12 Make research processes more efficient Traditional research takes a lot of time, but time is a luxury that you don’t have. Everything is changing quickly – look at what happened in just the first three months of 2020. Waiting months or even weeks for research won’t work in today’s environment. Key insights have a short shelf-life; as the pandemic evolves, these insights could become less relevant or a competitor could capitalize on them before you even have a chance to act. Faster research, when conducted without sacrificing quality, reduces costs and enables you to put the information to use much sooner. Automation and AI are two tools you can leverage to improve your project speed. “For us, it’s all about frequency and speed. We make all our decisions based on data, so we need to deliver the best and quickest insights possible. With Qualtrics, we cut our workload in half, while tripling the amount of research we can do in house.” Senior Director of Marketing Strategies, Research and Testing, American Eagle Outfitters