In it’s annual predictions feature, GreenBook invited thought leaders in the insights and analytics space – including our CEO Adam Froman – to share their predictions for what 2018 has in store.

Here are the trends we’re keeping an eye on in 2018.

The rise of agile research

I think over the past few years, we’ve seen an increase in agile research methods emerging in the marketplace, like research automation. But I think in 2018 we’re going to see companies really adopting these methods and you’re going to see huge growth in this area.

Continued consolidation across the industry

At the end of 2017, we saw Research Now and SSI merge. I think with market research firms now pivoting to address the changes in technology, and a lot of emerging technology firms coming into the marketplace, you’re going to see a number of mergers between market research firms and technology firms and that’s really going to be a big thing for 2018.

The rise of innovation budgets for research

Finally, what I’m really excited about is that innovation budgets have moved to market research. A lot of technologies are emerging that enable companies to collect data in new and innovative ways and organizations are looking at different ways that data is being collected and are really spending money with their innovation groups to understand how to unlock the insights out of this data and which new technologies can help them make better decisions.

For more 2018 predictions, read Leonard Murphy’s round-up on the GreenBook Blog.