Here’s a philosophical question for a Thursday lunchtime. If an insight isn’t acted on, is it still an insight? Or is it simply information with potential?

I’ve spoken to a number of people in the Pharma industry this year who have told me about insights work their companies have undertaken in the last 12-18 months which has never been used.

So, why is that?

In my experience, there are several possible reasons:

Not output focused – As the insights weren’t linked to recommended actions, they didn’t provide a clear way forward and so were left to gather dust.

Unrealistic – The insights might have been interesting, but they were never anything the company could realistically act upon.

Too broad – The overall insights work lacked sufficient focus and therefore didn’t provide anything specific that could be actioned.

Too big – Maybe it was a hefty deck that felt insightful at the time but never went anywhere as it was hard to see the wood for the trees.

No clear insights – The insights simply weren’t very insightful!

No internal commitment – Insights are worthless if the company/system isn’t prepared to act on them.

No longer relevant – Objectives have changed and there’s not the time/budget to repeat the process (fair enough, that happens in business).

Have I missed anything?

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