The advancement of technology is making massive waves throughout the research world—offering new iterations of the standard model and changing the way we think about partnerships. Clients now expect data within days or hours from research projects that traditionally took weeks or months to complete. Suppliers have suddenly found themselves in need of agile software solutions featuring advanced tests while serving clients that are passionate about ease of use.
As economic conditions worldwide become more challenging, market research is likely to emerge as a critical differentiating factor between organizations that succeed and those that don’t. These factors increase the demand for up-to-the-minute insights that you can use to make businesses more agile and responsive—and it’s up to research suppliers to meet the challenge.
Time is money
Clients want real-time insights. In today’s highly competitive global marketplace, businesses are facing the need to adapt to minute-by-minute trends and changes. The old-fashioned ways of doing market research just don’t cut it. And with this growing demand, researchers seek out powerful technological platforms that provide the data their stakeholders need at lightning speeds.
In short, businesses are looking for real-time insights delivered quickly and affordably. For researchers looking to achieve this, the tech-enabled research looks quite appealing. However, getting real-time analysis and data requires expertise. This is why the best research suppliers can provide flexible and consultative services, thought partnership, and learning and enablement programs.
Insights with business goals already baked in
There’s no doubt about it: Technology has enabled faster research. Businesses have grown accustomed to making rapid decisions based on current data—it’s critical to their ability to compete. However, this has also created a need for more customization and specificity. Clients want reports that don’t just tell them the “what” but also the “why.” Data is useless without interpretation. Demand is high for insights that have both breadth and depth. And although the client ultimately needs to respond to the data, context can make decision-making faster.
Suppliers can also facilitate and empower successful transitions to agile by providing training and personalized support services. Agile research empowered by technology brings clients and suppliers closer together, deepening the partnership and going beyond a mere vendor/client relationship. Here, the supplier gets to know their client’s goals and works with them to produce insights that provide contextualized reports tied to business objectives.
The flexible service model
Technology is driving the evolution of the entire market research world, and agile research has brought several changes to client/supplier partnerships. One of the most obvious examples of this is the flexible service model. Traditional service models often fail to provide clients with the flexibility they need. The rise of the agile approach has ushered in a completely new way of thinking about delivering insights.
Under the flexible service model, clients purchase both access to a platform and whatever level of support they need. If a research team is on a tight budget but has some basic skills and knowledge, they could go full DIY and leverage insights technology to run their own research initiatives. From there, brands can purchase any number of services, mixing and matching them as they see fit. Finally, there is always the option to go for the full white-glove service in which the supplier takes care of all the details for them. The model brings the buy-only-what-you-need model to the market research space.
Scalability and adaptability are core tenants of the agile methodology—and flexible service models are designed to support these two pillars by making it straightforward for teams to opt in for services when needed.
Research democratization
It used to be the case that a particular user profile would demand access to market research and detailed insights. Now, this need has been extended to personas outside research departments. The democratization of market research is a significant trend enabling even those who aren’t professional researchers to find the information they need. Automated research platforms give access to startups without the budget to hire a team of researchers, enabling them to utilize tech to get the data they need. Furthermore, these new capabilities extend even to advanced studies and research methodologies that used to be well out of the purview of anyone without a large budget.
Customer enablement
As insights technology continues to shift the market research landscape, the way clients are planning their initiatives also shifts. Customer enablement is another significant transformation currently making its impact by addressing these needs in many research partnerships.
Enablement occurs when the supplier meets the client where they are and helps empower more and more research success as the relationship grows. Tech enablement takes this further—with the ultimate goal being for the client to do things on their own through the technology provided by the supplier. This frees them from constant dependency on service providers and allows for more cross-departmental embracing of agile market research. The best market research platforms support customer enablement by having easy-to-use interfaces and automating the heavy lifting of advanced research.
How is technology driving this evolution?
The driving force behind many recent advancements in market research has been the development of newer new insights technologies. However, the mere presence of powerful tools doesn’t always create change in an industry. So the question remains: What features of new technologies are behind these changes in the supplier/brand relationship?
The answer to this question is primarily automation. With the right platform, market research has never been this easy. Not only does automation enable you to get insights faster, but it can also increase the quality and consistency of your data. At aytm, our platform utilizes several automated features that automatically clean data and eliminate duplicates. Automation is also enabling clients to get started rapidly. The skeptic can have their mind changed in a matter of hours or even minutes. All they need to do is take the platform for a test drive, and how they think about market research will never be the same again.
At aytm, we are dedicated to enabling you to succeed. When you win, we win. And our powerful market research platform delivers the features and functionality clients need, and our flexible service model makes us the perfect market research partner. Our platform and talented market research consultants can provide whatever you need.
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