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Client's point of view: So what?
Michael Berndt is customer insights manager at Ergon Energy, where research plays a key role in demand management in regional Queensland, a rapidly growing area.

Can you tell me about your organisation and the type of research it conducts - what proportion is in-house as opposed to outsourced? Ergon Energy comprises of an electricity distribution and a non-competing electricity retailer company servicing over 650,000 customers across 97 per cent of Queensland. Our current customer insights program consists of various tracking monitors and ad hoc projects with different levels of strategic importance. Most of which is outsourced.

What are the key qualities you look for in a market research supplier?  Someone that understands our business and the issues we are currently facing within our industry. In particular, understanding our unique market position of being a non-competing retailer in a competitive marketplace where traditional marketing rules simply do not apply.

What makes a good buyer?  A good buyer needs to be able to work in partnership with a research supplier. I find that developing a good close working relationship with suppliers helps benefit the quality of a client's customer insights program in the long term.

What's the biggest challenge for your organisation that you hope research will help address?  We are facing tremendous population growth in regional Queensland, which has a direct impact on our electricity distribution network. Energy efficiency and demand management are key issues for our business going forward. Research is going to be vital to informing many of our initiatives.

What's the most surprising thing you have found out from market and social research conducted on behalf of your organisation?  I always enjoy the opportunity to view focus group research as you get to see and hear some real characters. You gain so much more insight than just waiting to see the final report.

Quant vs qual: what has more impact in your organisation?  I believe both are equally important. There is always a risk in conducting quantitative research if you haven't fully explored your research problem in depth. Although I do find qualitative research provides the richness of information that you just don't get with quant alone.

Has your research budget increased or declined in recent years?  Our research budget has steadily grown over past years as the business has continued to see value in our customer insights program. Going forward though we are likely to face some budgetary pressure due to the current economic cycle.

How do you demonstrate return on investment for research in your organisation?  By continuing to show the business the corresponding impact that process improvement initiatives has had on customer satisfaction.

How do you want agencies to deliver results - do you still want detailed written reports in Word or do brief summaries presented visually suffice?  The delivery format is of least concern, my internal clients are always after the ‘so what' from research. Just presenting the results is not enough. We need to know what the implications are for our business and our customers with considered thought put into recommended actions. A supplier that can do this well is worth their weight in gold.

How is your organisation using Web 2.0 tools (blogs, wikis, forums, social networks) to do research?  Not yet. It will be quite a while before we do. We still haven't embraced Web 1.0 yet!

How does research need to be done differently today, given that fewer people have fixed telephone lines and more use their mobile phone as primary means of communication?  Improving research response rates is more of an issue. We currently contact our customers using both their mobile and fixed line numbers but we're finding our response rates have decreased considerably over the years. People are just too time poor these days.

Thinking about how research agencies articulate their findings and recommendations, what do you wish you heard less of from research agencies?  Spending too much time going through ‘background and methodology'.

What would you like to hear more of?  Interpreting the findings and providing recommendations for actions.

Complete this sentence: The market research industry needs more...  positive PR. Consumers often don't differentiate legitimate research from telemarketing.

What will market and social research look like in 10 years? What are the trends you've observed in market and social research?  I'm sure it will be completely different. Technology is improving at such an incredible rate.

Complete this sentence: I think the Qualified Practising Market Researcher (QPMR) accreditation scheme is...   A great idea but needs to be better marketed within the industry.

AS/ISO 20252 accreditation: A). Essential B). Desirable C). Not essential D). Don't know what it is  B) Desirable - we have been increasingly asking for this in our tenders.

What are your reading/watching/listening to lately?  Heroes is my favourite TV show at the moment. It's the big kid in me that still wishes he had special powers.

What's your favourite column in Research News?  Career moves. Being such a relatively small industry you often find someone that you know.

What three things couldn't you live without? My iPod, gym and of course my family. And no that is not in order of priority.

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  • Switchers and taggers provide insight about Gridlock
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  • Using the mobile phone to understand consumers
  • Cover to cover: Preserving the scientific method in the world of change
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  • AMSRO news
  • Achieving Balance shortlisted for EOWA Award
  • An ethical question: No. 166
  • Call for reviewers
  • Career moves
  • Continuum: Success comes from fun
  • Digital Edge launches with new mobile phone survey technology
  • Galaxy Research hosts breakfast featuring Milne
  • Gizmos and gadgets: Impressive productivity benefits for quant researchers
  • LMAA chooses Nielsen
  • Monash Sport commissions Comperio
  • President's point of view: Research in 2020? Let's just concentrate on 2009...
  • Research News over the decade
  • SSI adds wireless / mobile telephone sampling capability
  • Society news
  • Statistics: When less is more
  • Topline
  • WPP/TNS merger update

    Research News   Edition index (December 2008)


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