For long technology and market research have been 2 opposite sides of a river – do you see a change in this trend ?
Steve August : I disagree with the premise that technology and market research have been on opposite sides . I think while it is true that market research has been slower than other industries to broadly adopt certain aspects of technology , it certainly has made great strides in the last two decades . I think the question is more about market research and business intelligence data . Market research has dominantly been about primary research - talking to people directly . Data has been about information that enterprises generate in the course of business , a mass of data that has been steadily growing in volume , variation and velocity . This data is something market research did not take on as part of its purview , yet it is a source of intelligence that is an important part of customer understanding . Now we are seeing more crossover between market research and data driven understanding .
How can technology be leveraged to enhance customer experience while undertaking a survey ?
Steve August : Technology can be quite helpful in enhancing the customer survey experience . It can format survey questions to adapt to phone and small screen user interfaces . It can have a more engaging and responsive look and feel . What it cannot do is truly prevent people from creating poorly designed surveys , surveys that are too long , or use overly expansive matrix questions . Ultimately people need have more bearing than technology on survey experience .