Benjamin Tengelsen- Empowering Nursing Professionals on a Global Scale by Integrating Technological Advancements

Over the past years, technological advancements have transformed the medical industry.  The days of meticulous charting and manually filling records are dwindling.  The emerging new technologies in the healthcare industry led the patients to have greater accessibility to data than ever before. Technology has become to be a blessing for improved healthcare services and resonating with this change, IntelyCare has emerged as a platform that is empowering nursing professionals by integrating technology.

IntelyCare is the largest digital nurse staffing platform in the U.S.  The company's easy-to-use app matches nursing professionals with open assignments at the post-acute facility partners through machine learning and data and behavioral science. IntelyCare is leading the work revolution for nurses by empowering them with the freedom to choose when, where, and how often they work for the wages and benefits they deserve with the help of data and technology.

A Dynamic Leader

Benjamin Tengelsen is the Data Science Director at IntelyCare. He leads a team of 10 amazing data analysts, scientists, and engineers, who use machine learning, experimentation, advanced statistics, and a whole lot of codes to support features in the apps related to pricing, recommendations, communications, customer service, recruiting, and marketing.

Benjamin worked at Wayfair, one of the largest e-commerce companies in the country where he focussed on projects related to product similarity and substitutability. Before that, he studied economics at Carnegie Mellon University and most of his research dealt with labor market search models, which he still thinks about very often while considering how to remove frictions from the labor market for nursing professionals.

Learning the Most from Experiences

Benjamin shares, "During the winter, my older brother and I would go skiing together. He was a much better skier and my brother would take me to parts of the mountain that were way above my comfort level. My whole body would hurt at the end of the day, but my skiing improved quickly. From that and many similar experiences, I learned that it is ok to feel uncomfortable, even stupid because, that is when you are learning the most."

He further says that at IntelyCare, he feels stupid all the time, and it is wonderful. The data questions that are dealt with are so difficult, and the company is growing so fast. He says that the best path forward is rarely obvious, but the team is learning new things every day. Benjamin feels fortunate to be surrounded by great people who tolerate his stupidity and make the journey fun.

Crucial Qualities of Data Science Leaders

Benjamin asserts that motivating others is one of the key attributes that leaders should possess.  "My first manager at Wayfair had a sticky note on his computer that said something like- "Love the people you lead". He was pretty good at it, he wanted everyone on the team to be successful more than he wanted success for himself. He was generous with his time. As a result, his team was highly motivated to help each other and delivered some great projects" recollects Ben. Demonstrating this example, Benjamin stresses teamwork and generosity to be the two most important qualities of a data science leader.

Benjamin always believes in overcoming challenges with confidence. "People in academia talk about their work very differently than people in business. An individual's business colleagues t need not know 99% of what a data scientist could possibly tell them. They only need to know how well a given model is performing" advises Benjamin.

Experimenting to Leverage Customer Satisfaction

Benjamin says that IntelyCare keeps experimenting and also believes that there is no better way to know how customers will react than by seeing their reactions. But designing an experiment for every new product can take a long time. The poor engineers have twice as much work to do when his team enters the room and suggests yet another A/B test. Hence Benjamin says that the company tries to build the products in a way that allows for quick experimentation later which doesn't require a lot of engineering support.

Innovation Made Possible Through Disruption

Talking about disruptive technologies, Benjamin mentions that he is a big fan of the recent advances in cloud-based data warehousing. Companies like Snowflake, Fivetran, DBT, and Hightouch have cut the time required to stand up a quality data warehouse from months to days and he believes that innovation is only possible with disruption.

Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Leaders

Benjamin advises aspiring leaders to keep experimenting. Sit close to your product team! Your fancy algorithms are no good unless they make it into some usable product he adds."

A Flexible Future

IntelyCare is all about allowing nursing professionals to work when and where they want. Benjamin hopes that by giving nurses flexible outside options, the full-time employers will follow suit and find ways to provide nurses outside of IntelyCare with more flexibility as well. "If someone wants to be a nurse between 9 am and 2 pm when their kid is in school, let them! The US already fell short of 1 million nurses before covid, the industry has got to find new ways to engage any talent on the sidelines claims Benjamin".