About Patchwork
Patchwork are a leading VC-backed business working with over 60 NHS partners across the UK to solve the workforce crisis. Through their end-to-end workforce management offering, Patchwork puts flexibility and humanity at the heart of staffing systems to create better outcomes for patients, workers, and managers.
The Problem
As Patchwork had grown rapidly, so had their data. The management team knew that they wanted to make better use of the data, but they were unsure of the best way forward. Additionally, the lack of structure in the data was causing simple tasks to become more difficult than they needed to be.
To put their data to work, the team at Patchwork had been considering building a forecasting tool but wanted to de-risk such a significant investment before allocating resources. Additionally, the business’s database solution was reaching its limits, and they were considering a data lake as the way forward.
The Solution
We began the project with an initial consultation to understand Patchwork’s current position and goals. We advised them against the forecasting tool, as it would have been unlikely to produce any value-adding insights. Many businesses incorrectly assume that more data results in more accurate predictions when this is rarely the case.
Our data science experts then examined Patchwork’s database and discovered that they did not need a data lake but would benefit from some data restructuring and operational changes. Once the recommendations were presented, we engaged in a short-term Data Science-as-a-Service contract and executed the proposed changes on-site.
Intechnica worked alongside our Data team to fully understand the products, the data, and the common problems we face.
Not only did they provide a well thought out solution that was easy to implement, but they also took the team along with them. They trained the engineers, explaining why the solution would work, allowing them to ask questions along the way. Not only did we improve the quality of our data, but we also significantly upskilled the team.
Our Impact
As a result of our recommendations and work, Patchwork avoided spending thousands of pounds on tools that they simply did not need. Following the restructuring of data and some operational changes, Patchwork’s upskilled team was able to manage their data more efficiently.
