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Brand Strategy
June 18, 2018
Creating change is difficult, but with the right processes, risks can be minimized and change successfully implemented.
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Editor’s Intro: Someone told me years ago that the main difference between market researchers and consultants is that researchers sell standardized products while consultants sell standardized processes. With that in mind, Tim Brightwell gives a solid overview of a process by which companies can, confidently and successfully, deploy new technology platforms for market research. There are lessons here for implementing any significant new market research innovation.
We are lucky to work in an industry that celebrates innovation, change and disruption. Global and regional conferences include forward-thinking speaking tracks on new technologies and methods, thought leaders share ways to move us into the future in industry publications and people get excited about advances that are poised to transform the way we work. Unfortunately, our industry has also historically been very slow to adopt and actually use these innovations.
Some of the most talked-about fields that promise to revolutionize our space in recent months include artificial intelligence (and its subset, machine learning) and automation. The possibilities that these technologies open up are profound: from providing massive time and cost savings all the way to shifting the skill set needed for people entering and working in the market research field.
Yet, implementation and real-world use of these technologies remains low. Not because researchers and their clients don’t want the benefits that things like automation provide, but more because of an overall resistance to change for a wide variety of reasons. You might hear things like: “Budgets are tight, we don’t want to spend our allotted funds on something we aren’t sure will work.” OR “Personally, I’m excited to try this, but my boss or other stakeholders in the company want it done as it always has been.” OR “I’m waiting for these new technologies to mature and then I’ll reevaluate.” In short, there is a great amount of fear about a possible misstep by moving outside of the comfort zone that the status quo provides.
These concerns are understandable. There are risks if new technology fails to deliver on its promises, both in terms of company investment and personal career. I maintain that to predict the future is to create it, and this same mindset has been the motivation behind some early adoption of these new technologies. One of the best ways to approach this challenge is to create a process that relies on stepping stones, so concerns can be alleviated and results demonstrated all through the implantation path. Some of these steps include:
Demonstrating the power of a new technology, while often impressive, is not always enough to put it into practice. There are several other steps along the way that can help companies ease into adoption, centering around over-communication and thinking ahead. Let’s start creating the future for the insights industry!
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The views, opinions, data, and methodologies expressed above are those of the contributor(s) and do not necessarily reflect or represent the official policies, positions, or beliefs of Greenbook.
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