BrazilKantar launches advanced data and analytics research lab in Singapore
Global research consultancy Kantar has launched its first Asian data research and development centre in Singapore, hoping to uncover the hidden riches in disordered data.
Established in partnership with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), the new Kantar Brand Growth Lab falls under the firm’s recently launched analytics practice, which seeks to leverage its consumer research expertise with advanced data analysis to provide greater insights for brands on longer-term customer strategy.
With what the firm describes a strong ‘innovation mandate’, the research and development hub will focus on advanced analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies in a bid to unlock the potentially useful information obscured in otherwise muddled data – which, the firm says, can inhibit effective longer-term decision-making for brands.
“Businesses are data-rich but insight-poor. The metrics they measure allow them to drive impact in the short-term, but fail to provide the holistic understanding that can effectively direct long-term strategy,” Eric Salama, Kantar’s global CEO, said. “Kantar is unique in having the most complete view of consumers across the entire demand cycle. The Lab will be an integral part of our mission to unlock the power of this data, and reveal the deeper insights that fuel growth."
As part of the three-year collaboration with Singapore’s EDB, the establishment of the Kantar lab will include the employment and development of data scientists and business designers, with the goal to develop local expertise in the state’s professional services sector recently set out in the Ministry of Finances detailed industry roadmap. The initiatives hope to generate an additional 5,500 jobs in the sector per year by 2020, and have just last week seen the ECD join with Deloitte to establish the first of its career conversion programmes focused directly on consulting.
In its release of the industry roadmap, the Singapore government noted the efforts already underway by many of the world’s leading firms in establishing the city-state as a premier hub for technological innovation in the professional services sector, including Accenture’s Analytics Innovation Centre, launched with the support of the EDB, McKinsey’s local Digital Capability Centre, and communications firm Dentsu Aegis Network’s Global Data Innovation Centre. Kantar will further join a host of other big-name tech firms, such as Google and IBM, in selecting Singapore as a hub for research investment.
“We are delighted that Kantar has chosen Singapore to locate its first advanced analytics hub in Asia,” Kelvin Wong, EDB Assistant Managing Director said. “Singapore’s professional services sector is growing, and Kantar’s decision is testament to this.” Tim Kelsall, Chief Client Officer at Kantar in APAC and a member of the Global Kantar Innovation Board, added in kind; “The launch of Brand Growth Lab in Singapore highlights the strategic importance of the country as a base for developing world-class services that can be exported regionally."
On the benefits to Kantar’s local and international clients, the new growth lab’s managing director, Hernan Sanchez, said, “Most companies have a wealth of data at their disposal that only becomes truly powerful when it is put to work effectively. One current project assesses a brand’s performance from generating consumer attention through acquisition to adherence, and will allow businesses to identify the bottlenecks inhibiting growth… Brands no longer have to rely on hunches, but can instead substantiate their decisions based on intelligent analytics.”
