Sar Djal argues that insights professionals face a defining inflection point driven by AI, data abundance, and rising stakeholder expectations. The talk makes the case for shifting from an order-taker, report-generation mindset to that of a strategic business partner who translates data into decisions. Practical guidance covers data literacy, technology fluency, internal networking, and connecting siloed data into a unified insight stack.
Key Takeaways
- Stop being a data courier. Insights professionals who only gather and pass along data will be replaced. Value comes from interpreting data and guiding decisions.
- AI is an enabler, not a replacement. Use AI tools to remove drudgery and free up time for the human judgment and narrative that machines cannot replicate.
- Become data literate and tech-savvy. You do not need to be a data scientist, but you must be able to work with varied data sets, understand AI tools, and communicate findings in terms of business outcomes.
- Start a meta analysis now. Reviewing past projects within a single brand or vertical reduces duplicative research, demonstrates cumulative insight value, and is a practical first step toward building a connected insight stack.
- Build internal relationships before you need them. Networking with stakeholders in marketing, IT, HR, and legal on an ongoing basis creates the sponsorship needed to drive change in resistant organizations.
- Predict, do not just report. The profession is shifting toward decision intelligence. Lagging indicators still matter, but the growing expectation is that insights professionals will surface what is likely to happen next.
Questions & Answers
- The term 'decision intelligence' was used as the path forward. Can you clarify what that means compared to data analytics?
- Decision intelligence is still grounded in data, but the meaningful shift is using that data to directly inform an outcome rather than delivering data for its own sake. Recent job postings in the industry are already using this language. It reflects an expectation that the insights function drives decisions, not just analysis.
- How do you work on addressing a culture that is resistant to change? Our company hears 'AI' and wants to jump on it but resists making the incremental changes that need to come first.
- You have to start small and build advocates one at a time. Going to leadership with a large proposal, such as building a full insight stack at significant cost, will meet resistance. Instead, start with something like a meta analysis on a single brand to show what existing research already tells you. Enlist one internal sponsor, then a second, and let the word-of-mouth effect build. If the organization genuinely will not move and you believe change is necessary, that itself is information about whether you are in the right place. Consumer centricity at the senior leadership level is a good indicator of whether you have a realistic path forward.
- When conducting an internal meta analysis, what ethical or legal considerations apply, particularly around data initially funded by a different client?
- For internal aggregated data, there is generally no legal or ethical barrier to conducting a meta analysis. When first-party data is involved, strict privacy laws and internal governance requirements apply. Work with IT, HR, legal counsel, and government affairs to establish clear procedures before sharing data internally or externally. Quoting individual respondents with identifying details, which was once common practice, is no longer acceptable.
- Some companies are resistant to change but others seem ready to replace all researchers with AI. How should companies balance these two extremes?
- AI will not replace insights professionals, but it will replace those who do not adapt. Machines do not know your organization's strategic plans, what is keeping leadership up at night, or the history of stakeholder conversations. They miss human nuances consistently. AI removes drudgery and accelerates analysis, but the professional's job is to apply judgment, context, and a point of view that the data alone cannot provide. The risk is not AI taking your role. The risk is someone who is AI-literate taking your role.
Session Notes
The Central Question
The session opened with a challenge directed at every attendee: in a world where data is infinite and human behavior is increasingly complex, how will you ensure you continue to provide value and remain indispensable to your organization?
Three Areas Covered
- The changing landscape of the insights industry
- Modern skills required of future insights leaders
- How to prepare for what is coming
Seismic Shifts: Why This Moment Is Different
Historical parallels, from the printing press to the industrial revolution to the internet, illustrate that transformative technological change reshapes entire professions. The AI surge is the current equivalent. Djal argued it has been building for years but exploded after the pandemic, and it is now accelerating fast enough that professionals who have not begun experimenting with AI are already behind.
- 67,000 AI platform companies were launched in 2023
- $25.2 billion was invested globally in generative AI in 2023
- AI adoption is particularly visible in market research, where vendors are promising faster, cheaper data at scale
What Is Changing in the Insights Landscape
Data collection has expanded dramatically
Traditional surveys are still in use but now sit alongside first-party purchase data, social media listening, clickstream analytics (Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, and others), and real-time sentiment monitoring. The volume and variety of available data have grown far beyond what a traditional insights function was designed to handle.
The emphasis has shifted from the 'what' to the 'why' and 'what next'
Stakeholders increasingly want interpretation, not just data delivery. The question driving business decisions is no longer only what consumers are doing, but why they are doing it and what they will do next.
Technology integration is now a professional requirement
Insights professionals do not need to become IT experts, but they do need to build relationships with IT leadership to understand what data exists in organizational silos and how it can be connected. The concept of an 'insight stack,' analogous to a technology stack, is emerging as a structural response to this challenge.
The Role Shift: From Order Taker to Strategic Business Partner
The traditional model, receiving a brief, selecting a method, fielding research, and delivering a report, is no longer sufficient. Djal described the current role as a 'postbox' function and argued it will be automated or outsourced if it does not evolve.
You have to become strategic partners leading with meaningful insights, not reporting the data, that will drive an action that will drive an outcome.
- Move from task-oriented support to proactive guidance on what decisions to make and why
- Democratize data access: do not gatekeep information, give stakeholders access and focus your energy on providing meaning
- Activate insights across cross-functional partners, including marketing, innovation, R&D, supply chain, and finance
- Lead experimentation on new methods to stay ahead of the DIY and AI platforms that are entering the space
Skills the Future Requires
Data literacy
Not deep expertise, but enough proficiency to work across varied data sets, extract meaningful signals, and evaluate what AI tools are surfacing. Lean on data science partners for the advanced modeling, but do not cede the interpretation.
Technology fluency
Familiarity with AI, machine learning tools, large language models, and data visualization is becoming baseline. Free online courses and certifications are available and recommended as a starting point.
Storytelling and narrative
Stating the obvious is no longer enough. The job is to connect dots, translate patterns into business implications, and communicate in a way that moves decision-makers, not in a way that produces dense PowerPoint decks.
Strategic advising and adaptability
Know what your stakeholders are worried about. Learn new tools and socialize new methods quickly. The proliferation of DIY research platforms and AI-enabled research is changing what clients and internal partners expect, and the pace of that change is not slowing.
Tools and Approaches Worth Prioritizing
- Predictive algorithms and machine learning: already in use by media agencies to model consumer behavior and audience segments; insights professionals should be challenging counterparts on how these are being applied
- Decision intelligence platforms: formalize how data informs organizational decisions; if no internal process exists, insights professionals are well positioned to lead building one
- Social media listening: real-time consumer sentiment data that can accelerate brand and innovation decisions; a growing number of vendors are connecting social data to innovation and marketing strategy evaluation
- Meta analysis of internal research: reviewing what past projects already tell you before commissioning new work; reduces duplicative spend and reveals cumulative patterns across a brand or segment
The Insight Stack: Connecting Siloed Data
Large consumer packaged goods companies are already building connected insight stacks that link marketing insights, user experience insights, innovation insights, shopper insights, and syndicated data. Most organizations are not there yet, but the direction is clear.
The recommended starting point is not a full stack build. It is a meta analysis within a single vertical or on a single brand, learning from accumulated project history before commissioning the next round of research. That discipline, applied consistently, becomes the foundation for a connected view of the consumer over time.
Start small. Please do not ignore it. This is one page I really do not want you to forget.
Four Trends Shaping the Future of Insights
- Hyper-personalization: consumers expect to be addressed at the individual level, not as a mass audience; the insights profession has not yet caught up to what digital marketing is already doing
- Ethical data practices: as custodians of consumer data, insights professionals must engage with privacy regulations and internal governance frameworks
- Insight integration: connecting data and research across functions and verticals
- Prediction: the expectation is shifting from explaining the past to anticipating what comes next, with the best-calculated risk informing decisions rather than waiting for certainty
How to Prepare
- Commit to continuous learning. Free online courses and certifications are available now and will expand
- Build a diverse skill set. Data literacy, tech fluency, storytelling, and adaptability together are what future insights roles will require
- Network consistently, not only when you need something. Internal advocates and external peers are how change gets traction
- Think of your professional relevance the way a brand thinks about staying relevant. Stop being relevant and people stop paying attention
Transcript
Read the full transcript
our first presenter of the day is going to be SAR djal and she's going to be talking about the future of the inside professional which it has been a crazy Dynamic past couple of years for our profession so I'm very excited to hear about this particular topic which is on the minds of everybody so I'm going to disappear I'm going to let SAR do her thing and I'm going to circle back in a little bit to to lead some Q&A but otherwise shut my mouth so SAR you all set to get rolling great thank you Bill and I'll open up with a question uh a question that I hope you are asking yourselves as to why you're attending today in a world where where the data is infinite and growing and where human behavior is unpredictable complex how will you ensure as an Insight professional that you will continue to provide value in the organizations that you work in and remain invaluable if you have a similar thought or a question or if you haven't thought about this question I implore you to be thinking about this question in your career because we are at the tip of a very seismic shift and what I mean by that is if we look back at history I'll go on and talk about what those shifts incurred but where are we today so three areas that I'd like to cover with you all to today and please do feel free to send Bill some questions or ask me to pause if you'd like me to explain or elaborate on anything in particular but we're going to talk about the changing landscape of our industry now you're going to hear me talk about consumer insights analytics market research I'm using those interchangeably they mean the same thing in the context of this webinar we will talk about the modern skills that I believe and commend that are going to be important for you attending this this conference today and for future Insight leaders and how do we prepare for that going forward in the future so those are the three broad brush Strokes that I'm going to cover today and happy to elaborate in any one of those in particular so I talked about seismic shifts and let's just think about some of the shifts that have taken across the world right in the world that we live in and as we look back at history and we look at these particular shifts that took place they changed the world right from the printing press which allowed dissemination of information like never before to the Industrial Revolution in growing manufacturing empowering Labor uh societies and teams and industries to the Advent of electricity which allowed us to communicate uh in a way that we've never communicated before who can forget the digital age of the internet boom right um that fundamentally changed many ways that we work the way we communicate the way we Source information and today the AI surgency is here I will say that we've all heard AI right in in our business in the line of business that we're in which is in the business of observ the business of understanding human behavior AI has been banded around for the last 5 years if not earlier in fact it was with us a very very long time ago but it exploded after the pandemic and I will say that if you haven't begun to experiment with AI to learn with AI you are already behind so big technolog iCal changes are here today with us and it is transforming the way we work in our inside and analytics industry and so as I move on to the next slide I want to talk about that this is just the beginning with AI it is truly Unstoppable the rise is reshaping how we do our work and you've heard this in many conferences I'm sure but I I want you to be thinking about these statistics as to the impact and the disruption it is having on our industry and will continue to you can guess what this number pertains to we're in the industry of business and numbers right 67,000 AI platforms companies were launched in 2023 let that sink in 67,000 companies yeah I can imagine the number of companies that knock on your door they certainly been knocking on my door to be able to do insights and market research and analytics cheaper faster better but this number is growing and it will have grown by the end of this webinar there is an investment globally of 25.2 billion million dollars in AI in 2023 so you can imagine the scale that this is going to take hold in one year two year three year four years we will look back and understand that in the future but I want you to just remember those statistics because if you are not using AI in some shape or form and I'm going to come and talk to you on how that can uh enable you as Insight professional you will be left behind so AI is being adopted it's particularly evident in more Industries generative AI is the next future scalability area I would say with private Investments skyrocketing and you can see the number here 25.2 billion that was just invested in generative AI in 2023 so it's not going away and it's really important that we understand how it can enable us to become Insight Professionals of the future so our job as Insight professionals data analytics supporting our marketing Partners supporting our Innovation Partners or if you're at the agency side supporting your clients is all about understanding consumers and human behavior and it is a challenge in the rapidly evolving and changing world we live in just think about how our lives have changed over the Last 5 Years consumers have more ways to discover products and Brands they have more ways to shop there have more ways to be enticed and and to be attracted towards a brand or a service and there's faster ways to make a purchase right I mean you've all probably experienced it yourself you can click to buy a product and it will be with you in 24 hours if not earlier and our job is to support our marketing folks our Innovation folks to drive the growth and understand what consumers want and it's becoming really tough given the abundance of data given the way in which we can collect information it is a and a complete explosion so we are very important and crucial in anticipating the rapid change if we continue and I'm not suggesting many of us are continuing to do this but if we continue to be data gatherers report generators uh conduit in passing information from one inbox to another we will fail we will be outsourced and we are well poised to make the change and I'm going to show on and talk about how we will make that change to succeed and we're very good at the what I will say that we have lots of tools lots of data telling us what is actually occurring with human beings whether that's consumers Shoppers audiences but the emphasis has to be on the why these are the pivots of today why are people behaving the way they are and not only why are they doing what they're doing what are they going to do next so market research or consumer insights back in the day and even in some organizations today it's very task orientated this may resonate with you you get a brief from your marketeer you look at that brief you recommend the right approach the right method and you answer the brief and you do that very very well I'm here to tell you that's not going to cut it going forward we then provide the data here's the data here's the report you spent hours with your agencies or if you're at the vendor um side of the businesses working with your clients refining the report making the recommendations trying to create impact on that report spending endless hours on those PowerPoint decks and then issuing those you're also faced with juggling quite frankly a number of projects insights are thin on the ground in many many organizations and multiple projects are being handled at at the same time multiple stakeholders you're pushed or pulled in many various different directions I understand it's difficult but you must expand your mindset this is where it starts to shift from a service provider to one of a strategic enabler and we'll talk a little bit about those skills but in order to do that it really starts with the way you think expanding your mindset to be thinking from a growth perspective a critically commercial perspective and also rethinking in the ways that you do your work and that is where AI can also help but also how you engage with your internal stakeholders this is going to become critical I firmly believe if we continue to operate in those four boxes we will not have a role going forward and we won't have a role because the data that is available in abundancy in real time with many companies knocking on our doors telling us that they can provide the data at infinite detail um is just one way of us having to harness all of that we have to transform ourselves from the conduit from the support function I'm not saying don't support your stakeholders I'm I'm asking you to imploring you to think different ly on how you support how you show up you have to become strategic Partners leading with meaningful insights not reporting the data that will drive an action that will drive an outcome because you have to stay ahead of these changes we all do including myself because the world is changing and that's not going to stop that's a constant it is constantly going to evolve so we need to move away away from order taker support thinking to strategic partner driving decisions in the industry you must be hearing different vernacular now before it was all about data analytics you're slowly moving to decision intelligence those are ingrained in all the data that we have including insights so if you're in analytical roles be thinking about how you leverage the data to inform the outcome versus delivering the data that's going to be equally important going forward and why is that important because our landscape has changed and is continuing to change we have very different data collection methods now from the traditional ways of Market Research in today's world as you know there's um instant capture of information there's ways that companies can collect information to the individual in terms of what they're purchasing when they're purchasing it where were they what else did they buy this is first party data not everybody obviously has access to that but more and more companies are engaging in that and I want to be able to say to you here that the way in which our data is collected is very finite and you're probably experiencing that um especially if you're in the media world of insight and market research there is so much data in the system that let's just think about social media for for a minute now you can monitor how consumers are feeling about your product about your brand it's instant and it's out there for everybody to see and who are they engaging with who are they when they posted something on Instagram or what did they say on X all of this is in the public domain for us to really understand what people are thinking and feeling about our products and Our Brands and if you're not engaging in sort of clickstream data um you will be and you should be soon I mean it goes from Google analytics all the way to Adobe analytics um all the way through to Crazy egg matoma I mean the list goes on in terms of what you can gather on people it is a far cry from how market research data was collected through surveys that still has a place and it still continues but the advancement has been absolutely extraordinary there's a greater emphasis to make sense of all of that information what does it mean I'm sure that resonates with many of you on on this webinar your internal stakeholder saying well that's great but what do I do with this what does it actually mean the emphasize is translating data and information into meaningful translation what does this mean for you brand manager on your brand or on your product how is this going to drive growth there's a real emphasis on that in our industry now and will continue the Third change in our landscape is the technology integration I'm not asking you to become it experts far from it but I am asking you to start dating your it leadership and this is a figure of speech uh I need you and and you really need to be doing this is having some very pertinent conversations with your it folks on how you can harness data that is sitting in silos we're going to come and talk a little bit about that and connect it and join it up to have your own Insight stack you've heard of tech Stacks Insight Stacks will be future game changes and we'll we'll cover that a bit later on in today's session because the demand for real time understanding is now almost mandatory table stakes in many organizations and the pandemic really was the Catalyst for that I think two uh major functions during the pandemic were really challenged internally HR on how to navigate that change with people and the Insight markr research analytics Industries on tell us what's happening what is going to happen next how long is the the pandemic going to remain how will this change behavior and that has kept that thread in terms of understanding the why and what's next in real time as a shift in our landscape so these are very large broad shifts and there's a lot of detail behind of all of these which I can certainly answer questions to as we go throughout the presentation okay but your new responsibilities as Insight professionals have to shift we talked a little bit about the task order taker support function mindset and operating style to moving towards a strategic business partner I fully believe we can do this I really do very few functions have oversight to all the data you sit in that seat where you have privy to all the data with your Insight partners with your analytic partners so moving towards a strategic business partner that is able to guide the organization guide the internal stakeholders is what the game changer pivot should be now in terms of skill set going forward because our work should be ingrained in driving the outcome so decision insights is going to be pivotal for Success going forward don't be precious about the information this has been a term that has been around for quite some time around democratizing the information give access to the people who need access make sure they're right using the data in the right way the insights in the right way and if people don't have access give them access it is not our role to hold on to this information it is our role to collaborate internally with our stakeholders and so iiz the insights and outcomes that impact those different stakeholders whether that is marketing Innovation R&D supply chain finance and the list goes on so you want to be able to be the leader to activate those insights across your cross functional Partners to De to start demonstrating the value this third bullet point is incredibly important given the constant rapid change we are in from a technology perspective because it is challenging our traditional methods you know about 10 20 years ago there were a handful of suppliers you can name them the big ones that we used to work with and very set traditional methods today that landscape looks very different and it will continue to morph and evolve I implore you to spare head experimentation on methods and approaches so you can stay ahead so you can stay relevant and Pioneer insights in ways that will maintain relevancy within your organization and Champion with your it Partners connecting the information and data there must be hundreds of projects in individual verticals whether you're supporting marketing or innovation or design Centric verticals with user experience insights or your sensory folks in R&D or Your Shopper insights there must be hundreds of projects within those silos the real power is to connect them within the vertical first and foremost so that you learn from your history but the value is when it all comes together now many few few companies are doing this namely the large cpgs but this is going to catch up for everybody in some degree small medium large it will hit us all as the way we need to rethink the way in which we work so skills that I'd love for you to be thinking about and that are going to be important and I truly believe this is that you all have to become d data literate not data experts but certainly data literate you need to lean on your partners who are the experts in data science and data um analytical Advanced predictive models and and foresights but you need to become data literate because you have to be proficient in analyzing various data sets now with all the abundance of the way in which data is collected and you need to be able to start extracting meaningful insights from from that data and that information allow the AI to help you with this right there are AI tools out there now very proficient at analyzing Reams uh of data and decks and can summarize for you now I'm not suggesting for a moment that you take that as gospel it is your job to apply the human nuances that machines Miss and they miss them all the time is your job to apply your knowledge your experience to what the data set is telling you but allow the AI to save you the time and there are some really good AI tools out there in order for that to happen you have to become techsavvy right and again not asking you to become it experts but you need to be familiar with AI you need to be familiar with these Mach machine learning tools and large language models visualization techniques there are a number of courses that are out there online for free that you should be engaging in and get certified for them if anything else they'll look good on your resume but moreover in looking at all the data and extracting meaningful insights that will inform decisions you need to be able to free up that's time to tell the narrative in a way that resonates with your stakeholders and it's no longer acceptable to State the obvious you're employed in your role as the voice of the consumer The Shopper the human to tell your stakeholders what does it mean what does it mean for for my business why does the consumer behave in a certain way or the Shopper shop in a certain way why are they buying what they're buying what will they do next it's your opportunity to connect those dots and translate and tell a narrative in a way that is not Death by PowerPoint and is resonating with your audience in order to do that you have to become that strategic advisor right you have to know what's keeping your stakeholders up at night and so you have to be adaptable you know with with our methods being challenged uh quite frankly our approaches being uh changed Con in a very very Rapid Way with the explosion of DIY platforms and the explosion of AI enabling you to do research faster cheaper not so sure better but certainly cheaper and faster you're going to have to quickly learn new skills you're going to have to learn to implement new tools and socialize with your stakeholders and stay ahead of those new methods that are really chomping at the bit behind us already so these are very Broad and you know I do emplore you to start thinking about those skill set and looking through how you might be able to leverage these tools and Technologies going forward because AI as I mentioned very early on it's here to stay it's not going away it is only going to scale and build further so algorithms to predict consumer behavior and audience segments lots of media agencies are already using this again I'm not asking you if you're in a full service role to use them but certainly challenge your media counterparts on how these are being applied um because you want to be able to uncover those patterns you want to be able to uncover um audience insights or personalized targeting strategies because that's what consumers are demanding today so machine learning absolutely critical decision intelligence if you're not using a decision platform that's okay right if you don't have a process internally of how decisions are made I would advise you lead that charge because again this is the group of individuals and Professionals in the industry that have Ry to all the data the data is there as a guide into decision making processes so analyzing information and predicting outcomes can be enabled with decision Insight platforms but I would start small by joining up information that you already have sitting in siloed areas and and start to improve your internal decision making processes social media listening now the reason why I have signaled this one separately is because we are forever in an age and will continue to be in a digital space and social media has been for many organizations and is beginning to be in many organizations critical to revealing insights about people about humans about what are they saying how is the brand being appraised or talked about about consumer sentiment you can act quite swiftly um with social media insights and Trends to keep your brand agile and ahead of the curve now there are many agencies out there vendor Partners out there that will talk to social listening analytics and tools and plugging in innovation ideas there to help you understand if this will land or not so it's a very fertile space I would say in our industry right now that the social media data is being powered is the backbone to help understand how Innovation and certainly mark marketing strategies will land going into the future so keep an eye out for these areas and start being curious about the methods the approaches the tools Behind These because these are going to be the tools that will be steadfast going forward and I talked a little bit about the connectivity of data now this is not for everyone like I said um many of the big cpgs are already ahead in in in many ways around developing their own Insight stack what I mean by that is in our industry we have a number of insight and data analytic professionals and typically in an organization they're very siloed and that's what this visual is trying to depict you have marketing insights around advertising packaging advertising tracking brand tracking Etc Etc you have user insights on how do you leverage those insights and turn those into design elements or ergonomics or or even user experience on a website for for the Target that we're trying to entice you have the Innovation insights around products Services new ways to go to market Shopper insights obviously all about supporting our sales Partners as well but talking about cons consumers and Shoppers on how they shop where they shop why they do what they do what is the full path to purchase and of course then you have the data arm behind all of this which is really your syndicated data uh whether that's Cara or neelon or numerator and the list goes on there the real game Cher for the future is connecting all of this together as an inside stack and I would start off small I'm not suggesting this is for everybody but the true power of the value is when we learn from our history and we learn from within the vertical ask yourselves the question when was the last time you took a look back in your own verticals and conducted a meta analysis ask yourself that question if you haven't done it I highly recommend you do because doing the meta analysis will help you avoid Reinventing the wheel going forward it is going to save you time in terms of repeating test after test after test so if we're able to conduct and um cultivate The Meta learning within the vertical that is a start so start there do it for one brand even one segment start small and over time build your meta learning it is absolutely critical because when we come to then connect across the verticals that's really how you create invaluable Roi for the organization so this is game changing stuff and it's a little bit out there but I will say the big cpgs are already engaging in this so start small please do not ignore it this is one page I really do not want you to forget and the reason why I don't want you to forget that is because the future of our industry is incredibly changing at a fast pace there is hyper personalization occurring as we speak people do not want to be spoken to as a mass you'll hear a lot about digital marketing affiliate marketing but certainly in digital marketing this is all around understanding down to the personalization level and our industry really hasn't caught up with that quite frankly and we need to it is going to be about ethical practices given how data has been collected you as custodians of market research or Insight are going to have to engage in privacy practices uh to protect the consumer if you haven't already that should be taking place already as we speak the Insight integration that I just talked about this is the future fut these are three things that we're already talking about about the future and the fourth is prediction what is going to happen next not what has happened yes lagging indicators they have a purpose you will create value by predicting and you're not going to get it right we you know we would all have our own Islands sipping margaritas if we did get it right on what is going to happen next with the most calculated risk you can put forward for your stakeholders so our future is changing the skills you need are changing and we have to start now so prepare for the future and how can you do that please continue to learn you know embrace the lifelong education there are horses online that are free really easy and um will provide certification but continue to learn you will need to have more strings to your bow depth of experience it's okay it's not going to get you ahead if your ambition is to be the next Insight leader of the future you will be required to have a diverse skill set we talked a little bit about it already data literacy technologically savvy storytelling adaptability bringing that all together to tell the narrative that is in ingrained in outcomes is the skill set that we're being asked already and which will be we will need for the future how do you do all of that is through education is through training courses it's through trial and error and the power of the network please don't network with people when you need them you should be networking with people every day um calling upon someone who may have a very different skill set to you to learn and this is the real power of our industry there are there are forums whether that's the Insight Association uh Sr if you're in Europe on how to engage with other networks but please do not engage with a network when you need them because that's when you'll be frantic and looking for the answer should be building that Network as on a daily basis and form your own for cultivate your own network um to share ideas and learn from one another I spoke a lot and I I'm aware of time and certainly want to answer ask questions but really you know that the the high level takeaways are are these for you know we got to move away from that order taker kind of conduit of holding on and playing the postbox researcher Insight professional data issuer to a strategic business partner Leverage The the right AI tools for your organization and for your business and automation to remove the day-to-day tasks standardize your your methodologies um it'll make your life easier in the way in which you conduct those repetitive tests apply your knowledge and experience instead to guide the organization that is where your headspace should be really spent and one of those ways to do that to create the head space is to democratize the information and data give access don't be precious about it nothing's going to happen your job's not going to be taken away give the access to the internal teams everybody needs to be at PACE with you but your job is to give meaning to it give meaning to what does this mean for your internal cross functional teams to drive and guide your organization and you have to be relevant think of yourselves as a brand when Brands stop being relevant people stop buying them in order for us to remain relevant we have to experiment lead that charge it may be just one method that you've evaluated in a year start somewhere but embrace the mindset of of learning and continuing to learn as I mentioned there's courses online certifications uh that can be gained and it would only increase in terms of what's available and start to be thinking about how do you join all your information together not asking you to create your Insight stack tomorrow but start small it will save you time it will save you money uh bring past data and insights together demonstrate the value of those cumulative insights for really understanding the consumer holistically paint that picture holistically in order for you to do that you have to join up this information and data you have to connect the dots it will avoid duplicate duplicative efforts for you it will avoid repeating tests but can but connecting the insights with your data partners and your it Partners is the path forward so I'm going to pause there because that's all I have for you I have a lot more detail behind that but I will pause and hand it over to Bill there I that was great thank you thank you so much um I know I for one was very very enjoying um and yeah questions drop them into the uh the Q&A or the chat I will sort of moderate those I know we had a couple come through from from Sher as you were talking uh the term that you used for path forward instead of data analytics she was she was asking about just a Refresh on that path forward do do you mean decision intelligence versus data analytics that to me is the the pivot change I mean you know um just a few years ago we heard you know um syndicated data professionals being Prof you know referred to as data analysts right or that's the analytical team or that's the business insights team or that's the business analytics team that's still relevant but the the Nuance that I have seen in the industry um just looking at all the recent job openings over in the last year there is this pivot to decision intelligence now that's ingrained in data it absolutely is ingrained in the data but the meaningful change is using that data to inform the outcome and that's what we mean by decision intelligence but that's kind of the new vernacular that's been that certainly I have seen coming through in our industry and who knows it you know the jobs are now being posted on decision intelligence analysts which really is around still the data Dia perhaps I don't know yeah di um we did have another question come through from Anonymous attendee who actually took the words out of my mouth so I'm going to just read this verbatim uh how do you work on addressing a culture of change a res in a a culture I think we're in a change resistant company um they hear the word Ai and want to jump on it but are resistant to change anything and don't realize they need to make incremental changes before jumping to what's new in Flash yeah I mean that's an excellent question now obviously you have to think about the culture of your company and I'll be boldest to say this and you know I'll give you a few examples if they're not listening that's an Insight if they are not listening they will be left behind and if they're not listening to you and you truly believe this is the right thing to do you have to question yourself if you're in the right place I'll be bold enough to say that but it's hard um you have to tiptoe into it slowly right you can't go from here and say team we're going to build an Insight stack let me tell you it's going to cost about a half a million dollars but trust me it's going to be great we will have heels digging in and saying you you know you're off your head you have to start small and un fortunately in our industry there is a lot of proving to be done because historically if you think about our functions in many organizations they're support functions they support marketing or you know sales or innovation or R&D they're not constituencies in their own right very few very few but it starts with the top with the SE suite are they consumer Centric if they are you've got a shot right because consumer centricity means placing the consumer and everything at the heart of what you do and you're in the best place to do that with small changes right whether that's doing the meta analysis that's a good place to stop just with meta analysis on a brand like what do you know about the brand all the projects you spent half a million dollars on over the last two to three years what does it telling you because you will then be able to tell your marketers or your Innovation Parts no you know that thing you wanted don't need to do that because of XY Z because you've done that Mena start small and enlist um and you know I know there are team members on on this call certainly I've managed in the past but you have to date your stakeholders again not literally but you've got to enroll them and once you start socializing it with one Advocate Word of Mouth a second Advocate a third Advocate you will see that ripple effect trust me when I say I have done this myself been in resistant change organizations it wasn't easy but it was possible because I actually did get there but you have to start small and you have to have Partners in marketing with you and you have to have a sponsor internally as well that really helps I think we'll need a whole new webinar on that culture shift in the future Bill indeed um no and it's you know it's something I always preach I I always say you know ab ab and always be networking right um and that applies not only to you know events like this and getting out and doing networking but internally this is the dating of you know those stakeholders those business partners the folks that you may you know interact with on a you know kind of an basis but if you are out there having those conversations and paying attention that's how you can be part of of that change um and yeah I I love your your mention of you know the The cpg Cutting Edge folks all the way down the very broad spectrum to those who are just heels dug in and don't want to hear about this information like you know depending on where you sit you have to to you have to approach differently right right right um we did have a good segue uh with regard to meta analysis and this is from Tina in terms of conducting internal meta analysis could you elaborate on the ethical or legal considerations and potential conflicts of interest involved in utilizing data that ha has that was initially funded by a different client I'm not sure I I fully understand the question if you have internal data it's usually aggregated right um typically you know this is let's start there with aggregated data I think to begin with um because there's a lot to be said for all those projects that are sitting in some sort of electronic filing cabinet somewhere that have not been connected so there's not an issue legally or ethically with that right when it comes to first party data yes there are strict privacy laws there are strict ethical considerations I highly recommend you work with your this is going to sound a little odd but HR is going to become your best friend number one and it are going to become your best friend number two and you have to work with them in the parameters of what is um acceptable internally for your organization as well as what you're willing to then share internally um with your stakeholders let alone what you share externally they are some very strict rules on that so you all know even from qualitative research you should not be quoting a single person with their name their age and then none of that that's all gone away back in the day we used to be able to do that if you recall this is Allison age 35 years two kids you can't even put that on a page now so it it's a complex process um to too much time needed right now to fully answer it and on how you do it but certainly you you cannot do it in isolation you have to engage your government Affairs your PR folks your it folks as well as your HR folks make sure you have some procedures in place and not to forget your legal counsel um I think we have time for a couple more um let's see there are many resistant companies but there are also those that can replace all the researchers with AI yikes um how can companies balance these behaviors so I will say that I don't think companies can replace the Insight professionals with AI I will say that the a look M machines don't know your history in terms of the conversations you've had with your internal stakeholders they also don't know what your business plans are going forward in terms of your strategic plans or your annual operating plans or what's keeping your SE Suite up at night they miss the human nuances this is where you come in AI is there as an enabler it's going to remove some drudgery quite significantly it for you to concentrate and on well let me tell you where we need to be focusing our attention next here is where I see the growth occurring why do I believe in that that's your point of view as the custodian of the consumer Shopper data so I don't believe that AI replaces our professionals it certainly will challenge which is why we're having this conversation and if you do not begin to delve into Data literacy being a little techsavvy ensuring you know how to operate some of these platforms yes you will be replaced by someone who can indeed um and I think that was it for Q&A and we're about to bump up against our next talk so think it's a good time to conclude uh Sor that was fantastic thank you so much um welcome rest of our presenters are going to have big shoes to fill that was that was really great um uh real quick housekeeping item and I think Sher had asked about this in the chat and yes so uh archived presentation so we're going to post videos for all presentations today uh we're also when permitted um going to post PDFs of of slide share outs um so yes be on look out for those to follow after after our conclusion um good job you all right thank you enjoy the rest of the virtual conference team bye thank you Bill


