Perspective · Market insight
The evolution of insight
ENI tracked down 46 researchers it had placed in 2003. Their job titles 16 years later show how far data and technology had changed the insight industry.
Even 20 years ago, the terms big data and data science weren’t used. The insight industry consisted of market researchers and statisticians, who supplied data to people with the time and skills to process it.
Fast forward to 2019: time is scarce and the skills required have diversified so much that companies now need answers, stories and recommendations to make sense of the data deluge they face.
“The data used to be small so insight could report everything that is interesting. Now data is big and we need to curate it down to a manageable size,” says Elizabeth Norman, quoting her industry peer Ray Poynter, of NewMR, following a recent discussion.
Ms Norman, through her insight recruitment company Elizabeth Norman International (ENI), recently evaluated the paradigm shift that has taken place over the past 30 years. The sector is now not only data-centric but also more international than ever before, she emphasises.
What’s changed since 2003?
“We recently tracked down 46 traditional researchers that we’d placed in UK roles back in 2003,” she says. “Of those 46, 12 are now working as insight specialists outside the UK and ten are in pure data science and analytics roles.
“The job titles they now have, which include social media strategist, head of customer experience, user researcher and marketing effectiveness manager, show the shift towards a much greater range of techniques and skills as the industry grows and diversifies.
“The career opportunities this growth has given them are also clear: five of them are managing directors, and another five are global heads of insight for large, blue-chip organisations.
“Just from our own stats and the achievements of the people we placed 16 years ago, you can see how much the industry has evolved.”
I can’t imagine an industry that could change more than this one has.
Elizabeth Norman
A wider range of techniques and roles
“It’s not just an industry evolution; it’s created a huge rise and diversification in career opportunities,” Ms Norman continues.
“Once there was just traditional qualitative and quantitative research, with a bit of data added on. Now the range of techniques companies use includes artificial intelligence (AI), advanced analytics, mobile data, passive data, ethnography, video, social media analytics, biometric response, gamification, neuroscience and behavioural economics.
“In terms of job roles, this means needing specialists in areas that include data science, semiotics, psychology, video, graphic design, sales, AI, marketing intelligence, computer programming, communications and, for storytelling, even writing and journalism.”
Every sector needs insight
For ENI, the spread of data across every part of business has been a challenge. Data has no jurisdiction, and as a result ENI has worked with almost every sector, commercial and non-profit, finding insight professionals to make use of vast swathes of data.
“All the companies we work with have masses of data coming in and need to make sense of it,” says Ms Norman. “They all need people to help them with it, and that’s why our range of clients is so wide.
“ENI has been operating for 30 years, but the diversity of skills companies need, and the opportunities that have opened up for candidates as a result, mean we’ve had to massively widen our scope and understanding. It’s not just a search for the best researchers and statisticians anymore.”
Ms Norman is hugely proud of ENI’s ability to stay ahead of this curve, but even more so of the industry itself and the individuals the company has placed in insight roles over the years.
She concludes: “Of the 46 people we tracked down from 2003, three are still with the organisations we originally placed them with, and one has risen from a junior role to head of intelligence and data analytics at Microsoft.
“I love to see that ongoing, long involvement with the industry, and how they, we and the industry have kept ahead of the biggest paradigm shift it’s ever faced.”
This article first appeared in The Insight Economy, Raconteur’s special report in The Times.
