Case Study: Transforming Market Research Efficiency with Indico Labs

As VP of Research Production at dQ&A, Tracy Bristow manages a team responsible for producing syndicated data services that provide essential market insights to clients. Rapid growth in number of clients and volume of data generated was creating challenges in maintaining continuity and meeting deadlines without overburdening the team—especially in cases of unexpected staffing changes. To address this, the company partnered with Indico Labs to implement automation solutions for their multi-country data delivery, enabling streamlined workflows and allowing analysts to focus on high-value tasks.

Challenges

1. Staffing Constraints: With rapid team growth, dQ&A needed a solution that would mitigate the impact of team role changes and new hires on productivity while maintaining consistency in report generation.
2. High Volume of Reports: The team produces up to eight data deliveries per cycle, covering multiple countries, making manual production time-consuming and repetitive.
3. Maintaining Consistency and Accuracy: Producing consistent, accurate deliverables across regions was essential to meeting dQ&A’s quality standards and client needs, but was time-consuming to achieve with existing processes.

Solution: Automation with Indico Labs

To address these challenges, dQ&A partnered with Indico Labs to implement automated reporting for its syndicated data services using Indico's Report Population Service. This solution automated the process, saving significant time and effort for their team. Additionally, dQ&A introduced SlideGen, a tool designed to streamline the generation of ad hoc reports, further reducing the workload on their analysts and enhancing efficiency across different report types.

Implementation Highlights

• Rapid Report Generation: Indico’s solution allowed dQ&A to automate the production of 100-slide, client-ready reports in just two days, ensuring deadlines were met even when staff was short-handed.
• Customisable Dashboards: The integration of the DashBox feature allowed the customers to interact with the data in visual format, in an easy-to-use and recognisable format.
• Enhanced Morale and Productivity: Automation allowed dQ&A’s analysts to focus on more meaningful tasks, such as custom analysis and strategic planning, rather than repetitive chart updates, boosting team morale and engagement.

"Certainly, the analysts feel like they're doing more useful work when their time is spent doing analysis and not updating charts."
Tracy Bristow, VP of Research Production, dQ&A

Key Benefits

1. Efficiency Gains: Automation reduced report generation time, cutting costs and eliminating the need for extra staffing during peak periods.
2. Scalability: With automated processes in place, dQ&A began exploring the possibility of expanding coverage to other geographies.
3. Improved Data Quality: Automating the data population process removed opportunities for errors and ensured consistency across all reports, enhancing the client experience.

Results

• Resilience Against Employee Churn: Automation allowed dQ&A to handle staff changes seamlessly, reducing the impact of turnover and ensuring report continuity.
• Reduced Workload by 30%: Automation enabled dQ&A to eliminate manual tasks, empowering analysts to focus on high-value insights without the need for additional hires.
• Expanded Market Reach: With efficiency gains from automation, dQ&A has reduced the marginal cost of expanding its market coverage.
• Higher Client Satisfaction: Indico’s automation helped dQ&A close the gap between data collection and delivery of insights without sacrificing quality, strengthening client trust. Clients also appreciated that analysts had more availability to answer their data queries and questions promptly. 

"The biggest impact we saw in the first year was that it changed the entire feeling in the office for the associates. We entered the year in a bit of a panic because of the sheer volume of work. This was a solution that required some investment up front in terms of time, effort and programming, but the relief in the office—the morale of the associates-- gamechanger."
Tracy Bristow, VP of Research Production, dQ&A

By partnering with Indico Labs, dQ&A successfully navigated resource and time constraints to maintain rapid business growth. Indico’s automation solution empowered the team to transform workflow, open new market opportunities, and boost client satisfaction. As dQ&A continues to grow, Indico’s tools will help keep them at the forefront of data-driven market research.

If you would like to explore how Indico Labs can help your business to unlock efficient reporting processes, speak with one of our experts today.