Looking ahead: The insights team org chart of the future

You’ve probably seen a lot of change to the insights function throughout your career. You’ve seen technology disrupt the way research is done. You’ve seen business needs evolve and expectations for insights teams shift. You’ve seen reorg after reorg. And you’ve seen (and likely influenced) the way all this change has impacted your insights team. 

So it’s probably no surprise to you that more change is coming. I believe that successful insights teams of the future will need to be staffed and structured in a different way than the way most are structured today. Let me outline my thinking here. 

To start, we can break down insights roles of today into three primary categories: 

• Architects

• Owners

• Builders

Architects: Architects look at systems and data in the same way that software architects look at software systems. They think about how data is used in the organization, how people access the information they need, and how to build scalability and consistency across markets and business units, etc. This function is usually done by the center of excellence (CoE). 

Owners: Owners operate within business units, working with them to bring consumers into their development processes: Running research, interpreting data, and making sure that it is used effectively and efficiently by the organization to make smart business decisions. This function is usually done by insights managers within the business units. 

Builders: Builders look after the full data asset, making sure it is aligned, harmonized and integrated within existing systems so the data is effective and usable for the full business into the future. Today this function can be spread across business units and CoEs — if it’s being done at all. Some forward-looking companies are building out a research operations (resops) function to perform this role. Others are not yet looking at their consumer data as an asset. 

In the future, I predict that this overall structure will change. 

This is because the role of insights teams is shifting. In the not-so-distant future, insights teams will not own the consumer data and run the consumer research themselves — instead they will be responsible for enabling consumer centricity across the whole organization. 

This will likely mean transferring some of the day-to-day tasks to other parts of the business where the decisions are made. Automated research platforms already exist to enable non-research to run consistent and correct research and draw the right conclusions from that research. And artificial intelligence will make consumer insights easier to acquire, access, understand and act upon in your organization. 

In this future of democratized insights and AI, we will need fewer people sitting in the business unit section of the org chart. We need fewer “owners,” because everyone in the organization will be an owner of the insights. 

Instead, insights managers in business units will be there to inspire teams to do their best work. They’ll be there to connect the dots in the data, surface higher-level themes and communicate them to the right people. They can also be pulled in to help consult on the big decisions, rather than run projects for smaller decisions.

Companies will need a larger center of excellence (architects) who ensure consumer centricity across the whole organization — not just in individual business units. They will set the research standards the organization will use to generate insights. And they will be responsible for surfacing best practices and consumer-centric wins that come out of the business units. They will continue to elevate the profile of insights throughout the organization. It will remain a similar function to the one most CoE’s perform today, but it will grow in size to accommodate the democratization of insights. 

And finally, research operations are an absolute must-have in an AI future. In SaaS organizations, the revenue operations function emerged to focus on systems, vendors and data management — and to take those functions off of sales and marketing teams so they could focus on selling and marketing again. Insights teams need the same type of role. This group will connect systems together, manage the data and bring on the right platforms and research partners. They will focus on making the data work and make sure it flows correctly through the organization so it can be used when it’s needed. 

In short, there will be more data roles and more strategic CoE roles, and significantly fewer insights people on the ground running research themselves. 

Our industry is facing unprecedented amounts of change. And while automation and AI will allow non-researchers to take over a lot of the research function, I don’t believe that insights teams are at risk of becoming extinct. 

As a skilled insights leader, it’s up to you to guide your team through this change and make sure it’s set up for success. 

To recap, here are the main points to remember: 

• Many of the tasks that insights teams own today can already be or will soon be replaced by automated technology, AI and non-researchers. This will require a shift in how insights teams of the future are structured and staffed. 

• We will ultimately see fewer insights managers on the ground in business units to run research, because the business units will be empowered to run their own research. Instead, insights managers will be pulled in to help consult on the big decisions, rather than run projects for smaller decisions. 

• The research operations role will become an absolute must-have in the future to focus on making the data work and make sure it flows correctly through the organization so it can be used when it’s needed. 

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