MRWeb reported today about the positive news contained within the Honomichl Report about the recovery of the Global 25, and as I pointed out previously the story is mixed at best, with some true organic growth but most recovering to 2009 levels, and a few declining further. I love the work that Jack and Larry do, but I am reminded once again that this is only a snapshot of a segment of the MR space and although helpful, it is incomplete. Continue reading »

Wrapping up my “newsmaker” interview series is a discussion with Jeffrey Henning, CMO of Affinnova. Jeffrey made news a while back when he left Vovici for Affinnova, and then again when it was announced that Text Analytics firm Verint had acquired EFM provider Vovici, the company that he had helped lead for so many years. Enterprise Feedback Management is a great example of the convergence of the market research and business intelligence industries so it’s a topic that I and other industry observers follow closely; the recent wave of consolidation in that space is indicative of what we may see happening in other segments in the future. Since Jeffrey is arguably one of the most respected thought leaders in the industry on EFM, I feel pretty lucky that I had a chance to talk with him in-depth about it. Continue reading »

The Groundswell, as Forrester calls it, is in full swing. Social technologies continue to change the fabric of our interactions, both personally and professionally. Three to five years ago, consumers’ use of social media was laying the groundwork for companies’ broader adoption of tools and technologies to not only interact with consumers but among internal teams and business units. Continue reading »

The innovation funnel is a visual representation that people are familiar with when discussing how companies move from ideas to products. And it accurately reflects the narrowing of possibilities that occurs over time: Every crazy idea you can imagine makes it into the top of the funnel; as the ideas are analyzed, fewer and fewer move down the funnel. And only a select few exit the funnel and become products. But is the funnel the right shape for 21st-century innovation? Continue reading »

In order to manage the new product development (NPD) process, many companies today employ the model of an innovation funnel. In a time when we are awash in ideas and information – from internal resources to traditional market research, to social media data – marketers and product strategists are challenged to effectively and efficiently hone in on the best ideas. Continue reading »