German customer insight managers looking into the future at a recent coop meetup between ESOMAR and German national association BVM
September 2020 – as we enter the bustling period of a year where nothing is quite normal, we had the opportunity to join the German national research association BVM for a joint digital meetup – ESOMAR x BVM. Over 100 participants came together virtually as we explored “The Future Evolution of Market Research in Companies”. We asked: What are the key challenges insight managers are currently facing in their companies? What drives the evolution and the changes of the profession? What skills do insight managers need to navigate into the future successfully? And: what do they expect of agencies to support them optimally?
We started the event with an introduction to two recent ESOMAR studies on the value of customer insights in business amongst global insight professionals. We invited study author David Smith to join our meetup – one of the perks of digital events – and introduce the key results to the German audience. The key message from the global study: Insight managers need to free themselves from a pure ROI perspective of investment in insights – and focus on creating value for their companies by actively partaking in strategic business development and foresight. They need to be able to deliver both fast and slow solutions – harnessing the power of data analytics-driven approaches, but honing the skill of a methodically well-executed deep dive into understanding the WHY behind the WHAT of customer behaviour and attitudes. The big challenge for the future: creating a data and insight network in companies that enables businesses to become truly customer-centric – with all the challenges that entails with regard to different data sources, internal perspectives and power politics.
Next up, our BVM colleagues had compiled a panel of senior insight managers from a wide variety of businesses – Yvonne Engler of Bayer Healthcare, Anja Strauss of medical equipment maker Carl Zeiss Meditech, Susanne Stahl of professional Hair Care provider Kao Salon Germany, Sebastian Syperek of Deutsche Bahn and Martin Wysterski of price-comparison web service Idealo.
Despite the massively different business fields and differing internal setups of the insight function, all panel participants agreed on three key challenges:
1. Organising and coordinating data flows.
2. Being a guardian of quality and methodological excellence, while at the same time focusing on (3.) telling compelling stories to create impact beyond a research-savvy audience.
Regarding organising data flows, the jury is out on whether the insight department of the future will be a data powerhouse, where all data and insights are centrally sourced and managed, or whether companies will do better at having decentralised systems with the insight-ers being the something like network consultants. In any case, we heard the intriguing notion of the data journalist emerging – hinting towards the double challenge of bringing data and insight sources together, but then also relaying them in a captivating way to internal audiences. Further discussion also made it ruthlessly clear that research experts cannot always expect that their audiences are per se interested in research and methodology. They need to be able to build a compelling story that will cut through to all stakeholders (while having research results and data at hand to prove their points where needed). It’s not about presenting research results – it’s about co-shaping business decisions.
And yet, a very traditional skill of the insight manager is still in strong demand – that of being able to listen attentively to internal needs and translate these needs into fitting research questions. In fact, a question arose if this skill is more needed than ever before, in a world where data seems so readily accessible and DIY tools suggest that you can go out and do your research quite easily. Insight managers may need to increasingly become internal coaches and quality control guardians – working with and deciding together with internal teams when to choose a DIY approach, and when to bring in external experts.
And on the topic of external experts, we arrived at a reassuring conclusion that research agencies will always be needed. Firstly, it’s because they can skillfully execute methodologically difficult projects. Secondly, it’s because they are the innovation drive of the industry, designing and testing novel approaches and proposing it to businesses that might otherwise stick to the conventional. Thirdly, it’s because they can offer the stereo-vision position of the inside-outsider. Being able to see a business issue from the outside, but having sufficient knowledge and immersion into the client business to provide savvy consulting. It, of course, requires further establishing long-term partnerships between clients and agencies rather than hopping from agency to agency. And from an agency perspective: From mercenaries to strategic partners? A promising outlook.
