March 2006 GMI Newsletter

Home > About us > News > Newsletters > 2006 > March 2006

Welcome to the March 2006 edition of our newsletter.

New Research Analyzer: 3 tools in one

From data to insight to publish in 3 clicks.

In April, GMI will launch its new professional analysis and reporting software for your desktop. One blazingly fast and easy-to-use tool takes you from importing data, to running analysis, to publishing a report; all with a few clicks and drag-and-drop simplicity. What used to take hours and multiple applications can now be accomplished in a few minutes.

• Import data effortlessly
  Import SPSS®, Tripe-S™, Net-MR or other popular data formats. The GMI Service Bureau can also cost-effectively convert legacy data and host it on our managed data warehouse.

• Analyze at amazing speeds
  Benchmark tests show Research Analyzer can produce a complex cross tab on a base of 2 million respondents in a few seconds. You can examine dozens of tables instantly and create full statistical output with a few clicks of your mouse.

• Report results fast
  Powerful top-line reporting gives you access to the knowledge you need, no matter how complicated the data.Seamless integration with Microsoft Office applications allows you to create reports in seconds. Customize reports for individual clients and save the templates. Export to HTML or XML.

• Publish instantly
  You can create dynamic bar, pie, line, and other charts for PowerPoint or Excel with drag-and-drop graphics. It's easy to distribute research results to any audience in record time. Research Analyzer automatically adjusts to the publishing channel you choose, whether it's on the Web, a PowerPoint slideshow, emailed with Outlook or imported into Excel.

You have to SEE it to BELIEVE it.

Back to top

Enterprise Research Management: The cure for institutional memory loss

By Rob Monster, CEO, GMI

Since GMI's founding in 1999, we have had a vision for leveraging the Internet as an enabling operating system for global market research. Central to this vision has been the notion of linking research buyers, research suppliers and respondents in real time, across all modes of data collection, and along the entire market research work process - from proposal to invoice.

In 2005, we took an important step toward making our vision a reality by raising $13 million in venture capital, tripling the size of the technical organization, and acquiring MI Pro AS of Norway and NetReflector, Inc of Seattle, USA. This month we are pleased to announce another important step: the launch of Research Analyzer. This powerful new addition to GMI's growing suite of technologies for market research is a key component of GMI's vision of Enterprise Research Management.

The Research Analyzer brings advanced data visualization functionality to the personal desktop, while simultaneously enabling users to access real-time data collected centrally on a growing number of GMI-compatible data collection platforms. Their server-based data repository account allows centralized aggregation of data- regardless of which platform was used to actually collect the data. This innovation is a direct response to findings from our own extensive market research. It revealed the enormous pain and inefficiency experienced by research professionals as they coped with the inefficient processes of locating and retrieving historical research data.

The phenomena of not being able to locate historical research data is more common than one might think. Indeed, once a research organization grows to more than five persons, is distributed across more than one location, or begins to have regular job rotation or attrition, a syndrome I call  Institutional Memory Loss sets in. You know your organization suffers from institutional memory loss if:

• You have ever run a study, only to discover that a similar study has been run elsewhere.
• Two researchers unknowingly ask the same question in different ways, rendering the results non-comparable
• You run a tracking study and later determine that you can not trend the results because unaligned sampling methodologies were used across sequential research waves.

Back to top

GMI realigns management team for growth. Dr. Mitch Eggers appointed CTO

During 2005, GMI experienced rapid organic growth- more than 120%. At the same time, the company completed the acquisition and integration of MI Pro AS of Norway and NetReflector, Inc. of Seattle, WA USA. The company also significantly expanded its portfolio of world-class technologies. The result was an executive team that numbered 14 persons, and a technical team of 62 staff members on 4 continents.

During March 2006, GMI completed a significant organizational realignment to accommodate GMI's rapid growth. These changes reflect what management now terms the "Three E's - External Focus, Efficiency and Execution," a global call to action for GMI's 240 employees located in 28 cities on 5 continents. Included in this realignment was the appointment of Dr. Mitchell Eggers to the position of Chief Technical Officer (CTO).

Dr. Eggers joined the company in 2003 and has served most recently as Chief Operating Officer. Until now, GMI's Founder and CEO, Rob Monster, had served as the company's CTO.
 
"Mitch brings not only a deep competency as both a social scientist and a technologist, he also brings business savvy in terms of applying technology to business opportunities," comments Rob Monster.  "His previous role as Chief Operating Officer gives him a unique perspective on the research industry's needs and the technology that will be required to fully leverage the Internet as an enabling global operating system for market research."
 
"My team will be developing processes to unify GMI's multiple technology development centers so we can bring world-class products to market faster and more efficiently," added Dr. Eggers.  "Our immediate priority is the release of our newest, best-of-breed software tools, Net-Panel 2.0 and Research Analyzer, ensuring they provide all the functionality and performance that the market demands."

Other organizational changes announced during March include the following appointments:

• Larry Schack to Executive Vice President, Global Client Services, previously VP Client Services
• William Derrick to the position of VP Global Operations, previously VP IT Operations
• Marcio Boiajion to General Manager, GMI Latin America
• Patrick Pun to General Manager, GMI Greater China

Contact us for more information

Back to top

Popular TechSay.com panel is your gateway to IT professionals

Thousands of panelists across a range of job titles and responsibilities, from IT professional and managerial positions up to CIO level decision-makers, are now members of TechSay.com, GMI's new IT panel. If you're conducting an IT study, we're ready.

You can screen sample by:

• 16 areas of specialty, including business analysis, ERP/CRM systems, data warehousing, web/e-commerce, security, etc.
• Attributes such as title, department, level of purchasing influence, annual budget for technology products and services, and many others
• 25 countries in Europe, Asia, North and South America (Others can be recruited depending on the specialty required.)
• Basic demographic profile

The current response rate to survey invitations is higher than 60%.

To ensure high integrity, recruited panelists come from a diverse array of sources and partners, all focusing on IT. A rigorous registration process checks both validity and response consistency. Screened emails are kept on file to prevent ineligible prospects from re-applying.

The panelist support team manages the panel 24x7x365 to ensure a positive experience and responsive support. Panelists are motivated by a genuine desire to share their opinions on technology topics, and GMI compensates them for their input. They receive a minimum of 200 TekPoints (equivalent to $10 US) for each completed survey, redeemable for cash once they accumulate 1000 points.

Currently, TechSay.com is being translated and localized for panelists in Japan, soon to be followed by China, Russia, Germany and a long list of other countries to establish a global presence among IT professionals.

Let us help you with your next IT project. Contact us for more information or request a quote.

Back to top

Growth of Chinese panel accelerates with link to Sina, top content provider in China

Survey 88, the GlobalTestMarket survey portal for China, is now linked to the homepage of Sina, the most-visited online news and information site in China. This gives GTM immediate access to millions of technology savvy people in China so we can invite them to take surveys.

GMI's Global Panels currently manages hundreds of thousands of panelists across China, a number that is rapidly swelling as visitors to Sina become aware of Survey88 and the opportunity to earn cash in return for sharing their opinions.

If you need to run a study in China, contact us and request a quote.

Back to top

Rockhopper rocks with GMI suite of solutions

“GMI has exceeded our expectations: they are responsive, proactive, thorough and make great overall partners.”
-Lenny Murphy, COO, Rockhopper Research

Things are hopping at Rockhopper Research. This fast-growing firm conducts global market research for a roster of Fortune 100 clients in the technology, telecommunications, and financial services arenas. They've partnered with GMI to build, launch, and complete market research studies, fast.

One mixed-mode study currently in progress in Venezuela uses web and telephone surveys. Rockhopper Research is handling end-client management, the design of complex questionnaires, as well as data analysis and reporting. The study is running on Net-MR software. It simplifies global market research with effective tools for study construction, client management and data output. It also has the advantage of being a fully online (ASP) solution, which makes it fast, easily scalable, and accessible anywhere there is Internet access. The GMI Service Bureau is providing key support 24x7x365, including language translations, study programming and overflow data processing.

Lenny Murphy, COO of Rockhopper Research talks about his firm's experience with GMI. “We chose GMI for their mixed-mode, multi-country data collection capabilities coupled with real-time results. Based on our research, Net-MR TM is superior to all other online data collection and panel applications on the market. GMI's suite of tools is the only comprehensive, integrated market research software platform of its kind. And GMI has consistently provided the highest-possible quality control standards in their delivery.”

To learn how GMI can power your research projects, email us

Back to top

A rewarding source of new projects for full-service research firms

One of the world's largest software companies and also one of the world's largest research buyers, is partnering with GMI to transition portions of the research it conducts to a unified technology platform for market research.

GMI offers a global platform for market research. It provides other value-added services as well, including global sample aggregation and research applications such as powerful data visualization and analytical tools. In support of this partnership, however, the client has asked GMI to bid on a number of services that fall outside the scope of GMI's value proposition, including business consultation, research design and analytical resources. GMI is not, and does not intend to become, a full-service market research firm. This is where you come in.
 
To support our business with this software giant and many other end clients, GMI is building a Certified Full Service Research Network. Our goal is to establish a network of full-service market research firms– capable of providing project consultation, design and analytic services –on top of our platform. Together, we can offer end clients a turnkey solution for their market research projects.
 
We want to partner with full-service firms to handle the wide range of comprehensive research projects we are invited to bid on, including:

• Large customer and product satisfaction studies
• Corporate brand, image, reputation and audience perception tracking

Opportunities also include a variety of ad hoc projects such as:

• Habits and practices
• Product concept value
• Positioning and messaging refinement
• Attitudes, awareness and usage
• Deployment and advertising tracking

Back to top

Net-MR tip of the Month

HTML output from Research Analyzer for powerful publishing.

Research Analyzer, GMI's newest software release, puts some amazing analysis and reporting capabilities on your desktop using data collected with Net-MR or from other data formats. Reports not only include the usual publishing channels - PowerPoint slides, Excel spreadsheets, and PDF documents - but also a little-heralded feature that outputs tables as HTML files. The ability to put Research Analyzer output into your own HTML-based reports on the web, in email, weblogs ("blogs") or RSS feeds, is very powerful.

Imagine creating tables and charts, then pasting them into an email to send to a client or co-worker. Even better, put that same output into a web portal so they can view the data at their leisure. Add the web page to an automatic RSS feed and announce the page in a daily feed- much like a news ticker or morning newspaper– automatically!

Back to top

Who's new at GMI

This month, GMI welcomes:

• Jayant Aggarwal Senior Analyst, India
• Karthik Naicker, Senior Analyst, India
• Sherry Sun, Receptionist, China
• Nikola Semerdzhiev, Web Manager, Russia
• Tiama Hanson-Drury, Sales Assistant, Seattle
• Iris Bartlein, AP Accountant, Seattle
• Hannah Capinpin, AP Accountant, Seattle
• Jessica Little, Accounting Intern, Seattle
• Yuko Samizo, Account Manager, Sydney

Back to top