Reflecting on Operational Excellence: Why Values, Inclusion, and Innovation Matter More Than Ever
24 March 2026

Authored by Chris Atkins, Managing Director at Yonder Data Solutions

Winning the 2025 MRS Award for Operational Excellence was an incredibly proud moment for all of us at Yonder Data Solutions. As the MRS opens its doors for this year’s Operations awards cycle, it feels like the perfect time to reflect on what that win actually represented for us.

It wasn’t just recognition of smooth project management or hitting our commercial targets over the past year. In truth, this win didn’t just reflect 12 months of effort either; it was the culmination of years of dedication to honing our operational excellence. For us, winning this award was validation of our focus on our core values of providing high-quality and trusted fieldwork and data collection solutions and operating as an extension of our client teams. Most of all, it was recognition for the incredible team that we have here at Yonder Data Solutions and validation for the often-unseen work that goes on week in, week out, in an operations focused business.

In an industry currently navigating significant data quality challenges, we’ve found that the best defence is a transparent and layered approach to data quality that blends the best of technology with a highly experienced and consultative team. That’s why we launched the Yonder Data Quality Charter to demonstrate our deeply embedded operational standards throughout all stages of our projects.

It is one thing to state your values; it is another entirely to live them and then evidence them in your work. For us, the ultimate measure of our operational excellence comes directly from the people who rely on our data every day. When compiling our award entry, reviewing the overwhelmingly positive feedback from our clients was our greatest validation. Hearing consistently that our clients have absolute trust in the data we deliver, that they view us as a true extension of their own teams, and that they rely on our rigorous standards for their most sensitive and strategically important studies - that is the ultimate proof point. It shows that our quality-obsessed, respondent-first approach isn't just a corporate statement; it’s a reality of making a tangible difference.

Of course, high-quality data means nothing if it doesn't accurately reflect the real world. A massive pillar of our operational strategy has been our commitment to representative and inclusive research. Representation isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a methodological necessity. I have to highlight the relentless work of our Commercial Director, Daniel Singham, who has been instrumental in driving diversity and inclusion both within Yonder and the wider industry with the Colour of Research (CORe) and MRS Representation in Research groups. Under his guidance, we challenged the status quo of standard demographic age breaks and launched ground-breaking new age quotas, breaking the 65+ category into 65-74 and 75+. It was a deliberate operational shift to improve how older ages are reported, and this was a welcomed move by the MRS.

In a world where AI and synthetic solutions will start to play important roles in our sector, the models these solutions are built on will only be successful if they are crucially built on both high quality and representative data. My belief is that high quality primary data collection talking to real people, will if anything, become even more important going forward to seed these new solutions.

Alongside this human-centric approach, we’ve enhanced our relationship with technology. Innovation is only valuable if it serves a distinct purpose. At Yonder, we’ve strategically embedded new AI solutions not to replace our human experts, but to empower them.

Operationally, this has been a huge step forward. We introduced Yonder AI accelerated scripting, which has drastically improved our efficiency and sped up the path to insight. Beyond speed, we are using AI to gain a greater depth of understanding from our data. Perhaps most importantly, we’ve deployed AI as a robust shield for data integrity. For example, by running AI quality assurance solutions on all open-ended responses in our international studies, we can instantly identify and remove poor-quality, fraudulent, or bot-generated results in real time. It’s the perfect combination of cutting-edge technology and critical human oversight.

Looking back, putting our award entry together was an incredibly rewarding experience. It forced us to look under the hood of our own business, evaluate our impact, and articulate exactly what we stand for.

If you are considering entering the MRS Operations Awards this year, I cannot encourage you enough to do so. It is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the tireless, behind-the-scenes work of your operations teams who make the "magic" of market research happen. Excellence is an ongoing journey, and sharing our collective successes is exactly how we drive this brilliant industry forward.

To learn more about Yonder Data Solutions’ award-winning approach to fieldwork and data collection, visit our website at https://yonderdatasolutions.com/ or to read more about our “Representation in focus” campaign click here.