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Burke Inc.

Situation

Burke, Inc. provides full-service market research, analysis, and consulting to hundreds of its consumer focused and business-to-business focused clients. Since its inception in 1931, Burke has worked with multiple blue-chip companies. In 1999, the Cincinnati, Ohio-based market research leader employed 250 full-time and 400 part-time people and generated $48.8 million in revenues.

Challenge

To leverage its market-leading heritage and exceed clients’ increasing demandsfor online surveys and research, Burke had to:

Solution

Burke developed a new technological infrastructure in which the Internet isfront and center. Today, Burke’s global data collection, monitoring, and reporting offerings are meeting more sophisticated online needs and empowering customers with the added ability to track progress and final results in real time.

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Results

As one of the nation’s first market research firms to offer interactive research services, Burke, Inc. has kept in step with advancing technologies and expanding customer needs. It’s no secret that overall demand for Web-based survey research has continued to mushroom since Burke first offered the service in 1997.

As decreasing response rates for telephone surveys showed no signs of abating, Burke did more than just react—it looked ahead and moved swiftly to meet customer demand with a new Web-based infrastructure.

“More and more clients want to migrate work to the Web. When we first saw this trend, we knew we had to be prepared to not only handle it, but to quickly prove our capabilities. The right infrastructure was imperative to maintaining market leadership,” said Mike Webster, director of interactive operations.

Burke needed a time-tested, affordable way to address the online paradigm shift. It also needed consistency; Burke’s reputation for high-quality results and customer support were at stake. They tested several competitive Web survey software packages, but SPSS Inc.’s Quancept Web—the online version of the computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) software Burke used in its call centers—was a strong contender from the start.

“Being able to use the same programming language with Quancept Web was a definite plus,” Webster said. But it was Quancept’s reputation for quality and ease of use that made the decision easy. “It is a superior product and definitely has proven to be the best solution for what we do.”

For what we do, SPSS Inc. products are consistently able to handle some of the more complex projects we throw at them.


Grew Web-based business from zero to 40 percent of its total survey business.

The share of Web vs. CATI surveys within Burke’s survey systems department grew from zero in late 1997 to an average of 40 percent as of early year 2000 and an anticipated 50 percent later that year. This increase led to the formation of Burke Interactive, internal researchers who developand implement innovative products for sampling, datacollection, and reporting results over the Web for both clients and internal project teams.

Improved client communications through online access to real-time results.

Burke Interactive can now deliver what clients consistently demand—more information more quickly. Using Web reporting tools, including those offered by SPSS Inc., Burke sets up the survey so that collected data is automatically analyzedand formatted in tables and charts and available to clients online. These ever-open lines of communication giveclients faster access to formatted real-time reports ofsurveys in progress.

To date, Burke has conducted an array of online research work, including customer satisfaction, Web site evaluation, concept testing, tracking, choice-based conjoint and consumer product testing. The brisk pace at which Burke’s Web surveying business has grown is a testament to Burke’s dedication and market research experience—as well as to the flexibility and scalability of the system, Webster said.

Specifically, Webster likes Quancept Web’s nonrestrictive screen layout and increasing stability. He also has worked with SPSS Inc. products for CATI data collection, tabulation, and data analysis. “For what we do, SPSS Inc. products are consistently able to handle some of the more complex projects we throw at them.”

Webster looks forward to a continued relationship with SPSS Inc., especially for its integrated survey execution technologies, PASW® Data Collection. PASW Data Collection introduces a new survey architecture founded on a central repository for all data and one interface for accessing it. Having seen a prototype of PASW Data Collection, Webster added, “it’s obvious that SPSS Inc. is moving to make their next generation product—which can execute or merge Web, CATI and CAPI surveys—the best product it can be.

“That’s vital to us, as we strive to be our clients’ valued partner by applying superior thinking—and the best resources—to solving business problems.”