Abstract:

There is a lot that is changing in our industry but the fact is that there are indeed now new technologies, interesting methodologies and ways of thinking that are changing the way in which insights professionals work and deliver their product. It seems clear that our mission has not changed. As Bartl and Bilgram point out in their article on Artificial Intelligence, its mission involves collecting, processing, analysing, and interpreting data to support decision-making. Sound familiar? It's just that both the streams of data and the technologies available to dissect them have evolved massively in the meantime. As Finn Raben reminds us, there is still the need for rigour in what we do; Kyle Findlay points out that we will still need 'whole-brain' people to interpret and activate our insights; the importance of qualitative continues to grow (albeit with new methods); and there is still the need for true insights to be embedded in the strategic fabric of the enterprise. Much is new but the underlying principles remain the same. The danger is that it is all too easy for innovation and 'all things new' to become something of a cult. We tend to get carried away in our calls for 'creative destruction'. The same is true in research: the fundamental principles still apply, still need to be taught, at the same time as we embrace the new.