About a 2 min. read.
Last week, CMB had the pleasure of attending the Insights Association North Atlantic Chapter’s Future of Insights Conference in Boston. The conference was a great opportunity to network with other industry professionals and learn about the latest trends in market research.
Here are our top takeaways:
Utilizing AI, technology, and innovative research methods aren’t a selling point; they are the expectation. The market research industry is rapidly evolving, and it was really inspiring to learn more about tools and technology that challenge traditional survey research methods. The keynote speech from Kevin Karty at Intuify, “How AI Can Help Radically Humanize Research,” discussed how we can all leverage conversational AI to make surveys more engaging and well…human. CMB has already been integrating AI into our products and services, and we look forward to innovating and growing even more as the technology and tools available accelerate.
While perceptions and comfort levels with AI vary, this technology can be leveraged to foster a more inclusive workplace. Taylor Owen, from Applied Marketing Science, had a great session on “Neurodiversity’s Impact on Market Research and the Workplace” that highlighted how technology—such as AI, voice-to-text tools, and ChatGPT—can enhance accessibility in market research for neurodivergent populations. Diversity of minds, amongst others, should be a priority in our industry as it allows for creative research designs that lead to innovative insights for our clients.
The “Future of Insights: A Client POV” panel—featuring Amy Santopietro and Julia Sorensen of Mass General Brigham, and insights from Meredith Morris of Ahold Delhaize, and Charles Wilson of New Balance—proved that doing our job well means making the client’s job easy. Delivering excellent insights requires understanding the client’s industry, their business, and their specific business questions, as well as understanding how your specific client likes to work. Some clients prefer data-dump reports, while others want short, concise, high-level findings. Some want us to draw conclusions and connections to their business while others prefer to do that themselves. Building strong working relationships with the client is as important as the deliverable, and in fact elevates the deliverable to fit the client’s needs.
The work we do is important, impactful, and drives decisions…yet, it can also be stressful, overwhelming, and anxiety-inducing. This is a common experience among researchers, and yet we feel as though we can’t share these concerns with our peers. Jim Schaffer’s presentation on “Mindful Insights: Cultivating Resilience in a Digital Age” helped break that invisible wall for those in attendance. Jim’s presentation might not have touched directly on the emergence of AI, evolution of synthetic data, or why we need better data quality controls, but it touched at the heart of it all. If WE can’t show up to be present and available for these topics, it is all for naught. We must prioritize our mental health and well-being first to be good researchers, partners, and thought leaders.
These takeaways are just a sliver of what was presented and talked about at the conference. Want to hear more? Contact Us.