The global research programmes that deliver the best value are not the most standardised - and they are not usually the most elaborate. Learn how brands have created strong, flexible protocols by focusing on shorter, smarter surveys, local engagement and active leadership at the centre.
White Paper - leveraging Customer Inputs to Accelerate Business ObjectivesValueNotes
Successful companies place the customer at the heart of their business, and base their activities and decisions on the customer’s needs and preferences.
State of application performance management in the Indian BFSI sector ValueNotes
Almost every participant in the BFSI sector identifies application
uptime as a critical metric of application performance and recognises
the need for those applications to function optimally i.e. increase
productivity while reducing costs. But this study showed that
organisations did not have defined standards of measurement and
did not consider industry benchmarks as relevant indicators.
BCG has extensive experience supporting PMIs, particularly growth oriented complex technology integrations. Learn more about BCG's approach, tools, and perspective on what makes software integrations different.
The current model of GS100 is based on market performance and
leadership, breadth of services, spread of global delivery capabilities, and
customer leadership. Next year, we would extend the model to measure
how service providers move towards leveraging platforms and solutions to
deliver the next wave of business value.
Congratulations to all the GS100 companies!
White Paper - leveraging Customer Inputs to Accelerate Business ObjectivesValueNotes
Successful companies place the customer at the heart of their business, and base their activities and decisions on the customer’s needs and preferences.
State of application performance management in the Indian BFSI sector ValueNotes
Almost every participant in the BFSI sector identifies application
uptime as a critical metric of application performance and recognises
the need for those applications to function optimally i.e. increase
productivity while reducing costs. But this study showed that
organisations did not have defined standards of measurement and
did not consider industry benchmarks as relevant indicators.
BCG has extensive experience supporting PMIs, particularly growth oriented complex technology integrations. Learn more about BCG's approach, tools, and perspective on what makes software integrations different.
The current model of GS100 is based on market performance and
leadership, breadth of services, spread of global delivery capabilities, and
customer leadership. Next year, we would extend the model to measure
how service providers move towards leveraging platforms and solutions to
deliver the next wave of business value.
Congratulations to all the GS100 companies!
Digital Transformation of Procurement In 4 Basic StepsJon Hansen
The response to a Procurement Insights poll asking the question; “What is the most significant risk that procurement faces in 2020?” was telling in that the number one risk was not cyber-attacks, job security or supplier performance.
More than 40 percent of those who responded said that “digital strategy implementation” was the greatest risk procurement faces in 2020.
In this Knowledge Note, I will provide a breakdown of what is known as the Progressive Implementation Methodology. Based on four key elements or building blocks, this methodology will overcome the slow digital adoption and unfavorable outcomes associated with traditional consulting methodologies.
Competitive Intelligence Needs-Assessment: Asking the right questions ValueNotes
Competitive Intelligence (CI) plays a critical role in formulating an
organisation’s business strategy. It can make the difference between
winning and losing, survival and death. However, CI can only live up to this
expectation, if it addresses the right questions. Right answers to wrong
questions, will be wrong for the organization. What questions should the
organization ask in order to win? The answer to this requires clear logical
thinking on the part of both, the decision-makers who will use the
intelligence to further their business objectives, and competitive
intelligence analysts who will provide actionable inputs to facilitate the
decisions. Going about CI needs assessment in a systematic fashion helps
you hit the bull’s-eye.
We offer a guide to change management that enables data quality throughout the organization and a sample operational data quality scorecard. This helps making operational data quality a way of life in your enterprise, from data origination of data sources to transformation
Achieve Excellence through Customer ExperienceNaveen Agarwal
Consistently providing excellent customer experience is critical to business success. In this presentation, I share a systematic approach to build a sustainable process for excellence in customer experience.
Process Transformation: Your Questions AnsweredDATAMARK
Q&A with DATAMARK’s Director of Business Engineering Nina Brown, covering the topics of Issue Analysis, Business Process Re-Engineering and Assessing Outsourcing Options.
Please explore the presentation below for more detail, or reach out to one of the key contacts if you’d like to discuss how Venture Path could help your organisation innovate and grow.
Increasing project success rates using project behavioral coachingWGroup
This strategy brief discusses the use of project behavioral coaching, which is a technique based on the science of human behavior that can be used with any methodology to drive up success. Covers the high level steps used in performing the project behavioral coaching™ (PBC) technique as a guide for project professionals that desire an introduction to learning the basics.
Today’s most forward-thinking IT leaders view outsourcing not as a cost reduction tactic but rather as a strategic vehicle and catalyst for transforming the organization into a digital business. They have learned that taking an approach that drives alignment with business requirements, transforms the state of IT, and changes the “work” that is being done not only produces better service levels but also delivers exponentially greater cost savings. In this new white paper, "IT Outsourcing Is Not About Cost Savings", The Outsourcing Institute and WGroup have teamed up to provide guidance to help you rethink IT outsourcing and how you can deliver increased shareholder value.
Yonix presents: It’s all about stakeholder communicationyonix
It’s all about stakeholder communication: The role of business analysis in determining the success of projects.
As business analysts, it's our job to encourage collaboration and communication between technical and non-technical stakeholders. We represent the requirements of business stakeholders and translate this to our technical team members, and vice versa. We are the in essence, conduits of information.
A large majority of project failures are attributed to the requirements and analysis phases. Are we really doing what is required to meet business and stakeholder expectations?
During this session, Jody Bullen, CEO of Yonix will present some findings from a recent New Zealand survey, highlighting common business analysis problems faced in software development.
Aligning Business and Technology for Competitive AdvantageDijitle
Until quite recently, I.T. has functioned primarily as a technology implementer for the business. it has focused on providing a robust infrastructure, along with the implementation and integration of package software to automate the main business processes. But now we have entered the age of digital business, where many businesses exist solely because of technologies – in many cases technology is now driving the business rather than being subservient to it.
Ben Chamberlain, UMT360: PPM + Financial Intelligence = Greater ROIUMT
Ben Chamberlain, UMT360 gave this presentation at Microsoft and UMT event Project Portfolio Management Exchange at Microsoft San Francisco office on January 14, 2014.
Digital Transformation of Procurement In 4 Basic StepsJon Hansen
The response to a Procurement Insights poll asking the question; “What is the most significant risk that procurement faces in 2020?” was telling in that the number one risk was not cyber-attacks, job security or supplier performance.
More than 40 percent of those who responded said that “digital strategy implementation” was the greatest risk procurement faces in 2020.
In this Knowledge Note, I will provide a breakdown of what is known as the Progressive Implementation Methodology. Based on four key elements or building blocks, this methodology will overcome the slow digital adoption and unfavorable outcomes associated with traditional consulting methodologies.
Competitive Intelligence Needs-Assessment: Asking the right questions ValueNotes
Competitive Intelligence (CI) plays a critical role in formulating an
organisation’s business strategy. It can make the difference between
winning and losing, survival and death. However, CI can only live up to this
expectation, if it addresses the right questions. Right answers to wrong
questions, will be wrong for the organization. What questions should the
organization ask in order to win? The answer to this requires clear logical
thinking on the part of both, the decision-makers who will use the
intelligence to further their business objectives, and competitive
intelligence analysts who will provide actionable inputs to facilitate the
decisions. Going about CI needs assessment in a systematic fashion helps
you hit the bull’s-eye.
We offer a guide to change management that enables data quality throughout the organization and a sample operational data quality scorecard. This helps making operational data quality a way of life in your enterprise, from data origination of data sources to transformation
Achieve Excellence through Customer ExperienceNaveen Agarwal
Consistently providing excellent customer experience is critical to business success. In this presentation, I share a systematic approach to build a sustainable process for excellence in customer experience.
Process Transformation: Your Questions AnsweredDATAMARK
Q&A with DATAMARK’s Director of Business Engineering Nina Brown, covering the topics of Issue Analysis, Business Process Re-Engineering and Assessing Outsourcing Options.
Please explore the presentation below for more detail, or reach out to one of the key contacts if you’d like to discuss how Venture Path could help your organisation innovate and grow.
Increasing project success rates using project behavioral coachingWGroup
This strategy brief discusses the use of project behavioral coaching, which is a technique based on the science of human behavior that can be used with any methodology to drive up success. Covers the high level steps used in performing the project behavioral coaching™ (PBC) technique as a guide for project professionals that desire an introduction to learning the basics.
Today’s most forward-thinking IT leaders view outsourcing not as a cost reduction tactic but rather as a strategic vehicle and catalyst for transforming the organization into a digital business. They have learned that taking an approach that drives alignment with business requirements, transforms the state of IT, and changes the “work” that is being done not only produces better service levels but also delivers exponentially greater cost savings. In this new white paper, "IT Outsourcing Is Not About Cost Savings", The Outsourcing Institute and WGroup have teamed up to provide guidance to help you rethink IT outsourcing and how you can deliver increased shareholder value.
Yonix presents: It’s all about stakeholder communicationyonix
It’s all about stakeholder communication: The role of business analysis in determining the success of projects.
As business analysts, it's our job to encourage collaboration and communication between technical and non-technical stakeholders. We represent the requirements of business stakeholders and translate this to our technical team members, and vice versa. We are the in essence, conduits of information.
A large majority of project failures are attributed to the requirements and analysis phases. Are we really doing what is required to meet business and stakeholder expectations?
During this session, Jody Bullen, CEO of Yonix will present some findings from a recent New Zealand survey, highlighting common business analysis problems faced in software development.
Aligning Business and Technology for Competitive AdvantageDijitle
Until quite recently, I.T. has functioned primarily as a technology implementer for the business. it has focused on providing a robust infrastructure, along with the implementation and integration of package software to automate the main business processes. But now we have entered the age of digital business, where many businesses exist solely because of technologies – in many cases technology is now driving the business rather than being subservient to it.
Ben Chamberlain, UMT360: PPM + Financial Intelligence = Greater ROIUMT
Ben Chamberlain, UMT360 gave this presentation at Microsoft and UMT event Project Portfolio Management Exchange at Microsoft San Francisco office on January 14, 2014.
We’re entering a new era of digital government that could transform how citizens feel about their state. Here’s what research needs to do, to make it happen.
Informed Manufacturing: Reaching for New HorizonsCognizant
Although still in its infancy, informed manufacturing -- making the right information available in the right form at the right time -- is advancing across industry sectors. Cognizant's recent in-depth study involving interviews with manufacturing CXOs, engineering firms, service and IT providers, academia and industry analysts worldwide, revealed that while most companies understand the signifiance of informed manufacturing, many are proceeding carefully -- working to balance the conflicting priorities of managing day-to-day business while focusing on innovation and breakthrough initiatives. They see external support as a critical success factor.
Best Practices for Implementing Self-Service AnalyticsMattSaxton5
Self-service analytics is generally recognized as a valuable asset within corporate strategies, and it’s easy to see why: it provides process experts with the user-friendly tools they need to tackle their day-to-day challenges. It allows problems to be resolved faster and frees up central analytics groups to focus on other pressing issues.
In this ebook, we will share five key learnings from some of our most successful customers in order to help you drive your self-service analytics journey towards success.
Learn more about advanced industrial analytics at www.trendminer.com
Outcome Engineering 101: Five Guidelines to Delivering Products that Create I...Cognizant
It’s time to shift to an evolved, technology-empowered design mindset. As technology informs design, and good design arms technology to become most effective by engaging with users, the two now sit at the top of the product development pyramid to co-create success.
Report on strategic rules of Information System for changing the bases of com...Md. Khukan Miah
Achieving advantages requires broad IS management and user dialogue plus imagination. The process is complicated by the fact that many IS products are strategic though the potential benefits are very subjective and not easily verified. Often a strict ROI focus by senior management may turn attention toward narrow, well-defined targets as opposed to broader strategic opportunities that are harder to analyze.
Every company, of every size, in every corner of the globe collaborates on one level or another. At one end of the spectrum lies tactical communication and coordination between people, teams, partners and customers. However, the other end of the spectrum is reserved for those who have established the tools, process and culture, and optimized their environment for Collaboration - those who are Collaborating with a "big C". White paper by Bill Haskins, Senior Analyst at Wainhouse Research.
Outcome Engineering 101: Five Guidelines to Delivering Products that Create I...Cognizant
It’s time to shift to an evolved, technology-empowered design mindset. As technology informs design, and good design arms technology to become most effective by engaging with users, the two now sit at the top of the product development pyramid to co-create success.
Bridging the divide between brand and shopper marketingTNS
A new approach to mapping the shopper journey can drive more meaningful integration between brand and shopper marketing, and ensure brand equity translates into sales more effectively. We reveal the four principles that can connect your marketing strategy to what really drives buying decisions.
Getting to know the giant of Africa: opportunities for brands in NigeriaTNS
It’s the largest economy in Africa and one of the fastest-growing on earth, but how well do you really know Nigeria? Here’s our summary of the key opportunities.
Consumer confidence is rebounding in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. We’ve got the essential strategies for brands looking to align themselves with a positive national mood.
Transform results by focusing on receptive audiences TNS
The best ad in the world won’t deliver results if it can’t reach those likely to buy its product. A future-focused approach to identifying receptive audiences is delivering results where traditional targeting has failed.
It's a universal archetype that dominates the human consciousness and occupies an emotional space many brands aspire to. But taking on the Hero role demands a very different approach in different markets. We present the essential playbook for would-be Heroes.
Extensive research from TNS proves that social media and search data can accurately predict the results of brand tracker surveys months in advance. The implications for market research are enormous.
Brands cannot succeed at traditional trade without engaging the shopkeepers who control almost every aspect of it. We present a framework for understanding the motivations of traditional trade’s gatekeepers – and influencing their decisions.
Like most businesses, political players want to increase their slice of the available market – and like most businesses, they can only do so through proper, contextual understanding.
A groundbreaking study by TNS proves that mobile apps are not disrupting purchases in anything like the numbers that previous research suggests. Far from being threatened by mobile, retailers are in the best position to take advantage of it.
From Disney princesses to Dove, metaphor is a powerfully emotive tool for marketers. But it’s vital for brands to understand how the meaning of their metaphors changes between cultures.
Brands and retailers alike should be demanding more from online sales. Connected Life reveals the barriers to eCommerce fulfilling its potential – and shows how marketers can overcome them.
The dark days are over: it’s time to meet the new CambodiaTNS
Nestled between Vietnam and Thailand on the Indochina Peninsula, Cambodia is often overlooked in favour of its wealthier neighbours. The country’s history has also cast a shadow over how it is perceived by the rest of the world, and with good reason. The genocide led by Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s resulted in the deaths of an estimated 25% of the population, including many of the intellectual elite.
It’s a great step forward, but mobile-first design is no substitute for genuinely mobile-centric planning. Here’s how to put your brand at the heart of the handset.
Digital markets can adopt different personalities as they evolve. Understanding each one is the key to turning media fragmentation into precise communication opportunities.
Predicting, managing and profiting from new technologies is one of the most important challenges that business leaders face.
It requires them to integrate a hugely diverse range of perspectives in a meaningful way: they must balance the insights of technology specialists with those of consumer experts, they must understand the related technologies that will determine a new launch’s success, and they must predict the moves and motivations of all of the players behind those technologies.
In the Year of the Horse, there is no letting up in China’s passion for luxury horsepower. Despite concerns over economic slowdowns and government regulations, the number of new manufacturers and new models competing in this sector continues to grow.
In ‘Auto insights: the luxe edition’, we’ll take you on a tour of the high-end of the auto market and the changing meaning of luxury itself, including:
Good performance alone cannot crack the complex code that governs the strength of your customer relationships and the sustainability of your business. As competition intensifies, it is essential to get smarter about the experiences that matter, and deliver return on the bottom line.
It's another new era of digital and marketers are faced with making big bets on their digital strategy. If you are looking at modernizing your tech stack to support your digital evolution, there are a few can't miss (often overlooked) areas that should be part of every conversation. We'll cover setting your vision, avoiding siloes, adding a democratized approach to data strategy, localization, creating critical governance requirements and more. Attendees will walk away with actions they can take into initiatives they are running today and consider for the future.
SMM Cheap - No. 1 SMM panel in the worldsmmpanel567
Boost your social media marketing with our SMM Panel services offering SMM Cheap services! Get cost-effective services for your business and increase followers, likes, and engagement across all social media platforms. Get affordable services perfect for businesses and influencers looking to increase their social proof. See how cheap SMM strategies can help improve your social media presence and be a pro at the social media game.
Digital Commerce Lecture for Advanced Digital & Social Media Strategy at UCLA...Valters Lauzums
E-commerce in 2024 is characterized by a dynamic blend of opportunities and significant challenges. Supply chain disruptions and inventory shortages are critical issues, leading to increased shipping delays and rising costs, which impact timely delivery and squeeze profit margins. Efficient logistics management is essential, yet it is often hampered by these external factors. Payment processing, while needing to ensure security and user convenience, grapples with preventing fraud and integrating diverse payment methods, adding another layer of complexity. Furthermore, fulfillment operations require a streamlined approach to handle volume spikes and maintain accuracy in order picking, packing, and shipping, all while meeting customers' heightened expectations for faster delivery times.
Amid these operational challenges, customer data has emerged as an important strategy. By focusing on personalization and enhancing customer experience from historical behavior, businesses can deliver improved website and brand experienced, better product recommendations, optimal promotions, and content to meet individual preferences. Better data analytics can also help in effectively creating marketing campaigns, improving customer retention, and driving product development and inventory management.
Innovative formats such as social commerce and live shopping are beginning to impact the digital commerce landscape, offering new ways to engage with customers and drive sales, and may provide opportunity for brands that have been priced out or seen a downturn with post-pandemic shopping behavior. Social commerce integrates shopping experiences directly into social media platforms, tapping into the massive user bases of these networks to increase reach and engagement. Live shopping, on the other hand, combines entertainment and real-time interaction, providing a dynamic platform for showcasing products and encouraging immediate purchases. These innovations not only enhance customer engagement but also provide valuable data for businesses to refine their strategies and deliver superior shopping experiences.
The e-commerce sector is evolving rapidly, and businesses that effectively manage operational challenges and implement innovative strategies are best positioned for long-term success.
In this presentation, Danny Leibrandt explains the impact of AI on SEO and what Google has been doing about it. Learn how to take your SEO game to the next level and win over Google with his new strategy anyone can use. Get actionable steps to rank your name, your business, and your clients on Google - the right way.
Key Takeaways:
1. Real content is king
2. Find ways to show EEAT
3. Repurpose across all platforms
Mastering Multi-Touchpoint Content Strategy: Navigate Fragmented User JourneysSearch Engine Journal
Digital platforms are constantly multiplying, and with that, user engagement is becoming more intricate and fragmented.
So how do you effectively navigate distributing and tailoring your content across these various touchpoints?
Watch this webinar as we dive into the evolving landscape of content strategy tailored for today's fragmented user journeys. Understanding how to deliver your content to your users is more crucial than ever, and we’ll provide actionable tips for navigating these intricate challenges.
You’ll learn:
- How today’s users engage with content across various channels and devices.
- The latest methodologies for identifying and addressing content gaps to keep your content strategy proactive and relevant.
- What digital shelf space is and how your content strategy needs to pivot.
With Wayne Cichanski, we’ll explore innovative strategies to map out and meet the diverse needs of your audience, ensuring every piece of content resonates and connects, regardless of where or how it is consumed.
For too many years marketing and sales have operated in silos...while in some forward thinking companies, the two organizations work together to drive new opportunity development and revenue. This session will explore the lessons learned in that beautiful dance that can occur when marketing and sales work together...to drive new opportunity development, account expansion and customer satisfaction.
No, this is not a conversation about MQLs and SQLs. Instead we will focus on a framework that allows the two organizations to drive company success together.
The digital marketing industry is changing faster than ever and those who don’t adapt with the times are losing market share. Where should marketers be focusing their efforts? What strategies are the experts seeing get the best results? Get up-to-speed with the latest industry insights, trends and predictions for the future in this panel discussion with some leading digital marketing experts.
Most small businesses struggle to see marketing results. In this session, we will eliminate any confusion about what to do next, solving your marketing problems so your business can thrive. You’ll learn how to create a foundational marketing OS (operating system) based on neuroscience and backed by real-world results. You’ll be taught how to develop deep customer connections, and how to have your CRM dynamically segment and sell at any stage in the customer’s journey. By the end of the session, you’ll remove confusion and chaos and replace it with clarity and confidence for long-term marketing success.
Key Takeaways:
• Uncover the power of a foundational marketing system that dynamically communicates with prospects and customers on autopilot.
• Harness neuroscience and Tribal Alignment to transform your communication strategies, turning potential clients into fans and those fans into loyal customers.
• Discover the art of automated segmentation, pinpointing your most lucrative customers and identifying the optimal moments for successful conversions.
• Streamline your business with a content production plan that eliminates guesswork, wasted time, and money.
In this presentation, Danny Leibrandt explains the impact of AI on SEO and what Google has been doing about it. Learn how to take your SEO game to the next level and win over Google with his new strategy anyone can use. Get actionable steps to rank your name, your business, and your clients on Google - the right way.
Key Takeaways:
1. Real content is king
2. Find ways to show EEAT
3. Repurpose across all platforms
AI-Powered Personalization: Principles, Use Cases, and Its Impact on CROVWO
In today’s era of AI, personalization is more than just a trend—it’s a fundamental strategy that unlocks numerous opportunities.
When done effectively, personalization builds trust, loyalty, and satisfaction among your users—key factors for business success. However, relying solely on AI capabilities isn’t enough. You need to anchor your approach in solid principles, understand your users’ context, and master the art of persuasion.
Join us as Sarjak Patel and Naitry Saggu from 3rd Eye Consulting unveil a transformative framework. This approach seamlessly integrates your unique context, consumer insights, and conversion goals, paving the way for unparalleled success in personalization.
Top 3 Ways to Align Sales and Marketing Teams for Rapid GrowthDemandbase
In this session, Demandbase’s Stephanie Quinn, Sr. Director of Integrated and Digital Marketing, Devin Rosenberg, Director of Sales, and Kevin Rooney, Senior Director of Sales Development will share how sales and marketing shapes their day-to-day and what key areas are needed for true alignment.
Financial curveballs sent many American families reeling in 2023. Household budgets were squeezed by rising interest rates, surging prices on everyday goods, and a stagnating housing market. Consumers were feeling strapped. That sentiment, however, appears to be waning. The question is, to what extent?
To take the pulse of consumers’ feelings about their financial well-being ahead of a highly anticipated election, ThinkNow conducted a nationally representative quantitative survey. The survey highlights consumers’ hopes and anxieties as we move into 2024. Let's unpack the key findings to gain insights about where we stand.
10 Video Ideas Any Business Can Make RIGHT NOW!
You'll never draw a blank again on what kind of video to make for your business. Go beyond the basic categories and truly reimagine a brand new advanced way to brainstorm video content creation. During this masterclass you'll be challenged to think creatively and outside of the box and view your videos through lenses you may have never thought of previously. It's guaranteed that you'll leave with more than 10 video ideas, but I like to under-promise and over-deliver. Don't miss this session.
Key Takeaways:
How to use the Video Matrix
How to use additional "Lenses"
Where to source original video ideas
Monthly Social Media News Update May 2024Andy Lambert
TL;DR. These are the three themes that stood out to us over the course of last month.
1️⃣ Social media is becoming increasingly significant for brand discovery. Marketers are now understanding the impact of social and budgets are shifting accordingly.
2️⃣ Instagram’s new algorithm and latest guidance will help us maintain organic growth. Instagram continues to evolve, but Reels remains the most crucial tool for growth.
3️⃣ Collaboration will help us unlock growth. Who we work with will define how fast we grow. Meta continues to evolve their Creator Marketplace and now TikTok are beginning to push ‘collabs’ more too.
The digital marketing industry is changing faster than ever and those who don’t adapt with the times are losing market share. Where should marketers be focusing their efforts? What strategies are the experts seeing get the best results? Get up-to-speed with the latest industry insights, trends and predictions for the future in this panel discussion with some leading digital marketing experts.
2. Share this
2
The Paradox of Protocols
Intelligence Applied
The global research programmes that
are delivering best value are not the
most standardised. If you want to drive
consistency across your organisation –
build in more flexibility, not less, and
invest in long term partnerships.
3. Share this
3
The Paradox of Protocols
Intelligence Applied
At TNS, we see many clients embark on programmes
to define a standard research methodology that will
guide research decisions across their organisation.
Great care is taken in scrutinising alternative
approaches and trying to anticipate all of the business
questions that the research should answer. Yet
some of these programmes fail to gain traction or
deliver real benefits, fading away within a year or
two. Paradoxically, a frequent cause of failure is an
elaborate survey design which covers all bases, yet still
fails to address local needs.
In our experience, the programmes which gain
momentum are those with strong but flexible research
design, where attention has been paid to engaging
the organisation. What is it that underpins successful
protocols? Three aspects are critical: shorter smarter
surveys, local engagement and active strategic
leadership from the centre.
Sarah Mitson
Global Business Director
Less is more
The traditional way to earn support for standards is to
try and include questions to keep everyone happy. In
reality though, shorter smarter surveys hold the key to
adding value efficiently.
Short surveys drive up data quality by reducing
irrelevant questions, keeping respondents interested
and fieldwork costs down. This involves considerable
discipline when it comes to survey design: weeding
out questions that we know respondents struggle to
answer accurately, such as those based on memory or
behavioural intent, and not overloading respondents
with tasks such as attributing values to brands that
they don’t consider anyway.
But taking questions out only works if you leave
the right ones in. Smart surveys ask questions that
have been proven to reflect consumer preferences
accurately, and which are relevant to the way
*Protocol: The accepted or established code of procedure
or behaviour in an organization – in research terms,
a standard methodology applied over multiple studies
for a given business question / metric.
4. Share this
4
The Paradox of Protocols
Intelligence Applied
Managing a global
electronics portfolio
How do you manage demanding product life cycles
in a global electronics company? Products need to
get to market fast. Your research needs to anticipate
consumer needs.
A set of disciplined and timely research protocols is
the secret of success for one of our global clients.
The development cycle has four lenses through which
innovations are assessed: brand, communications,
dealers and shoppers. Each lens has a few carefully
designed research interventions at defined stages.
The ability to conduct the research to consistent
standards across the world is critical for the central
Innovation team, which must refine and launch global
products to succeed across diverse markets.
This client owns the protocol, but chooses from a limited
number of global research agencies able to deliver
accurately and to time regardless of market.
consumers make decisions. They are also flexible,
with a strong small core of mandatory questions,
consistently applied everywhere, and modular add-
ons that can be used to incorporate the local or
brand-specific questions that will provide answers to
current business issues.
TNS has been pioneering the use of shorter, smarter
surveys in multiple disciplines. Our core questions are
validated to be predictive, and can be completed in
three minutes or less. We find that strong consistent
core metrics enhance global understanding of local
results, and the brevity of this core delivers concrete
advantages: lower respondent dropout and fieldwork
costs, ability to deliver survey on mobile devices, and
room to add tailored questions.
The efficiency of shorter, smarter surveys provides
global protocols with a great starting point, but
their effectiveness at delivering valuable insight also
depends upon their ability to engage the organisation
as a whole.
5. Share this
5
The Paradox of Protocols
Intelligence Applied
Engaging the whole organisation
The decision to standardise design for a research
area is rarely taken lightly. It is usually part of a wider
marketing initiative to improve strategic alignment
across the international brand portfolio through
common processes and metrics. Despite this, it is
often left solely to the Head of Insights to specify the
brief and screen potential partners. The best change
programmes involve central and local stakeholders,
both in creating the brief, screening potential partners
and at implementation. They focus on the purpose
of the programme as much as the methodology,
and they consider the programme an investment in
creating better marketing tools, not simply a cost
saving exercise. This provides a far better basis for
engaging the organisation behind it.
The importance of involving local business units early
cannot be overstated. Too many central teams assume
that it’s enough to hold a brief webinar to inform
local teams of the new protocol. In practice, we find
that engagement improves with early consultation
and is reinforced by embedding core metrics in the
marketing planning process.
Although it is possible to enforce compliance from
the centre, local teams may find ways around the
rules: programmes that are duplicative or ignored are
wasteful and are a symptom of a programme not
delivering value at a local level. The best way to avoid
this is choosing a strong strategic research partner
with local teams that are experts at delivering at the
grassroots and are capable of building relationships
on the basis of local and global knowledge.
Going global requires protocols that can flex
methodology across diverse markets. Understanding
the rapid changes in the digital landscape is therefore
critical in that it helps inform the most effective
methods and hardware for collecting survey data.
This ultimately requires device-agnostic designs that
can be delivered face-to-face and across different
device platforms (PC, tablet, mobile), to suit the
target respondent.
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6
The Paradox of Protocols
Intelligence Applied
Strategic leadership from the centre
The role of the centre should be more than best
practice design or senior sponsor. For a programme
to deliver real value, it needs active management
by a strong Insights team as well as sponsorship
by the CMO and regional executives. It is usual for
the Insights lead to take responsibility for design,
compliance and demonstrating how the programme
supports business decisions. However, two additional
responsibilities are often overlooked: meta-learning
and modernisation.
The purpose of meta-learning is to increase both
the effectiveness and efficiency of the programme.
It is surprising how few organisations invest
management time and attention in ensuring the
organisation understands and acts on the learning
from its global research programmes. This can be
as simple as ‘knowing what we know’ – having
visibility of research done across the world and
sharing it between markets and categories. However
more value can be generated when the protocol’s
consistency allows themes to be captured and
Designing the cars
of the future
The cars of tomorrow are already here: prototypes locked
securely into the R&D cycle of global auto manufacturers.
How do auto clients test they are going to be a
commercial success before they scale up production?
The auto industry has a standard approach called ‘car
clinics’. Prototypes are flown into a specially fitted out
venue and the ‘showroom’ is opened up to carefully
selected potential consumers. This requires meticulous
planning and tight security. From a research perspective,
every ounce of information needs to be extracted from
the event to justify the investment.
An auto client knows that context is everything. A good
meal, the right lighting, can affect consumer response
to the car they are being asked to assess. They therefore
need rigorous protocols, which control every variable.
Clients who specify the carpet colour and wallpaper of
the research environment are not being pedantic – they
are protecting their ability to predict the outcome of
major investments in the next generation of vehicles.
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generalisations made, informing global strategy.
Ultimately, research that is predictive (and so drives
future business decisions) is the gold standard for
meta-learning.
Many successful protocols become the language of
the organisation, a common way of understanding
brand and customer performance. Over two to three
years, such protocols take on a life of their own
and become “the way we do things around here”.
Unchecked, this institutionalisation can itself be a
threat to future effectiveness. With the rapid move
of consumers and customers online, marketing
has had to reinvent itself for a digital world – and
protocols must keep pace with this reinvention. If a
programme has not been reviewed and modernised
within the last few years it is almost certainly out
of date. We recommend a substantial review of
protocols at least every three years to improve
relevance and benefit from the latest research
technologies, with the responsibility for modernising
the programme shared between the central client
and strategic research partner.
Conclusion
The real value of global protocols is not in their
economic savings, but in the common language and
the meta learning’s that can drive quicker decisions
in an organisation as a result of a well-run global
programme. These programmes require smart
design, a determination to build in local flexibility,
and strategic leadership that recognises that metrics
need to drive business decisions throughout the
organisation, not just at the centre. This is not easy,
but changes in marketing, technology and research
methods make it necessary, and we see increasing
numbers of global clients who are now making it
a reality.
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About Connected Life
Intelligence Applied is the home of the latest thinking from TNS, where we discuss the issues impacting
our clients, explore what makes people tick and spotlight how these insights can create opportunities for
business growth.
Please visit www.tnsglobal.com/intelligence-applied for further information.
About TNS
TNS advises clients on specific growth strategies around new market entry, innovation, brand switching and
customer and employee relationships, based on long-established expertise and market-leading solutions. With
a presence in over 80 countries, TNS has more conversations with the world’s consumers than anyone else and
understands individual human behaviours and attitudes across every cultural, economic and political region of
the world.
TNS is part of Kantar, the data investment management division of WPP and one of the world’s largest insight,
information and consultancy groups.
Get in touch
If you would like to talk to us about anything you have read in this report, please get in touch via
enquiries@tnsglobal.com or via Twitter @tns_global
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Sarah Mitson, TNS’s Global Business
Director, helps our global clients optimise
their multi-country insight programmes and
apply innovative research solutions across
their organisations. To find out more about
how TNS can support you in renovating your international
programmes, contact Sarah at sarah.mitson@tnsglobal.com
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