“Ops, I Did it AI-gain!”—How Tech and AI Are Transforming Research Operations
22 April 2025

Authored by James (JT) Turner, Founder and CEO at Delineate

January’s MRS Operations Network relaunch afforded me the privilege to share some insights into how we've built world-class research operations at Delineate, here in glorious West Wales.  The event’s many attendees agreed on the urgent need for practical ways to harness technology to simplify processes, raise standards and deliver better research to clients.

Access to new technology is evolving rapidly — not just for tech giants or bigger market research agencies, but for organizations of all shapes and sizes. Enterprise AI tools like Microsoft's Copilot and Google's ML-powered suite are bringing sophisticated capabilities directly into the hands of operations teams everywhere.

Let's dive into three areas where technology (particularly AI) can transform research operations, making us more efficient and effective, and maybe even make our day jobs a bit more enjoyable.

1. Project Management: Organised Ops, Happy Teams

We've all been there: struggling with endless email chains, grappling gigantic spreadsheets from yesteryear and losing important project updates in the kerfuffle. Thankfully, today's project management platforms like Monday.com, Asana and Jira have completely changed the game. These affordable platforms empower seamless team collaboration, real-time progress updates and automatic task management (and even updating your spreadsheets for you if you really can’t relinquish Excel).

However, effective project management doesn’t just smooth out daily operations. These modern tools also dramatically simplify documentation and compliance with market research standards such as ISO 20252. Clear audit trails, easy-to-follow guidelines and automated process-tracking maintain organized, efficient and audit-ready operations. Goodbye chaotic inboxes; hello streamlined working practices!

2. Automated Text Processing: More than Translation

Whether transcripts from qualitative findings or open-ended text from quantitative studies, AI tools offer enormous opportunity within the research process. ML can theme, summarise, clean and verify data at scale. More advanced models can now evaluate audio and video files to extract more than just text.  Highly cost-effective processes can be built with just a little bit of programming knowledge.

When it comes to quality, AI tools can also effortlessly spot irrelevant answers, duplicate entries, nonsensical gibberish and suspicious response patterns. Rather than manually wrestling with vast volumes of data, operations teams can more confidently rely on AI-powered checks. As we evolve to harness AI Agents, more rules and logic can be applied, further mimicking manual processes. An AI assistant will serve as a multilingual, data-cleaning wizard by your side!

3. AI Models and Machine Learning: Raising the Data Quality Bar

Quality has always been a cornerstone of excellent market research — but it's also incredibly resource-intensive. Today, AI and machine learning models have grown into powerful tools that handle far more than simply catching rogue respondents.

Advanced AI models speedily identify patterns indicating inattentiveness, inconsistencies, speeding and other data quality issues. Instead of manually scanning endless rows of responses, operations teams can leverage AI-driven anomaly detection, flagging problematic data instantly.

Moreover, these smart algorithms can become more accurate with each dataset they review, continuously learning and evolving in response. Imagine the impact of a dedicated, always alert and ever-improving data quality resource. Trained AI makes that vision a reality.

Looking Forward: Embracing the AI-Powered Ops Revolution

Adopting AI and enterprise-grade technology isn't just about staying on-trend; emerging tech is essential for maintaining a competitive advantage in today’s research landscape. The dream tools of the future are already empowering operations professionals to work smarter, faster, and with greater confidence to deliver business-critical results

Technology won't replace operations teams. AI will work hand-in-hand with ops specialists to enhance existing capabilities, free up bandwidth and create invaluable opportunities for innovation. A more productive, effective and ultimately thriving operations team means better outcomes all round.

To my fellow research operations professionals: it’s time to embrace technology, streamline your workflows, and proudly say, “Ops, I did it AI-gain!”