Artificial Intelligence Market Research
Artificial intelligence research requires a researcher who can interrogate both the model and the market around it. Meraki Research works with AI product companies, platform providers and enterprise adopters to separate genuine demand signal from the froth, and to build positioning and pricing frameworks that hold up once the hype cycle settles.
Why Artificial Intelligence Research Matters
- Buyer expectations reset every quarter as foundation model capabilities leap — last quarter's willingness-to-pay is stale data.
- Procurement teams are rewriting vendor due diligence around model provenance, data residency and hallucination risk, not just feature lists.
- The distance between demo and production deployment is enormous — research must surface which use cases actually reach ROI.
- African enterprise adoption patterns differ materially from Anglo-South African benchmarks, driven by connectivity, language and labour-cost differentials.
- POPIA and the emerging South African AI policy landscape affect training-data sourcing, consent and model deployment — all of which surface in buyer conversations.
Our Artificial Intelligence Research Services
Use-Case Viability Research
Structured evaluations of which claimed AI use cases actually deliver measurable outcomes in production, drawing on interviews with implementers rather than vendors.
Enterprise Buyer Journey Mapping
Detailed mapping of the AI procurement process — champion, blocker, security, legal, finance — with particular attention to the POPIA and cross-border transfer questions now delaying deals.
Model Preference and Pricing Research
Conjoint designs testing accuracy-latency-cost trade-offs for technical buyers choosing between foundation models or fine-tuned alternatives.
Category Positioning Studies
Research to help AI companies land in defensible categories rather than the "AI-powered X" cul-de-sac, including naming and messaging testing.
Trust, Risk and Governance Research
Qualitative and quantitative work on what enterprise buyers actually require before green-lighting AI deployment, covering explainability, audit trails and incident response.
Competitive and Ecosystem Mapping
Structured teardowns of competing AI products, partner ecosystems and reseller channels across target geographies.
How We Approach Research in This Sector
AI research sits at the intersection of technical depth and commercial judgement. Our teams pair a senior researcher with a technical reviewer who can interrogate the underlying claim — we do not take vendor framing at face value, and we do not confuse novelty with demand. Every study ties back to a specific commercial decision.
Why Choose Meraki Research for Artificial Intelligence?
- Technical reviewers on every AI engagement, not generalist moderators reading a script.
- Direct access to enterprise AI buyers across South African financial services, telecoms, retail and the public sector.
- Hypothesis-led study design — we are willing to report that a use case does not work, which many research partners quietly avoid.
- Familiarity with the evolving SA regulatory environment around AI, including the draft National AI Policy Framework.
What We Deliver
| Deliverable | Format | Typical Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Use-Case Viability Matrix | Workbook + narrative | Week 3 |
| Buyer Journey Map | Figma + PDF | Week 5 |
| Pricing and Packaging Report | Slide deck + model | Week 6 |
| Competitor Positioning Teardown | PDF report | Week 7 |
| Executive Briefing Session | 90-minute workshop | Week 8 |