As we start the new year, many people often reflect on the past year. What went well, what do we need to do different.

In my last post, I focused on how retailers and consumer products companies can triage through the worst of the COVID pandemic as consumers were adjusting to a stay-at-home lifestyle. I discussed using a hybrid model of humans and AI/ML-based approaches, delivering science-as-a-service, to bridge the gap and react quickly to the dramatic swings in demand.

It is true – forecasts from existing demand planning systems, built largely on historical data, will be significantly off, both during and after the pandemic. To quote Yogi Berra, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” And right now, we are experiencing an event that hasn’t happened since 1918 providing very little historical experience to draw upon.