Appearing alongside Andrew Jerina of Flume, Zoe Ruffels of Mars Petcare and Rose Tomlins of Bally's Interactive - Paul answered questions about the alchemist's dilemma. In particular, understanding how to blend technology and practice for genuinely insightful data.

Chaired by Colin Strong of Ipsos, the panel also highlighted the importance of contextualising research and building understanding behind the data. Other components of the alchemist's dilemma included the role of experimentation and the frontiers of new technology.

The Value of Value

In the article, Liam Kay quotes Paul as saying, “I think AI is different – it will disrupt everything we do in the space of 10 years, but it is not really a method, it will infiltrate and affect every other method we’ve ever had.

“The tricky part with AI is working out where it adds value, how to use it, how to build it into what we do without it destroying the other quality tenets we have built. Understanding how to make use of it will be difficult.” Paul continues, stating that researchers needed to stop focusing on data and  instead concentrate on providing interpretation to support business decision making.

“The world has moved on. Data is democratised. But the thing people don’t understand is how decisions are made,” he explained. “We understand a lot about how consumers make decisions, but I don’t think we understand anywhere near as much about how businesses make decisions.”

Finally, he concludes: “The next thing for me is focusing more on actions – let’s understand more how decisions are made and talk less about the collection and method.”

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