Compusense today: measuring and constantly striving to improve.
By Alicia Bowland
Compusense makes software for conducting sensory research and consumer studies. The Guelph-based company was founded in 1986 by Chris Findlay, an adjunct professor in the University of Guelph’s Department of Food Science.
Various consumer products and their surroundings convey sensory properties that consumers respond to differently. Sensory research measures consumer response to a stimulus.
“Step outside and smell the air. Everywhere you go, everything you see and experience—that’s sensory science,” says Findlay.
He developed Compusense to provide a useful, modern analytical tool that would deliver sensory results faster and more reliably than paper-based questionnaires. This meant capturing product development and food research data directly through web-based software, a novel process at the time.
Sensory studies begin with testing experimental products with trained panellists. Data from online consumer questionnaires is collected instantly and stored in secure cloud servers whose data and tools can be accessed from virtually any location at any time.
Compusense collaborates with an academic consortium of more than 100 institutions worldwide in 45 countries and in 25 languages, all made possible by cloud software.
Once the data is collected and stored, statistical analysis takes seconds. Complete reports for researchers can be composed in real time, allowing product developers to more efficiently evaluate consumer response to sensory properties and create products that meet consumer wants and needs.
Introducing new products is highly risky, but Compusense’s methods reduce market failure rates by about half—much better than the 10-per-cent success rate of new products.
“We can improve the chances for success by understanding the product and building what consumers want, based on our analysis,” he says. “Nothing is more important than consumer satisfaction.”
The technology allows clients to analyze, map and target specific consumers, and refine and streamline product development. Findlay suggests it might help reduce food waste by creating more satisfying food products more efficiently.
“We live in a sea of sensory experience that we can measure and constantly strive to improve,” he says. “Stop and smell the roses!”