Vision Critical Opens in Europe, Updates Panel+

Canadian online panel firm Vision Critical has expanded into the European market with the opening of an office in central London. The firm has also launched the latest release of its survey authoring, support, panel management and reporting and analysis system, Panel+.

The new London office will be led by Sales Director Jeremy Holt, who will be supported by existing Vision Critical employee, Sales Manager Paul Albert.

Holt has more than 15 years' experience in international business. Prior to joining the firm, he ran UK CRM firm royalblue, where he managed the entire operations, grew the team from 30 to 350 staff, and was also responsible for four offices and a network of channel partners across Europe.

Albert has been working in the Vancouver office for the past two years, where as one of the company's first sales people, he has worked with media, consumer packaged goods and health care clients. He previously led sales development at software company Sophos, and was a sales representative at IT MR specialist Info-Tech Research.

'We're thrilled to be launching in London with seasoned professionals in the panel business,' commented CEO Angus Reid.

Meanwhile, Vision Critical has upgraded its Panel+ system to include more than 30 new features, including the Panel Quality Index (PQI), which provides norms on response / completion rates, recruitment, attrition and panelist quality data, drawn from hundreds of proprietary panels.

Reid explained that the firm saw the PQI as an essential feature to allow users to assess panel health and utilization information, as well as manage usage patterns over time.

The system now allows organisations to create what the firm describes as 'a richer panelist experience', with more question types and point-and-click configuration options, as well as the ability to drag and drop question design tools and import from Microsoft Word.

Vision Critical has approximately two hundred panels, with more than one million panelists. CEO Reid is the former owner of Angus Reid Group which was acquired by IPSOS in 2000.

Home page: www.visioncritical.com.