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The Birmingham Zoo Taps Big Data to Predict Attendance Patterns

The Birmingham Zoo has partnered with StrategyWise, a Birmingham-based data science firm, to create advanced algorithms to predict visitor attendance patterns. StrategyWise is working with the Zoo’s Executive Director, Dr. William Foster, and his team to identify key drivers such as rainfall, temperatures, school calendars and holidays to create predictive formulas that will drive an executive dashboard to inform Zoo leadership.

“The Zoo is constantly looking for innovative ways to improve patrons’ experience, and I’ve been wanting to integrate more advanced data-driven approaches for quite some time,” says Dr. Foster. “Predicting attendance patterns was just the first opportunity for the Zoo to leverage the available data to operate more efficiently. It allows the Zoo to identify future attendance patterns before they occur, and to make real-time adjustments to the daily operations in order to meet our longer-term goals.”

By tapping into national weather data, local school and holiday calendars and a number of internal databases, StrategyWise has created formulas that will augment the Zoo’s previous methods of anticipating turnout and offer analytical insights. This will allow the team to make more informed marketing and operational decisions based on anticipated demand.

StrategyWise Managing Partner, Joshua Jones, says he’s excited because this project is just part of a global shift towards integration of data analytics and predictive algorithms. “When organizations begin to appreciate the untapped data they have in front of them, there are really countless possibilities of how those data can be combined, analyzed, and applied to improve customer satisfaction and overall organizational efficiency.”

Back at the Zoo, Dr. Foster is looking for more opportunities to tap big data to enhance visitors’ experience. “We’ve talked about everything from enhancing educational programs to using heat maps to identify underperforming exhibits. We’ve really just scratched the surface and are excited about the possibilities.”

 

About StrategyWise

Birmingham-based StrategyWise helps companies and governmental entities create value by capturing, analyzing, and applying data insights to drive policy formation, business process improvement, and game-changing innovations.

 

For the press release, please click here.