By: Rilind Latifi    January 13, 2014

Have you ever wished for an easy and practical method to gather data? iziSurvey is the answer for those looking to collect data for surveys and market research as well as present the findings in an attractive and user-friendly way.  iziSurvey is an innovative software platform that offers the ability to easily create custom surveys with powerful features.  It was developed by former political science instructor professor Ridvan Peshkopia and former computer science professor Mergim Cahani, who met while they were teaching at Universum College in Kosovo.  Alejtin Berisha, College’s CEO and Edi Demaj, an entrepreneur from Detriot, Michigan are also part of the team.

The developers initially let several major companies and universities test the early version of iziSurvey, which received enormous positive feedback. This spurred them to seek the commercialization of the new promising product. As explained in a recent press release published on Yahoo! Finance, iziSurvey allows users to design their own surveys by using various question types and upload the data from mobile devices to the website, export them to Microsoft Excel format, or view visual analytics. Two additional features include the offline option of using the product as well as the random digit dialing (RRD) technology for cell phone surveying, which enables researches to fill the questionnaire on the same device from where the interviewer is calling with the help of a headset.

Kosovo Diaspora talked to iziSurvey CEO Mergim Cahani, who is optimistic about the potential of this service to revolutionize data gathering. In addition to the education and academic fields (professors, students, higher education administrators), iziSurvery is targeting marketing and research departments of various industries. Furthermore, “retail stores (restaurants, clothing, electronics, etc) are our target, where their customers can use iziSurvey to provide customer satisfaction feedback. iziSurvey could be used in a standalone mode (e.g., kiosk) at the door of a retail store,” said Cahani.

Cahani praised the environment in Kosovo, which is conducive for developing new products. He highlighted two advantages: the availability of talented and ambitious human capital and a pro-growth financial environment in terms of operations (cost and taxes). Although challenging, one can foster new ideas remotely even if parts of the team are in Kosovo and abroad.

When asked about ways to promote and utilize the IT/development skills of the young people in Kosovo, Cahani said:

“I think promoting higher education in Computer Science with a mixture of subjects with soft skills plays a key role. It seems that a substantial part of the young people in this field, focus on online MOOC courses, which is a great resource (I use them myself), but at times the passion to learn quickly and jump onto development, causes them miss the crucial parts of this field and ignore courses that so-may-seem do not provide immediate results. As such, often young technologists miss out on important subjects, during the self-learning process, like various mathematical subjects, discrete structures, and algorithms. Building new things takes time, persistence, and perseverance. Sometimes even after doing all of that, it may still fail. Refusing to give up is the path to success.”

We wish the team a successful launch of iziSurvey and a rapid embrace of this innovative product by professionals across different industries.

Rilind Latifi

Rilind Latifi is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and holds an MA in International Economics and Energy/Environment Studies. Rilind has studied in the United States, Italy, and Germany. He was a fellow at the German Parliament (Bundestag) in Berlin and worked on various development projects in Kosovo. An avid traveler, Rilind is a contributing blogger for Kosovo Diaspora.

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