Market research is a complex industry with a simple mission: quality. We take what we do best as researchers and are constantly tasked to create new value for our clients, our partners and our panellists. We are always in a state of transition -  altering what we do and how we think to meet the new marketplace realities. Creating growth that is organic, profitable, unique and sustainable requires innovation and risk-taking.

As I transition back to the Asia-Pacific region, I am looking forward to tackling new opportunities and exploring growth from all angles. From automation to survey length, I believe 2016 will bring even more change and our industry will shift yet again. We see a growing importance to focus on the panellist experience to meet the needs of our clients. My predictions for the year ahead include:

1. Continued journey towards mobile first surveys. By generating mobile first surveys, we are meeting respondents on their devices at their convenience. This gives the chance to reach more relevant opinions from an increasingly mobile world. Across the industry, we need to guarantee responsive survey design that not only functions, but maximises mobile capabilities.
2. Panellist registrations from mobile devices will exceed 65%. In the past year the number of new panel joins via mobile have more than doubled. This will continue as more and more consumers choose to access online via their hand held device. Understanding this shift and preparing to welcome this type of respondent will be a fundamental shift in our industry.
3. Increased use of 3rd party data in surveys.  The volume of data available is on the rise. By appending social media opinions and online behaviours to survey data we can gain a 360 degree view of our digital audience. We can utilize ‘big data’ to enhance research results and offer clients a new level of actionable data.

While each of these trends addresses a specific area of our industry, they are all connected. They push us to improve our processes and refine our core offerings.