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Ben Willson
Director, Online Research Services
ACNielsen Asia Pacific
Refer to the ‘Information Super Highway’ today and you’ll sound positively old fashioned. Technology over the past 10 years has progressed at lightning speed and things continue to evolve. These days, standing at the edge of the Highway, traffic appears to be moving so fast, sometimes you may wonder how you’ll ever get on to it.
The key technological challenge facing many companies today is understanding how best to make use of it. Integration of new technology into mainstream business can sometimes be a painful process, but it doesn’t always have to be. Fear of the unknown and unwillingness to adapt are often the biggest hurdles to overcome, so it pays to recognise this from the outset and have a strategy that focuses on business and employee benefits, rather than the technology itself. Remember the old saying ‘Begin with the end in mind’? Well, that end should consist of tasks being performed, efficiencies being gained and needs being met, rather than a state of the art marvel of technology. Technology is evolving faster than the needs of businesses and consumers, so having a strategy that is firmly focused on a business outcome is vital. Some general guidelines when considering your technology strategy should include:
- Be realistic about automation. In the end, it comes down to cost versus benefit, so make sure you are well aware of both.
- Make sure your key IT leaders have business skills and can articulate solutions in a language that makes sense to your business and more importantly, your customers.
- Don’t ever be afraid to ask questions. If you don’t fully understand, keep asking questions until you do.
- Keep it simple. If it makes people’s jobs more complicated, then it will be difficult to gain acceptance and obtain results.
- Plan. Even if you plan to do nothing for now, make sure you have a plan in place. If you don’t have a plan, you run the risk of being out-manoeuvred by competitors.
At ACNielsen, a significant part of our business involves the collection and processing of information. Technology has had a huge impact on our business and continues to do so. With the emergence of the Internet as a means of interacting and collecting information, we quickly saw an opportunity to adapt our business to include this new medium and offer even more insights to our clients. Six years ago, we began conducting research online. Today, we have completed over 1,500 online studies! Our Online business is firmly integrated as one of our core research methods, offering clients the ability to gain market intelligence and insight faster and more cost effectively than ever thought possible. We have also introduced innovative technology, taking online research to a new level with the inclusion of interactive visual stimuli for some of our online products such as packs@work and eQ.
In addition to these online initiatives, we are also integrating offline handheld (PDA) interviewing to replace pen and paper, and converging this, our telephone interviewing and online research all into the one simple authoring path to gain internal efficiency.
Significant investment in R&D and a global team of experts has seen ACNielsen gain international recognition as an industry leader in the area of integrating new technology into market research. Our developments have drawn interest from global software providers, keen to market our software to other companies around the world.
It is great to be known as an industry leader in research technology, but if this does not help to achieve our client’s goals, then what is the purpose? Our focus remains firmly on investing in technology and experienced people to ensure we can provide our clients with insights and a competitive advantage. If we cannot deliver the bigger picture, then we are failing to meet our client’s needs.
The ‘Information Superhighway’ these days is more like a racetrack, but by having the right strategy in place, and partnering with companies who can guide you to leverage technology for optimum benefits, you can overtake your competitors and ensure your business is the one on the winner’s podium.
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