How to strengthen your insights manager role
Editor’s note: Marat Sustavov is the marketing director at Fastuna. This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared under the title “How Insights Managers Can Secure Their Roles.”
As we step into an era where automation and artificial intelligence are rapidly transforming the landscape of data and research, the role of insights managers faces an evolution. Gone are the days when their primary responsibility was conducting research.
The survival and relevance of insights managers lie in their ability to adapt and provide value-added services to their organizations. In this article, we'll explore how insights managers can secure their positions and become indispensable team members in this changing reality.
It requires improving research processes and aligning them with business reality, empowering your teams with cutting-edge tools, managing insights, educating colleagues and promoting your research department.
Four tips to help build processes
One of the critical strategies for staying relevant as an insights manager is to shift from being solely a researcher to a business result-oriented professional. A big part of this transition is building processes. Start by documenting all the tasks you receive from internal clients and categorizing them into concept, product and marketing development.
Creating optimal processes for each category is essential to manage your innovation process effectively. Below are four tips to help you get started.
1. Develop a mental map to visualize the process.
Create a navigational tool to visualize the innovation process for you and your team. This will help you identify areas where research can be used more often.
2. Choose research suppliers and platforms.
Select suppliers best suited for each task. Create shortcuts to save time for you and your team.
3. Design brief templates.
Create templates that include business background, timing and action standards. This will help you act swiftly and precisely when your internal clients provide complete information.
4. Define the reporting framework.
Make sure your team knows what to expect in reporting so they won't be disappointed at the end of the research.
The goal is to streamline the process, making it more efficient and ensuring all team members are well-informed about the information needed and the expected outcomes.
Offer your team the necessary marketing research tools
Empower your product and marketing teams with cutting-edge research automation tools, enabling them to actively participate in the data-collection process. By simplifying the collection of consumer feedback through these tools, you encourage greater engagement, making it effortless for teams to extract value and integrate consumer insights into their decision-making processes.
The criteria of a professional tool include:
- A user-friendly interface.
- Reliable data sources.
- Optimal timing.
- Robust methodologies.
- Live support from experts.
The importance of managing insights
Managing data and insights effectively is crucial. Use specialized platforms, databases and benchmarks to organize and store valuable information. Explore open-source data resources that can supplement your research efforts and stay updated on emerging technologies and tools that can further optimize data management.
Prioritize educating your team and spreading knowledge
Insights managers can add significant value by becoming educators within their organizations. Leverage best practices from leading industrial organizations and stay connected with industry trends, research methodologies and actively share your findings with your teams.
Create webinars, workshops or training sessions for your colleagues to demystify the research process and showcase how it has positively impacted various departments. By spreading research knowledge, you enhance your team's capabilities and reinforce your position as a vital resource for making educated business decisions.
Insights managers can still thrive
In a rapidly changing world where automation and AI technologies are automating routine tasks, insights managers can thrive by transforming into strategic partners who design efficient processes, provide actionable insights, manage data effectively and educate their teams.
By embracing these changes and consistently adding value to their organizations, insights managers can ensure that they won't be replaced but rather become indispensable assets in the quest for consumer insights and strategic decision-making.