World Programming London 2019 turned out to be an epic event.

Not only was Simon Shaw MBE there, talking about how analytics has changed the game of rugby and the ways in which data is captured and used. But we also saw how we can use data science tools like WPS to integrate data from multiple sources (such as the RFU website and weather data) to build better insights. Or in this case try to predict the result of the World Cup!

It was nice to see World Programming Senior Analyst Sinead Flahive show the importance of interpreting results of model drivers. In this case Simon Shaw could act as their expert to validate their world cup prediction model. Whilst they came out with the same initial result, Simon who is (no offence) not a technical analyst could review the model outputs and identify “oddities”, such as England and Georgia having the same likelihood of winning as they have won a similar number of matches.

Simon Shaw MBE could use his knowledge to explain that Georgia are in a separate tier so tend to have easier games; to understand why the model went wrong and help refine it.

In the bid for organisations and people to have the newest, fastest, AI BOTS, people often forget that machines need to be trained, and instead take the results at face value. This is often why a large percentage of new data initiatives do not work out. Whilst the industry is progressing a rate of knots, models and tools are still only as good as the people deploying it.

It was great to show case some of our work too, firstly in the wide range of applications we have using WPS but also how combining the data collected from WebFusion and the vast capabilities of WPS can lead to a wide range of business benefits.

With the new capabilities of WPS Hub, Decision Tree and Cyban, being released now it is a great time to review the WPS product. Of course, if you want to understand more about how to interpret, manage, or build your data capability please do get in touch with us too!

For everyone who was there it was great to meet you, and lovely to talk and share ideas with like-minded people. Also to see some great attempts at ping pong. I look forward to the next event with anticipation.

Lastly, a quick thank you to World Programming and the people behind the scenes Matt Hazle, Oli Plaistowe and Martin Jupp all put in a huge amount of effort to make the day a success.