Meet Kirsten Den Elzen
Introducing our international project manager
While SaaS platforms have certainly revolutionised the way that business is conducted, their greatest downfall is that users are often left to fend for themselves after they have signed up to the service in question. Crowdtech’s proactive solution to this has been to create a Hybrid SaaS model which provides human support to users, while simultaneously allowing them the freedom to operate our platform independently.
Ready to lend a helping hand
To this end we assign project managers to all our clients and jobs, who provide a human interface between our clients and our technology.
Kirsten den Elzen, International Project Manager and Technical Consultant, plays this role. Managing many of our international projects and clients, den Elzen is the link between the technical development team, our clients and our surveys, panel and communities.
‘In the past, clients used to outsource entire market research projects to agencies’, explains den Elzen. ‘Then SaaS systems started making it possible for them to conduct some of the technical side of research on their own. But people are still finding that they need a little help here or there - and that’s where I come in. They like to have a technical team that they can contact… we’re here for our clients and always ready to help.’
One role: Many tasks
Den Elzen’s job is multi-faceted, spanning client training, technical support, project management and developer liaison.
On the client training side, den Elzen carries out multiple Client training sessions. In terms of technical support, she oversees the Client helpdesk. Project management encompasses all the details of preparing projects for launch, while developer liaison involves a ‘translation’ of sorts between this team and clients.
“One of my roles is to liaise with the client regarding their project requirements’, she explains. ‘I then feed their needs back to the internal team. I engage with our developers to understand exactly what is possible from a technical perspective. Sometimes what seems like a tiny change on the front end of the platform, will require a massive upheaval behind the scenes. In such cases we need to assess how best to fulfil client wishes in a way that makes the most logistical sense.’
Different clients, different requirements
Different clients require different solutions. At Crowdtech we work with three types of clients: On the one extreme are those who choose to run their panels or communities entirely on their own, and on the other side are those who require a full-service model. For this, we bring in our sister company of researchers and analysts, MWM2.
However, the majority of our clients sit within the Hybrid SaaS space, meaning that they run their own panels and communities with varying degrees of requirements for help from our team.
Meeting clients where they are
‘I try to meet each client where they are,’ explains den Elzen. ‘I am in constant contact with them and try to have a really thorough understanding of each client’s diverse needs. Of course, I’m not the product owner so I need to liaise with our dev team about each requirement. But where possible I do what I can to try to make them happen!’
Den Elzen describes how varied her client requests can be. For example, when it comes to the look-and-feel of a panel or community, she liaises with a full range of clients – from those who engage their marketing teams and get extremely involved in the design of each community element, to those who prefer to outsource this entirely to Crowdtech.
Working with mostly market researchers and marketers, Crowdtech’s international client liaison spans an array of countries and cultures. It also spans industries, including a range of commercial sectors and also some non-commercial ones, such as higher education institutes.
True agility
Agility has of course become a popular topic in business, which has been heightened since the advent of Covid-19. Den Elzen confirms that, at Crowdtech, the company’s agility is more than simply lip-service: ‘Crowdtech is constantly evolving. It doesn’t claim to be an agile company: it actually is one. If we need to change something, I have the autonomy to do exactly that. To me, this is true agility.’
‘I love my job’, concludes den Elzen enthusiastically. ‘I love my clients too – as varied and diverse as they might be. I always look forward to what my next project and challenge might hold.’
To speak to Kirsten den Elzen or find out more about our international offerings and project management, please do get in touch.
Share this article
The pros and cons of SaaS
The advent and rise in popularity of SaaS platforms has revolutionised ways of working across industries, including the field of research software. On-demand software places the locus of control in the hands of the client, in an accessible and user-friendly manner.
However, one of the greatest frustrations with the SaaS model to date has been the lack of human support for technical platforms, with users feeling that they have no-one to ask for a helping hand.
Crowdtech’s offering includes support
At Crowdtech we see things differently: While our research software model is certainly based on technology, we don’t believe that the provision of our platform is the end of our client relationship. Far from it.
Instead, we place a great deal of importance on offering support to users at every step of their research journey.
Assistance throughout the research cycle
We have coined this offering a Hybrid SaaS model: ‘SaaS’ because it is a technology-based platform that enables users to manage the full research cycle on their own. ‘Hybrid’ because, unlike most SaaS models, it entails ongoing and accessible user-support, including:
Operational support
Panel support
Wider research support
Operational support: This covers the full spectrum of operational functions, from helping our clients to understand and leverage the technology behind our platforms, to preparing the survey operations, and managing the data output. Crowdtech’s team of IT support managers is ready to help at any step of the way.
Panel support: One of Crowdtech’s strengths is the fact that we offer panel management, which underlies our quantitative surveys and qualitative platforms. On an ongoing basis we help clients to maintain their customer panels or communities, making sure the sample balance is right and that the platform is constantly achieving optimal engagement with respondents.
Full-service support: At Crowdtech our strength lies in technical operational and panel expertise. However, we can also offer full-service research support via our sister company, MWM2, who have a full suite of researchers to help clients right through from design to analysis phase.
Melvin Bechan explains, “If it’s operational or panel support, Crowdtech can help you in-house, as our wide range of technology and support managers are geared towards exactly that. If it’s the full-service research support that you’re after, we can do that too, via our sister company MWM2.”
Help is accessible and fast
At Crowdtech we focus on delivering software that is developed by researchers for researchers. Our platform is not simply about standalone technology. We encompass a full-service team of researchers, project managers and support managers who are available to guide our customers through the DIY research cycle.
As the world embraces omni-channel digital engagement, we believe that support is most helpful when it is accessible via a number of different sources. To this end we offer fast-response assistance via email, phone, chat - or even in-person, when lockdown rules allow.
Bechan sums up the importance of a supportive culture, “We like to help clients out where we can… We don’t just say ‘You paid for 10 minutes of our time and now you’re done’. Instead, we go the extra mile and that’s one of the things that people like about us; one of the things that sets us apart.”
Panel management has become a commonly accepted term in the research industry. But what does it actually mean, and is it important? In a word – yes, panel management is critically important, as it improves both the experience of the respondent as well as the output of the research.
Understanding panels and communities
Before we go any further, it is important to note that the term ‘panel management’ refers to the management of both customer panels and communities.
At Crowdtech, we utilise technology to convert our clients’ customer databases into consensual customer panels: Bespoke, long-term panels comprising of a group of customers who, by definition, have a vested and ongoing interest in a particular brand. Our technology allows us to engage regularly with this group of people via digital surveys.
We also run communities, which are like panels, but take the relationship with customers a step further. Using more complex technology, communities are facilitated via a portal which enables in-depth discussions and forums. These platforms allow engagement between members and enable clients to probe questions at a more comprehensive - and often qualitative - level.
So what exactly is panel management?
Panel management, simply put, is the process of recruiting, retaining, incentivizing, and liaising with the members of research panels and communities.
Firstly, it requires a soft, humane touch to keep respondents feeling valued and engaged. Next, it involves detailed analysis to monitor the activity and participation of each respondent in the panel. Last, it entails stringent adherence to keeping respondents’ personal data secure, and using it responsibility.
At Crowdtech, we leverage our advanced technology to ensure that all of these processes happen efficiently. By having the panel management capabilities built into our technology, we are able to ensure a smooth flow from recruitment, though to sampling and retainment of respondents.
How does it impact on respondents?
The practice of panel management may appear to be somewhat extraneous to the collection of data itself. However, without effective panel management, research surveys and communities have a dramatically lower success rate.
As is true when dealing with any group of people in the world, active management increases participation levels. Consider a hypothetical work environment where employees were left alone with no guidance or acknowledgement... Levels of frustration and confusion would abound, resulting in disengagement and lack of co-operation.
Research panels and communities operate in the same way. Respondents are typically recruited due to their interest in a common topic: They are naturally more likely to engage deeply if they feel that their participation is valued, their preferences acknowledged and their responses recognized.
How does this affect the research outcome?
Happier respondents mean better research. Well-managed panels and communities naturally result in deeper, richer and more frequent insights from participants.
As noted, there is also an analytical side to panel management. (After all, this wouldn’t be the research game without some analytics!) Monitoring a panel enables a real-time gauge of which respondents are actively participating - and which are not. This massively reduces inefficiencies and redundancy, by eliminating respondents who are not adding value to the research.
Active sample selection is also an integral part of panel management, enabling the optimal respondents to be targeted for the questions that apply to them. This directly reduces wastage of time and cost.
Lastly, effective panel management enables a long-term and robust panel to be developed: One that allows for ongoing trackability, based on feedback from a consistent group of respondents over time.
Again, technology is the key to efficiency across all of these practices: Both in terms of time and output, Crowdtech’s panel management technology is what sets us apart. Technology is what enables us to conduct each of these processes with optimal efficiency, to ensure that both respondents and clients have a satisfactory experience.
Where does it fit into the overall research picture?
Panel management is a fundamental part of any research technology solution. Ideally a research solution should include three equally important and symbiotic elements, these being:
Quantitative surveys
Qualitative platforms
Panel management
Although some agencies offer these independently of each other, at Crowdtech we believe that panel management is the indisputable backbone of the other two arms of research – supporting them through integrated technology, and enabling them to achieve maximum efficiency.
We are therefore proud to offer our clients an all-in-one solution which integrates these three elements seamlessly: Quantitative surveys as well as qualitative platforms, both maintained and powered by effective panel management.