MRS 2006 Paper

2006 MRS Conference paper nominated for award for "Best New Thinking"

Steve Wills and Sally Webb have won the RFL Communications 2006 Presentation of the Year Award for their paper called "Measuring the Value of Insight - It Can and Must Be Done" .

The paper has addressed a thorny issue for those involved in insight work - can its return on investment (ROI) be measured? The paper was the result of a 6 month project undertaken on behalf of the Customer Insight Forum and its initial conclusion is that, no, technically it cannot be measured - at least, not directly.

But the paper argues that what all insight work should include is a financial evaluation of the implications of the results. In simple terms this involves expressing the results in "pounds, not percents". Not only does this help focus organisational efforts but it means that there is a higher likelihood that action will follow. By then pursuing whether action has been taken and the potential value has been realised, it is possible to find out where the log jams are. In effect, this therefore tells the organisation where to invest in order to realise this potential value. In so doing it does actually show the value of the insight work in the first place.