Navigating chaotic times: forecasting amid the pandemic | Blog | bol.com

An enormous quantity of information

Initially from Poland, Eryk studied in Rotterdam, took a detour again to his house nation, and as soon as once more returned to the Netherlands. “Earlier than becoming a member of bol, I labored at a Fintech startup. It was a terrific expertise, however one the place I used to be sporting many various hats. I used to be desperate to significantly deal with machine studying and I additionally needed to affix a extra mature group. That’s when bol caught my eye.”

Eryk continues: “In addition to the maturity and the dimensions, the chances by way of tech and information at bol actually fascinated me. There’s a large quantity of information obtainable right here, principally well-documented, clear and well-maintained. With round 40 million gadgets reaching tens of millions of individuals in The Netherlands and Belgium, there’s a lot for me to work with. My job is to translate this information into forecasts for a number of use circumstances, like buyer wants, logistics and merchandise. To present you a sensible instance: with this type of info bol can plan the staffing in our warehouses exactly, even 20 weeks forward.”

Chaotic instances

Becoming a member of bol within the fall of 2020, Eryk confronted a very difficult interval. He shares: “The pandemic utterly disrupted bol´s present forecasting fashions. We might now not depend on previous occasions and needed to cope with a brand new scenario with none management or obtainable historic information. It was an fascinating scenario to be a part of and one I had, clearly, by no means skilled earlier than.”

Regardless of the difficult instances, Eryk discovered a terrific deal. “We organized common brainstorming classes, developed fast fixes, and pursued a long-term answer – all on the similar time. Finally, we integrated the impression of COVID-19 utilizing a tailored characteristic for our forecasting fashions, which efficiently restored our accuracy ranges. It was a extremely distinctive time to be a part of, and it made me develop loads as an expert.”