Daily Research News Online no. 6034 - Awards for MR Services Firms

Awards for MR Services Firms

October 16 2006

Two companies providing services for research firms have scooped high profile awards in Asia Pacific: RPO specialist Pulse Group winning an APICTA 2006 Award, and software developer QSR International a top Australian Export award. Meanwhile in the UK, GfK NOP's Field Marketing team has also carried off a number of prizes.

RPO (Research Process Outsourcing) specialist Pulse Group reports record results with its highest quarterly QOQ revenue growth of 400%. The firm says it now serves 30% of the world's top 100 MR companies. The APICTA program is governed by a network of 16 Asian economies including Australia, China, India and Korea to provide a platform to recognize innovators and entrepreneurs in the ICT sector.

The Asia Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA) is a program initiated by the Multimedia Development Corporation of Malaysia and organized annually by a network of 16 member economies: Australia, Brunei, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. It aims to increase ICT awareness in the community, stimulate economic and trade relations and technology transfer, and help match firms up with business partners and investors.

Pulse CEO Bob Chua says the achievement is 'a symbol of the confidence our clients have with our services as the preferred research process outsourcing (RPO) company in the field of online research in Asia.' Pulse is online at www.pulse-group.com and APICTA at www.apicta.com .

QSR International has won the Information and Communications Technology Award at the Governor of Victoria Export Awards for the second time, the first having been in 2001.

QSR CEO John Owen said the win at last week's award ceremony was a significant achievement for the Doncaster, Aus-based company. 'To go from a start up technology company to the world's largest privately owned qualitative research software developer in 10 years is a real testament to Australian ingenuity... Today we export to 90 countries and hold a 65% share of the international market. To be recognised as Victoria's top technology exporter is just brilliant.'

QSR International's flagship products - XSight and NVivo 7 - are designed to help researchers and other people working with textual data to compile, compare and make sense of their information quickly and easily. Owen says XSight and NVivo 7 are used by more than 350,000 people across Europe, North America and Australasia. He reports 'growing interest from countries like China, Malaysia and Japan' and adds: 'We intend to capitalize on that trend and take our products and services to commercial market research, government and academic clients across Asia within the next six months. It's an exciting new direction for us.'

QSR recently became the only developer in our industry to earn Microsoft Gold Partner status (DRNO www.mrweb.com/drno/news5909.htm ). It developed its first software product, NUD*IST, in 1981 but was established in its present form in 1995. Based in Melbourne, the company has international offices in the UK and North America and is online at www.qsrinternational.com .

In the UK, GfK NOP's Field Marketing team having taken two gold awards and one silver at the recent Field Marketing Magazine Awards. Tony Dryer, GfK Field Marketing's Senior Field Rep for RIM, won the Field Marketer of the Year award, with Tony Sexton, Senior Field Rep for Orange, in the Runner-Up spot. Alan Holliday (MD of Gfk Field Marketing) and Rachel Beck (Executive Director, GfK Field Marketing) won the 'Mystery Shopping and Market Research Award'.

According to Holliday, 'Winning these awards highlights our commitment to providing the best people for the project, and going that extra step to make sure our clients receive outstanding performance and results. It is fabulous to be recognised by the industry magazine.'

GfK Field Marketing offers auditing, price checking, web reporting and analysis in addition to more general services including merchandising, staff training, distribution and warehousing.

GfK NOP has its own home page at www.gfknop.co.uk .