How Telenet is Eliminating the Time-Consuming, Complex Nature of Qual Research with Discuss 

Unlocking consumer-centricity with a purpose-built platform

As the leading provider of media, telecommunications, and entertainment services in Belgium, Telenet is always looking to make a real difference by engaging with their customers in an inclusive and empathic way. Its 3 main brands – Telenet, Telenet Business, and BASE – offer seamless connectivity, inspiring entertainment, and superior business solutions with the goal of building a digital society that is accessible to all.

Challenge

Turning consumer insights into actionable strategies is not easy. As a human-centric company, Telenet faces the all-too-familiar challenges of embedding those insights across the business— a process that’s both complex and difficult to scale effectively.

1. Connecting with consumers can be overwhelmingly complex and cumbersome. 
   Telenet uses customer feedback to drive innovation and strategic decisions in every corner of their business. They need a tool that’s not only easy to use for their insights teams, but that is intuitive enough for non-research professionals (product teams, marketing teams, etc.) to use – allowing anyone to easily conduct their own research regardless of their role or experience level.
   
   
2. It often takes a lot of resources (time, money, personnel) to run effective qual.
   Qualitative research often demands significant time, money, and human resources. The process of designing studies, recruiting participants, moderating sessions, and analyzing data can be resource-intensive, making it challenging for businesses like Telenet to manage operational efficiency while pursuing strategic growth.
   
   
3. It takes too long to conduct qual and analyze insights.
   Telenet needs a solution that not only simplifies the research process but also speeds up the delivery of actionable insights, enabling their teams to quickly adapt to market shifts, emerging trends, and evolving consumer preferences. 

Solution

Partnering with Discuss, the all-in-one platform for driving human centricity, Telenet is solving these challenges and bringing their consumers to the core of their strategies.

The easy button to connect directly with consumers, wherever, whenever.

Discuss’ unique approach gives Telenet unlimited access to qualitative research — allowing their teams to engage regularly with their target audiences. This unlimited model also offers Telenet the essential services and support they need for all of their research projects including live tech support on every session, project management, and more.

Accelerating time to insights with GenAI.

With Discuss’ GenAI Assistant, Genie, Telenet is enabled to scale their human centricity and dramatically accelerate their time to insights. Genie, takes on the laborious task of (automatically) sifting through hours of video feedback and pages of transcripts to summarize research questions and surface themes. Telenet teams can interact with their data and leverage GenAI to get answers to their specific research questions that are validated with summaries and quotes directly from the interviews. It can also provide key themes, supporting points and relevant quotes – all in a matter of seconds.

One centralized human centricity hub.

Discuss offers asynchronous, live research, and the ability to upload previously recorded research all in one qual platform. With a centralized and searchable research repository, all of Telenet’s teams can quickly and easily have in-depth conversations and capture insights, on-demand. This 24/7 accessible hub consolidates all of their qualitative research efforts under one roof – from interviews (whether live, asynchronous, or uploaded recordings) to GenAI-powered analysis and video editing tools.

Results

1. Product teams are connecting with consumers more than ever before, empowered by ease of use and unlimited access.

Discuss has empowered Telenet’s product teams to easily engage directly with their consumers, even if they don’t have market research expertise. Its intuitive design enables them to run their own interviews and asynchronous activities, reducing their reliance on the insights team for every research need. When additional support is needed, teams can tap into Discuss University, an on-demand resource offering virtual training, best practices, and certifications.

This ease of use has inspired Telenet’s product teams to explore more research opportunities, with Laurence noting, “After conducting interviews, they often come back to us extremely inspired, wanting to explore new topics or dive deeper into ideas sparked from their interviews.”

The unlimited model offered by Discuss not only makes it possible for any team at Telenet to run their own studies but also encourages them to do so without the worry of incurring costs for each project or interview. This approach has fostered a culture where everyone in the organization is eager and encouraged to connect with consumers regularly, knowing they can easily explore insights whenever they’d like.

“At Telenet, we empower our product teams with tools like Discuss, enabling them to directly connect with consumers and truly understand their wants and needs. Customer feedback is at the heart of our strategy, and Discuss ensures that every business team can actively listen to and act on our customers’ voices.”
– Laurence Fermont, Market Research Analyst at Telenet

2. Business decisions are consumer-centric, driven by the authentic voices of Telenet’s consumers.

Discuss has significantly increased Telenet’s ability to connect with their consumers, giving them a better understanding of their customers and a wealth of insights that directly inform their business decisions. The highlight reels and video clipping features of the Discuss platform have proven to be valuable tools for deepening empathy and telling the stories of their consumers. Laurence noted, “Being able to see real videos of our consumers speaking about their lives and what’s important to them is so much more powerful and impactful when understanding what they’re thinking and feeling.”

With the ability to not only easily capture but also analyze and share these human experiences across the organization in one centralized hub, anyone at Telenet can tap into these consumer insights to identify key themes, address business questions, and inform their strategies.

3. Surfacing actionable insights in a fraction of the time with GenAI.

With Genie, Telenet has transformed the previously time-consuming and labor-intensive process of extracting insights. Instead of replaying hours of interview recordings and manually sifting through transcripts and notes to pinpoint key themes, quotes, and craft a summary, Genie automates this entire process with just a click.

When Telenet has specific research questions, they can incorporate them directly into their discussion guides or simply ask Genie any question that comes to mind post-interview. Genie then provides a summary for each question, complete with relevant quotes from the transcripts to back them up.

This automation not only accelerates Telenet’s time to insights, enabling quicker responses to market changes and more agile strategies, but also minimizes the risk of human error or bias in analysis. As a result, Telenet’s teams can focus their efforts on strategic initiatives and make data-driven decisions faster than ever.

“Sometimes we would have to have two people involved—one running the interview and the other taking notes—or we’d try to do both at the same time. Either way, we always had to go back and watch the recordings to get the insights and see what we missed. With Genie, we’re saving a huge amount of time by having those insights summarized for us.”
– Laurence Fermont, Market Research Analyst at Telenet

Conclusion

Telenet’s partnership with Discuss has transformed the way the company engages with its consumers and leverages their insights. By streamlining the research process and empowering teams across the organization to connect directly with customers, Telenet has fostered a culture of true consumer-centricity. And the integration of GenAI has significantly accelerated the time to insights, enabling quicker, more informed decision-making.

As Telenet continues to prioritize understanding and addressing customer needs, Discuss provides the tools and support necessary to ensure that every voice is heard.