Perseus debuts Palm survey app
Perseus Development Corporation, Braintree, Mass., has released a new survey application for Palm-Powered handheld computers. SurveySolutions In Hand allows for the creation of surveys that can be deployed on a handheld computer, eliminating the need for paper-based surveys. Once the surveys are completed, the survey administrator can compile and analyze the results and display them in tables or graphs.
SurveySolutions In Hand can be distributed at conferences and training forums to Palm users for attendees to complete satisfaction and feedback surveys. SurveySolutions In Hand can also be used by field-sales and fieldservice staff to gather feedback from customers and prospects.
Questionnaires are designed in a word processor environment and can be imported from Microsoft Word. SurveySolutions offers integration with Microsoft Office (Office 97, 2000 or XP); results can be exported to Microsoft Excel or Access, and presentations can be exported to Microsoft PowerPoint.
Track response to DTC efforts
Pharmaceutical companies can now track changes in awareness and response to direct-to-consumer (DTC) promotions every week, with new DTC e-Monitor from Market Measures Interactive (MMI), a Livingston, N.J., research firm. DTC e-Monitor provides a continuous look at DTC activity and consumer reactions, with results delivered to users’ desktops. The Web-based service offers an ongoing view of DTC effectiveness measures including ad awareness, doctor contact rates and prescriptions generated across 13 major conditions. Findings are presented on a wekly basis, with information for the current week updated in real time. MMI is also currently screening consumers - including both sufferers and caregivers - across more than 45 other conditions that will be added to its list of DTC e-Monitor categories.
Study looks at enterprise software market
The Momentum Research Group (MRG) has completed a study examining the brand perceptions and purchase intent of more than 240 enterprise software decision makers. The study identified a significant drop in brand integrity scores, one of six leadership dimensions tracked by the study. The Enterprise software module tracks respondent perceptions of 14 brands across the enterprise software category, including Ariba, Clarify, E.piphany, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, PeopleSoft and Vantive. The study also provides additional brand metrics, including awareness, past purchase, past and future brand consideration, awareness of and attitudes toward collaborative applications and sources of information that influence brand purchase.
CRM, online research products from Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive, Rochester, N.Y., has launched Harris Interactive CX (Customer eXperience), a real-time customer relationship management process. CX is designed to discover, define and deliver strategies for improving customer lifetime value and loyalty by listening to and learning what clients and prospects have to say. The process guides businesses in gathering and interpreting information so they can respond accordingly with sales, service or marketing offerings that help to maintain and improve customer relationships.
The firm has also introduced newproprietary technology for conducting Intemet-based market research. These new capabilities will automate a large portion of the survey research process, including questionnaire writing, quota management, data weighting, and analysis. The new systems include: Proprietary Internet Interviewing System; S4Author, which provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for the design, modification, and publishing of questionnaires (for the Internet as well as other methodologies, including CATI); Quota Management System, which permits the creation and management of quotas for Internet surveys using a Web-based interface; HiWeigh, an online and "on the fly" system for the calculation of survey weights; IntelliView, a Web-based online reporting application that permits researchers to view and manipulate both unweighted and weighted survey data while surveys are still being fielded.
Book introduces users to ArcGIS
Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop - Basics of ArcView, ArcEditor, and Arclnfo, by Tim Ormsby, Eileen Napoleon, Robert Burke, Carolyn Groessl, and Laura Feaster, is a workbook for learning ArcGIS, the newest geographic information system (GIS) technology from Redlands, Calif.- based ESRI. The three GIS products that comprise ArcGIS - ArcView, ArcEditor, and ArcInfo - are built on a common interface and core capability, with each product offering a different level of functionality. Users of Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop can gain an understanding of ArcView, which they can put to work immediately or use as a foundation for learning ArcEditor and ArcInfo.
New online focus group service
KL Communications (KLC), a market research fLrrn based in Eatontown, N.J., has introduced a new online focus group service, FocusOutreach, which combines an online meeting with a telephone conference call. The discussion, conducted over the phone, is recorded and developed into a transcript, similar to traditional focus groups. Using WebEx technology, KLC uses the online meeting room to conduct polling questions, present visuals (such as advertisements), and take respondents on live Web tours. FocusOutreach is best suited for B2B groups, as two phone lines are required.
Group Dynamics adds usability facility
Bala Cynwyd, Pa., research firm Group Dynamics in Focus has added a new room to its facility at 555 City Line Avenue that will provide Web site usability testing for clients who design software. Web site designers can observe respondents from behind one-way mirrors on a real-time monitor. Observation begins from the time the computer is turned on through the entire navigation process. The new space is equipped with T1 lines.
StatSoft adds to STATISTICA line
Tulsa, Okla.-based StatSoft, Inc.has released STATISTICA Web Server, an add-on to its STATISTICA line of data analysis, data mining, and quality control software. STATISTICAWeb Server adds functionality for full Internet enablement to STATISTICA, including the ability to run STATISTICA from a Web browser, and enables users to access data and analytical tools from virtually any computer in the world as long as it is connected to the Web. The product is provided with a selection of Intemet browser user interfaces allowing users to specify the analyses and review the results. Also, tools are provided to customize these dialogs and set up new, customized user interfaces.
Communique offers host of online research services
Communique, a San Rafael, Calif., research firm, is now offering a variety of online research-based products and services, including Sat-Trak, an annual subscription program of quarterly online surveys of customer base on satisfaction, loyalty, product/service/Web site usability; Test-Trak, a virtual test lab for testing product concepts, naming, positioning, ads, pricing, and product features; Discussion eForums, which combine online focus groups with teleconferencing and discussion boards; Market-Trak, which provides regular (quarterly/monthly) online reporting and trend analysis of clientdefined market metrics.
Category planner from ACNielsen
ACNielsen U.S., Schaumburg, Ill., has launched Category Business Planner, an information intelligence system designed to foster greater collaboration between manufacturers and retailers in the category management process. Accessed over the Internet, Category Business Planner offers product sales information according to retailer category definitions. Analysis of that information is provided in the form of"news headlines," from which users can drill down for more details.
Briefly
Western Wats Center, Provo, Utah, has opened a business-to-business market research call center in Rexburg, Idaho. The center is equipped with 48 Web-enabled stations that will be used for business-to-business research and customer relationship management via telephone and the Intemet.
LearningWare Inc. has introduced Quiz Rocket, a Web-based quiz, test and survey product utilizing Macromedia’s Flash 5. The product contains six question formats and offers customizable audio, picture and video fields. Results are available immediately.
MarketResearch.com and Packaged Facts are now offering "The Young Adult Market: Generation X Grows Up," a new report highlighting the buying habits of young adults, as well as the influence they have on the spending habits of others.
Pharmaceutical companies now have real-time, desktop access to study libraries, news alerts, project updates and more through Livingston, N.J.-based NOP World Health’s new On-Sight Virtual Office. The product lets users initiate, search, store and track research from all of the NOP World Health companies on their PCs, through customized, password-protected Web sites.
NPDFashionworld, Port Washington, N.Y., an online information source for the fashion industry, has launched a dedicated fashion footwear presence on its Web site. Subscribers to www.npdfashionworld.com can now get answers to their business and marketing questions 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Wayne, Pa.-based PCRS, Inc., a pharmaceutical research firm, has launched RapidTrials.com, a research service that brings together pharmaceutical companies and physicians for development of new products.
SPSS is now available as a software development kit for analytical Web applications. SPSS WebApp Framework enables companies to build customized Web-based applications for predictive analysis. SPSS WebAppbuilt applications bring analytics to tasks such as forecasting sales figures and processing survey results from any computer with access to the Internet, with no need for additional software or browser plug-ins.
Yahoo! Inc. and ACNielsen have launched the Yahoo!/ACNielsen Internet Confidence Index. Designed to measure and trend U.S. consumers’ attitudes toward online services, the Index will provide a barometer for general consumer confidence in Internet offerings.