As part of the All Things Insights/TMRE Next Era of Insights Report, released last year during the conference, we asked market research leaders a variety of questions regarding this time of evolution. These ranged from their thoughts on human-AI collaboration to the strategic transformation of the business, to how data storytelling has evolved. One particular question focused on future horizons, identifying emerging trends and opportunities in the insights ecosystem.
Keeping Pace with the Future of Insights
For many of the executives we interviewed for the report, the future is bright, holding immense promises. But not without understanding that their roles are changing. If we are still in the exploratory stage of AI, there is still much potential to unfold along with supporting the human oversight most feel these systems need.
Amir Akleh, VP, Business Strategy, Analytics & Insights, First Citizens Bank, sees the evolution over time of an “intelligence layer.”
He observes, “I can envision a future where companies ultimately establish AI-powered business insights functions. These functions integrate directly into CRMs, data warehouses, and third-party systems to create an ‘intelligence layer’ (effectively a dynamic database) that automatically generates actionable insights across a wide range of functions, from marketing and sales to product development and compliance. Such capabilities would fundamentally transform how insights are generated, delivered, and applied.”
For Oksana Sobol, Vice President Consumer Insights, The Clorox Company, this is a time of focusing on ROI. AI is being integrated, and the capabilities are being aggressively adopted to make organizations faster, leaner, and more consumer-obsessed than ever.
“It is an exciting time to be in insights,” says Sobol. “Emerging capabilities promise to unlock new opportunities in AI moderation, data science integration, video analytics, synthetic data, and agentic webs. These developments could reshape both qualitative and quantitative methods, reducing our reliance on flawed self-reported inputs. Why ask if you can observe? We now can mine digital footprints and behavioral signals that reveal true preferences.”
Ian Busch, VP, Head of Global Insights, The LEGO Group, sees a whole layer of ideation that has yet to be tapped into when it comes to AI. He says, “When thinking about the evolution of insights, the majority will say that AI is going to be the biggest disruptor in the industry—and it probably will be. But what will it do for us? One is the synthesis of data to manage information overload. Two is the sense-making of said data and insight. That’s the effectiveness and efficiency we need to get.”
He continues, “But the real interesting part for me is the imagination and the ideation we can get from co-intelligence. No one will remember efficiency but what they will remember is great ideas and impact—that is going to make a real difference. If I’m thinking about organizations now and the shift they need to make, at least in data and insights, we should not only be thinking of ourselves as researchers, but as creatives. How do we creatively look at what the data and insights are telling us? Because that’s the way to encourage people to listen, get excited, and do something about it.”
Developing Future Research Ecosystems
The impact of insights remains core to the approach as insights leaders look to how the market research ecosystem will evolve over time.
For Teresa Correa-Pavlat, Insights & Analytics Lead and AI-Agile Capabilities, Haleon, this may be a time of strengthening partnerships and creating new ones, such as with IT.
Correa-Pavlat says, “Where do we go from here? It’s interesting to see tech and data science teams emerge as a key partner for insights. It makes sense given the nature of AI. But it also gives insights a chance to voice what integrated data is needed internally; how a partnership with tech might enable the development of ecosystems that empower us and in turn strengthen our impact on the business. As these technologies evolve and data becomes more accessible, the question becomes, how do we create our own ecosystems with feedback loops and always-on connections to consumers and market signals? These are the conversations we should aspire to have with tech and data science teams.”
Kerry Sette, Vice President, Head of Consumer Insights & Research, Voya Financial, agrees with the transformative, ecosystem nature of the next era of insights. The future seems rich with data to mine to understand the consumer.
Sette notes, “Ideally, we could have a coordinated and effective activation across every single customer journey. The opportunity is just making sure that the whole capability around consumer intelligence is like an enterprise-wide ecosystem that allows for the holistic view of the customer. It’s what I would call a cross-functional kind of operating model where you’re leveraging data and sharing it across all those journeys and touch points. AI is enabling real-time data synthesis, allowing insights teams to focus on strategic thinking and competitive advantage. That leads to how we’re working with our business leaders. That really is the future.”
Moving from Researcher to Strategist
There is continuous innovation happening in insights, with AI and other technologies shaping a prominent role in that. Some also see an eventual shift of AI influencing not only traditional research methods but also unlocking more potential growth in behavioral sciences.
Ultimately, the future may be not only evolving with AI but also how the insights professional evolves with it.
Karen Zappia, formerly Sr. Director, Head of Insights, North America Opella, asks, “How do we influence stakeholders and design insights to be more customized to our end user—that person who is the decision maker? How do we have a greater impact? The ambition of insights professionals is to act as change agents. That is going to be a big shift. Those who can synthesize data, connect the dots across the consumer, the category and the commercial business to drive business decisions are those that are going to unlock growth.”
Multimodality is one trend that Arvind Balasundaram, Executive Director, Commercial Insights & Analytics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, sees on the horizon for insights.
He notes, “This is going to be the pivotal incremental change in the insights discipline. Our world has been taken over by social media. We communicate with sentiment, with expressions, with gestures—we are going to need these sources of inputs to really get to a better place in our understanding of brands, sentiment, and language. That is where the next era of insights will need to focus. We’re in an early stage right now. But I think we’re rapidly changing our capabilities and our ability to harness this information.”
For Tripp Hughes, Senior Director, Consumer Strategy, Organic Valley, the speed of insights and research will only increase, as will the need to manage large volumes of content and data while maintaining quality. Hughes says, “As the amount of data grows, both quantitative and qualitative—there is a need to determine effective strategies for organizing, processing, and analyzing such extensive content to deliver valuable insights while ensuring that we feel good about the integrity of the outputs.”
He adds, “These considerations are crucial as research teams adapt to new tools and methodologies that enable rapid analysis and scalable qualitative research. Addressing these questions will help ensure that future research remains both thorough and agile.”
Staying Focused On the Consumer
So where is all this heading? Most agree that human insights will remain a key differentiator in making sure AI stays on the right track.
Michael Nevski, Director, Global Insights, Visa, asks, “Where are we going? AI-powered insight generation. That’s a new era we’ll see. Also AI application, and complete incorporation in the process flow. With suggested actions with minimal human intervention. But again, human oversight is key. Real-time context aware analytics. As data sources multiply and the latency decreases, organizations will leverage streaming analytics to make decisions in the moment. Hyper-personalization, in other words, will enable that.”
The future, it seems, remains wide open to new insights strategies and methods. The role may change but some concepts will remain bedrock.
Aarti Bhaskaran, Global Head, Research & Insights, Snap Inc., notes, “I see a lot of experimentation in terms of new techniques and new ways to collect data, analyze, and do qual. It’s very exciting in that way—and will lead to more cross-functional skill sets. My only wish is that we don’t lose sight of the core principles of research, which make the insights validated, authentic, and usable.”
Correa-Pavlat adds, “We’ve always championed the consumer voice. That doesn’t change. What’s changed is that with AI, we can amplify that voice and our impact like never before.”
In Case You Missed It: The Next Era of Insights Report
The insights landscape is evolving rapidly, and the community’s perspectives are crucial in mapping this transformation. Brought to you by All Things Insights and TMRE, the report features 16 market research leaders examining how they and their organizations are navigating this changing terrain, with a focus on: human-AI collaboration; strategic transformation; storytelling evolution; accelerating ROI and more.
Video: All Things Insights interviewed Michael Nevski, Director, Global Insights, Visa, at TMRE 2025.
