The Challenge

Developing an Easy to Use Digital Tool for Pandemic Preparedness

In their quest to improve global health and the quality of life for people worldwide, Vital Strategies set a goal to help nations avoid epidemics. Their Resolve to Save Lives initiative partnered with the National Action Plan for Health Security — a country-owned, multi-year process that can accelerate the implementation of International Health Regulations (IHR).

The Solution

Benchmarking to achieve strategic goals with an easy-to-use interface

Cloud City built this platform with a thoughtful, well-designed UI. They tackled the challenge of helping users engage with a relatively complex set of information — high-level bureaucratic data — in a way that’s intuitive and easy to understand. They help users develop an informed, actionable plan (available in PDF or Excel format) that can be used as a springboard for real, lasting change in their nations.

Responding to COVID-19 with a Multifunctional Simulator

Next, Cloud City helped Vital Strategies develop a tool specifically for the COVID-19 pandemic: a simulator that would help countries gauge how specific public health policies impact transmission rates.

To create the simulator, the team at Cloud City collaborated with the Prevent Epidemics team to transfer their existing research into an accessible UI. Using the simulator, users can see how existing PHSMs, such as sheltering in place or school closures, can affect disease spread and mortality rates.

The Outcome

Wholehearted Software Development with Cloud City

While helping Vital Strategies, the WHO, and the CDC fulfill their vision of epidemic prevention and pandemic responsiveness, Cloud City acted not only as a contractor, but as a reliable and knowledgeable partner. They committed to a human-centered partnership that would result in the best outcomes for Vital Strategies, offering their expertise and insight with honesty and transparency.

Cloud City also delivered dependability. In a world where 75% of executives anticipate that their software projects will fail, a high degree of reliability and follow-through is key.

Finally, Cloud City offered a flexible partnership to Vital Strategies, collaborating with them to work with their timeline and needs. The final result? Cloud City helped design and build tools that help Departments of Health all over the world prepare for future epidemics — and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic — by engaging with critical decision-making and self-analysis in a way that’s simple, informed, and logical.