State of marketing analytics in India: prospects and potential challenges

Abstract

The paper provides an overview of the state of the Marketing Analytics practice in India today, its contribution and its possible challenges for future growth. A diverse set of practitioners from multiple sectors of industries that use Analytics were interviewed on their opinions were collated, refined and inferences were made on the broad dimensions affecting the practice. The major findings were that while the need for Analytical support is growing in India, practitioners face challenges in accessing appropriate data sources to perform suitable analysis to support business decisions. The other extreme of this challenge is noticed in the offshore space where appropriate data is in abundant supply, but analysis and policy making are still at loggerheads because of a separation in employees due to geography and expertise. This has led to a lack of synergy (or low levels) between the two functions, leading to some concern about achieving true expectation son service level. Overall, it is noticed that investment in Analytics will grow, with increasing competition in Indian markets, movement of Analytics talent globally leading to more awareness about its benefits and the deployment of advanced technology in India by the Multinational companies.