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Insight gathering teams are uniquely positioned to lead the charge toward breaking down knowledge silos and fostering insight-driven decision-making across organisations - but the time is now.
Organisations today are awash in data, yet many struggle to leverage insights effectively. According to a recent study by ESOMAR, while enterprises invest $128 billion annually in data collection, 62% report difficulties in making it actionable. This challenge is compounded by knowledge silos - departmental divides that prevent insights from serving broader organisational goals.
However, insight gathering teams are uniquely positioned to lead the charge toward breaking these silos and fostering insight-driven decision-making across organisations - but the time is now.
By adopting a framework for "Universal Research”, teams can transform isolated insights into a cornerstone of organisational intelligence.
At Dualo, we’ve worked with hundreds of teams over many years to develop a flexible, tool-agnostic framework that researchers can use to maximise the impact radius of their insights.
The purpose of the framework is to create a dedicated space for knowledge which:
✅ Connects insight gathering teams across organisations
✅ Provides a shared platform to communicate knowledge
✅ Is accessible to everyone
The great thing is, this framework can be successfully implemented using tools you’re already familiar with – many of which are likely available to you today.
We're constantly evolving and refining this process as we work with more and more teams, but we’ve found the key to success is often found in one guiding principle:
‘Think big. Start small’.
Building something that’s easy to contribute to and own across teams, and something that’s not a burden to maintain.
It’s why the Universal Research framework is broken down into 3 simple pillars: Discover, Consolidate, and Scale.
This framework emphasises turning fragmented insights into a unified force for growth. It’s not a one-off project – it’s a continuous cycle of improvement. All done in a way that’s easy to get off the ground, and simple to maintain.
Each of these pillars is made up of 3 components, which we’ll dive into shortly. But before we do that, it’s important to note that The Universal Research Framework is a flywheel. Like any good knowledge management system, it’s a constantly evolving process which should be continually improved and built upon.
So let’s dive in…
The first step is identifying who else gathers insights within your organisation and establishing common ground.
Start by mapping the insight-gathering landscape. What other dedicated insight functions exist that you can collaborate with? These might include teams such as User Research (UXR), Data Science, Customer Experience (CX), Market Insights. Many organisations overlook the immense opportunities for collaboration here.
Reaching out to these teams might feel uncomfortable or even political for some, but it doesn’t need to be – you’re all part of the same organisation, working towards shared goals.
If reaching out to another function isn't feasible, consider starting smaller and building success on a more local scale first. Even if it's only possible to initially connect with people within your immediate team or function, remember that success is always more attainable when you’re working together and collaborating with others.
With just one simple reach out, your organisation can instantly become more connected.
side note - in our experience, teams that take the initiative here, always end up playing a pivotal role in driving the organisation towards insight-led growth, and get recognised as such.
Once we’ve established who we can work with, we need to meet with those people, and start with the fundamentals…
Different teams and individuals often have varied definitions of an "insight”. Establishing a shared understanding and a universal definition helps to ensure clarity, consistency, and confidence.
Consider:
- How an insight is packaged and shared
- How to ensure an insight is actionable
- The appropriate level of evidence
Agreeing on these standards fosters trust and builds more confidence in sharing insights. Here's an example template you can use:
Once we’ve established who else we can work with, and agreed on what we mean by an insight, the next question is…
Not every insight will be useful to all teams. Some might be extremely specific to a certain context, some may be sensitive in their nature, and others might be locked in dashboard and analysis tools – difficult to access.
So we need to ask ourselves: “what can we share that would be broadly valuable for multiple projects, teams, and departments?”.
As part of this exercise you’ll want to consider what formats would be the easiest to share insights in.
When we first started building Dualo we made the mistake of trying to integrate every system from day one: analysis tools, quant dashboards, shared drives, chat tools, and it just became a complicated mess (for us, and our customers). We’ve found it’s easier to start with universal formats that can be easily shared across teams like reports, docs, and slide decks. These artefacts are already in a shareable format, and have likely been packaged in a way that provides the additional context people might need to action them – you can come back to the deep integrations later.
TLDR
Figure out who you can work with to share knowledge, agree how to define an insight so that these can be shared more easily across teams, and confirm what types of insights you can start sharing more immediately with others.
Firstly, we need to address the elephant in the room - capacity. Every insight gathering team is essential. And as such, a researcher’s time is incredibly valuable to protect. So we need to make sure that we prioritise consolidating the right knowledge.
The key here is to avoid attempting to consolidate everything at once - remember ‘think big, start small’.
Begin with insights that address recurring organisational challenges, high-impact opportunities, or top organisational goals. Think ‘strategic’ and ‘evergreen’ insights rather than more ‘tactical’ and ‘contextual’ ones.
You might just start with 5-10 insights or reports that centre around a common topic or universal challenge. For example, '10 key insights about our new customers that everyone should know'.
We’ve found that a great way to find a valuable topic to start with is to go back to Slack or Teams and ask: ‘What questions do we keep receiving?’. We all get those messages and emails saying “What do we know about X?”, or "Do we have any insights on Y?" – use them!
Once we have a starting set of knowledge in the form of high value, sharable insights, next we need to centralise them. You’ll want to use a tool that has a few basic repository/library functions:
✅ Select tools that allow keyword searches, tagging, and filtering (keyword search which enables users to search within documents – as well as document titles – is a valuable bonus).
✅ The repository should be accessible, and user-friendly (in our experience, simplicity is key to widespread adoption. If the user experience of a system is too complex, teams are less likely to use it).
✅ The repository should be secure (consider the insights it will hold – these aren’t just insights based on real people, they’re also valuable company IP – treat it as such by choosing a tool which is appropriately secure). Side note: There are, of course, a number of different features that provide a ton of additional value for your repository’s end users, but to begin with, this is all we need. Alongside more specialised knowledge management tools like Dualo, there are a variety of different tools available to you that you can use to begin with e.g. Sharepoint, Confluence, and even spreadsheets.
Once we have this knowledge in a shared space which is accessible to everyone, we can start structuring it. We need to use a universal language to start organising and tagging this knowledge.
We recommend using a simple hierarchical taxonomy to organise insights (in basic terms, a taxonomy is a way of organising tags). This helps to avoid duplication of documentation, and ensures insights can be resurfaced in multiple places. For example, an insight about "New customers value choice over price" could be tagged under themes like 'Pricing', 'Customer Motivation', and 'Segment' – allowing this insight to be accessed and applied to multiple teams and projects across the organisation.
Instead of using tags, if we were working with more conventional folders, we’d likely need to add this insight into multiple different folders - causing duplication, and a headache if we needed to ever update it, or remove it later. If we tag this knowledge by these themes instead, we can simplify how our insights are organised and resurfaced.
Here's some considerations when theming knowledge:
✅ Your initial tagging system (AKA taxonomy) shouldn’t be exhaustive.
Let it evolve with the data that you add - remember, the more ‘stuff’ you start with, the more effort your repository will be to maintain. It’s perfectly normal to start with just a handful of core themes with just a few tags for each theme.
✅ There are additional benefits to building taxonomies.
Structuring knowledge in this way also helps identify gaps and patterns in your shared knowledge base, unlocking new opportunities for organisational learning by enabling you to start quantifying what are often predominantly qualitative insights.
TLDR
Prioritise consolidating the right knowledge, centralise it in an accessible, user-friendly space. Begin organising it around key emerging themes to reveal patterns and gaps that may have previously gone unnoticed.
The final step is ensuring the adoption and ongoing scaling of your knowledge management system. To do that, we need to make a Map of potential users across our organisation, complete our first Launch, and continue to Optimise the system.
Knowledge management systems require regular users to ensure they’re driving value. You can have the most comprehensive repository in the world, but if people aren’t using it, it’s effectively useless. Here’s some things to consider when looking to expand adoption beyond insight gathering functions:
✅ Identify wider teams and stakeholders that would benefit most from your consolidated insights. The more the system feels like it was built for them, the better.
✅ What themes from your taxonomy are most important to them? If they were starting work on this topic tomorrow: what are the 5-10 insights they need to know in order to hit the ground running?
A helpful exercise we work through with teams is to create a simple stakeholder map. Consider what teams and departments might find these insights valuable, as well as individuals.
A mistake that many teams make when building a repository (including us, more than once!), is going to the effort of building your repository and then doing a big bang launch. In our experience, these launches often fall flat or lose momentum very quickly. Instead, we want to launch incrementally, learning with each launch how and where to target new users and drive adoption.
Here’s some things to consider in order to roll out your repository effectively across the organisation:
✅ Opt for phased launches over a single big reveal.
Rather than a one-size-fits-all launch, plan multiple smaller rollouts tailored to specific teams, departments, or use cases. This ensures the repository feels relevant and valuable to each audience.
✅ Identify and prioritise internal channels for maximum impact.
Strategically leverage the platforms your teams already use – whether it’s Slack, intranet updates, or all-hands meetings – to share insights and encourage engagement. Make it easy for people to discover and interact with the repository in their existing workflows.
✅ Think creatively about launch strategies.
From email campaigns to Slack announcements, or even a quick mention during a readout presentation (“If you found this helpful, there’s tons more insights in the repository”), there are countless ways to bring awareness. Encourage advocates within teams to promote the repository in meetings or through informal channels.
✅ Adopt an omnichannel approach to meet people where they are.
Take inspiration from omnichannel marketing strategies and use multiple formats and platforms to create touchpoints. As the saying goes, “Dance on other people’s dance floors.” Be visible in their spaces and make the repository impossible to miss.
✅ Keep the momentum going post-launch.
A successful rollout doesn’t stop with the launch. Regularly highlight fresh content, showcase success stories from teams using the repository, and gather feedback. Consistent promotion ensures long-term adoption and value.
Think of your repository like any product: it requires ongoing fine-tuning and optimisation to ensure it delivers the best results for sharing insights across the organisation. Optimisation isn’t a one-off task – it’s a continuous process that ensures the repository evolves alongside the needs of its users.
✅ Gather feedback and track usage.
Collect qualitative feedback from users to understand their pain points and successes. Leverage any available analytics or tracking tools to measure engagement, uncover patterns, and identify areas for improvement. Even basic usage data (like frequently searched terms or commonly asked questions) can offer invaluable insights.
✅ Use optimisation to inform both the repository and your research strategy.
The gaps and trends you identify in your repository don’t just help refine the system – they can help you shape your research priorities. Ask yourself:
- Which insights are resonating most across the organisation?
- Where are the gaps in our knowledge base?
- Where are our strengths that we can leverage?
- How can we improve usability and accessibility to the repository itself?
Use these reflections to not only refine your repository but also improve how you plan and execute research, starting each new project by building on what you already know.
✅ It’s ok to start small, improve iteratively.
When we first built the MVP of Dualo, we couldn’t track usage – and that was fine! Qualitative feedback alone gave us the direction we needed to keep improving. It’s perfectly acceptable to start with the tools you already have, even if tracking is basic or non-existent. Over time, as your repository matures, you can introduce advanced tracking features like usage statistics, common search terms, and frequently asked questions to provide deeper insights.
TLDR
When you're ready to scale, map who you can share access to your repository with, do your first launch, learn, and begin optimising for the future.
Universal Research is a marathon, not a sprint.
We start by discovering who we can work with, how we can work together, and what we can share.
We can then consolidate our knowledge by prioritising, centralising, and theming it.
When we’re ready to scale, we map who we can engage with, do our first launch, and begin optimising the system for the future.
Now the key to remember is that this is a flywheel, and what we’ve gone through today is the first loop of that flywheel. In our experience, continued development and exploration is where the real magic happens. So be sure to continue going back around the framework with each iteration:
Who else might get value from having access to this knowledge?
How can we share knowledge with them?
What other data might we add based on the questions we’re being asked?
… and so on.
By championing the Universal Research framework, your team can become strategic leaders, driving organisational intelligence and insight-led growth. We know, because we seen it countless times – with teams just like yours.
This approach not only amplifies the value of research, but positions teams as indispensable contributors to the organisation’s success.
The journey requires collaboration and commitment, but the potential rewards for teams, organisations, and end users - are profound.
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If you'd like to explore Universal Research in more depth, including real-life successes and lessons learned with teams like yours, join us on February 12th for a FREE workshop, "How to Amplify Your Research and Build Influence – in 3 Simple Steps". Hurry, spaces are limited!
I’ll be diving deeper into these ideas and much more during my talk at the 2025 UXInsight Conference. Whether you're able to join in person or online, this event is an opportunity to explore the future of organisational intelligence and how insight gathering functions can lead the charge. Hope to see you there!
I’m a design, UX & strategy lead with a passion for storytelling. Proud member of Dualo’s founding product trio. Always seeking new inspiration.
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