TIME TO RENEW YOUR AMSRO MEMBERSHIP FOR 2018/19

Dear <AMSRO member>,

With our industry undergoing a period of accelerated transformation, and in an environment where there is an increased scrutiny on consumer privacy and data protection, AMSRO’s mission ‘to position our industry for the benefit of members’has never been more important or relevant.

As the national peak industry body representing almost 100 of Australia’s leading market and social research organisations, with over 5,000 employees (representing approximately 75% of the industry*) AMSRO continues to have the changing needs of our member organisations and industry in sharp focus.

The year ahead promises to be an exciting time of growth and change for AMSRO, and we encourage your continued support by renewing your 2018-19 membership – please go to the website:  http://dataandinsights.com.au/amsro-membership-renewal-2018-19/for details or call (02) 8017 6717.
Or read on to find out more about AMSRO’s current focus and priorities.

Revised Membership Categories 

In October last year members voted overwhelmingly in favour of adopting AMSRO’s amended rules [http://dataandinsights.com.au/about/amsro-articles-of-association/] which enable us to expand our coverage to encompass a broader range of organisations in our industry like data analytics and software/technology providers and corporate research (client) departments.  Such organisations are key organisational players in our industry and we believe, to have everyone ‘in the tent’ and aligned to our co-regulated, best practice environment would benefit all.

The two new membership categories are:

1. AMSRO Trust Mark Member Organisation Membership (current membership criteria apply)
2. AMSRO Member Organisation Membership (no ISO required) – for software/technology providers, corporate research departments and smaller member organisations that don’t meet the Trust Mark criteria.

This new approach enables us to ‘broaden the tent’ so we can better represent all organisations in our ever-evolving industry, while still maintaining our core differentiation for AMSRO Trust Mark Member Organisations. This approach will give current AMSRO members access to new suppliers, new potential clients and even better networking opportunities.

Further details of each category and application criteria are available here: http://dataandinsights.com.au/amsro-membership-renewal-2018-19/or by calling AMSRO on (02) 8017 6717.

A Focus on Advice and Advocacy

AMSRO is committed to helping members protect their reputation and mitigate risk and remains focused on delivering great value to enhance member benefits.

We will continue to work on behalf of members’ business needs across our core pillars of government advocacy, industry promotion, quality assurance, privacy matters and workplace relations. Industry expert Andrew Maher at CIE Legal will continue to provide members with an unlimited telephone legal advisory service on HR and privacy related legal matters, HR resource materials, plus new (online) workplace relations training.

Our immediate focus on government advocacy and industry representation remain centered around:

• A more proactive public stance in relation to advocating for high quality, ethical data collection and handling – a critical differentiator given the introduction of GDPR, Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) legislation and the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. AMSRO’s legislated Market & Social Research Privacy Code and Trust Mark are more valuable than ever with an independent Code review/update due next year (under law) – this review will ensure that the protections afforded to members operating under the Code remain relevant and up-to-date.
• We are about to launch Phish of the Dayon AMSRO’s website, which will allow members of the public (and our own members) to report cases of non-research activities masquerading as legitimate market research.
• Getting the “Market Research Analyst” role added to the medium and long-term skilled occupation migration list in order to ensure our members access to the global talent pool when required; and
• Obtaining industry access to geo-tagged mobile and landline phone numbers from the IPND (Integrated Public Number Database) facilitating quantum increases in the efficiency of obtaining representative telephone samples.

Other Initiatives

AMSRO is also dedicated to exploring new ways to deliver additional tangible benefits for our member companies and recently activated the following new initiatives:

• The Online Trust Mark Directory for accredited Research Companies(delivered through the 55,000 strong AMI database) which continues AMSRO’S commitment to promote and represent our member organisations across commercial and government client platforms.
• We have further developed our strategic relationship with the Australian Marketing Institute, Australia’s leading professional marketing association which provides our members with access to an unprecedented 32% discount on full AMI individual memberships, access to a tailored marketing-focused training program for market researchers.
• We are exploring additional strategic relationships focused on adding value to members in non-technical research areas such as leadership, governance, and commercial skills.
• We have reinvigorated our annual industry salary report(now with over four years’ worth of comparative data) and introduced quarterly industry revenue reports, providing participants with detailed, must-have benchmarking information on the local industry not available anywhere else.
• AMSRO also provides members with networking opportunities with fellow industry leaders, potential suppliers, and clients, such as our major annual event – the Leaders Forum, where we bring together a collection of great speakers relevant to people like you – and plan to bring you even more networking opportunities under the Leaders Forum banner in 2018-19.
• Accessing Discounts and Value-Added Services– there’s a wide range of supplementary benefits spanning promotion of your business through the AMI membership database; discounts on sample from AMSRO Partners and Negotiation of the NUW-AMSRO Industry Agreement for fieldwork companies. We also provide training tools and programs across marketing; ISO quality standards; privacy compliance; information and data security/ risk management; industry statistics; and workplace relations – including webinars, online training programs and templates and member-only workshops.
• HIVINT trial – a cyber-security resource centre, targeted at small and medium-sized AMSRO member companies.

The membership renewal period is open from now until 31 August. Please take a few minutes to renew your AMSRO membership here:http://dataandinsights.com.au/why-join/amsro-membership-renewal-2018-19/

For any further questions regarding your membership or the Privacy Compliance checklist, please contact Jen Hodge at Jennifer@amsro.com.au

AMSRO is run by small group of dedicated industry leaders who are here to help protect the interests of the industry in an ever-shifting environment. If you would like to share your expertise and be involved in AMSRO at a Committee level, please don’t hesitate to contact our Executive Director, Sarah Campbell, at sarah@amsro.com.auor on (02) 8017 6717.

I’d also like to remind all members that AMSRO is a constituency of equals – all members have the automatic right to attend our Quarterly Committee Meetings to discuss industry issues and have your voice heard on the things that matter most to you.

Thanks again for your valued support.  Our industry needs you.

Warm regards,

 

 

Craig Young

President

AMSRO