Feb
Can AI & Human Researchers Coexist In Market Research?
jerry9789 0 comments artificial intelligence, Brand Surveys and Testing, Burning Questions
AI In Market Research Today
With 90% of the world’s data created in just two years time between 2021 and 2023 and the global data volume standing at 149 zettabytes by 2024, it’s understandable why AI would be readily adopted by the market research industry. Traditional methods of data collection and analysis would hold a place in market research but they simply aren’t as powerful as AI when it comes to handling all that staggering volume of data. But is AI powerful enough to take the place of human researchers?
AI enables research teams to move, process and analyze massive datasets with speed and accuracy, efficiently handling all the repetition and scale involved in the research process. From drafting questionnaires to monitoring survey data quality, from analyzing open-ends to formulating dashboards and charts, AI fully automates the research process leading to faster and better decisions at a scale beyond the capabilities of human researchers.
But is AI the endgame for market research? Does it make human researchers obsolete?
Image: geralt
Cascade Strategies and AI
Cascade Strategies conducted a member perceptions study for a company looking to develop and implement a brand typology. The overall goal of the study was to help them better understand their different customer type’s overall motivations and aspirations for more effective engagement. As part of the study, we conducted an online survey with over 1,500 of their randomly selected members. We then utilized an AI-assisted Self-organizing Map (SOM) to run all the cases recursively, sometimes millions of times, until it optimizes the separations among the groups. The SOM produced a 6-group solution, with each group having a dominant passion that is served well or poorly by the company, ranging from proclivity for deals and new brands to yearning for customization and connection with other users.
The AI has done the heavy lifting of scanning all that dataset, surfacing themes, and summarizing the respondents. It has done enough to structure the story of each group but not enough tell or paint the whole picture.
This is where the human researchers at Cascade Strategies step in. We came up with names for each group that best described their dominant passion, names resonant enough that they not only convey an immediate idea of what they’re most passionate about but makes them fundamentally relatable even if one doesn’t necessarily share the same propensities: Shopper, Seeker, Learner, Sharer, Individualizer and Intellectual.
In isolation, each group achieves the study’s goal of guiding the company on the most effective way to engage with them. Their sum, however, grants the company an overview on how to improve and further develop its platform by considering and introducing new features that matter to one particular group, but would essentially benefit its membership base as a whole when implemented. For example, the Sharer would appreciate increased opportunities to connect and interact with other experts and enthusiasts of the same interests in the platform by making it easier to make reviews and share content.
AI surfaced all those patterns and signals from all that survey data, but it lacked the judgment and context to elevate it into a meaningful and coherent narrative. Human researchers, on the other hand, saw what story can be told from all those themes and by layering in human understanding, they’re able to tie them down to actionable business decisions.
Image: Christina Morillo
Leveraging AI In Market Research
So would AI replace human researchers? We’d like to frame our response to this question with the words of Joseph Weizenbaum, one of AI’s early researchers: “We can count, but we are rapidly forgetting how to say what is worth counting and why.”
Yes, AI is powerful enough to handle large amounts of data to identify patterns, cluster themes, and summarize respondents, but it generates outputs rather than insights. Outputs foster decisions rooted in logic and reasoning, but insights spring from judgment and context. Outputs can provide directions and surface themes from which stories can be framed, but insights take it one step further by asking what matters and why it matters, adding depth and resonance to the story.
In addition, Weizenbaum posits that computer programming can make decisions but it can’t ultimately choose. Just like insights, choosing requires judgment which takes in emotions, values and experience.
We at Cascade Strategies are among a growing number of proponents who believe that AI works best as a tool and extension of human intelligence and talents. AI strips the friction from manual, repetitive work without compromising methodological rigor and accuracy, but rather than adopting it for the sake of automation, we choose to see it as a freeing and empowering agent that enables researchers to focus more on interpreting data with the context of human understanding and values, translating insights into sensible and confident business decisions. Just as quantitative and qualitative research can coexist in the same study, we choose to live in a world where AI and human researchers work together towards the same goal of finding and crafting meaningful and relevant stories worth telling.
Image: Pavel Danilyuk
Featured Image: Ron Lach
Top Image: kc0uvb
Feb
What’s Happening Nowadays With Survey Samples? (Part 2)
jerry9789 0 comments artificial intelligence, Brand Surveys and Testing, Brandview World, Burning Questions
Why The MR Industry Should Start Collectively Caring About Data Quality
In his recent LinkedIn post, JD Deitch offered two explanations on why the sample market is what it is right now and has been for the past two decades: clients either don’t know or don’t care how bad the quality of data sample they’ve been receiving. Between not knowing and not caring, the latter is the more egregious of the two.
In Part 1 of this series, we touched on the challenges presently faced by the sample market: participant engagement, polling representivity and fraud as illustrated by the Op4G / Slice MR scandal. Of the three, fraud captures the most attention, the one that makes headlines, the one that stirs up the most discussion and calls for resolution. The threat of fraud is in everyone’s mind, and that’s why there are measures and protections in place and constantly being developed to detect and address it.
Fraud, however, may not be the key issue out of the three. In the Greenbook podcast, Deitch has pointed to participant engagement as a long-standing challenge that the industry has always been aware of and has tried multiple times to solve. Fraud has always been tagged with large sum of dollars lost or deceptively gained; what most don’t see or take into account is how much revenue or opportunity is missed because of bad or low quality data generated by poor engagement. Yes, fraud undermines credibility and trust in the industry but there always has been avenues to regain them; market failures due to poor data quality may not be as visible but the damage they create linger and influence. And that damage through the decades has now translated to the indifference clients feel towards sample data being produced. As Deitch puts it, “Most survey research projects just don’t matter enough for clients to demand better.”
The current product coming out of the sample market has been commoditized enough that they hardly affect business decisions. Clients don’t see enough value or endorse the same level of confidence in the present product to justify spending more to learn or find out what people are thinking. And if an alternative like AI comes along, clients are roused enough to spend and explore what the other options offer.
“Companies will always want to know what people think. That need isn’t going away.” And this is why renewed focused on the participant experience becomes key. Rather than settle for respondents who have time to fill out questions, find and attract people that are the most invested and involved in the subject matter. Incentivize them for their time and underscore why their thoughts and feelings matter. Connect and foster a healthy yet professional relationship with them. Encourage them to find or refer similar personalities. Build and maintain an engaged panel of quality participants.
New and emerging technology excites clients and investors so look into leveraging them into your methods and processes. Learn the best way to implement AI. Don’t simply deploy new tech to cut costs and time; discover where AI would complement human talent the most and where human supervision is most critical. Collaborate with tech people and developers to design and build systems and applications aligning with your goals and values.
The level of care and effort market research agencies put into their research work would always reflect in the end-product. At Cascade Strategies, we believe excellent and high quality data resonates, and we’re confident it will strike chords in clients to make them care enough. And when clients care enough, they’ll be willing to find out and demand more.
To learn more about how we leverage inspired human thinking with modern cutting edge technology to achieve high quality market research for our clients, please contact us here.
Image: Tumisu
Featured Image: F1Digitals
Top Image: Mohamed_hassan
Oct
A Human Center Makes Market Research All The More Powerful
jerry9789 0 comments artificial intelligence, Brand Surveys and Testing, Brandview World
The Future Of Research Is Here
You’ve seen it and there’s no denying it. Industries have been reshaped by the increasing utilization of Artificial Intelligence just in the last few years alone. Promising and delivering speed and optimization at the fraction of the costs and resources, it’s powerful, revolutionary and exciting. And as with any emerging technology, it comes with its own set of anxieties.
In line with its growing popularity and adoption, people in different industries have been expressing nervousness over being replaced in their jobs by AI. Certain repetitive, data-driven tasks are at the greatest risk of being supplanted by AI. However, AI also opens up opportunities to shift focus and upskill the more complex and creativity-driven facets of work roles, creating new jobs or augmenting existing ones.
The research industry is just as impacted by AI’s progressive application. It’s naive to assume that researchers would be replaced wholesale by AI, but there’s more to delivering research results than just gathering and crunching data.
Image: Circe Deyer
Our take on the integration of AI into research
We’ve always maintained that AI is a good advisor, but it’s a poor decision-maker. We’d like to modify that by saying it’s an even worse storyteller, if at all.
Cascade Strategies has been in the market research industry for over three decades now, serving some of the biggest local and international companies. You can say we’ve seen it all in this industry, but we’re just as fascinated as everyone else by the mainstream popularity of AI in the past few years. We’ve applied it in our methodologies, been impressed by its operational benefits and how it changed industries, but in the end, we know truthfully that it is not the end-all, be-all for research work. We believe that AI would serve us better by being a powerful extension of human judgment, creativity, and insight.
AI can be fed large datasets to approximate human thinking, but we believe it can never replicate human perspicacity, the kind of intelligence honed and guided by human values and experience. Take a look at our Expedia Group Case Study where we’ve utilized AI to generate multiple revenue-granting scenarios, then tempered the decision-making process by applying high-level human thinking to craft messaging that resonates with the end-user.
AI-driven research can produce results based on what has come before, but it can never uncover the truly novel, meaningful and resonant insights high-level human thinking unlocks. These are the insights that empower big and sweeping decisions. Data-based results from AI would seem lifeless and unrelatable. But if they are imbued with human interpretation, that output elevates into a masterful narrative that sparks imagination, questions boundaries, and transforms perspectives.
Image: geralt
Featured Image: mohamed mahmoud hassan
Top Image: geralt
Oct
AT&T allowed us to conduct qualitative and quantitative research for them. The result was a key brand insight about the Worry Wort, a kind of subscriber who preferred AT&T over rivals Verizon and T-Mobile for a variety of reasons and tended to stick with AT&T for the long haul. The campaigns built around the Worry Wort allowed AT&T to reduce churn and fend off wireless competitors.
It’s doubtful that submitting the same data to AI would produce a finding as incisive as the Worry Wort. This is something to bear in mind if you’re a telecommunications brand seeking to thrive: human perspicacity counts.
There’s a kind of intelligence AI can’t reach. It has dimension, soul, and human inspiration. In the telecommunications business, we’d do well to remember this as we pour more datasets into the maw of AI. If you’re in the telecommmunications business and need human perspicacity, you might call Cascade Strategies. We can help you see things AI can’t see.
Featured Image: (Public Domain)
Top Image: Brownings at English Wikipedia
Sep
Pan Pacific Hotels allowed us to conduct qualitative and quantitative research for them. The result was a key brand insight about the Cosmopolite, a kind of guest who preferred Pan Pacific lodging even when other hotel offers were better. The campaigns built around the cosmopolite allowed Pan Pacific Hotels to weather economic downturns and pandemics, and even expand into key markets in Asia.
It’s doubtful that submitting the same data to AI would produce a finding as incisive as the Cosmopolite. This is something to bear in mind if you’re a hospitality brand seeking to thrive: human perspicacity counts.
There’s a kind of intelligence AI can’t reach. It has dimension, soul, and human inspiration. In the hospitality business, we’d do well to remember this as we pour more datasets into the maw of AI. If you’re in the hospitality business and need human perspicacity, you might call Cascade Strategies. We can help you see things AI can’t see.
Featured Image: Saksham Vikram
Top Image: Alix Lee
Sep
Achieve Breakthroughs By Tapping Into Your Primal Intelligence
jerry9789 0 comments artificial intelligence, Burning Questions
Is Artificial Intelligence going to be the be-all, end-all for decision-making, problem-solving and innovation? If AI is faster, more logical and more efficient than humans, why hasn’t it overtaken us already? Is there a way for human genius to gain the edge over AI?
Yes, AI has changed the way we’ve done things these last few years – optimizing and streamlining processes to improve efficiency and effectiveness while maximizing output and in some cases, reducing costs. AI thrives in a production environment with defined datasets, but take away all that reliable data and introduce new variables, and it crumbles.
AI can generate art and stories, but it does this based on the data it was fed and trained on. It’s truly incapable of producing anything genuinely novel from outside that frame. This means it has the potential to suffer in a self-loop of homogeneous and biased outputs over time, building towards incoherence.
In a world that is increasingly being taken over by AI processes and outputs, recognizing and understanding this limitation is going to help human intelligence find its place and continue to thrive and evolve. In fact, just as AI gained mainstream popularity these past few years, another type of human intelligence has captured the attention and imagination of researchers – and the U.S. Army at the same time.
Image: Lukas
What Is Primal Intelligence?
Ohio State University professor Angus Fletcher, along with other researchers at Ohio State’s Project Narrative, started to investigate in 2021 something called “primordial brainpower” that reportedly drives human intuition. Their research led them to something they call Primal Intelligence, a kind of “natural cleverness” by humans that can be strengthened through training, but which AI can’t replicate.
Professor Fletcher describes Primal Intelligence as part of our lost nature and a key to activating intuition, imagination, emotion, and common sense. The U.S. Army Special Operations then adopted primal training for its most classified units and according to Professor Fletcher, Special Operators saw the future faster, thought more quickly, acted more swiftly, and healed more rapidly from trauma. After the Army authorized trials on civilians such as entrepreneurs, doctors, engineers, managers, coaches, teachers, investors, and NFL players, they found their leadership and innovation significantly improved. These civilians coped better with change and uncertainty, and experienced less anger and anxiety. The Army subsequently provided primal training to college and K–12 classrooms with students as young as eight, and they reported substantial beneficial effects from the training. In 2023, the Army awarded Professor Fletcher the Commendation Medal for his research on retraining the human mind.
Professor Fletcher’s research has been endorsed by renowned psychologists, neuroscientists, and doctors. He has received support from major institutions such as the National Science Foundation. He also wrote the book Primal Intelligence: You Are Smarter Than You Know, from which the following five key insights for sharpening our primal intelligence are derived.
Image: Alana Jordan
1. Exceptional Information
Special Operators “see” or anticipate the future faster than other soldiers on the battlefield, thanks to their unusually high level of intuition. But how does one improve their intuition?
To begin with, you’ll need to dissociate intuition from the decades-old concept that intuition is just mere pattern matching. The aforementioned Operators have trained their brains to find what the Army has dubbed “exceptional information.” Succinctly put, exceptional information is an exception to a previously established rule; it’s the opposite of a pattern because it’s the breaking of a pattern.
Young children score high on intuition but lower at pattern matching because their brains are focused more on unusual details than on familiar patterns. Training your brain to spot exceptions rather than thinking in patterns can help improve your intuition.
Travel or go on trips to immerse your brain in places that break the pattern of your regular life. Reading the works of authors like Shakespeare can also help improve intuition because of characters who are exceptions to traditional narrative tropes, like Hamlet the deep-thinking action hero or the cold and scheming Cleopatra who possesses a loving heart. Known Shakespeare readers who were able to anticipate the future by spotting exceptions range from Nikola Tesla with his AC motor, Marie Curie with radioactivity, and even Vincent van Gogh and his use of aquamarine.
Image: Donald Tong
2. Rethinking Optimism
Optimism pushes us to take on chances which could lead to growth, but why do many people fall back into pessimism? Why do we need to remind ourselves that optimism works better than pessimism instead of instinctively switching to the former frame of mind whenever something new or unusual comes up? Why is optimism this fragile in our minds?
This has something to do with how we think of optimism. We’ve been taught that optimism is “this will succeed,” when “this can succeed” is much more powerful and stronger. Instead of convincing us that this will succeed, we remember that we can succeed.
Remembrance over visualization. Special Operators call this method antifragile because remembering that one time in the past when you’ve been successful is more resilient than magically thinking of achieving success. Building your optimism on the foundation of faith where you’ve succeeded one time no matter how many times you fail can be all you need to keep on going. This is an improvement over being buoyed by the hope that you can succeed, but having your confidence eroded when you don’t.
Image: Kaboompics.com
3. Thinking In Story
In new situations with little to no precedent values (where AI falls apart), how are Special Operators not only able to pull through but also excel?
We have to remind ourselves that the human brain features more than one type of intelligence. While it evolved over a million years with the capacity to think logically and process data from which computers were modeled, the human brain also developed narrative cognition or simply put, the ability to think in story.
Thinking in story means the brain sees the “movement” of story, from beginning to middle to end, with room for imagination to explore possibilities and wisdom to sensibly tie things together. AI has the ability to generate story plots and images from datasets, but it still doesn’t read the story. It’s still our human brains that instill story and meaning to these generated plots and images.
High-data environment and conditions might not be conducive for thinking in story, but it finds its place in volatile and uncertain situations. Special Operators who performed well in volatility were found to have brains proficient at thinking in story.
Image: cottonbro studio
4. Empowerment Through Role-playing
Anger and anxiety are physiological indicators of a threat response. So what’s the best way to mitigate the brain’s threat response? Removing the threat, usually with outside force, might spring to mind but what if we tell you that conjuring a gameplan with your brain to deal with the threat is more effective?
That’s exactly how Special Operators function. Instead of avoiding threats, they advanced toward the threats and they do this without feeling anxious or angry. That’s because these Operators have trained their brains to imagine plans for dealing with threats. And they train their imagination by engaging in role-playing exercises.
Outside of Special Operations, role-playing can be taught to regular people or students by taking part in arts and humanities activities such as theater, literature, and history. The key is to be able to imagine oneself as somebody else in another place or situation, engaging the brain’s ability to imagine plans for handling threats.
Image: geralt
5. Possibility Over Probability
How do you train people so that you produce leaders and not just managers? Focus your training on expanding their ability to think not in probability but in possibility.
What’s the difference? Probability is calculated or based from past events while possibility assumes an event that hasn’t happened could happen. Probability is employed by statistics and computer AI while possibility empowers story and imagination. With a fundamentally different mental process involved, possibility engages original thinking, enterprise, and initiative: key mental qualities of entrepreneurs and leaders in general.
You can expand your sense of possibility by stimulating your brain’s premotor cortex and boosting your practical imagination with realistic tales of make-believe. The Wright brothers read the creative works of Charles Dickens and Mark Twain, while Special Operators prefer novels set in the near future or in a different culture.
Image: Katrin Bolovtsova
Cascade Strategies and Primal Intelligence
Cascade Strategies has not only been advocating for the “appropriate use of AI” but has also been consistently pushing for the appreciation of high-level human thinking, especially when it comes to market research. This research on primal intelligence underscores our stance on the irreplicable and inimitable merits of human intelligence. We believe there are values and experiences humans bring to the table that AI simply cannot match. We’ve always believed that breakthroughs in market research can only be unlocked only with the proper application of human intelligence. To learn more about how our thinking can help you with your brand development and market research needs, please contact us here.
Additional Reading:
Why AI Will Never Defeat Primal Intelligence
‘Primal Intelligence’ Review: Why Brains Are Better
Featured Image: johnhain
Top Image: geralt
Aug
Do You Know How Many HHCAHPS Stars You Have?
jerry9789 0 comments Brand Surveys and Testing, Brandview World, Burning Questions
What Is The HHCAHPS Stars Ratings?
Is your home health agency delivering not just acceptable but high-quality care according to your patients? Are your staff effectively communicating and connecting with your clients? How do you compare to other home health agencies in your area? But more importantly, do you know how many HHCAHPS Stars you have?
In line with the Affordable Care Act’s goal for transparent and easily understandable public reporting of quality of care information, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) uses a 5-star scale rating with the Home Health Care Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HHCAHPS) survey. The first national, standardized, and publicly reported home health care patient survey, the 34-item HHCAHPS survey was specifically designed to measure the experiences of people getting home health care from Medicare and Medicaid-certified HHAs. It gathers feedback from current or recently discharged patients as well as their family or friends about their experience with an HHA. The HHCAHPS survey is conducted by approved survey vendors either by mail only, telephone only, or a mix of mail survey with a telephone follow-up for non-respondents. And to support internal customer service and quality-related efforts, the survey also allows HHAs to add their own customized questions after the core questions.
HHAs with at least 40 completed HHCAHPS surveys over the publicly reported four-quarter period are qualified to receive HHCAHPS Star Ratings. Those with fewer than 40 completed HHCAHPS surveys will not receive Star Ratings as they may not have sufficient statistical reliability to ensure true performance is measured; however, if they’re eligible to be reported during that time period, their individual HHCAHPS measure scores will still be publicly reported.
The HHCAHPS Star Ratings at the Home Health Compare make it easier for consumers to compare home health agencies (HHA) and make informed decisions when choosing their home health care provider. While the HHCAHPS Star Ratings do not impact an HHA’s Annual Payment Update (APU), the CMS believes that the HHCAHPS Star Ratings “will stimulate improvements in the quality of care delivered and provide incentives for HHAs to maintain or improve their own quality.”
Image: Kampus Production
What Do The HHCAHPS Stars Ratings Measure?
The HHCAHPS Star Ratings are applied to each of the three publicly reported composite measures, from which specific questions from the survey are based, namely Care of Patients, Communication Between Providers and Patients, and Specific Care Issues. A Star Rating is also applied to the HHCAHPS global item, Overall Rating of Care.
On the other hand, an HHCAHPS Star Rating is not applied to the publicly reported Willingness to Recommend measure, as it mirrors the data in the Overall Rating of Care. CMS has found the Overall Rating of Care measure to be more stable.
To calculate the HHCAHPS Star Ratings, the responses to the survey items are first combined and converted to a 0-100 linear score and then adjusted for the effects of patient mix. To generate this adjustment, the CMS applies the patient-mix adjustment to quarterly HHCAHPS scores to account for certain patient subgroups that tend to respond more positively or negatively to the survey. The four-quarter averages of HHCAHPS linear scores are then rounded to whole integers using standard rounding rules.
Once the scores are linearized, adjusted and rounded, CMS assigns 1 to 5 stars for each HHCAHPS measure by applying statistical methods that analyze the relative distribution. The Star Rating for each of the four measures is then determined by the application of a clustering algorithm to the individual measure scores across HHAs.
The four HHCAHPS Star Ratings are then combined as a simple average to form the HHCAHPS Survey Summary Star Rating.
While more stars would mean a better home health care experience, a 1-star rating doesn’t necessarily translate to receiving poor home care from an HHA. This may mean that HHAs that received 2 or more stars delivered a better home health care experience on this particular measure.
An HHA that doesn’t have an HHCAHPS Survey Summary Star Rating means that they didn’t have enough surveys to allow star ratings to be meaningfully calculated, not that there is something wrong with the agency.
Image: Antoni Shkraba Studio
How Cascade Strategies Can Help Your HHA With Your HHCAHPS Star Ratings
As we’ve touched on earlier, you can find your HHCAHPS Star Ratings at the Home Health Compare. This user-friendly web tool allows one to select multiple HHAs at a time to compare the clinical quality of care provided and patient experiences at these agencies.
Are you happy with your HHA’s HHCAHPS Star Ratings? If you think your HHA can do a better job in getting more stars but need help formulating a gameplan, consider partnering with Cascade Strategies. In addition to being an approved HHCAHPS survey vendor, Cascade Strategies brings over thirty years of high quality market research experience to the table. For starters, we can help your HHA come up with the customized questions you can add after the core questions in your HHCAHPS survey. Using the insights we can derive from the responses to these customized questions, we can help your HHA identify areas of improvement and figure out what steps you can take to achieve your goals. To learn more about how we can help your HHA and your HHCAHPS Star Ratings, please contact us here.
Additional Reading:
How Researchers Are Helping Home Health Agencies with HHCAHPS Surveys
Featured Image: Tima Miroshnichenko
Top Image: Antoni Shkraba Studio
Aug
How Excellent Market Research Benefits Manufacturing Companies
jerry9789 0 comments artificial intelligence, Brandview World, Burning Questions
More than just an invaluable asset, market research is an essential tool to any company — or industry, for that matter. From identifying and tailoring your messaging towards your ideal customer with consumer research to understanding the competition and strategically positioning your company with competitor research, great market research grants you and your firm vital and actionable insights that would prove key to the success of your marketing efforts. In addition, excellent market research helps companies manage risks effectively and efficiently, as well as aid in measuring the progress and success of projects or even your company as a whole.
The manufacturing industry not only stands to benefit from high quality market research, it’s crucial to its continued growth, innovation and evolution, especially in an industrial landscape that’s continually transforming with technological advancements along with global, cultural and attitudinal shifts. From the steam and watered-power machines of the First Industrial Revolution to the expansion of network systems and electrification of the Second Industrial Revolution to the information technology focus of the Third Industrial Revolution (the Digital Revolution), the manufacturing industry’s evolution continues on in its latest iteration with Industry 4.0, harnessing modern and emerging technologies to facilitate the merging of the physical and digital realms.
And on that note, we take a look at 10 manufacturing industry trends today that exceptional market research can help manufacturers navigate and adapt to as the Industry 4.0 era unfolds.
Image: Livia Wong
1. Smart Factories
Perhaps the best representative of things to come with the Fourth Industrial Revolution, smart factories utilize Industry 4.0 technologies to streamline and improve operational efficiency, quality and maintenance while reducing errors and waste. Older machines are gradually giving way to newer counterparts built with onboard sensors, monitoring tools, interconnected systems and in some cases, machine learning capabilities.
With more and more manufacturing companies transitioning to automated facilities plus the decreasing costs to acquire sensors, software and equipment, manufacturers big and small are all the more incentivized to join the smart factory revolution — if they haven’t yet — to not only keep up with the competition and the changing times but also take advantage of the irresistible operational benefits.
2. Artificial Intelligence
AI has disrupted multiple industries, and manufacturing isn’t immune to it; in fact, it has openly and quickly embraced and adopted it, seeing all the tremendous advantages it brings with its data-crunching prowess and advanced decision-making insights to the core aspects of smart production, quality control, supply chain management, servicing and maintenance, along with enhancements to processes, products and services.
More and more manufacturing companies are finding success and are able to scale competitively when strategically leveraging AI in automating and streamlining their operations, especially when it’s combined with other contemporary technologies. But perhaps the best combination of them all is when AI is combined with human creativity and experience, opening doors for innovation and further advancements.
3. Digital Twins and Data-driven Predictive Maintenance
If smart factories are revolutionizing manufacturing operations, digital twin technology and data-driven predictive maintenance are transforming equipment maintenance and operational downtimes. By utilizing virtual replicas or “digital twins” of equipment and devices, manufacturers can simulate equipment performance under different scenarios and situations to gain valuable insights. These data-driven insights would help manufacturing companies anticipate or predict when an equipment would need servicing or maintenance, reducing or eliminating unexpected downtimes and equipment breakdowns. At the same time, maintenance costs are reduced, material cost savings are increased, and the usage or life cycle of the asset is optimized.
And digital twins aren’t limited to physical assets only, as they can also replicate systems or processes to test new ideas or optimize existing ones before applying any changes or updates to live production. The digital twins approach not only helps minimize resource consumption and waste, but also improves business decisions by backing them with data-driven insights.
4. Other Notable Industry 4.0 Technologies (AR/VR/Robotics)
Arising from the realms of gaming and entertainment, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have now begun revolutionizing manufacturing. Product design, quality control, maintenance and repairs, remote collaboration and even employee training — all these are being impacted and improved by the application of AR and VR technology.
Robotics may have been around longer than AR and VR but modern robots are far more advanced than their forerunners programmed for repetitive tasks. Thanks to AI and automation software, today’s robots are autonomous, collaborative, and far more capable of performing complex tasks and operations.
These technologies in conjunction with AI make it possible for manufacturing operations to be run remotely or without any operator onsite. And as these technologies grow popular to become widely used and accepted, we might even see more fully automated manufacturing facilities called “dark factories” be developed in the near future.
5. Sustainability and Carbon Neutrality
No other industry is perhaps under greater pressure to pursue sustainable processes and carbon-neutral practices than manufacturing. Contracts with governments and institutions and eventually commercial clients require compliance with sustainability efforts while more and more consumers are supporting reputable, sustainable brands.
The manufacturing industry itself is advancing sustainability efforts by developing and employing green software to aid with carbon neutrality, waste reduction, and energy consumption optimization. Renewable energy integration in physical locations is also being embraced, while cloud infrastructure solutions and carbon capture technology are being viewed for their potential. Working toward sustainable practices and carbon neutrality isn’t without its own rewards for the business, as it’s been found that eco-conscious manufacturing companies are able to significantly reduce costs and improve efficiency with their sustainability efforts over time.
6. Reshoring
Reshoring refers to returning production operations back to the manufacturing company’s home country from overseas locations. This trend was a result of recent global events disrupting supply chains. It benefits the manufacturer with shorter supply chains, better quality control, faster market delivery, domestic economic boost, and improved sustainability efforts.
However, reshoring isn’t a decision a manufacturing company should take lightly, as one would need to factor in labor costs, skill, infrastructure, and more, as smaller-scale firms might find it more costly to operate domestically than overseas.
7. Decentralized Manufacturing
Another approach to improving supply chain resilience from disruptions is decentralized manufacturing, which is the distribution of production activities across multiple locations in the form of microfactories. Additional benefits of decentralized manufacturing include reduced logistics costs and quicker response times to local market demands.
While the coordination of multiple microfactories and achieving standardization across all sites may prove to be challenging, Industry 4.0 technologies can aid in making decentralized manufacturing more accessible and manageable through improved transparency and responsive production models.
8. Tapping into B2C
With the ever-growing popularity of e-commerce, manufacturing companies can now bypass the traditional lines of retailers and distributors and sell directly to the end consumer. Smart factories, 3d printing and additive manufacturing also make it possible to offer customized products based on a customer’s preferences. The advent of new manufacturing technology or the evolution of existing ones would only open up more opportunities for enterprising manufacturers looking to connect further with consumers.
9. Cybersecurity
The manufacturing industry’s increasing digitization has made it an irresistible target for cybercriminals, exploiting vulnerabilities with cyberthreats and attacks ranging from ransomware to industrial espionage or even supply chain and/or operational disruption. It’s no surprise then that cybersecurity has joined the elite group of paramount concerns for any manufacturing company.
Measures include multi-layered security, secure-by-design, zero-trust architecture, AI-driven threat detection, advanced encryption, and regular updates and patches, as well as employee cybersecurity training. Cybersecurity is more than just data protection or an IT concern now for manufacturing companies as it safeguards their production, finances, integrity, and reputation.
10. The Workforce of Industry 4.0
In spite of all the exciting technologies emerging in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the manufacturing industry is experiencing widening skills gaps and labor shortages. These difficulties could translate to a loss in revenue of $1 trillion if approximately 2.1 million jobs aren’t filled in by 2030.
To address these challenges, manufacturing companies could start with reviewing all of their production processes from the ground up and assessing areas that could be improved by a highly skilled and competent workforce. Yes, the manufacturing industry is moving towards automation and advanced technologies but it can’t truly innovate without human creativity and experience.
Manufacturing companies are planning to offer higher wages by at least 3%. At the same time, they’re investing in training programs to reskill or upskill existing employees for the Industry 4.0 work environment. Incorporating new manufacturing technologies like AI and AR in these training programs can help employees not only learn faster, but also give them familiarity and first-hand experience with these digital trends. The same technologies can also be deployed for improving employee health and safety at the workplace.
Other approaches that manufacturing companies can consider taking range from partnering with local educational institutions in creating curriculums tailored for manufacturing careers, diversifying the recruitment pool, and creating appealing work environments which offer flexible schedules, potential promotions, and career development.
Image: InWay
How Cascade Strategies Can Help Manufacturing Companies with Advanced Market Research
Hewlett-Packard wanted to discover what feature-price combinations in high-frequency oscilloscopes would optimize profit. We conducted an advanced conjoint study followed by AI-based modeling to evaluate sales scenarios. Out of hundreds of attributes, we found the qualities below to be most salient. Using the most salient attributes as predictive vectors, we developed an AI model to determine the unique price-feature combinations that would produce the most profit and presented the top 3 to Hewlett-Packard.
We’ve highlighted 10 manufacturing trends shaping the future of the manufacturing industry in this selection but there are actually more out there that we didn’t touch on. And as new technologies arise, existing ones improve, and other industry changes or shifts happen, more trends are sure to emerge.
Regardless of trends, you can be sure to count on market research to help you determine the best approach to leveraging new technologies or guide business decisions to ensure your manufacturing company stays competitive and relevant. Would it be beneficial or costly for your company to go with a dark factory over a smart factory? Which of your AI-driven production processes would benefit from human supervision and input? Are your sustainability efforts being seen and appreciated by your consumer base or do you need to do more?
Between reshoring and decentralized manufacturing, which one would work best for your company? Are you able to expand into B2C? Are your training programs effective in making your employees understand and uphold cybersecurity commitments?
As with any AI-powered or data-driven Industry 4.0 technology, the high quality market research Cascade Strategies provides grants valuable and actionable insights into the operations, perception, and potential of your manufacturing company. If you would like to find out more about how Cascade Strategies can help your manufacturing company thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, please contact us here.
Featured Image: Hyundai Motor Group
Top Image: Foto-Rabe
Jul
How Market Research Benefits Telecommunications Companies
jerry9789 0 comments Brand Surveys and Testing, Brandview World
The Telecommunications Industry Post-COVID
We’re some years removed now from the COVID-19 pandemic, but from that bleak and forlorn stage in time, the telecommunications industry has proven just how essential its services are to the whole world. It’s always been one of those industries that’s expected to grow steadily through the years given the constant need for communication and connection along with the emergence of new technologies. But probably not everyone prior to the pandemic and lockdown could’ve anticipated just how much growth in some of telecommunication’s notable sectors would skyrocket.
What was once the domain of the select few who opted to work, transact, or learn virtually, remote environments have been elevated from viable options to cornerstone platforms in the plans and strategies of businesses and educational institutions. Streaming services gained more popularity during the lockdown, rewriting the book on how we access and enjoy entertainment from that point onward. More and more smart devices are being introduced to the market along with the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) applications like security systems. From video conferencing to online collaborations, from seamless viewing experiences to uninterrupted real-time data transmission, providing stable and reliable connections is paramount for the continued success and growth of any telecommunications company.
But beyond that, a telecommunications company must also be able to look forward and recognize areas where it can grow further as well as anticipate any possible changes that could affect the industry, such as shifting attitudes and market trends, lest they fall behind and be overtaken by the more prepared and forward-thinking competition. Telecommunications market research is a vital key in helping a telecommunications company thrive amid an ever-changing landscape while staying relevant and competitive.
Copyright: Yan Krukauo
How Market Research Helps Telecommunications Companies
Great research helps telecommunications companies in a number of ways. A chief benefit from telecommunications market research is discovering and understanding changes in consumer behavior and needs via customer feedback, their buying patterns and other sources. And this won’t be limited to just a general overview, as market research can deep dive into each consumer segment or profile to uncover underlying specific needs and preferences.
This would help guide business decisions in determining whether a new product or service has a viable market or an ideal customer segment as well as identify if there’s an opportunity to improve or rethink existing offerings. Concepts that worked back in the pandemic might not be as appealing or practical the farther we move away from that restrictive period of time.
Market research also sheds light on what current and potential customers think of your telecommunications company’s brand. High expectations could mean that your brand is an industry leader or pioneer, giving all the more reason to stay ahead of the competition by exploring opportunities to introduce new products or services before others could come up with similar offerings. Negative perceptions could reveal where your brand is lacking and whether there’s an opportunity for rebranding or how such a reinvention could be accomplished. How your brand is being perceived could also serve as the benchmark for rethinking strategies, pricing, tiers, or packaging. This also extends to capturing the interest and eventual support of consumers on the fence or converting lukewarm clients into steadfast advocates. With customer loyalty in place, a telecommunications company can effectively devise and implement customer appreciation programs and promotions.
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Navigating The Future with Telecommunications Market Research
Telecommunications companies need great market research now more than ever with the emergence of cutting-edge technologies like AI, cybersecurity and edge computing. But more importantly, we’re witnessing the gradual rollout of 5G network and services which support not only enhanced mobile experiences but also IoT, autonomous driving cars, smart cities and more. Great research can help a telecommunications company position itself at the intersection of these new technologies and the consumer market through the development of relevant products, partnering with tech leaders, and the delivery of seamless integration experiences.
And with the world becoming more and more digitally connected, it’s no surprise that cybersecurity and privacy are becoming foremost concerns. Telecommunications market research therefore becomes key in recognizing and addressing customer concerns over the security of their data and information, shaping privacy policies, and guiding business decisions about which advanced cybersecurity measures to invest in. When delivered in relatable and understandable terms to consumers, a telecommunications company’s effort to soothe data security and privacy concerns can convert into the building of trust and goodwill.
An increasingly interconnected world also means that competition can go beyond borders and achieve global scale. Whether a telecommunications company takes a cautious approach or aggressively expands, market research is that indispensable asset informing company leaders and investors on how to safeguard local market shares, navigate regional and regulatory challenges, recognize key competitors, choose potential partners, tap niche markets, and more.
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Cascade Strategies and Telecommunications Market Research
All over the Internet you’ll find articles and blogs on how to conduct market research, including research for the telecommunications industry. The question is, would you rather conduct this research yourself or would you prefer tapping into telecommunications market research backed by 35 years of experience?
Cascade Strategies brings to the table over three decades of market research experience, which includes case studies for esteemed telecommunications clients like AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile. That experience includes not only a variety of primary research methods encompassing traditional qualitative and quantitative approaches, but also leverages cutting-edge technology like AI. This is accompanied by extraordinarily high-level human thinking to achieve “breakthroughs” — actionable, out-of-the-box insights that build and set your brand apart from the competition. Contact us today to learn more how we can help you with your telecommunications market research!
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Featured Image Copyright: Andres Ayala
Top Image Copyright: wd toro
May
You’re familiar with this scenario: a business organization runs into a problem they can’t solve in-house, so they turn to your consulting firm to help figure out the solution. The problem turns out to be more complicated than anyone could imagine but thanks to your experience and expertise, you were able to come up with a strategy to solve it for good. Here’s the twist: given the complexity of the problem, the business wants you to back up your solution with something other than your experience and expertise, something that would help them understand what caused the issue and why your strategy is effective in solving it. This way, they can replicate the solution in-house, while also leaving the door open to work with your consulting firm again in the future on another problem.
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Why Use Market Research For A Consultancy Project?
If you haven’t yet, this would be the perfect opportunity to partner with a market research company. Your strategies and solutions are mostly born from your experience and expertise, but market research provides you with the data and insights to back up your advice. Sure, you can simply explain that your recommendations work because you’ve seen this happen before with the solutions you provided in the past and therefore it should work this time as well; market research achieves the same effect, except that it does the job with nuanced or layered explanations formed from case studies, working hypotheses, documented observations, referential works, and more.
In some cases where experience and expertise fall short, market research can serve as the foundation from which you develop your strategies and solutions by gaining a deeper understanding of not only the issue at hand but also other relevant factors such as the company, the competition, the customer base, trends, as well as the industry and the market itself, through quantitative and qualitative analysis. Market research goes beyond helping solve company problems; it can also help consulting firms guide their clients’ growth and business, increase brand awareness, and reach sales goals by resonating with their target audience through a data-driven and context-based approach.
Market research can also be key in helping you compete with or stand out from other firms. It can help determine key points in your competitors’ strategies to help differentiate your marketing approach or discover and tap into marketing space or niche audiences that they haven’t targeted. Sure, your competitors can utilize market research just as well, but if they’re only using it to support their existing business solutions and strategies while you leverage it to uncover new answers or innovate specific or contextual tactics for your clients, that can help get you a leg up over them.
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How To Conduct Market Research for a Consulting Project
The process for conducting market research for a consulting project can be broken down into a few steps, starting with determining the focus of the research by defining the problem we want to solve or the goal we plan to achieve. In most cases, the focus may already be informed by the client and the project theme itself. From there we’ll shape the primary question we’re looking to answer, then form secondary and tertiary questions out of it, deriving the data types and sources we’re going to need along with the criteria and metrics from which we’ll measure the progress and success of our research.
Next, we’ll pick the research method we’ll be employing, which will be based on the type and sources of data we need and will use. Are you doing primary market research to gather firsthand data from your target audience or the market itself? Are you planning to complement your primary research findings with existing data from external sources through secondary market research?
Interviews, focus groups, and surveys are commonly used when gathering data directly ourselves, but if they fit our needs we can also utilize the top-down or bottom-up approaches. The former approach sees our research start with smaller elements to gain data for insights leading to a larger picture, while the latter has us researching first on a broader level with the resulting data used to learn specifics. We can also refer to previous but similar projects which can help save time and resources, but bear in mind that we might need data specific to the present context to arrive at the ideal solution for that project.
We’ll next proceed to data collection and analysis wherein we’ll observe and record the research process, taking note of any difficulties and divergences, while checking the quality and validity of our data through testing, cross-validation, and the like. We’ll be looking out for patterns, trends, correlations, and even differences, along with their implications and insights. We’ll also use statistical tests, confidence intervals, or error margins to evaluate the reliability and significance of our results.
When presenting our findings, it’s best to deliver what we discovered in a clear and concise yet engaging manner using language and visuals appropriate for our audience. For example, a somber, businesslike tone and straightforward visuals used when presenting to a room of executives and higher-ups might not work as well with a group of creatives. Perhaps communicating your findings in a story-like fashion to the latter might inspire their interest more and get your points across better by stirring their imagination. Visual tools can include reports, presentations, dashboards, or infographics, with highlights focusing not only on key takeaways and recommendations but also on any limitations we encountered or assumptions we made.
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How To Find The Right Market Research Group For Your Consulting Firm
Not all market research companies are the same, of course. You’ll find large MR firms that employ different teams for every phase of your consulting project as well as smaller groups with one unit dedicated to overseeing the entire process from start to finish. You would want to go with a market research group that not only has some experience working with consulting firms but also does a regular volume of business with consultancies in the current day. Their experience would most likely translate to a higher understanding of the nature and challenges of your consultancy business in addition to adapting and aligning more easily with your goals and the way you do consulting work.
When interviewing market research teams you’re considering working with, you might want to ask them for any instance or past case history they can share wherein despite limited time, resources, and funds, they were still able to deliver outstanding insights and results. This will indicate how they perform under pressure as well as gauge their competitive drive.
But just because they rose above past difficulties and limitations doesn’t mean you’ll be short with them. On the contrary, you need to ensure your chosen market research team not only has the proper tools and resources but also enough time, room, and funding to help them perform their job well. Their success is, after all, your success. Allow them the freedom to use their discretion to take risks, experiment, or innovate, since the breakthroughs they find can make the difference in the quality and ingenuity of your business strategies compared to that of your competitors.
Let your consulting firm stand out from the rest of the competition with data-driven strategies and insights-based solutions for your clients that high-quality and high-level market research can achieve. Partner with Cascade Strategies and back up your consultancy with groundbreaking methodologies and over three decades of market research experience that other leading US and international companies have benefited from. Contact Cascade Strategies today and find out how we can help your consulting firm solve problems and achieve your goals.
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