Driving the development of Protection propositionsDeveloped Royal London's Helping Hand propositionBrought the Value of Menu adviser tool from idea to market

I work on a variety of quant and qual research projects, both internally and with agencies. I manage clients and ensure the business receives what it needs from insight, and communicate this is an understandable way.• Lead, manage and support a variety of insight projects to understand customer behavior and how the business can improve according to findings• Support the delivery of strategic and operational research projects: including customer and adviser segmentation, brand tracking and awareness, benchmarking, consumer trends and other adhoc projects.• Act as internal agency to wider business, maintaining relationships with a wide range of stakeholders• Understand needs of clients as accurately as possible, then decide how best to carry out the project. This determines whether I write a questionnaire, or a discussion guide for qual etc. • For work we don’t have capacity to do I create a brief for agency. Once agencies have responded, check all proposals and decide best agency to go with. • Present to a range of stakeholders to senior positions – info must be crystal clear, engaging.• Manage agency relationships on a day-to-day basis

Tasks include:- Lead on and deliver market research projects to gain understanding and inform business decisions- Support delivery of strategy review and acquisition projects across a range business segments- Build, maintain and utilise relationships across the business to gain accurate insights quickly- Conduct strategic analysis and identify areas for growth, including due diligence and possible integration- Track global market trends to understand implications on markets and our business- Tackle business intelligence needs in company areas of interest, and deliver regular report/presentation- Regular interaction with key stakeholders and key decision makers

Tasks include: - Liaise with partners, research contractor, communications/pr specialists and everyone involved in the Labour Market Intelligence project - Ensure that the challenging time schedule is met, and all parties are happy - Represent OPITO in both design and steering groups- Develop a workforce planning tool for the Oil and Gas Industry- Develop further research projects which build upon the LMI survey- Other significant projects include mapping out the UK Upstream Industry to inform the 5 year business plan. Business Intelligence to target products and services is also underway. I continually develop a network to gather the most relevant and timely information to work with Directors to inform the business.- Develop, implement and integrate this exciting new role:- I have designed a structured Research Function to develop this as a service- This includes developing: research criteria, scoping format, data gathering and management strategy which all feed into the research process I am also developing.- The criteria consists of 4 main strands, and ranges from overall market to first-hand data directly from OPITO clients.- All of these tasks require excellent organisation, time management, good relations and cross functional working.

I started this company from scratch because I enjoy bringing the benefits of Research and Strategy to others, and created a massive opportunity for myselfServices include:- Work with clients to develop a strategy from their entire business down to a specific function- Market Research and implications of market conditions on business- Customer Satisfaction - Competitor ComparisonMy responsibilities include:- Designing all branding and creating of company- Designing products, services and website- Business Development- Project ManagementBusinesses are better placed to make decisions, better informed, understand trends and can plan ahead more effectively with support from SUR. Knowledge is power, and we empower businesses.

- Lead Researcher for the Labour Market and Census data for Aberdeen City and Shire (work has been published on these topics);- Introducing a new software package that allows quick access to mapped data for Aberdeen City and Shire;- Carrying out work on the economy for Aberdeen City and Shire and the impact of the Energy sector;- Conduct other adhoc projects such as service benchmarking, research consultation and helping other services to understand how they can improve their services;- Communicate information to different audiences in a range of formats from briefing papers to interactive slide shows;- Worked with other organisations such as Police Scotland, the Fire Service, the NHS and the Scottish Government.My work can be found here http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.asp?lID=49576&sID=332and here http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.asp?lID=52868&sID=3365

- Working as a Market Research Executive I plan, implement, control, analyse and report on market research information which I must gather. This is data collected on what organisations or people buy, need, do or think in relation to healthcare, particularly the NHS, and the reasons why.- Other tasks include investigating and monitoring market activity;- Researching competitors and monitoring their success/failure;- Product releases;- New appointments; - Any rebranding, and research that organisation may publish; - Research policies implemented by our competitors;- I analyse secondary data and statistics;- Evaluating past performance of a product or service's sales;- Assessing future trends;- Commissioning surveys and co-ordinating research projects. As well as the above tasks, the job requires excellent time management and organisation. I have to communicate information to the right people as soon as possible and this requires hard work to ensure reports are carried out quickly and effectively, and are written in the appropriate way for the appropriate people. Communication is key and I have learned a lot about marketing and product development while in this role.

This was my break into research, and the main chunk of my time was spent conducting a report of Falkirk District's Single Outcome Agreement. This report looking specifically at health issues across age groups and data such as gym memberships figures and alcoholism information.I learned to manage time, communicate clearly and above all developed my research skills.