iia / burtch works: covid-19 market impact survey · 2020-04-06 · we expect that the situation...

IIA / Burtch Works:

COVID-19 Market Impact Survey

Results Week Ending April 3, 2020

APRIL 2020

iianalytics.com and burtchworks.com

Copyright © 2020 International Institute for Analytics and Burtch Works

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COVID-19 MARKET IMPACT SURVEY

Introduction

Given the current global crisis, both IIA and Burtch Works received a lot of questions from our clients regarding how

other analytics and data science organizations are being impacted by the crisis and what actions they are taking to

respond. Given the rapidly evolving situation, IIA and Burtch Works decided that the best way to get the answers was

to partner to do a brief survey of the analytics and data science community to see what community members are

saying. IIA and Burtch Works agreed to compile the results and make them available for free to the community.

This brief covers the second wave of initial results, with approximately 150 data points from March 28 through 1:00

a.m. ET April 4, 2020. We expect that the situation will evolve quickly, and we will release updates to this information,

with a target of weekly, while the situation remains fluid. The brief with results from the first week can be found here.

The Methodology

IIA and Burtch Works sent a link to the survey to our communities via both an email blast and social media channels.

The results are based on those who answered. This methodology was used to maximize speed, but it also means that

we cannot assess whether the responses are an unbiased representation of the analytics community.

We have also asked each responder if they are willing to provide updates over time so that we can accurately track

trends. This means that future trending information will represent actual changes within the same cohort of

responders as opposed to impacts due to a different set of responders. A large number of the responders are

providing a personal email, which will allow us to still track people even if they are laid off or furloughed.

Please note that this second week report is still based on new responders. Given that the surveys took a few days for

people to respond to, we are doing a second round of initial results. Starting in week 3, we will provide trending

information using only the information from responders who are updating their initial answers so that we have a

controlled cohort moving forward.

Conclusions

While the crisis is in its early days and it is hard to predict where it will head, the results of the survey show that

analytics organizations thus far have not been heavily impacted. However, it is very reasonable, if not necessary, to

assume that the impacts will grow and become larger and more widespread in the coming weeks and months. There

was a bit of movement in the second week as new responders answered for the first time, but nothing major.

In the meantime, analytics and data science professionals should remember that every organization is going through

pain right now. In addition, it is inconceivable that the long-term growth in the adoption and usage of analytics will in

any way slow as a result of this crisis. Do your best to get through the short term and our futures should look bright in

the long term.

https://www.iianalytics.com/iia-x-burtchworks-survey-results



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The Results

INDUSTRY

Each responder was allowed to choose

one or more industries that their

organization does business in.

Therefore, the percentages in Figure 1

represent the percentage of total

industries mentioned. They do not

represent the percentage of responders

since many responders chose more

than one industry. There was very little

change from week 1 to week 2.

ORGANIZATION PROFILE, REVENUE, AND ANALYTICS ORGANIZATION SIZE

The majority of responders come from large companies as seen in Figure 2 (63.0%). The second week responders

shifted just slightly smaller compared to the first week.

Each large company was also asked about its total revenue and analytics organization size. For small companies and

startups, it would be expected that both revenues and team size would fall into the lower end for each. While the

numbers in Figure 3 and Figure 4 represent only large companies, it can be seen that there is a wide spread in terms of

revenue and analytics organization size. The results shift just slightly smaller for week 2.

Figure 1 (week 2 – 3/27 – 4/3)

Figure 2 (week 2 – 3/27 – 4/3)



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IMPACT TO ANALYTICS WORKLOAD

One area of potential virus impact for analytics organizations is disruption to the typical ongoing analytics and

originally planned special project workload in place before the virus broke out. As of 4/3, it is surprising to see in

Figure 5 that 69.6% of responders say that things are still either business as usual (28.9%), or mostly business as usual

(40.7%). Only 6.7% of analytics organizations have been asked to drop everything and focus on analytics related to

the crisis.

Figure 3 (week 2 – 3/27 – 4/3) Figure 4 (week 2 – 3/27 – 4/3)

Figure 5 (week 2 – 3/27 – 4/3)



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IMPACT TO STAFFING

More layoffs and furloughs are being announced by the day. However, as of 4/3, most analytics organizations are not

yet feeling the crunch. Per Figure 6, 53.3% have had no impact yet while another 18.5% have been asked to prepare

but have had no actions yet taken. Only 7.4% of responders have already suffered substantial impacts to their team.

There was a slight increase in layoffs from week 1 to week 2.

USE OF ANALYTICS TO ADDRESS THE CRISIS

It is good to see in Figure 7 that 36.3% of analytics organizations view analytics as being front and center in helping

their company navigate the crisis. Another 44.4% are seeing at least mixed use of analytics. Only 19.3% are seeing

their organizations decide to move so quickly that they don’t take the time to make use of analytics.

Figure 6 (week 2 – 3/27 – 4/3)

Figure 7 (week 2 – 3/27 – 4/3)



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WHAT IS WORKING WELL AND WHAT IS NOT?

The survey asked people to provide thoughts in their own words about what is working well and what is not during

the crisis. A few of the more insightful comments are listed below in Tables 1 & 2. The examples listed also represent

concepts that were mentioned by multiple responders.

Table 1 - (week 2 – 3/27 – 4/3)

Table 2 (week 2 – 3/27 – 4/3)



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WHAT INTERESTING ANALYTICS HAVE BEEN REQUESTED?

A lot of unusual and interesting analytics are being requested of analytics organizations during the crisis. The survey

asked about the most interesting requests thus far. A few of the most intriguing answers are listed in Table 3.

Table 3 (week 2 – 3/27 – 4/3)

iia / burtch works: covid-19 market impact survey · 2020-04-06 · we expect that the situation...

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