by Technology is a powerful catalyst for innovation across the world. In the Insights Industry especially, technology continues to have a great role in innovating every single aspect of the insights generation and activation process – a topic that I will discuss in the MRMW EU event in December 2020, taking us through the four futures of insight activation:
- Collaborative Insight
- Creative Reporting
- Democratised Data
- Insight Consolidation
Technological innovation and intervention has the power to completely transform insights activation in these four diverse and simultaneous futures.
Technology in Insights Activation
Insight activation is arguably one of the most important parts of the research process, and there are many ways to help us activate insight through decision-making at all levels of the organisation rather than just in the c-suite. While these ways are only recently being integrated into decision-making processes, technology has consistently helped insight professionals bring activation to the forefront of the research process alongside the popular data collection and analytical discussions.
As one example, technological tools such as online dashboards could be seen as one of the first iterations of data sharing and has since realised a greater potential through the enhancement of cross-departmental communication, but there is still a way to go before insight sharing and thus activation has reached its peak through these types of tools alone.
Technology has also allowed us to tell the story of data more effectively, to emphasise the impact on stakeholders by making important insights easier to access, explore, and act upon through creative reporting. And equally, knowledge management tools and processes aid this in the activation stage, providing a new way to boost the sharing of these insight reports past the key stakeholders.
These are but a couple of recent examples of technologies currently impacting the insight activation process, there are a lot more that are worthy of mention; but as technology is constantly evolving, the potential for insight activation in the future is vast.
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Technology and the Future of Insight Activation
With the current technology still working its way into our activation processes, it’s tough to try and look into the future to see what more could be done; however, it is only by considering what more we can do to boost insight activation processes and how we can possibly attain this in the future that we can chart a course (adaptable to suit the circumstances that occur on the way, of course) to realise the true ability of insight activation.
There is so much more that technology can do to aid insight activation in the future. Taking a lead from the four futures of insight, encouraging collaborative insight activation is key to a better future for the insights industry because it helps researchers share data, research news and updates, and any insight reports with stakeholders directly, which in turn helps ensure that all insights generated are used to their best potential soon after they’re discovered.
While we’re exploring what creative reporting techniques are currently working the best, we need to consider how technology can work it’s magic to enhance reporting processes again for better engagement – the better the engagement, the more impact the insights will have once activated.
Arguably one of the most impactful tactics in aiding insight activation will be democratising access to insights on a continual basis, and technology has a big part to play in this: by creating a fundamental central bank of insights and research project information with unlimited viewing access for all members of staff.
Looking at the bigger picture, the role of technology in the future of insight activation is about choosing the right tools that have the power to create a culture of insights within organisations, and figuring out how to use the insight provided in the four simultaneous and divergent futures to create a personal plan to your own future of insight activation.
