AI Moderation in Pharma: IDIs with B2B Healthcare Experts in Days

When a new pain relief product sees a slower-than-expected start, there’s no time to wait for traditional research cycles. For large OTC and personal care manufacturer, a global leader in consumer health, every day counted — especially with advertising already in full swing.

This case study explores how an OTC brand responded to early sales pressure with speed and precision. Using an AI-powered research tool yasna.ai, they engaged both consumers and the notoriously hard-to-reach pharmaceutical technical assistants (PTAs) in just 10 days — a timeline that would normally take at least six weeks.

Exploring CoLoop: A Powerful AI Tool for Qualitative Research

By Ray Poynter15 September, 2025 I recently had the chance to sit down with Jack Bowen, founder of CoLoop, to explore what this innovative platform can do for insights professionals. This post accompanies the video demonstration (see below). My aim […]

AI making a difference to real people

I think too much of the discussion about AI is focused on what it might deliver in the future. I believe it is important that we look at what has already been achieved to get a sense of where we are and where it might go soon. This post presents a set of examples from around the world and across various fields.

The AI Territory – A Tool for Strategic Planning

In the fast-moving world of AI, organisations often struggle to decide which initiatives to prioritise. The opportunities seem endless, yet resources are limited, and different parts of the business may disagree on what matters most.

To cut through this, I use a framework I call The AI Territory. It adapts classic strategy tools (such as the Eisenhower Box and Value–Effort matrix) to the specific challenges of AI adoption.

The AI Revolution is Different in Speed and Nature to the Internet Revolution

As somebody who was a pioneer during the uptake of the Internet by the research ecosystem, I have been struck by how different I think the AI impact will be.

My feeling is that, compared with the Internet, the AI changes will be:

Faster
Driven by the big players
Take senior as well as junior jobs

AI Needs to be Compulsory

There is widespread agreement amongst seasoned consultants that if an organisation is going to realise the benefits of AI fully, it needs to be adopted throughout the organisation. I firmly believe this to be true, and I am working with a number of organisations to help them achieve this. However, there are good ways and bad ways of going about this that I will illustrate with three case studies. Norges Bank, Shopify, and Klarna.

Using an Agent to Summarise Documents for a Research Audience

Here is an example of using a simple agent to make your life slightly easier. I will show the example using Copilot, but you could just as easily use ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude etc. You can use the same Instructions that I use for the Copilot.

The Rise of Agents – A Key Trend

Every so often, a new term captures the imagination of the tech world. “Agent” is one such word. From boardrooms to blogs, organisations are talking about how agents will transform work. Industry surveys suggest this is more than hype. KPMG’s Q2 2025 AI Quarterly Pulse Survey reports that agents are moving beyond experiments: a third of organisations already use AI agents in production[1] and nearly nine in ten leaders expect agents to necessitate fundamental organisational change[1]. Gartner goes further, predicting that by 2028, one-third of enterprise software applications will include agentic AI (up from less than 1% in 2024) and at least 15% of business decisions will be made autonomously via agents[2]. Deloitte anticipates that 25% of companies using generative AI will launch agentic pilots in 2025, rising to 50% by 2027[3]. When market leaders and consultancies align on the direction of travel, it is worth paying attention.

Windsurf’s Rise, Fall, and the Lessons for your Company’s AI Strategy

This post is not a discussion of tech; it is a comment on strategy. Your organisation’s decision about the sort of AI companies it will depend on could have enormous consequences. This is the story of a company that, like Icarus, flew high but fell to earth, and the many customers whose AI plans were disrupted.

Microsoft List the 40 Jobs Most at Risk of AI Disruption

Microsoft have just published a study that predicts the 40 jobs most likely to be disrupted by AI – and Market Research Analysts and Data Scientists are both on their list (see more at Fortune). The Microsoft study is based on analysing 200,000 conversations with Bing. Microsoft examined the questions AI was asked and the instances where it was successful.