Firms should build value around existing data: CEO, Hansa Cequity

Interview with S Swaminathan

A lot of marketing of the future is going to be around how you can mix data with creative, S Swaminathan tells Ritwik Sharma
 
As a customer marketing firm, how do you seek to differentiate your services to clients in what is an emerging and specialised area?
 
If we look at organisations today and how marketing is changing, what you will realise is that a lot of data is actually being generated by organisations, whether you do your digital marketing or e-commerce or YouTube and the rest of the marketing media that you use. It is important for organisations to understand how data can enhance their marketing efforts. This is where Cequity really comes in, as we bring in our knowledge of data, analytics, marketing, campaign management, along with digital soft-line. All these are sometimes silos in organisations. For example, how can you use data and analytics for generating a customer insight and how can you include them in the marketing campaign? These are some of the things that we help companies with.

 

How do you assess clients across sectors in terms of receptiveness to data-led solutions?
 
We started this company about 10 years back. And what we realised even then is that bigger bytes of data will get built. And today every company is sitting on troves of data. It could be an automotive company, or retail, or a bank. I think the number of touch points where they deal with customers — be it Twitter, Facebook, their own internal IT system engaging with customers, or customer service — and data is getting generated. We look each of these companies and assess how they are managing the data. The next assessment is whether they are getting business value out of the data. Are they using them in their customer engagement, customer segmentation, or building some revenue and value in their marketing programme? Once we make the assessment, we go back and point out the areas around which one can build the programme. So, first is how do you organise your data. The second would be how you do analytics on top of the data. Third, are you connecting the digital data with other data within the organisation? And, how do you build data-led engagement programmes? We assess organisations looking at what maturity level they are in for each phase, and that’s how we add value.

The banking sector is a large adopter of data-led marketing. The government is pushing digital payment, so there’s a lot of digital data coming into their fold. Banks are building more and more technology around mobile app, their own branch platforms are getting more digitised. We have retail, which is again a strong adopter because of customer marketing programmes and so data comes into these organisations. You also have aviation, travel and hospitality, traditional e-commerce companies. If you look at automotives it’s interesting that today’s connected car is throwing up a lot of data, which is pulled into analysing what is your driving pattern, etc. So these are the kind of industries that are building use cases around how they could engage with customers intelligently using data.

 
What are the areas you identify where companies in India are lagging when it comes to building customer relationships?
 
One area that Indian companies should focus on is building enough value around existing data. We are at an early phase of data getting ready in organisations. The deluge will be in the next five years. It’s almost like a small leak in a dam. When it breaks the water will start flowing. Today there are trickles of data coming in. So, linking data to business strategy and business outcome is something that organisations need to focus on. Secondly, I think a lot of marketing in the past was around the creative idea. But a lot of marketing of the future is going to be around how you can mix data with creative. So again, how you hone the skill sets of people, how you scale them up and how you get ready for this kind of marketing is something to focus on. If organisations are able to do this, they will be able to add extremely good value out of managing customer relationships and enhancing value for the enterprise.

 
What are the key lessons from the Indian market and challenges for Hansa Cequity?
 
One of the key lessons we have learnt is that India’s market is leapfrogging some of the developed economies. So, a lot of local knowledge with technology and customisation to the Indian environment is very critical. How do you learn the leapfrogging of technology but apply it to the Indian environment and yet build scale? Many of the things we do here may be of use in other markets. The challenges are that you are still infrastructure-dependent, ready infrastructure is not there. There are gaps, data quality, issues over skills, how do you derive value, etc. I think the Indian market is value-conscious. So, how you build solutions around technology which are building value for companies and brands is a big challenge.

 
Where do you see the growth opportunities?
 
When you look at a developed economy like the US, social security number or a credit bureau accelerated this kind of marketing. Because suddenly there was a lot of knowledge around customers, and the data was getting captured across various systems. If you look at India, I think we are at a sweet spot where the government is pushing the Aadhaar for various identification — it could be for your driving licence, PAN, subsidy, etc. It’s an interesting trend where a lot of consumer data is being built and therefore that has a direct link to the growth a customer marketing firm or a data marketing firm will have. Prior to the last decade, India did not have a credit bureau. Today, you have Cibil which is a private bureau. Also, internet penetration is increasing. In India internet mobile penetration is far ahead of even the US market. So, a lot of digital data is coming into play. These three levers are going to drive the growth of this kind of marketing over the next decade.