Monitoring

Up-to-date data is an essential input for a variety of business models in the internet and platform economy. Effective policy and business decisions in such a dynamic market environment should be based on empirical evidence and quantitative analysis. Collecting and collating data provides the basis for our evidence-based research and the recommendations for policy and business action that we derive from it.

WIK independently collects primary and secondary data as part of its research programme and applies a diverse set of tools in this context. In addition to our in-house expertise in automated web scraping, conducting interviews and designing representative surveys we co-operate with external data service providers and have a good overview of where to obtain relevant third party data from public and proprietary sources. Through economic experiments, we also create new customised databases to answer your specific questions.

In addition to data collection, the storage of large data sets in particular (several million data points) is a basic requirement for our evidence-based work. We have extensive expertise in the back-end development of SQL-based relational database structures as well as in the creation of linked front-end solutions for user-friendly interaction with the stored data basis. Examples for our services in this area include the development of the OTT database for evidence-based monitoring of digital services for the BMDV.

Surveys are the most significant and common method of primary research. They are suitable for developing and testing theories about the behaviour and attitudes of individuals, especially in complex and progressive research areas for which representative data are rarely available.

For years, we have used surveys in projects to support decision-makers in international and national authorities, institutions and companies with empirical data and insights into the behaviour of market participants and its implications for market development and competition. A key pillar is WIK's trend study on communication and media usage behaviour in Germany, which has been in existence since 2015 and enables us to uncover new trends in digital markets at an early stage. We our many years of experience, we have profound knowledge in the development and implementation of individualised consumer and company surveys (CAWI & CATI), which are specifically tailored to the research question. Customer journey, conjoint and customer satisfaction analyses are also part of WIK's repertoire.

Customer experience should be a guiding principle in all strategic corporate decisions. Creating a positive customer experience is essential in building emotional bonds between users and providers. In a variety of projects, we have investigated what is important to consumers and the implications of this. Particularly noteworthy is the WIK demand potential model. Based on this model, we have forecast what bandwidth and quality needs consumers will have in relation to their broadband infrastructures in the future. We have applied the model in several countries, taking into account differences in usage patterns and openness to new digital services.