Specialization picked up - research
teams became more and more practice
area specialists - brand, advertising,
communication, customer experience,
innovation and so on. Client questions
became more complex and pointed to
seeking answers to growth opportunities
- as achieving growth became harder and
harder - partly due to fast evolving market
dynamics.
2017 onwards marked the start of the
latest season - the one I am calling the Fast
tech. In this season, data and information
is in abundance - in fact, in some cases,
clients are becoming owners of self-
generated, internal data. This has meant
pressure on data collection costs as value
of data declines and shifts to expertise in
making sense of the data in a way that can
impact business in a positive manner.
In general, the industry continues to adopt
and invest in automation and machine
learning amidst prediction that the entire
industry may slow down as this disruption
gets more intense. In Kenya specifically,
the industry remained generally flat into
last year according to Esomar data 2018.
Even though we may not be at the same
level as the developed market research
markets in terms of adoption of artificial
intelligence, machine learning and
general automation, the effects of these
mega shifts are already evident locally.
DIY research is growing as focus on
The word agile re-
search is becoming
almost mainstream
as small, micro sur-
veys become more
common. Because of
the growth of tech-
nology as a platform
for market research,
partnerships
and
acquisitions will be
common as under-
standing of real time
consumer behaviour
becomes more criti-
cal to guiding busi-
ness decisions.
46 MAL32/19 ISSUE
2017 onwards marked the start of the
latest season - the one I am calling the
Fast tech. In this season, data and infor-
mation is in abundance - in fact, in some
cases, clients are becoming owners of
self-generated, internal data. This has
meant pressure on data collection costs
as value of data declines and shifts to
expertise in making sense of the data
in a way that can impact business in a
positive manner.
understanding quick business questions
that do not need massive research budgets
rises, speed is trumping quality - learning
quickly at minimal cost and executing the
insights is becoming part of the pressure
in the insights teams.
The word agile research is becoming almost
mainstream as small, micro surveys become
more common. Because of the growth
of technology as a platform for market
research, partnerships and acquisitions
will be common as understanding of real
time consumer behaviour becomes more
critical to guiding business decisions.
Sources of data and collection methods
are also starting to shift, faster now -
interest, discussion and application of
passive methods of data collection is
growing fast. Soon, active questioning
might be a thing of the past. This means
that social listening will be a must for
marketing teams and by extension, for
market research and insights teams.
Overall, as more and more diverse
sets of data accumulate - from brand
communication to customer data, social
media posts to macro-economic data,
consumer sentiment and public affairs
data, artificial intelligence will help
bring some sense by trying to identify
interconnections or patterns that can
be used to advise business decisions or
investments.
However, such connections may lack
the human touch - the exciting creation
of stories that can explain the human
motivations - or in simple terms, the
WHY behind the observed behaviours
and lead to new levels of segmentation
- all the way to personalization of offers
based on deep understanding of specific
motivations.
So, what is next for market research? From
an operations point of view, increasing
automation and growing availability of
client owned and other data will mean
less time will be spent collecting data
- this means future operations will be
leaner and designed for the fast tech
season - digital, social listening, consumer
panels management and data science
teams will play a bigger role in collection,
management and integration of data.
Industry revenue growth will be driven by
new research types and how fast players
get into the fast tech space.
From people and skills perspective, new
skills will be required beyond the technical
researcher of the years gone by - may be
a hybrid of technical research knowledge
and story-telling? Right brainers will
start to rule in market research? Or may
be a full insights gurus who will look at
connecting the revealed data patterns and
inter-relations in the context of client
strategy to help businesses grow amidst
the reality of disruption?
Whichever way, the future we thought was
far off is already here - the 3rd evolution,
very fast paced - we also need to evolve,
very fast!
Enock Wandera currently serves as
the Chief Client Officer at Ipsos
Limited. You can commune with
him on this and related matters on
mail via: Enock.Wandera@ipsos.
com.