Teamwork is a powerful thing. From researching and testing, to shipment and distribution, the Covid-19 vaccination efforts are a strong testament to this.
One of the inspirational teams making it all happen is Covidliste, a volunteer-led organization that’s helped over 1.4 million people in France to register for vaccines. They’re the largest vaccination waiting list in the country—and 35K people have already received vaccines through their program.
We’re proud that Front could help be a small part of their operations, so we chatted with the data scientist mastermind behind Covidliste, Martin Daniel. He shared how their team is using Front to coordinate vaccination appointments at scale.
How Covidliste works
Covidliste is an app that connects those who need a vaccine with health professionals who have available extra doses. Health care professionals can sign up through their waiting list, and those looking for vaccines can register to be notified. When a provider has extra does, they can search the platform for a nearby registrant and notify them via email. If they don’t hear back by the end of the day, they can contact all close registrants via SMS text.
It all started when Martin Daniel created a simple app for Covidliste which he launched on Twitter. His tweet went viral and he was overwhelmed by tweets and emails—so he tweeted again, asking for help and ideas of how to manage the massive influx of communication. One person who replied was a former Front employee, who, of course, suggested that Martin use Front.
“I was immediately struck by how powerful the tool was and how crazy it was going to be for us,” Martin recalls. “We peaked at 1,000 emails a day for a team of three. We had press inquiries, product bugs, privacy and GDPR requests, partners from vaccination centers who wanted to get in touch with us, Twitter DMs, Twitter mentions—you name it.”
They spun up a team of 15 full time volunteers in under two weeks. Since then, Covidliste has partnered with 3.5K vaccination centers and confirmed 34K appointments. Now there are around 150 volunteers working on their team.
How Covidliste is coordinating vaccination appointments with Front
Covidliste is using team inboxes to manage every message they receive over Twitter and email in one place. The Covidliste team has several inboxes in Front; partners, social media, privacy, and press. The volunteer team can see all messages and use internal-only comments to chat about them together. They can assign an owner to messages to make sure everything gets handled on time, which is critical given there’s a quick window when vaccine doses become available and before they expire.
Staying on top of every message—even with new volunteers every week
Every Covidliste volunteer gives a different amount of time to the organization. Some stay on board for a while, while others can stick around for just one week. "The ability to add and remove people on the team inbox in Front was very powerful," Martin says. Since Front feels like regular email, training time for new volunteers jumping on board to help for a short time was minimal.
Collaborating is easy
Front’s team inboxes and comments have made it easy for the Covidliste team to work together. With assignments, there’s no confusion on who’s handling what. When a volunteer left the team or went offline for a while, another volunteer could still see the conversation in the team inbox and pick up where the other volunteer left off.
Front gives us the ability to see all the inboxes and messages—essentially a bird’s eye view of everything that’s going on in the company. It keeps us on the same page so we’re using the same tone when responding to emails and messages.
Using analytics to respond quickly and understand volume
Front’s analytics have been a great resource to the team by showing them:
Amounts of incoming emails each day.
Which emails are handled, and what team inbox they are being sent to.
Response time and improvement on responding faster.
The ability to view a common theme in the content of messages, which they can create automated responses to respond to more easily.
Covidliste is saving lives
We couldn’t be happier that the Covidliste team is making an impact with Front. Their team is using Front free through our Covid relief program, which supports teams working on Covid research and relief efforts. Read how other inspiring teams have used Front to make an impact during the pandemic:
Is it safe to reopen? How Covid Act Now is using Front to help answer that question
How TechInclusionUK is helping kids get back to school during COVID-19
Written by Jonny Parker
Originally Published: 23 June 2021