We write for Insights Association: AI has transformed the market research software conversation

A market research software demo usually starts with clean data and a carefully chosen question. The platform returns an answer in seconds, and it is easy to imagine how much time the technology could save.

Infotools EVP John Bird has been thinking about what happens a few months later.

In a new article for the Insights Association, John draws on conversations with research teams evaluating AI-powered software and, in some cases, dealing with the consequences of previous technology decisions. He has even heard clients jokingly describe themselves as having “software PTSD” after implementations brought unexpected work, additional costs or features that required more customization than anticipated.

Real research programs give software a much tougher test. A tracker that has been running for eight or ten years may have gone through questionnaire changes, new markets, different suppliers, revised weighting and dozens of smaller decisions made along the way. Researchers still need to know whether comparisons are valid and understand what sits behind the numbers.

AI adds another set of questions. Can researchers inspect the respondent-level data behind an answer? How does the platform deal with weighting and statistical testing? What happens when several suppliers contribute data to the same program? Can an AI-generated summary be traced back to its source before someone shares it with the business?

John also looks at the market research knowledge behind the technology. Business intelligence tools have previously shown how software designed for other kinds of data can require extra work to accommodate multi-select questions, weighting and other common research requirements. Some of the newer AI entrants are now encountering those same realities.

The questions John hears during software evaluations have changed accordingly, and they tend to get quite specific once the demo is over.

Read John’s full article, “AI Has Transformed the Market Research Software Conversation ,” on the Insights Association blog.