Without a doubt the research industry is struggling to evolve at the pace of technology innovation as it relates to data and emerging data sources. We don’t have a “big data problem”, we have a distinct gap between our traditional methods and a massive influx of new technologies and data streams.
Traditionally we’ve focused on primary data collection, giving little thought to ancillary sources of data- in large part because they simply didn’t exist. Even as recently as 5 years ago, there was limited access to many of the consumer behaviors that can easily be tracked today via digital activity (online, mobile wearables, IoT, etc).
Never before have we seen such an influx of technology driven solutions enter the research space. From text analytics to image recognition software, social media and geo-location data providers, many of the companies to watch (like SocialGlimpz, KnowledgeHound and MetricWire) are being driven by entrepreneurs with limited formal research training. This in fact may be helping, rather than hindering, their success. Case in point, Nick Drewe.