Rokker Research Labs – Something great from the World’s weirdest year
COVID-19 has presented a range of challenges for businesses this year, many of which no company could ever prepare for. Since March’s anticipated, yet highly unprecedented lockdown, businesses had a Darwinian choice to make: ‘evolve or face extinction’.
Skull Mountain’s (a Rokker Network company) Managing Director Lee Cross went further on the ‘adapt or die’ rhetoric by observing; “I am shocked, but not surprised, at the number of people whose default attitude in this or any crisis is to hunker down and play safe… I truly believe that with significant change comes enormous opportunity – you just have to work a lot smarter and harder to find and execute on it”.
So, here at Rokker, that is what we did.
Rokker’s Jack Garnham noticed very quickly that due to the global lockdown, Rokker had to adapt to service the increasingly ‘online’ market. Restrictions meant that there would be no more face-to-face meetings, no more workshops and certainly no more schmoozing at industry events or exhibitions.
Networking and consultancy were stripped bare to organic targeting and outreach, while retaining our partners was also matched with COVID issues of their own. Unfortunately, we could no longer rely solely on being in the right room, with industry friends to recommend us, when everyone was facing issues of their own – we needed a new way and new things to sell to help keep moving forward apace.
Of course, our traditional consultancy continues as we ride the waves of the pandemic; Rokker was one of those businesses lucky enough to thrive throughout 2020. However, Jack recognised a gap in the market for quick-fire consultancy, with a keen focus on industry-targeted research and strategic insight. Thus, the Rokker Research Labs was born. A rapid, contemporary research provider which keeps up to pace with the fast-moving markets, designed to empower clients with timely industry knowledge and market research. As a result of the typical 2-8 week projects, clients are able to make more informed, strategic decisions based on bespoke and customised research projects.
This also had the benefit of meeting Rokker Network Founder Andy Rogers’ mandate of finding ways to rapidly ‘productise’ our collective offering to allow us to effectively sell in an arms-length or remote world (something we have successfully done across the Network in 2020).
The genesis of the Rokker Research Labs was born out of Jack’s PhD background, using the scientific method to drive the process from question, to theory, to methods, and finally to results and conclusions. We initially realised the potential of this proposition when given a very quick deadline (1 week) for a project that required a comprehensive evaluation of a market. By following a clear methodical process, we were able to confidently deliver sufficient insight for our client to make an objective strategic decision regarding the future direction of their business.
How does this benefit the new COVID world?
What many businesses are lacking right now is capacity to cope with the changing economic and political climate. Not only are rules in the UK changing, but all over the world, all at different speeds. Rokker Research Labs allows businesses to take a step back and leave the hard work to us. Jack and his team are able to provide an objective, unbiased and holistic overview of a specific market, sector, service, or product within a timeframe that matches the needs of our clients. With us, businesses can identify potential risks and opportunities in the market, a form of safeguarding which has never been as important than now, where each sector faces their own threats from the pandemic. This in turn also leads to opportunities which are available as we adapt to or emerge from the COVID-led world.
A Typical Project
Once engaged with a client, we collectively agree upon the required output and the appropriate strategy/process to obtain this. This allows us to identify discrete tasks of activity that can be formulated within a project plan to ensure that all deliverables are provided within the required timeframe. We then set about researching all items in a holistic manner, using a combination of primary and secondary research. In most instances, the primary research involves contacting and interviewing numerous individuals within the target sector, including key contacts within our own wide network. For the secondary research, we use numerous trusted resources, including industry media and reports, as well as financial and regulator reports, to ensure we amalgamate a holistic overview of the market, sector, service, or product in question. Throughout the project, we ensure that our clients are provided with regular (at least weekly) updates informing them of our progress and identifying any action points and next steps necessary to ensure the project achieves the desired output on time. Once we have exhausted all research avenues, we consolidate all our data and key findings into a finalised report, often with accompanying supporting documents, many of which we will then discuss with the client in further detail.
Jack’s Thoughts
We frequently find that clients really value the objective and impartial insight that the Rokker Research Labs empowers them with. In most cases, clients obviously have a very good understanding of the market, sector, service, or product that they’re interested in finding more about. However, we often find that this information may only be held by one person within an organisation, or that groups of people working together have very different views of the market, which have been heavily influenced by their previous experience in the industry and are therefore often biased or inaccurate. Furthermore, given the pace at which the industry continues to adapt, not least as a result of Covid-19, we often find that clients lack the contemporary insight they require, and certainly don’t often have this information consolidated within a single place. Therefore, the real value of engaging with the Rokker Research Labs is to have a unified and consolidated view of the market that will empower you to make more informed, objective, and impartial strategic decisions.
Jack and the team are ready to hear from you and your business. If you would like to learn more, don’t hesitate to email Jack at jack.garnham@rokker.co.uk.
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