Events: Data Analytics & Insight Conference 2019

Last month Analytics Director Misti Paul attended the Data Analytics & Insight Conference in London. The analytics industry is experiencing unparalleled growth, fueled by big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning and social media analysis. According to statistics provided by the
Market Research Society, the analytics industry has experienced 350% growth since 2012. Key drivers of this growth have been disruptive innovation, exponential growth of data, data warehousing, architecture and analytics. However, the shortage of skilled analysts and data scientists remains a barrier in this industry.  Many organisations are still learning and grappling with ways to integrate analytics in their business.

At Research Partnership, we have an established team of analytics specialists who are continually seeking ways to innovate. Consequently, we were keen to attend the Data Analytics & Insight Conference, which was held in London last month, to understand how analytics are being used by other industries. Every year, market research practitioners from across a wide range of sectors attend the event, which provides an excellent platform to exchange thoughts and ideas with other analytics leaders.

An early presentation focused on the use of analytics and forecasting in new product development for Chivas Brothers, a major whisky manufacturer, as they talked about how they estimated expected sales volume by analysing various data sources, including market research. Interestingly, the approach they used was similar to one we have adopted to estimate take-up for cyclical products such as flu vaccines and allergy medications, namely Adaptive Choice Based Conjoint combined with time series forecasting.

There were two other particularly notable presentations, one on the analysis of metadata and one on the analysis of language. In the first paper, the presenter explained how integrating data from social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, other digital networks and geospatial data can be used to fill in gaps in knowledge about the customer. This technique is being leveraged by brands to improve targeting, although there are concerns about data privacy. The second interesting paper presented by one of the agencies experimented with a comparative linguistics tool to explore nuanced variations in language. This technique can reveal new depths of understanding about consumers and the meaning behind their words.

A large online travel provider shared a case study whereby the integration of qualitative and quantitative market research along with secondary customer data helped them develop a successful offering for their customers, a technique we often undertake at Research Partnership. Similarly, Nuffied Health talked about how they use machine learning to optimize combining primary research with multi-touch point consumer and business data. This is akin to our use of unsupervised machine learning techniques used for physician and patient segmentation, leveraging both primary market research and secondary data sources.

The conference ended with closing remarks on the future of analytics and insights in market research. The global healthcare analytics is expected to surpass USD 18.25 billion by 2025. We are excited to be a part of that journey and are committed to applying analytical techniques that provide value and success to our clients.