Introduction
Founded in 2003 by renowned political scientist and Brazilian sociologist Dr. Aureliano Luiz Andrade, Instituto Olhar conducts some of the largest surveys undertaken in Brazil. The institute specializes in both qualitative and quantitative research, employing 15 full-time employees and up to 250 field researchers, as needed.
Instituto Olhar conducts between 20 and 30 large field research projects each year, involving anywhere between 35,000 and 100,000 qualitative interviews a year. The institute's client roster includes 500 household brand names like Fiat, PwC, and Usiminas, as well as numerous large universities and government agencies.
The challenge
Instituto Olhar had been using pen and paper for its field research when it decided modern software was needed in order to accomplish tasks that were simply impossible otherwise: GPS tracking of field researchers, audio recordings of interviews, and applying logical rules for question ordering, to name just a few. In short, the institute was looking for a solution that had the agility, reliability, and feature set it needed.
The solution
A total of six different software solutions were thoroughly examined before Instituto Olhar made a decision.
“We ended up choosing SurveyToGo for its robustness, flexibility, and security features,” explained Fernando Gilberti, Project Manager at Instituto Olhar, who is responsible for the institute's marketing organization as well as the technical planning and results analysis of the institute's research projects. “SurveyToGo was the only solution among those that we looked at that could manage the complexity of some of our projects. I love the software's flexibility: for example, it allows customizing interactions between variables. Finally, there's the critical factor of information security. SurveyToGo proved to be the most robust solution out there.”
Instituto Olhar installed SurveyToGo on 150 devices, and the process couldn't have been simpler.
“It takes us less than a week to train our staff on the basics of SurveyToGo, even though it's a continuous learning process, as the team members learn how to use the more sophisticated features and options the software offers. The responsiveness of the [SurveyToGo] support team always delights us with their availability and attention to meeting our needs. We're extremely satisfied with them,” said Gilberti.
The results
Using SurveyToGo has triggered significant changes to how Instituto Olhar does business today. The remaining staff is better equipped to handle the modern research tasks at hand, now that there's a lot less manual data processing. Gilberti estimates that it took only eight months to return the investment the institute made in SurveyToGo, including all software and hardware investments.
“Our costs are down 15–20%, project turnaround is now 25–30% shorter, interviews take 20–25% less time, and the quality of our work has gone dramatically up—since there are fewer people handling the data, the entire process is less error-prone,” said Gilberti.
Gilberti summarizes the impact SurveyToGo has had on how Instituto Olhar does business: “We can take on more business, we complete research projects in less time, and we need fewer people in the field. Our entire research planning methodology has changed for the better.”
When asked what advice he would give other research firms, Gilberti is very clear-cut: “You need to worry about data security and the future capacity of the software you're choosing: it needs to be able to handle all your current and future needs.”
