EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SPEND AND TRENDS REPORT
This H1 2023 Insights Spend & Trends Report reveals that the insights discipline is starting to showcase an old world and a new world. Coming through the pandemic, Insights leaders went from a research and report methodology to an analytics and insights approach. Insights laggards seem to still be approaching the discipline from the old world research mindset. This is not a comment on disciplinarians but on the organizations for which they work. Only 14% of the community still identifies as market research. Companies who have actively integrated analytics into their insights function are beginning to separate themselves from the competition. Respondents have lengthy tenures; nearly ¾ of respondents note 15+ years of experience, the community is truly cross- industry, from mostly large organizations with a mostly worldwide remit. The community lists understanding consumers as its top strength, which, of course, is table stakes. Over half of respondents list ‘expanding influence on the business’ as a strength, meaning that the majority of the community is headed in the right direction. The ‘unique skill set’ that’s needed in Insights is listed as the third biggest strength which is a good thing for present day disciplinarians. That said, ‘When it comes to building out your Insights team’’ the ‘biggest challenge’ listed was a talent/skills shortage. That seems to indicate that the evolution of the discipline is now outpacing an influx of the talent needed to evolve the discipline. Limited budget, time or resources is noted as the biggest weakness by the community- which might be the case no matter the decade. But ‘lack of control over activation of insights’ is listed as the second biggest weakness for two fifths of respondents. That might indicate that the 52% of respondents who indicated ‘expanding influence’ are distinct from the 40% who ‘lack control over activation.’ if there is more overlap in the venn diagram of those two results, that might mean that the expanding influence certain Insights teams are experiencing, might be short-lived.
When it comes to Insights focus over the past four years leading up to present- whether during the pandemic or after, the top focus area is ‘unifying insights, data and analytics’ . And that number has grown following the pandemic to the majority at present. Transforming the insights function was the next top area of focus during the pandemic for nearly half of the community, whereas now it’s just over a quarter of the community. This seems to be an indication of where the leaders and laggards are split… and it showcases a possible point of now return for the laggards. Either way, the next top area of focus for the Insights discipline post-pandemic is supporting the product development and innovation teams. Over half of respondents answered thusly. That seems to indicate that for over half of the community, teams have been cut as much as possible and that- although these are uncertain times, organizations are now focused on growth after focusing on cost- cutting throughout the pandemic. With that understanding, overall spending isn’t necessarily up , but the category where it’s up the most is far and away, business and product development. As far as actual solutions, data visualization has been and continues to be the top area of spend. Not surprisingly, moving forward the next highest area of spend is AI-assisted research. Those that are actually diving into Generative AI and LLM solutions have previously put themselves in a position to do so, and those that haven’t are still struggling to catch-up.
Seth Adler All Things Insights
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