02.11.2009

Scale to Survive

By: Perry Manross

IT the key to scale and survival

Not only is Prognosys’ business based on advising IT companies, but its very survival relies on IT. “I believe that the next generation of market research will not be evaluated on how effectively it has been performed, but rather on how efficiently it has been delivered,” Ranjan explains. To continue its growth, Prognosys will need to rely on scale – and the only way to scale effectively, he says, is with IT.

Ranjan argues that market research providers must move away from the analyst service model and place more emphasis on the combination of productized services delivered using IT solutions. For the past year, Prognosys has worked extensively on developing its next generation of productized services in the form of a Web-based delivery platform. Soon, clients will be able to log on and “slice and dice” Prognosys’s vast databases to help them plan their sales initiatives. What is more, this solution will enable customers to verify the authenticity of each bit of data, down to the actual survey conducted, how it was conducted, sample size, and so on.

SAP has supported Prognosys in these efforts, linking the company with a partner to integrate this portal with SAP Business ByDesign. According to Ranjan, this is another example of how “SAP works with us less as an applications vendor and more as a longterm technology advisor.” He hopes to have the portal up and running by 2010 – coincidentally, the same time the metro is scheduled to join the rickshaws and Audis for the morning commute.

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