Literature Review

Introduction:
The COVID-19 pandemic has frightened people worldwide, and coronavirus has become the most
commonly used phrase in recent years. Therefore, there is a need for a systematic literature review
(SLR) related to Big Data applications in the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The objective is to highlight
recent technological advancements. Many studies emphasize the area of the COVID-19 pandemic
crisis. Our study categorizes the many applications used to manage and control the pandemic. There
is a very limited SLR prospective of COVID-19 with Big Data. The Five databases: Science direct, IEEE
Xplore, Springer, ACM, and MDPI. Before the screening, following the recommendation, Preferred
Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses (PRISMA) were reported for 893 studies
from 2019, 2020 and until September 2021. After screening, 60 studies met the inclusion criteria
through COVID-19 data statistics, and Big Data analysis was used as the search string. Research
findings successfully dealt with COVID-19 healthcare with risk diagnosis, estimation or prevention,
decision making, and drug Big Data applications problems.

Methodology Used:
SLR Research Methodology
The primary objective of a systematic mapping study is to identify an arena for research and the
amount and types of research and discoveries inside it. A researcher could examine the frequency of
publications over time to determine trends. The identification of published research on the issue
might be an additional objective. This section includes the search for relevant articles, the design,
and the mapping of publications. Mapping research summarizes the present knowledge and
identifies essential topics through a thorough literature review. The qualities and values of the
technical systemic literature review for particular research contexts are discussed.

Research Objectives

A research question is a specific subject that the study will address. It is the foundation of systematic
research and assists in developing a clearly defined research path. Choosing a study subject is the
first stage in every research endeavour. A compelling research question is required to begin a
research paper or thesis. It pinpoints exactly what you want to study and guides your efforts in the
proper direction. The objectives are used to produce the research questions. In an SLR, the
importance of choosing study participants cannot be emphasized enough.

These make it easier for the researcher to stay on track. The research questions and motivations are
described. The study subjects have an impact on how a research plan is developed. As a result, the
study questions for the SLR were thoroughly planned. The aim is to examine the available data
channels and determine the patterns in publishing data over time.

Research Resources and Methods

The IEEE Digital Library, ACM Digital Library, and Science Direct databases were used to locate the
papers. Google Scholar was also used to find grey literature on the issue, such as white papers and
technical studies. Google Scholar has been demonstrated to be a useful tool for carrying out
bibliometric research
Search String
The next stage of SLR consists in searching for suitable research studies. A search string was
established for gathering published papers relating to the study themes. A pilot search using precise
terms, and we chose to limit the search string only to Big Data applications. However, we also
leveraged COVID-19 effects on Big Data in the pilot search. Multiple search engines and digital
libraries were used to gather information during Internet researches. The acquired results were
carefully assembled to obtain the best information sources to answer the given research topics . It
was decided to use specific search engines and digital libraries based on their scientific content and
relevance to the paper’s goals. As a result of the analysis, Science Direct and IEEE Xplore were
employed, as well as the ACM, SL, and MDPI databases. Search engines and digital libraries may be
used to find technical and scientific documents.

Search Keywords
We utilized an iterative technique to find keywords throughout the early phases of our study. To link
our research questions to our research aims, we first gathered keywords from our research
questions. The initial searches were meant to help us finetune our keyword selections.

Result of Primary Studies

Once the research method and topic are finalized, the keywords-based primary research is
conducted.

Result of Primary Studies

Once the research method and topic are finalized, the keywords-based on search is conducted. The
following results of an introductory study are listed incentages of the pie chart shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4. Selected research papers from various research databases. 2.6. Study Selection The
selection process aimed to determine the articles most linked to the aimmapping research. When
there was a document in several places, we only revonce, following our search order. We followed
the recommendation of Preferreding Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)
[42]. A total of 89Figure 4. Selected research papers from various research databases. 2.6. Study
Selection The selection process aimed to determine the articles most linked to the aims of the
mapping research. When there was a document in several places, we only reviewed it once,
following our search order. We followed the recommendation of Preferred Reporting Items for
Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) [42]. A total of 893 studies were reported from
years 2019, 2020, and till September 2021 after the initial screening shown in Figure 4. One author
obtained every article, which was then assessed by two other authors to see if the title, abstract and
keywords are to be included. The two writers who Electronics 2021, 10, 3125 7 of 21 conducted the
article assessment discussed the papers, which received different ratings until an agreement was
achieved. The other writers examined the final choices. After the articles were found, the first step
was to remove obvious duplicates. Many of the studies identified during the inquiry had nothing to
do with our conditions and were vague. We have done a lot of research to filter out publications
unrelated to our research topics through a study selection procedure. Figure 5 depicts the phases of
study selection and the activities that occurred throughout each study period, which shows the
number of records included and excluded in each selection step. The primary focus of the search
was COVID-19, which is quickly gaining traction among government officials, researchers, and
scientists. Electronics 2021, 10, x FOR PEER REVIEW 7 of 21 were reported from years 2019, 2020,
and till September 2021 after the initial screening shown in Figure 4. One author obtained every
article, which was then assessed by two other authors to see if the title, abstract and keywords are
to be included. The two writers who conducted the article assessment discussed the papers, which
received different ratings until an agreement was achieved. The other writers examined the final
choices. After the articles were found, the first step was to remove obvious duplicates. Many of the
studies identified during the inquiry had nothing to do with our conditions and were vague. We have
done a lot of research to filter out publications unrelated to our research topics through a study
selection procedure. Figure 5 depicts the phases of study selection and the activities that occurred
throughout each study period, which shows the number of records included and excluded in each
selection step. The primary focus of the search was COVID-19, which is quickly gaining traction
among government officials, researchers, and scientists. Figure 5. Study selection process for SLR
through the PRISMA framework [42]. There were 43 papers from journals and 17 from conferences
after qualitative and quantitative screening. The percentage ratio is shown in the Figure 6. Figure 5.
Study selection process for SLR through the PRISMA framework [42]. There were 43 papers from
journals and 17 from conferences after qualitative and quantitative screening. The percentage ratio
is shown in the Figure 6. Electronics 2021, 10, 3125 8 of 21 Electronics 2021, 10, x FOR PEER REVIEW
8 of 21 Figure 6. Graphic distribution of selected papers by type of publication. Figure 7 shows a bar
graph of each database for the years 2020 and 2021 with the number of conference and journal
papers. ACM contained three conference papers, which was the lowest among the five databases
searched. Figure 7. Number of selected papers included by year. Figure 8 shows the distributions of
five databases including journal and conference papers. The science direct database had the
maximum number selected, with 18 papers. The IEEE Xplore database contained 17 papers from
conferences and journals. Figure 6. Graphic distribution of selected papers by type of publication.
Figure 7 shows a bar graph of each database for the years 2020 and 2021 with the number of
conference and journal papers. ACM contained three conference papers, which was the lowest
among the five databases searched. Electronics 2021, 10, x FOR PEER REVIEW 8 of 21 Figure 6.
Graphic distribution of selected papers by type of publication. Figure 7 shows a bar graph of each
database for the years 2020 and 2021 with the number of conference and journal papers. ACM
contained three conference papers, which was the lowest among the five databases searched.
Figure 7. Number of selected papers included by year. Figure 8 shows the distributions of five
databases including journal and conference papers. The science direct database had the maximum
number selected, with 18 papers. The IEEE Xplore database contained 17 papers from conferences
and journals. Figure 7. Number of selected papers included by year. Figure 8 shows the distributions
of five databases including journal and conference papers. The science direct database had the
maximum number selected, with 18 papers. The IEEE Xplore database contained 17 papers from
conferences and journals. Electronics Electronics 2021, 10, 3125 9 of 21 2021, 10, x FOR PEER
REVIEW 9 of 21 Figure 8. Five databases’ paper count. 2.7. Inclusion Criteria The inclusion criteria of
study was based on five points as described in the Table 7. Table 7. Inclusion criteria. Sr No Inclusion
Criterion 1C1 All published research papers that can answer the research questions 1C2 All published
papers, journals, and books that are written in the English language and have to do with Big Data
analytics and the COVID-19 crisis 1C3 Studies that were subjected to peer review 1C4 Studies that
provide more knowledge and prove helpful for finding answer of our research questions IC5 Studies
that describe the COVID-19 crisis and its impact on Big Data applications 2.8. Exclusion Criteria The
exclusion criteria for the current review paper are listed in Table 8. Table 8. Exclusion criteria. Sr. No
Exclusion Criterion EC1 Papers that are not published in the English language EC2 Duplicate papers
EC3 Literature works that are do not give a clear idea of the research objective EC4 Papers that were
publishes before 2019 EC5 Secondary data such as magazines, case studies, reviews 2.9. Quality
Assessment Quality evaluation (QA) is widespread in systematic literature reviews, but it is less
typical in systematic mapping research. After reviewing our papers, we focused on determining the
research’s application for our outcomes. We looked at the scope of each inquiry to see if it aligned
with our goals. This helped answer our research question. We examined each item to make sure it
has clear instructions that clearly show what we need to accomplish. Table 9 depicts the quality
assessment criteria of selected research papers. These criteria are based on four quality assessment
questions (QAs): I. Do the picked articles correspond to the query conference or journal? II. Is there a
blind review process for the selected study? Figure 8. Five databases’ paper count. 2.7. Inclusion
Criteria The inclusion criteria of study was based on five points as described in the Table 7. Table 7.
Inclusion criteria. Sr No Inclusion Criterion 1C1 All published research papers that can answer the
research questions 1C2 All published papers, journals, and books that are written in the English
language and have to do with Big Data analytics and the COVID-19 crisis 1C3 Studies that were
subjected to peer review 1C4 Studies that provide more knowledge and prove helpful for finding
answer of our research questions IC5 Studies that describe the COVID-19 crisis and its impact on Big
Data applications 2.8. Exclusion Criteria The exclusion criteria for the current review paper are listed
in Table 8. Table 8. Exclusion criteria. Sr. No Exclusion Criterion EC1 Papers that are not published in
the English language EC2 Duplicate papers EC3 Literature works that are do not give a clear idea of
the research objective EC4 Papers that were publishes before 2019 EC5 Secondary data such as
magazines, case studies, reviews 2.9. Quality Assessment Quality evaluation (QA) is widespread in
systematic literature reviews, but it is less typical in systematic mapping research. After reviewing
our papers, we focused on determining the research’s application for our outcomes. We looked at
the scope of each inquiry to see if it aligned with our goals. This helped answer our research
question. We examined each item to make sure it has clear instructions that clearly show what we
need to accomplish. Table 9 depicts the quality assessment criteria of selected research papers.
These criteria are based on four quality assessment questions (QAs): I. Do the picked articles
correspond to the query conference or journal? II. Is there a blind review process for the selected
study? III. Were the selected research papers acceptable and had meaningful information?

. The research methodologies utilized in our study, including the research strategy, research
objectives, and research questions, the processes used to conduct a systematic mapping, the
findings of the preliminary research, and the quality evaluation and data extraction methods for
each review topic are discussed in Section 2. Sections 3 represent the results of each review question
in detail. Section 4 contains the concluding remarks. In Section 5, suggestions are highlighted arising
from this paper’s findings. 2. SLR Research Methodology The primary objective of a systematic
mapping study is to identify an arena for research and the amount and types of research and
discoveries inside it. A researcher could examine the frequency of publications over time to
determine trends. The identification of published research on the issue might be an additional
objective. This section includes the search for relevant articles, the design, and the mapping of
publications. Mapping research summarizes the present knowledge and identifies essential topics
through a thorough literature review. The qualities and values of the technical systemic literature
review for particular research contexts are discussed in this section [41]. This is not the objective of
systematic mapping research because the papers are not thoroughly examined. Its primary focus is
on the categorization, thematic analysis, and publication identification process of the research
methodology, as explained in F EBSCO host Business Source complete was used as the primary
database to carry out the investigations related to the literature review. All the articles
mentioned in this review have been written in English and published between the time period
2011 to 2020. Some of the key words used to ease the searching process are: ‘big data
analytics’, ‘big data techniques’ etc.

Current Methods Being Employed:

In the current literature available, descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics (3)1 are
used which will summarize the findings.
(1) Descriptive and Diagnostic Analytics
These represent data in a coherent format and try to explore the cause-and-effect relationships
between them.
Descriptive data analysis summarizes past historical data and provides an overview of the
potential trends of this data which is also known as Business Reporting. (4)2. Here,
visualization techniques such as dashboard containing a graphical interface are used to gather
insights in a continuous manner. This method also provides a historical account due to which
existing problems can be identified. This method is also used to assess the explanatory power
owned by casual models.

(2) Predicative Analysis

This method focuses on the future as is considered as the use of ‘statistical techniques to
analyse current and historical facts to make predictions about future events and/or
behaviour’3. It also includes empirical methods. It is classified into 3 categories: statistical
inference, machine learning and methods for analysing unstructured data.

1
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8551.12441#bjom12441-bib-0134
2
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167923612001558
3
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07421222.2018.1451953
 Fig 1: Main Methods in Predictive Analysis

Source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8551.12441#bjom12441-bib-0056

The available literature talks about exploring the plausibility of statistical approaches in the
context of predictive modelling on big data, multilevel liner regression4 and logit regression.
These multivariate approaches are further refined to include features like heterogeneity,
endogeneity and autocorrelation. By collection large amount of data from various sources,
conventional methods too can be utilized to big data level.

These methods often depend upon well-defined questions and model to make inference and
prediction. In its absence, Algorithmic approach can be used5 which focuses on exploratory
and data driven process to validate the model. In the field of management, supervised
learning is used to predict future outcomes on regression and classification6. Also, it’s used to
forecast demand and sales. Both structured and unstructured data is analysed to come to a
forecast.

(3) Prescriptive Analytics

4
https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.25300/MISQ/2016/40.4.06
5
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1094428116677299
6
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07421222.2018.1451951
These methods determine actions and evaluate their impact on many parameters like business
constraints and objectives which aids in decision making process.7 Recently, this method has
been considered as the next step towards the development of the field of Business Analytics
and useful in optimized decision-making processes8. It’s a critical advancement in the
decision-making process. It is classified into four main categories: mathematical
programming, simulation, evolutionary computation and logic‐based models.

Fig 2(a): Main Methods in Prescriptive Analysis

Source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8551.12441#bjom12441-bib-0056

7
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014829631630488X
8
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S026840121630233X
 Fig 2(b): Main Methods in Prescriptive Analysis

Source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8551.12441#bjom12441-bib-0056

Most of the available articles on this subject are concerned on optimization methods and
algorithms. Simulations are used with the intent of improving the effectiveness of decision-
making process and to make the logic embedded in applications more efficient9. It’s useful to
test new ideas and can illustrate the different conditions very well. Logic-based models are
used for supporting proactive decision-making process when it has to be used under the
purview of a domain knowledge expert. With the increasing availability of data, Prescriptive
analytical models are becoming less dependent on domain knowledge and more on data
driven approaches like data mining etc.

Current Methodological Trends:

(1) Diversified Data

High volume, velocity, variety and complexity are some attributes of big data. But the real
advantage is obtained by considering refined data10. A combination of data from various
sources enables a holistic study of the subject. This includes structured datasets as well as
unstructured data. Sources of data can be from tweets, social media, websites etc. Data
Diversification needs a hybrid f minimum two methods to process data. These data sources
9
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268401218309873
10
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022435916300835
are complementary in nature and improves predictive performance. Studies include
comparing different algorithms to optimize the results.

(2) Mixed Analytics

As the data involved is complex, big data research adopts a mixed approach that used various
analytical tools to analyse multi structured and multi sourced data11. When prescriptive
analytics is used with both descriptive and predictive analytic approaches like machine
learning, it results in an overall increased effectiveness of data by providing data driven
inputs to build models12.

(3) Technological Breakthrough

Advanced and developed technologies like AI (Artificial Intelligence) and AR (Augumented

Reality) work with algorithms like artificial neural networks (ANI) to process data and build
models13. When compared with conventional algorithms, these are becoming popular but the
key factor is the collaboration between humans and technology.

General Applications of Predictive, Descriptive and Prescriptive Analysis:

1. Prevention of Covid through Navigation and Tracking Data:

The Aarogya Setu app was created by the Indian Government for collecting data regarding
the navigation data of its users during the pandemic for COVID-19 tracing and monitoring.
The application used Bluetooth for tracking Covid-19 Positive people and alert the users if
they came in contact with one. By Doing so, it helped its users to keep a track of COVID-19
positive individuals and whether they have come in contact with one. The navigation data
that was obtained was also used for contact tracing. Once a person has been hospitalized for
COVID-19, the authorities used his navigation data to trace all the people with whom the
COVID-19 positive patient might have come in contact with in the past few days so that
others could be alerted and asked to take a COVID test themselves. This enabled the
authorities to do contact tracing and reduce the spreading of disease due to unawareness.

The government also used navigation data to identify people who have entered India from
vulnerable countries abroad as travelers were asked to compulsorily download the app so that
government can monitor their movement and ask those people to isolate and quarantine
themselves.

11
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1509/jm.15.0413
12
https://orsociety.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01605682.2019.1678406?journalCode=tjor20#.YEfbXmgzY2w
13
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167923620300579
The multi-functioning app and the use of big data analytics helps the government to keep
track of corona positive people and mark the areas wherever the cases are rapidly spreading
thus limiting the spread of virus. The government used the Aarogya Setu data to identify
people in transit and put in place measures to prevent spread of COVID-19 among other
passengers. For example- Aarogya Setu is mandatory for airplane and train passengers.

2. Demographics Data

Big Data Tools can be used to enhance the collection of the number of COVID-19 patients in
the country. By doing so, a survey can be conducted to identify vulnerable groups. Predictive
Analytics can be employed to carry out investigations to find solutions based on these data
sets.

NSSO- a Government run organisation makes use of Predictive Analytics to carry out this
procedure. It eases the process of gathering information in COVID times. On further analysis,
it is used to classify the given data based on the risk level of COVID-19 infected patients and
point out the at-risk population.

This structured data collected from various sources can then be further worked upon using
Descriptive Analytic techniques to better focus on target groups. This processed data can then
be used by policymakers, manufacturers etc. to carry out investigations to find solutions
based on these data sets. 

3. Social Media Data

Social media data such as textual data, tweets, blog posts were used by the authorities for
tracking and identifying fake news that are floated on social media as this disinformation are
being spread on the internet which inflicts wrong fear into people and also misguides them.
For example- People have spread fake news about coronavirus vaccines that vaccines are not
safe and by taking vaccine it could be dangerous to health. This creates vaccine hesitancy
among Indian citizens which restricts them from talking vaccine and which is very
undesirable situation for the country as well as the government.

Big data could be used by relevant authorities to track social media and look out and take
down false and misguiding information about COVID-19 like how to prevent spread of
disease, how to obtain COVID testing and other health schemes offered by government.
Targeted ads were used by the authorities to target those people showing susceptibility to
fake information so that they can obtain correct and relevant source of material. Text mining
was also used and sentiment analysis can be generated in order to track public sentiment and
decide whether government or relevant authorities should put out more information in the
public domain in order to reassure the public.

4. Predictive Models
By employing Big Data techniques, especially the Predictive Analytic methods, useful
models can be made which can then be utilised to carry out COVID-19 related investigations.
A small example can be identifying the number of COVID-19 infected cases in a local region
and then can study the progression of these diseases in different regions.

Practical Example: The predictive analytic models developed using these Big Data
approaches can be analysed to investigate the wave of COVID-19 diseases. Estimations can
be made as to when will the diseases will peak, to maintain the resources available and it will
enable to carry out contingency plans. Descriptive Analytics will help in this regard.

On a more local level, the predictive models created can be fine-tuned to forecast patient
volume, bed capacity and ventilator availability which can prove useful to hospitals and
health care centres. The Predictive Analytic models are a game-changer in the fight against
COVID-19 and this further helps in resisting the ongoing pandemic.

5. Containment of COVID-19

From this pandemic, one fact that has stood undisputed is that the battle for containment of
the virus will be very difficult without use of sophisticated and quick analysis of the available
data on real time. Big data analytics has been one of the cornerstones of strategies to contain
the virus across the globe. 97% of the organizations have heavily invested in big data
analytics projects across multiple projects, even in epidemiology. The exponential surge in
the COVID-19 cases have created the need to maintain massive amounts of data, not only the
healthcare records of patients but data related to comorbidity, current symptoms, patient
location and travel records. In these situations, the use of cloud storage has been crucial.

The following are some of the many successful uses of these technologies:

 Analysis and detection of contamination so that rapid development of the

treatments can be done and minimize the risk associated with it. With the
immense capability that is offered by Big data analytics and cloud storage to get
actionable insights from the available data, we can detect the contamination at a
very early stage.
 Tracking the fever symptoms of general public so that identification can be done
of public to identify potential virus possibility and to mitigate the spread.
Sophisticated data handling can provide the edge over new viruses (or a new
strain of old viruses) as we can have data-driven insights gained from previous
outbreaks at our fingertips.
 Information Management during a lockdown became very necessary to stop
spreading of false and misleading news on social media by the use of AI and ML.
Big data analytics and cloud infrastructure can facilitate the application of AI and
ML to stimulate the trends in the outbreak.
  Spot & Analyze Online Behavioral Changes of public to predict early emergence
of New Strain of COVID-19. This wealth of information and insights produced by
millions of people, combined with the deep analytical capabilities gives the ability
to pinpoint the exact trajectory of the outbreak and consequently the ability to
contain it at an early stage.

6. Controlling of COVID-19 through Big Data

7. Based on the review of the literature done, Big Data tools can be utilized in the form
of following methods to combat COVID-19

 Disease Surveillance: Prescriptive Analytics can be used to conduct surveys about

the disease inflicted population. This can then be further used to capture data like
body temperature and incidence of COVID cases in areas. By doing so,
policymakers can then take decisions to carry out the necessary methods. A
practical and live example of this is the Aarogya Setu app which is being used on
the lines of Prescriptive Analytics.
 Outbreak Analytics: Big Data tool like Predictive models can be used to make
models from which various conclusions can be drawn like the number of COVID
related deaths, number of patients and travel histories. These models can then help
to predict peak infection rates and potential COVID-19 hotspots.
 Quarantine Monitoring: Prescriptive Analytics models can be used here. People
who are infected with COVID-19 need to be sent to a quarantine period. So, Big
Data Analytics can be used to monitor these number of cases based on the raw
data. The visual data can be transformed into structured data which can then feed
these to diagnostic models from which useful insights can be made. Aarogya Setu
app makes uses of these techniques to mark safe spots and incidences of COVID-
19 occurrence.
 Lockdown Planning: Predictive Data Analytics can be utilised in this method to
carry out important decision-making decision to combat COVID-19. Here,
identification of hotspots can be done based on the models generated from data
that is fed to the algorithm and by doing so, a stable zone can be easily identified.
 Official Dashboards: Diagnostic Analytics can be used to create dashboards which
will aid in easy tracking of COVID-19 patients. WHO (World Health
Organisation) has created dashboards based on data collected from various
sources which will aid in collecting real time statistics. Then Predictive Analytics
can be used to gather insights from it.
 Clinical Research: Diagnostic testing is been applied in medical and clinical
research in the fight against COVID-19. The nature of the virus, the rate at which
it spreads and the ways in which it can be prevented is being researched upon
using Descriptive models and is maintained by collecting data from various
sources.
 Vaccine Rollout and Monitoring: The vaccine rollout needs to have an end-to-end
live tracking from manufacturing to distribution. Historical data from various
sources is fed into models which can then provide accurate tracking. Eg: Haryana
has made a ‘eVIN’ platform which serves as a real time repository of vaccine data
which contains storage temperature, location of staff which can then be used for
vaccine registration.
General Applications/Description of Analytics for Business:

Use of Analytics for Tackling COVID‐19 Related Issues & Mainstream

Management Research Challenges:

Epidemiological models were the centre points for national governments and healthcare
authorities to model important decisions for fighting coronavirus outbreaks and reducing the
economic and social effects on different communities.

There is a need of hour to better understand analytics techniques to help organizational

leaders and managers for better identifying looming challenges and understanding their
environments by making data‐driven quality decisions.

This method can help businesses to fight with extreme unpredictable events like making
effective decisions such as picking a particular market for investment, to find potential risks
in their respective sectors, finding potential alliance partners, develop new products and
services for customers.

Big data analytics enables organizations to deal with the black swan events like caring of
employees, correct financial decisions and efficiently managing safety of supply chain. Black
swan events14 caused by COVID‐19 can multiply business failures15 and firms can use big
data analytics methods to avoid external risks and take sound business planning to stop
failure.

Thus, from emergency hospital operations management to supply chain resilience

development, various analytical approaches become important in the immediate response to
the COVID‐19 pandemic and for overall economic recovery. Insights from the review of
descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics opens opportunities to study some of the
management topics and COVID‐19 related issues, including: the future of work, new
marketing practices with ever changing consumer behaviour, product innovation, global
value chains, governance policy.

Future of Work:

We firstly focus on the ‘future of work’ issues. In the global economy, dynamics are very
different with some precipitated by pandemics and other by technological development which
led to the destruction of jobs. These megatrends have to be studied to understand their effects
on the labour market. From a HR perspective, organizational leaders can predict the
performance of individual employees and teams by using internal digital data such as emails,
14
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3586511
15
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0263237320301286
chats and employee‐generated content by combining with data from HRIS and performance
management systems16.

Analytics is capable of providing a deeper understanding of work arrangements, work design

and routines. Homeworking has become a new norm for many office workers due to the
pandemic. Managing employees and ensuring social interaction among colleagues has
become a major task. Descriptive and diagnostic approaches, can be used to collect and
analyse data on employees’ needs, home situations & workloads. Post pandemic, when
everything reopens, predictive analytics can come handy to predict the behavioural changes
of employees caused by the COVID‐19 and accordingly plan for the return to the
workplace17.

Along with employees’ personal information, health status, working conditions, performance,
during quarantine across different departments will help in redesigning jobs towards
embracing and monitoring home‐based working and creating conditions for motivating the
workforce and teams while maintaining social distancing. It will also help us to identify
redundant jobs and eliminate those.

Changes in Consumer Behaviour & Marketing Practices:

COVID‐19 induced social distancing and quarantines have forcefully changed people’s
consumption behaviour. Crisis like these poses extreme uncertainties and existential crisis to
brick‐and‐mortar businesses, and weakens their competitiveness.

Offline outlets have faced a sudden decrease in sales, while online groceries and quarantine
essentials saw an unexpected hike in demand. Retailers with technical capabilities have
improvised to online product for selling and delivery due to overall reduction in traffic to
physical stores. Consumer shopping habits have also changed due to these circumstances but
these might be temporary or could even sustain even after crisis passes away.

The pandemic will not only impact consumer’s habit but also their perceptions and attitudes
towards a brand or businesses due to the actions taken by firms during extreme period. CSR
activities will also impact how consumers perceive their brands and these might shape and re-
shape based on activities like donation, supporting communities and giveaways.

The marketing practices will also need to be tweaked based on changes in consumer
behaviour to stay with trend and also this opens new opportunities opened by data analytics.
Collection of data remains major focus point in order to meet evolving consumer needs.

16
https://empowerment.ee/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Better-People-Analytics-Measure-Who-They-Know-Not-Just-Who-
They-Are.pdf
17
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198220300610
Along with these, real-time data on sales, inventory, operations and market trends can also be
monitored for identifying changes in market using data mining and descriptive analytics.

Google recently launched a platform called Rising Retail Categories which helps
manufactures and brand for tracking search interest across retail categories. This helps firms
to understand culture and according act on it rapidly.

With the business going online, brands will have to strength their digital footprint to concrete
their relations with customers, to create an integrated pool with abundant info and will
provide company’s clear forward path. Machine learning and AI can also help us to evaluate
and gauge customer’s emotional reactions for brands on social media, and make mindful
decisions on advertisements and other business-related decisions. Customer journey can be
revealed by web clickstream, online chats which will help in predicting demand and manage
customer relation by making it more user centric, improve marketing methods and innovation
capabilities to enable firms to be more agile in responding crisis.

In the long run, scholars will help in the adoption of AI and robotics solutions in developing
marketing resilience, which appears to be an unexplored area and the use of new technologies
in marketing can potentially enhance customer experiences by offering support.

Product Development & Service Innovation:

Many companies are struggling to survive during the COVID‐19 pandemic as customers are
under lockdown and are unable to reach shops, thus shops shutting and cash flows drying up.
Only the companies that sell essential items and basics (e.g. grocery stores) did well,
especially those with a strong online presence, while service sectors including aviation,
travel, entertainment, tourism and restaurants were hit hard as customers were very cautious
about going out for leisure or entertainment.

Businesses like delivery services, online shopping and entertainment, online education
thrived really well. Business normality which we use to know may never be the same again
post covid due to the uncertainties induced as millions of customers are changing their buying
behaviours.

The market landscape is completely changing for years to come induced due to behavioural
changes, which will require business These behavioural changes are already moving towards
completely changing the market landscape for years to come, which requires businesses to
think hard and innovative about their offerings as well as find new ways of producing and
delivering them during the pandemic.
Prescriptive analytics empowers businesses to configure and test new innovations in products
and business models. While, big data‐driven insights are helping epidemiologists and
policymakers to apprehend and tackle the impacts of the pandemic, internal and external real‐
time data on customers’ purchasing records, operations’ transactional data and social media
supports firms to understand changing consumer behaviour and the evolving market
landscape.

Rolls‐Royce used traditional economics, business, travel data along with behaviour and
sentimental data, for getting new insights on impacts of covid on its business18 and how it to
support businesses in economic recovery and also to forecast future demand.

Operations and E‐Supply Networks:

COVID‐19 has a major disruption in terms of global supply chain for critical movement of
people, finished goods, raw materials to factory operations and supply chain partners’
operations. For example, many of the operations and human workforce has to be significantly
altered due to social-distancing norms and several European automotive manufactures
production network came to a halt which broke the entire supply chain.

For economic recovery aftermath of pandemic19, it is important that to innovation and digital
transformation play a key role. E-commerce companies like Amazon have started leveraging
the use of advance technologies like robots and AI in warehouses to completely automate
their supply chains which enabled them to function even during the pandemic and thus
emerge out as a winner.

These even helped logistic service providers to keep serving to the hospitals and consumers
to provide essential supplies with the help of digital technologies and internet platform.

This pandemic has led to development of new models of workflow working hand in hand
with digital information and connectivity, and thus transforming the traditional supply chains
into e‐supply networks, wherein organizations are connected with entire supply networks
enabling them of end‐to‐end visibility, agility, collaboration and optimization.

While there are companies still struggling with direct impact on their people, customers,
suppliers and supply chain network partners, there are some organizations who have evolved
and gone further by restoring their supply chain operations and started preparing for ‘the new
normal’ to match supply with demand. Real time data which are constantly generated and
collected along with supply chain, big data approaches are used for critical operations,

18
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/poms.12840
19
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1366554520304300
optimization and demand forecasting, matching supply with demand, allocating and
rationing, scheduling transport and last-minute delivery. 3M applied sensors to existing
equipment for monitoring production and using data analytics in their Digital Factory
programme for uncovering waste and exploring new efficiencies. Recent literature developed
a resource allocation optimization model with an application of ventilator allocation to fight
COVID‐19 which improved efficiency over time by establishing a central agency that acted
as a coordinator to share critical resources available in shorter supply.

Choi developed a mathematical optimization models for exploring how logistics and
technologies together can innovate ‘Bring‐Service‐Near‐Your‐Home’ operations. It examined
the impacts of this mobile service operation on business and consumers and provided
important idea to governments.

Ivanov presented a simulation study for observing and predicting short‐term and long‐term
impacts of epidemic outbreaks and uncovered some critical parameters of positive and
negative supply chain performance dynamics.

Real‐time demand sensing and optimization of supply chains for cutting costs could be
achieved using prescriptive analytics and leveraged by companies to make informed
decisions on innovative supply chain models for enabling fast response in allocating and
delivering the products required by customers timely manner20.

Challenges in Sustainability, Governance and Public Policy:

Historically, private sector has always been ahead of government departments and agencies
in terms of new technology adoption, utilization and innovation. Around the globe, it is seen
that government agencies have relied on obsolete technologies. The use of descriptive and
predictive analytics and the timely update of COVID‐19‐related analytical results have
helped many to develop public health policies and communicate effectively with the public.
Key issues like the effects of national policies and current technologies used to enhance
information flow, provide information services in times of crisis such as COVID‐19 and
innovative government services in tough times could be explored using data analytics.

With growing importance of environmental issues to governments and businesses, we need a

bridge that can connect the gap between the research and practice for better understanding of
sustainability needs in wake of crisis, we will have to leverage the power of analytics to
examine consumer’s attitude for businesses both pre and post covid. Future studies could use
analytics (descriptive/diagnostic) for data like carbon emissions, responsible consumption
and to study whether crises similar to this can alter societal perception and attitude for

20
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JOSM-05-2020-0151/full/html
environmental issues and how changed behaviour impacts economy, environment in either
positive or negative way. Also help us formulate best way to develop a resilient approach for
sustainable recovery.

Thus, as seen in Supplementary Appendix, multiple number of cases are present illustrating
how numerous firms have used analytics during the COVID‐19 emergency to handle various
business operations and challenges. Each case was provided with a brief description of the
approaches to data analytic capabilities and also discussed the nature of the use of analytics,
its application and effects.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, we review methodological innovations to study big data analytics and their
usage to examine organizational and management issues caused due to the global pandemic
caused by COVID‐19, as well as other problems. COVID‐19 was a ‘black swan’ event which
are difficult to predict and formulate its full effects21, data analytics provides an effective
route to understand the event in a better way.

Insights of popular techniques of descriptive/diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive analytics

to address various business problems were discussed. Keeping pandemic as the central theme,
we outline a number of challenges and how big data analytics applications in areas like future
of work, new marketing practices, product development, global value and governance
policies. We also outlined number of opportunities that will emerge for the management
research community for using analytical approaches for supporting efforts made globally and
locally for dealing with unprecedented challenges brought about by the COVID‐19 pandemic
which will have long‐term implications.

Data analytics opens new avenues which are important and significant opportunities for
scholars who are into studying future employment trends, global crises and how it impacts
innovation, how digital drives business resilience and analytics capabilities, and the future of
global supply chain’s functioning and sustainability.

21
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3586511