Kristen Turnbull, founding director of CoreData WA and deputy managing director of CoreData Group, shared with us the story of CoreData, and how they got to where they are today. As a global market research consultancy that was established in Sydney in 2002, CoreData Group has a specialist focus on financial services research. “In 2017, we saw an opportunity to expand our services in Australia and diversify our focus, so CoreData WA was founded as a subsidiary of the Group” Kristen shared.
“Since then, we’ve built a client-base spanning multiple sectors including some of WA’s largest corporates, NFPs and government and have grown our presence internationally. Our Perth team works closely with our Sydney and Manila-based analysts, tackling problems rather than projects and helping illuminate blind spots. We love working with clients who are big in ambition, not necessarily size, and partnering with them for the long term.”
Like many businesses, COVID-19 has challenged the team to rethink their business strategies. “We’ve seen huge demand post COVID-19 for insights to underpin growth strategies and potential pivots, which has driven a renewed focus on brand. Identifying this trend, we’ve been proactively targeting work in this space, both in terms of brand tracking but also assisting companies to understand their ‘employer’ brand to improve recruitment and retention,” Kristen shared about their COVID-19 experiences.
“From a consumer trend perspective there has been a clear shift to online purchasing behaviour, particularly in the skincare market where customers are moving away from in-store purchases through pharmacies, department stores and supermarkets to beauty and skincare websites and other online channels.
“In the work we do in employment services we’ve also seen a trend towards workforce casualisation and the detrimental impact this is having on people with disability and their ability to gain sustainable, equitable employment.”
When asked if CoreData WA follows the same strategy internally, as they do for their clients, Kristen shared that like a lot of businesses, they often spend more time working in the business, than on the business. “In saying that, we do take a structured approach to our business planning. We’ve recruited to fill skills gaps with strategic growth and diversification in mind and now have an agile team with diverse but complementary professional and life experiences. We’ve played to the team’s strengths, targeting work in adjacent markets where we have collective experience.”
Now, the CoreData Perth team calls Fern, powered by Spacecubed home. “Having started at 45 St Georges Tce with one person and a laptop it’s exciting to be back in the Spacecubed fold with a seven-person team. We love collaborating with organisations with complementary skills, so we’re looking forward to meeting new people through the community breakfasts and other events – COVID-19 permitting!”
As a final note, Kristen left us with this. “Using research insight to inspire impact and influence is what gets us out of bed in the morning. We’re passionate about partnering with organisations to drive growth and transformational change. If this resonates, we’d love to hear from you!”
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