Experience the power of market research data democratization

We’ve long been proponents of data democratization. We believe that the more, the merrier when it comes to accessing and using market research insights. Corporate insights teams at large brands or companies can relate to this, as the more stakeholders who can utilize the fruits of their labor, the more valuable their role in their company is perceived to be. Not to mention, the business itself will succeed by making data-driven decisions across the organization.

When you add the complexity of remote work, sharing insights in a compelling and usable way can become an uphill battle. However, in an ecosystem that is moving at record speeds, waiting for insights is just simply not an option. When stakeholders ask a question, there is a need for immediate data-driven answers. 

Trends in accessing the Harmoni platform

We know that the global crisis, stay-at-home mandates, and other factors are changing behaviors, not just in the way we act as consumers but also in how we conduct business. We thought we’d take a look at some patterns in our own market research technology platform, Harmoni, to see how usage had shifted since the onset of the pandemic. 

When we looked at Harmoni, we found some trends that made good sense in our new environment. We have clients worldwide using Harmoni to manage their data analysis, processing, and visualization needs. These clients range from large, well-known brands to influential market research agencies. What we discovered is that near the end of Q2, and over Q3, the number of unique ‘viewers’ logging into the platform increased steadily. 

What does this tell us? Because most of these users were data “viewers” rather than what we call “creators” or “explorers,” we know that, generally speaking, they were likely part of stakeholder groups like marketers, brand managers, sales, communications, and others, rather than part of the research and insight teams who have access to greater capabilities and features within Harmoni. This behavior we see on Harmoni directly supports the theory that data democratization - insights which everyone can access and use - are becoming ever more important. 

Easy-to-access insights are critical.

People are logging in to find quick answers to their questions. Harmoni facilitates this with an easy-to-navigate, cloud-based interface that presents insights in a visually compelling manner. Because dashboards are automatically updated when new data is available, and mobile alerts can be sent, significant changes in key metrics are never missed.

The ability to access important insights for making data-driven decisions - from marketing and communications to product development and beyond - is absolutely critical in a fast-paced market. Without the democratization of data, you run into major inefficiencies. Extra steps in producing outputs from data without universal access creates more work and increases the potential for errors.

When stakeholders can easily ask questions of the data and quickly display answers in a visual manner, you are a step ahead of the competition. Harmoni users are finding the stories in the data, all in easily consumable, interactive format. We expect the trend of more unique users logging into Harmoni to continue as a wider group of stakeholders become accustomed to quickly accessing quality insights to advise all business areas.