Toluna Adds Open-Ended Analysis Tool SmartCloud

Insights tech and panel provider Toluna has announced the launch of SmartCloud, an AI-powered tool for the analysis of open-ended survey responses.

Toluna announced in 2020 that a new end-to-end, real-time consumer intelligence platform Start would form the core of its business going forward - since then it has updated the platform on a regular basis, adding a range of new product development methods, multimarket research capabilities, a qualitative option and a range of MaxDiff solutions. Eighteen months ago the firm bought US-based 'agile market research' and analytics solutions company GutCheck, and last summer it struck a deal with Tokyo-based Macromill to buy research solutions provider MetrixLab, with Macromill taking a minority equity stake in Toluna. Today the company boasts around 2,650 employees worldwide, working in more than 90 markets.

The new SmartCloud offering promises instant analysis of unstructured data including theme extraction and sentiment coding, 'without the bias of pre-conceived code frames and the effort of manual analysis', making open-ended questions 'more valuable and insightful than ever before'. A part of the firm's 'AI Everywhere' strategy, it is accessed through Start, available in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish with more languages due soon, and can deliver outputs customised to match clients' own branding.

CEO Frédéric-Charles Petit (pictured) says: 'As an exciting new launch within our industry-leading AI toolkit, SmartCloud brings immense added value to our clients. By using advanced AI to deliver deeper insights from complex data sets, clients can make more confident, smarter decisions that help them create, understand, decide, predict and scale. This launch is part of our industry-leading AI work designed to deliver more value and consumer connection, and we eagerly anticipate sharing more initiatives in this field in the coming weeks and months, standing firmly behind our motto: blending the best of human intelligence with artificial intelligence'.

Web site: www.tolunacorporate.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.