Asking your Customers Questions and Tracking their Behavior is not Enough Anymore, Reveals Michalis Michael of DigitalMR

We talked to Michalis Michael of DigitalMR about AI backed consumer insight, and he had the following to say:-

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Michalis Michael: Doing good. I enjoy the focus and routine the lockdown has imposed.

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded DigitalMR.

Michalis Michael: I am an aerospace engineer by education but entered the world of market research instead, as they were not hiring any astronauts in Cyprus when I graduated. After 20 years as a hired gun, I saw a gap in the market around Digital market research and harvesting unsolicited customer opinion from social media and took the plunge.

How does DigitalMR innovate? 

Michalis Michael: We have carried out 7 R&D projects around using AI for the accurate analysis of unstructured data (e.g., text & images) partly funded by the UK government and the EU. Even when there is no grant involved, R&D is in our DNA.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

Michalis Michael: We have pressed a reset button back in May and became a pure SaaS and DaaS scale-up by saying no to offering professional services. So in a way, the pandemic had a positive impact on our trajectory.

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?

Michalis Michael: Yes. See above. Perseverance is the lesson.

How do you deal with stress and anxiety?

Michalis Michael: Meditation, running, boxing, sleep tracking.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Michalis Michael: Mainly social media monitoring vendors. We need to raise funding and increase our distribution platforms to establish a global positioning.

Your final thoughts?

Michalis Michael: Unstructured data makes up more than 95% of all recorded human knowledge. Every organization needs to be in a position to accurately annotate and combine customer opinion from sources such as social media, call centers, focus groups, answers to an open-ended question in surveys, etc. It is not enough to include solicited customer opinion and behavior in your discovery process for actionable insights.

Your website? 

Digital-mr.com