Senior Executives believe increasing the awareness of technology’s impact on improving cost and time efficiency could improve U.K. companies’ ability to get new products to market
LONDON, UK: Wednesday 20th April 2016 – While the majority of businesses agree that the introduction of new products and services is either fairly or very important to their success, over half of them do not use any type of IT software effectively to accelerate its research and development (R&D) process, a new study by YouGov has unveiled today.
The YouGov study, commissioned by Appian, interviewed 700 senior decision makers from small to large enterprises to explore the extent that British businesses value and are investing in research and development in 2016.
The study demonstrates that R&D does not share the same level of priority by the British business community as other growth markets around the world. The main keys to improving R&D that were identified as part of the survey include the perception of senior decision makers around cost and time implications, as well as technology’s impact on those factors, as well as increasing investment in the form of people and money.
Respondents to the survey identified four other keys to improving the R&D process:
Samir Gulati, SVP of Marketing, Appian, said: “The study results are enlightening, as they reveal that using technology to support business innovation may not be top-of-mind for a large proportion of UK businesses. We have entered a super-connected world in which the majority of customer feedback exists digitally. It is essential that businesses capture and analyse this data, and quickly act on it in their development processes. Technology platforms can help in two significant ways: first, by making customer data more easily available in the context of R&D decision-making, and second, by accelerating the development and delivery processes for new products and services.”
Gary Barnett, Chief Analyst, Software Group, Ovum said: “For businesses to gain a competitive advantage and achieve sustainable growth they must identify new ways to serve customers. This means rapidly rolling out new products, and listening to customer reactions. Modern technologies and platforms exist that can accelerate cycles of R&D to help unlock insights into customer behaviours and preferences, which in turn help tailor new products and services to support the customer journey.
Total sample size was 700 senior managers in businesses of any size. Fieldwork was undertaken between 7th – 10th March 2016. The survey was carried out online, and covered the following industries: manufacturing, construction, retail, finance and accounting, hospitality and leisure, legal, IT and telecoms, media and marketing, medical and health services, education, transportation, and real estate.
YouGov is an international internet-based market research firm, headquartered in the UK, with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. YouGov was founded in the UK in May 2000 by Stephan Shakespeare and Nadhim Zahawi.
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