ORC International Opens Office in Scotland

Infogroup-owned employee, customer and stakeholder market research consultancy ORC International has expanded to Scotland with the opening of a dedicated public services office in Edinburgh.

ORC International is the global research operating unit of US-based Opinion Research Corporation, which is part of database giant Infogroup. The firm already has UK offices in London and Manchester, as well as sister companies in the US, Australia, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Head of UK Public Services Research Richard Abraham says that the new Edinburgh office, which will be headed by public sector policy specialist Diarmid Hearns, will enable the firm to deliver market research services to a wider Scottish audience, as well as to existing ORC public sector clients based in Scotland.

Hearns joins with more than 14 years' experience in conducting and consulting on research projects, having previously worked as a Senior Consultant at SQW and at Fraser Associates, which specialise in industrial and public sector research and in planning and economic development consultancy.

'ORC International is offering some really ground-breaking market research techniques which I think are currently underused in Scotland,' stated Hearns. 'We are now able to bring tested approaches to our Scottish base, for example our free public sector benchmarking programme.'

Additionally, Hearns said that the firm will be offering clients in Scotland policy and customer satisfaction research services, as well as new techniques such as combining web-based analytical tools with ethnological research, to help clients understand how customers really use their web sites.

The firm is online at www.orc.co.uk .