From our research, as well as from all the discussions we have we had over the last few years, we know that very few people in our sector, whether on the client and supplier side, had the Business Impact of Insights as a KPI for 2019.
However, as you look back on 2019, why not at least make Business Impact a part of your annual review process?
Whether you are conducting a review of an individual’s, a team’s or a company’s performance in 2019 we recommend that you ask yourself a few simple questions:
- Which projects delivered a strong/weak ROI/Business Impact in 2019 and why?
- How could these projects be improved to deliver a stronger ROI/Business Impact?
- Should we stop doing any of these projects?
- What new things should we consider for 2020 that could deliver an even stronger ROI/business impact?
Don’t worry if you currently don’t have the metrics to hand to get a precise answer to the first question, as our experience tells us that, even without precise metrics, you should be able to identify the key wins in 2019, as well as the changes you need to make moving forward in 2020.
We recommend that you use the GRBN ROI of Insights Framework when conducting the annual review:
You can learn more about the Framework and how to use it to measure your ROI/Business Impact in the GRBN Building Business Impact Handbook, which you can access from here.
tips from the pros
Here are some of the tricks that advanced Insights functions are deploying to measure their impact:
- When reviewing the Business Impact of your work, think about it at a business decision, and not project level
- Ultimately it’s those business decisions that Insights needs to impact
- Also, look to forecast the future impact of your work, not just measure the actual impact so far
- Don’t ignore the long-term impact of Insights: Much of the Business Impact from your work last year won’t be realized until later. Forecast that impact, don’t just ignore it
- Finally, think about ROI in broad terms, not just financial metrics
- Sure, financial metrics are the gold standard, but we know that they cannot always be forecast, let alone measured, when it comes to the impact of Insights. Also use surrogate metrics such as preference, brand equity, customer loyalty etc… to measure/forecast the impact of your work.
Good luck with your review!
