The rise of insights partnerships
Insights can make the difference between seizing an opportunity and missing the market. Ioana Danila, Senior Manager, Global Insights at WFA, explains how insights leaders can unlock greater strategic impact through stronger partnerships.
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The world is changing and insights need to keep pace. The good news is that when we get this right, we can become a strategic partner for business growth.
Our experience of WFA initiatives, meetings and reports tells us that the Consumer and Market Insights (CMI) function holds unique potential to connect the dots across business units. The future is bright for those ready to lean into deeper integration, proactive collaboration and bold leadership.
The WFA Insight Forum’s new report, Navigating the Path to Transformative Insights Partnerships, highlights how working together with others, both internally and externally, will help CMI leaders to leverage the function’s full potential and ensure that consumer insights sit at the heart of business strategy.
Our research shows that many insights teams are standing on untapped potential. Strengthening internal collaboration remains a key opportunity, especially with functions like senior leadership (58%), product development (55%), IT/data science (52%), and sales (45%).
Addressing structural challenges – such as limited resources (52%), communication gaps (41%) and an overload of data without clear actionability (41%) – can further empower the function to deliver greater business impact.
Perhaps most importantly, the biggest opportunity lies in strategy. A resounding 86% of insights leaders see long-term strategy as a space where CMI can contribute more meaningfully. Product innovation (66%) and market expansion (62%) were also identified as areas where earlier and deeper insights involvement could drive greater value.
Opportunities for growth
Where there are challenges there is also opportunity, an underleveraged function creates huge opportunity for growth. Central to this is the need to move beyond traditional support roles and establish insights as an indispensable strategic force – one without which no major business decision can be made.
While 52% of organisations surveyed recognised insights as a strategic partner, a significant 48% of the stakeholders still view the function as a tactical support or data provider.
Transforming the 48% requires leaders to nurture stronger internal partnerships. The most impactful insights teams excel in outcome-driven storytelling (33%) and strategic leadership influence (33%). In-person or virtual presentations (86%) are considered the most effective way to elevate insights’ visibility within organisations.
Additionally, embedding insights professionals into other functions (57%) and facilitating cross-functional workshops (57%) are also critical for integrating insights into the decision-making processes.
Perhaps most importantly, the biggest opportunity lies in strategy. A resounding 86% of insights leaders see long-term strategy as a space where CMI can contribute more meaningfully. Product innovation (66%) and market expansion (62%) were also identified as areas where earlier and deeper insights involvement could drive greater value.
At the same time, insights agencies are likely going to need to move beyond transactional relationships and act as true business partners, integrating within client ecosystems to co-create insights that directly support business strategy and align with shared goals. Such changes will mean that agencies simplify outputs, focus on key insights, and tie recommendations to real-world outcomes.
The change we need now
To embed insights into business strategy, driving influence across the C-Suite and leveraging technology thoughtfully, leaders need to look at four key levers:
Secure leadership sponsorship
Secure executive sponsorship to amplify the function’s voice at the highest levels of leadership to embed insights earlier in strategic decision-making cycles to ensure influence on long-term business priorities, product innovation and market expansion.
Define clear KPIs beyond satisfaction
Showcase the measurable impact of insights in shaping strategy, driving innovation and enhancing market performance by moving beyond stakeholders’ satisfaction-based KPIs and implement measures tied to decision influence, revenue growth, speed to action and strategic business outcomes.
Invest in capability building
Equip insights teams with skills in storytelling, leadership influence, and strategic thinking to drive greater organisational impact as well as investing in resources and technology.
Balance AI with human insight
Develop frameworks that embed AI-driven insights into decision-making in a way that supports, rather than replaces, human judgement, this will deliver speed, and efficiency, while also ensuring that human expertise remains central to interpretation, strategy and storytelling.
While technology plays a critical role in boosting efficiency, it’s human judgement, strategic partnerships and the ability to frame insights within business priorities that truly elevate the impact of the function.
The future of insights is influence
It’s time for insights to be proactive, rooted in the idea that stronger collaboration isn't just about insights, but about ultimately fuelling business growth.
The future of the function lies in moving beyond data delivery to driving strategic outcomes – through sharper storytelling, stronger leadership connections and closer business collaboration.
Insights leaders must shift from simply responding to business questions to actively shaping the conversation. This requires proactive ownership, strong partnerships and embedding insights into decision-making workflows.
