Impact report Bringing people together Insight is being used to bring the whole picture of humanity with all its multifaceted, real, messy perspectives to businesses. Rob Gray reports D ata capture, data science, datapoints, data crunching, analytics. Data is at the heart of corporate life, of what we do at work. Often a sea of data. But what about, to use Professor Bren Browns famous phrase, data with a soul? What about the human dimension? Shouldnt people and their stories be at the heart of the matter? The lines are blurring in life there is less of a distinction between our roles as employees, friends, partners or parents. On top of that, individuals are not only consumers of brands and products, but also of culture, media, trends and natural resources. Meanwhile, business leaders cannot afford to operate in silos, or take a blinkered approach, given the many challenges they face, from market-disrupting competitors to shifting customer demands and wider geopolitical pressures. Many organisations recognise the need to be consumer-centric, but it is another leap to actually become human-centred in their approach. Its hard to capture a much fuller picture that goes beyond the label of consumer and, in the main, the research industry is overly reliant on old ways of thinking. Vital insights are missed through a failure to get a 360-degree view of the person behind the data. There is growing awareness of this problem, both within agencies and client-side. Yet there are obvious impediments to building a human-centric approach when clients face an array of short-term pressures. In that light, humanisation is perhaps at risk of becoming a fad or just another buzzword. So, what is going on? It is interesting that, as categories dissolve a little bit, or at least soften, clients are becoming more conscious of being people-centric, says Paul Child, global client partner at InSites Consulting. A live example of this intersectionality is electric vehicles. Who owns those? Is it automotive or utilities companies? Both have a stake in it because its a new category. But if we think about it in pure category terms, we dont really get anywhere. In a highly fragmented society, we are all people. As Amazons Jeff Bezos has said, when anecdotes and the data disagree, the anecdotes are usually right. If we think of qualitative research and human-centric research as anecdote and story building, thats your route to activating insight. Its the stories 22 Impact ISSUE 40 2022_pp22-29_Report.indd 22 13/12/2022 11:34