis that we could get with the questionnaire that probably should have been written differently.