AI (Artificial Intelligence) is like the new walk-on player who slam dunks alley-oops and makes the whole crowd go wild. Everyone loves him, but he is not the most important player on the team.
Look, I get it. It is hard, if not impossible, to stay in your seat when a player on your favorite team flies through the air and literally slams the basketball through the opponent’s hoop. It’s fast and powerful and exciting, and it is all anyone wants to talk about.
Meanwhile, the player who read the court, set up the opportunity, and initiated the play stays in the shadows. Rightfully so, perhaps, but that player’s role is critical and cannot be underestimated or dismissed.
The exciting player: AI
I bet you could go to any conference, for any industry, and hear multiple presentations on the importance of AI tools. That is certainly the case in market research.
Most recently, I attended the Insights Association Annual Conference for market researchers at Hilton Head, South Carolina. There was a lot of talk about AI and ChatGPT, what they mean for the industry, and how companies are going to succeed going forward in that space.
Thanks to AI, we can now go to a machine and say: ‘Here is a huge amount of information. Process it for me.’ And it spits out results almost instantaneously.
The crowds, aka research analysts and business leaders, are thrilled. AI cuts out hours of tedious work, saves money, and speeds up the research process.
But – and this is the part I can’t emphasize enough – you need that human, strategic mind to make sense of the research data. AI is exciting, but strategy wins games.
The critical player: Strategist
Simply put, the critical thinking partner is the most important partner of the future.
With all the new technology, writing research studies to get answers can become commoditized. Anything that is a dime a dozen is not worth the investment.
A strategic partner will:
- Read the environment
- Guide AI tools to look forward, backward, and sideways
- Identify how your consumers define Living Well
- Help you understand where those consumers are going
- Get you there before they arrive
A strategic partner works in the shadows so you can shoot, score, and win!
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