Wale Omiyale is a Senior Vice President at Confirmit and has over fifteen years' experience in research. He spent more than a decade in the financial services industry, with Abbey National, Allied Bank, IAF Asset Management and First Union (US), developing new business products within private banking and mortgage finance; and holds an MBA in International Business and Strategy from Cass Business School.
Mobile should be a key channel for feeding back research results, but we're slow to adopt it, says Wale Omiyale, SVP, Market Research, Confirmit.
15th May 2015
Market
Research
clients
are
becoming
increasingly
comfortable
using
apps
to
access
business
level
information.
Smartphones
have
quickly
evolved
from
a 'cool'
accessory
to
a standard
operating
tool
within
most
businesses.
Why,
then,
is
the
Market
Research
industry
lagging
behind
in
reflecting
this
shift?
New challengers to MR - VoC
The
days
of
sending
a stack
of
tables
to
a client
are
long
gone.
For
a start,
multiple
column
tables
cannot
be
accessed
on
a mobile
device
and,
more
importantly,
they
do
not
give
the
'instant'
access
to
reports
that
today's
end
users
demand.
At
the
same
time,
solutions
providers
are
moving
away
from
traditional
MR
tools
and
focusing
their
R&D
efforts
- and
investment
- on
online
and
mobile
optimised
reporting
solutions.
This
shift
in
technology
and
behaviour
is
forcing
an
abrupt
rethink
for
MR
agencies
delivering
research
data
to
their
clients.
Newer
market
entrants,
particularly
those
in
the
Voice
of
the
Customer
(VoC)
arena,
have
leapfrogged
some
MR
organisations,
having
quickly
developed
the
capabilities
to
deliver
feedback
in
ways
that
enable
businesses
to
make
faster,
smarter
decisions.
If
traditional
MR
players
are
to
secure
long
term,
value-based
partnerships
in
the
future,
it's
essential
that
they
learn
some
lessons
from
these
new
entrants
and
adopt
new
reporting
strategies.
Dashboards and 'Decision Insights'
One
of
the
key
areas
that
has
seen
extensive
investment
over
the
past
two
years,
and
that
has
been
widely
adopted
by
forward-thinking
MR
organisations,
is
live
dashboards.
This
is
much
more
than
a technological
evolution
- it
reflects
a deeper
sentiment
among
some
MR
groups
that
research
should
play
a different
role
in
clients'
decision-making
process,
with
a focus
on
providing
'Decision
Insights'.
Dashboards
directly
support
this
decision-making
process,
allowing
companies
to
gain
meaningful
insight
much
faster
by
simplifying
complex
volumes
of
data
into
manageable,
bite-sized
portions
- while
still
being
based
on
accurate
and
in-depth
research.
Traditionalists
may
argue
that
this
simply
isn't
research,
but
as
the
clients
paying
the
bills
are
time
poor
and
highly
pressured,
speed,
simplicity
and
insight
are
quickly
overtaking
demand
for
detail.
Dashboards and other newer and developing forms of research reporting are putting clients back in control of understanding and manipulating data themselves, bringing them closer to the nuances of their business and giving them more targeted information for decision making.
Asia leads the mobile reporting revolution
While live, online dashboards are already proving their worth, the rise and rise of mobile technology is also having a major impact on the way research clients behave and the technology solutions that providers are developing.
The
sheer
numbers
of
mobile
devices
in
use
means
there
are
many
more
points
of
contact
available
to
researchers.
This
doesn't
just
apply
to
respondents.
It's
also
key
in
understanding
how
to
more
effectively
share
research
results
with
key
stakeholders,
both
within
and
outside
an
organisation.
It's
no
surprise
that
we
expect
the
use
of
mobile
in
research
reporting
to
grow
quickly
in
the
next
two
years.
At
the
moment,
however,
we
only
tend
to
see
mobile
survey
dashboards
used
by
specialist
fieldwork
companies
who
need
to
turn
projects
around
to
their
clients
in
a matter
of
hours
from
launch,
rather
than
in
the
days
or
weeks
that
used
to
be
acceptable.
Our
experience
also
shows
that
mobile
reporting
seems
to
have
taken
off
much
more
in
Asia
than
in
Europe
and
North
America.
This
may
be
due
to
the
vast
geographical
distances
that
fieldworkers
often
have
to
deal
with
in
transferring
field
insights
to
end
clients.
AIP,
Asia's
largest
fieldwork
agency
currently
uses
the
Confirmit
mobile
dashboard
in
80-90%
of
their
projects,
while
Malaysia-based
SurveyMy,
a mobile
data
collection
specialist,
uses
it
in
60-70%
of
all
their
mobile
and
online
projects.
A word of warning to the rest
If
Asia-based
MR
organisations
can
embrace
mobile
as
a reporting
tool
so
efficiently,
why
aren't
their
European
and
North
American
counterparts
following
suit?
There
have
been
enough
research
indicators
to
show
that
mobile
presents
an
enormous,
untapped
revenue
opportunity
for
MR.
And
there
has
been
plenty
of
industry-wide
discussion
about
researchers
ignoring
mobile
at
their
peril.
At
the
MRS
Conference
'Impact
2014'
in
March,
Martin
Sorrell
explained
that
the
future
of
MR
is
in
the
hands
of
young
people
who
have
grown
up
in
the
digital
/ Internet
age.
Mobile
is
their
device
of
choice,
making
it
imperative
that
the
MR
industry
embraces
solutions
and
capabilities
that
are
mobile
ready,
from
data
collection
right
through
to
insight.
It
is
now
imperative
that
MR
organisations,
at
a global
level,
can
match
the
increase
of
speed
in
fieldwork
with
the
increase
in
speed
of
data
delivery,
not
only
to
meet
client
demand
but
also
to
ensure
the
industry
itself
doesn't
become
lost
among
the
noise
of
VoC,
customer
experience
and
other
newer
movements.
Predictive insights hold the revolutionary key
Where
MR
organisations
can
steal
a march
is
through
their
combination
of
experience
and
statistical
expertise
- something
that
newer
players
often
don't
have.
Mobile
can
provide
the
tools
to
do
this,
by
augmenting
in-depth
analytical
capabilities
with
the
opportunity
to
deliver
high
level,
predictive
insights
quickly
and
accurately
to
clients.
Not
only
can
mobile
reporting
add
a new
tool
to
MR
agencies'
armoury,
but
it
can
also
drive
an
entirely
new
revenue
stream
based
on
the
ability
to
deliver
instant
insight
rather
than
lengthy
reports.
Mobile can also facilitate closer agency-client relationships - in the style of new players who act as consultants as well as information providers - by bringing projects closer to the eyes of the client. The interactive nature of mobile allows clients to live and breathe the feedback as it takes place, and it can drill down to the individual level to prove the impact of specific roles on business success.
The secret to future success?
There
is
much
current
commentary
that
suggests
MR
should
focus
on
the
tactical
challenges
of
its
client
businesses
rather
than
the
strategic.
The
truth
I think
lies
somewhere
in
the
middle
- MR
has
the
potential
to
drive
business
strategy
as
well
as
deliver
tactical
detail.
This
is
where
mobile
can
help
to
smooth
the
path
for
future
success.
Mobile
reporting
delivers
both
tactical,
fieldwork-based
insight
and
the
strategic
KPI
'single
number'
understanding
that
is
key
to
business
status
and
future
outlook.
Even with most of its potential still untapped, mobile research reporting has already shown the capability and opportunity to make a measurable difference to the research process at many levels. Not only can it improve the way in which researchers interact with their clients, it also makes it possible for client organisations to act faster upon results, ensuring they are able to adapt quickly to changing market needs. Looking further ahead, I can see a future where researchers deliver even richer results and insights to clients by swiping elements from mobile devices onto a TV screen.
Each
client's
requirements
are
different,
and
it
is
essential
that
researchers
can
evolve
to
emulate
the
consultancy-based
approach
of
new
market
entrants
- delivering
the
right
reports,
in
the
right
formats,
using
the
right
channel
or
combination
of
channels.
By
adding
mobile
to
the
reporting
mix,
there's
a greater
opportunity
than
ever
to
improve
the
delivery
process
- and
make
research
as
relevant,
timely
and
indispensable
as
possible
for
clients.