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The panel at TMRE was moderated by Seth Adler, Head of IMI Media at All Things Insights, and included: Bart Borkosky, Chief Research Officer at OvationMR; Paul Coxhill, President at LIONS Insight/WARC; Maury Giles, SVP, Growth at Material; Kerry Sette, Vice President, Head of Consumer Insights & Research at Voya Financial; and Oksana Sobol, Vice President of Insights at The Clorox Company.
The advancements in artificial intelligence have brought with it newfound challenges and opportunities in the insights and innovation fields. The discipline is exploring new tools and technologies, such as synthetic data, developing best practices when using AI and creating industry use cases. At the same time, there is a counterpoint developing, to continue to focus insights on human-centricity, with human insights and understanding the voice of the consumer primary concerns.
The Future of Decision-Making
Just what will the future hold when it comes to insights? As our panelists indicated, it’s a complex question with many facets and perspectives associated with it.
For Clorox’s Oksana Sobol, the future of insights will be one that is faster, leaner, and focused on data and technology. There will also be what she terms a “growth imperative.” Organizations will focus on deliverable results, growth ideas and actionable insights.
Kerry Sette of Voya Financial sees a future where there is efficiency as propelled by technology such as artificial intelligence, while there will also be transformation. There will be new questions formed that will center on solving business challenges. There won’t just be strategy, but activation of insights will be a primary concern, as well as the inspiration and creativity of humans that will be ignited by emerging technologies.
Harnessing AI, panelists agreed, will be key in the future. As Sette suggests, we are still in a “crawl, walk, run” mode when it comes to upskilling teams. But this will lead to a deeper understanding of customers, and more of a focus on activation within the business.
Material’s Maury Giles also points to solutions that are actionable. He is seeing more of an integration at the agency and corporate level, where cross-disciplinary functions will be the key to developing teams.
“What are we solving for?” asks Giles. “Who makes the decision? True insights will be solutions that are actionable.”
Paul Coxhill of LIONS Insight/WARC looks at how process could play a key role in the future development of insights. Once the layers of structure and technology are in place, “work out the process, work out the team, to reflect what you are serving,” suggests Coxhill.
Speaking of structure and process, OvationMR’s Bart Borkosky looks at the way AI is building tools on both an internal and external level. But it still needs to solve a specific problem. “There needs to be intentional purpose, creativity and curiosity,” he says.
The Focus on Experimentation
How you use AI, our panelists agreed, will be of prime importance in the future. But one must not overlook quality as well as storytelling. Overall, it’s the combination of human and machine that will combine for successful growth.
Use cases will continue to become prevalent, and with it the ideation of insights and innovation, suggests Sobol. “It’s how do we integrate your business knowledge?” she says, pointing to examples of experimentation with synthetic data, for example.
AI may be efficient, says Giles, but it’s the human capacity that will be key to oversight of technology and keeping to sound behavioral and scientific principles. “How will humans make these decisions?” asks Giles. It’s humans that will be core to these business relationships going forward, adds Giles.
It’s that intersection between ideation, human and machine intelligence, where it’s all about creativity—and humans can’t be replaced in that regard, asserts Sette.
The human factor, Borkosky agrees, will be key to business collaboration and relationships. “More than ever, we have to be curious,” he says.
Overall, our panel was optimistic about the future of insights, and the marriage of both AI and human intelligence. “AI won’t set strategy,” says Sobol. “Humans will still be relevant to decision-making.”
Editor’s Note: Check out the video from TMRE 2024 for more on the Future of Insights panel. In addition, for a more in-depth look at the Future of Insights Report, check out All Things Insights’ October story, “Exploring the Evolution of Insights.” The Future of Insights Report is also available to view or download by visiting the insights community, AllThingsInsights.com.
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