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Tag: S Swaminathan

  • Move to drive integrated technology & analytics-driven growth in Marketing Services

    R K Swamy Hansa names S Swaminathan as ED, Group Strategy

    By A Correspondent

     

    S Swaminathan

    R K Swamy Hansa has announced the elevation of S Swaminathan, Co-founder and CEO of Hansa Customer Equity (Hansa Cequity), as Executive Director – Group Strategy, from January 1, 2021, to build a ‘Total Digital’ blueprint and drive integration of its offerings for the benefit of Clients.

    Commenting on the appointment, Srinivasan K Swamy, Chairman of R K Swamy Hansa Group said: “We recognised very early the rising adoption of technology and analytics in marketing and were first off the block 13 years ago on this journey. R K Swamy Hansa aims to be at the forefront of the integration of marketing communications, technology, digital and analytics. We recently opened our office in Singapore and have a presence in the US. We plan to take our offering across geographies as the blueprint gets ready.”

     

    Said Shekar Swamy, Group CEO: “Hansa Cequity has a strong client portfolio, professional talent, and an experienced management team led by Neeraj Pratap Sangani as COO at the helm. The company is well-recognised by clients in Martech & Analytics in India. We have built strong capability across multiple disciplines in the Group. We have a compelling offering to add value to clients and their brands globally, in an increasingly technology, data-rich & digital first world. Swami is the ideal leader for this. He will continue to be on the board of Hansa Cequity and provide strategic direction to Hansa Cequity.”

     

     

  • The analytics and martech firm strengthens management

    Hansa Customer Equity names Neeraj Pratap Sangani as COO

    By A Correspondent

     

    Neeraj Pratap Sangani

    Hansa Customer Equity Pvt Ltd, part of the R K Swamy Hansa Group, has appointed Neeraj Pratap Sangani as the Chief Operating Officer.

     

    Commenting on the appointment, S Swaminathan, Co-founder & CEO of Hansa Cequity said: “Neeraj is a big believer of the Hansa Cequity vision and has been working relentlessly to drive thought leadership, client-centricity culture, execution focus & process excellence. He has more than 25 years’ experience in business & marketing consulting, brand building, strategic marketing, and digital marketing. He has strong domain knowledge of Customer Experience Management, having developed and executed data-driven marketing programs, data integration projects including customer life cycle management, customer segmentation and customer engagement programs for clients across different verticals.”

     

    Added Shekar Swamy, Group CEO of R K Swamy Hansa said: “Neeraj moved to Hansa Cequity three years ago from R K Swamy BBDO. We have seen him grow in professional capability for 20 years. He is well placed to execute the Group vision of the emerging convergence of technology, analytics, digital & marketing services for brands and companies. With his energy and focus, Hansa Customer Equity will continue to serve clients well.”

     

     

  • Data Privacy becomes Critical for Customer Lifetime Value

    Hansa Cequity unveils Customer Experience Trends Report 2019

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hansa Cequity has released its latest report on customer experience at its recently concluded annual event – Customer Centricity World 2018. The conference brought together thought leaders from the field of marketing who participated in engaging conversations on evolving consumer dynamics, demands and expectations and the need for organizations to build a more customer-centric culture.

     

    The flagship event saw the presence of Dr. V Kumar, Regents’ Professor of Marketing at Georgia State University 12 time lifetime achievement award winner for expertise in Customer Life Time Value & Customer Relationship Management; Professor Kamakoti, Chair of the Taskforce on Artificial Intelligence under the Government of India; Srinivas Uppaluri, ex-global marketing head of Infosys and Manish Dureja, Managing Director, Jet Privilege among many others.

     

    The report titled ‘Customer Experience Trends Report 2019’ highlights the increasing use of technology by organisations to increase their customer experience. Conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled products and services are becoming a real world phenomenon as technology and human touch come together to create moments of magic for customers.

     

    With several brands vying for the ever- shrinking attention span of customers, brands will need to create powerful content to build an engaged and eventually loyal customer base. Meaningful engagement thus is no longer about the time spent but rather about creating carefully crafted content which is well targeted across all platforms. Ephemeral content plays a key role in this sphere as it allows customer engagement and creativity.

     

    Said S Swaminathan, CEO and Co-founder, Hansa Cequity:  “We observed that Customer Experience (CX) has become a boardroom agenda and organisations are leaving no stone unturned to up their CX quotient through innovative use of technology. However, it is critical that organization departments from front end sales to back end developers must align with a common CX goal. Companies need to focus on having a synergy between Data, Analytics, Technology, Digital, Product, Marketing, Sales and Customer Service teams and provide a unified customer experience.”

     

    As per the research conducted by Hansa Cequity Application Programming Interfaces (API) will play a key role as a revenue driver for brands. Riding on API economy will require a radical shift in thinking where organizations will have to focus on creating superior experiences and not operations and applications. Organizations will need to have a seamless integration of APIs with their business goals thus creating superior customer value.

     

    Another trend that has been a gamechanger in marketing is the emergence of conversational chatbots that understand human emotions and languages and serve as a digital companion to consumers. 80 percent of companies surveyed plan to launch their own chatbot by 2020 to enhance customer journey. To harness the benefits of conversational chatbot organizations will have to integrate them with back end inventory management, customer support & loyalty and transactional systems. This will provide consumers with a personal, relevant and enhanced customer experience.

     

    The report highlights the rise of hybrid ecosystems wherein marketers will need to look at offline and online commerce as one channel and provide seamless experiences to consumers irrespective of the platforms. Clearly defined value propositions are a must for increasing customer loyalty and to ensure that customers become brand loyalists and advocates

     

     

  • CXPA is a global organisation committed to increase the impact and visibility of customer experience professionals

    Hansa Cequity unveils CXPA in India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hansa Cequity has launched the local chapter of Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA, www.cxpa.org) in Mumbai. One of the early members of the CXPA local chapter is Piramal Group.

     

    CXPA is a global organisation committed to increase the impact and visibility of customer experience professionals, facilitate effective member-to-member sharing, and establish respected standards and CX tools. Top global organisations across the BFSI, airlines, and retail sectors are members of CXPA.

     

    With an aim to bring the CXPA community together across the country, Hansa Cequity will support and anchor CXPA activities and local networking forums. CXPA local chapter will host quarterly events for its members with a commitment to connect, learn and grow the customer experience (CX) network in India. The CXPA local chapter launch witnessed participation from over 10-15 companies across different industries such as BFSI, retail and automobile. The members who become a part of the association gain access to some of the best practices, research studies, and professional network of practicing customer experience professionals.

     

    S Swaminathan, CEO and Co-Founder, Hansa Cequity, said, “Customer experience is no more a department or a siloed function in an organisation. It is a movement that needs CXO involvement and commitment to make a business impact. We are going to promote CXPA through local networking events and drive interest for professionals to join and benefit. Apart from targeting four key cities in India during the year for the events, we are also looking at facilitating in-company programmes. Through this, we aim to bring together CXOs across cities, build a community of CX professionals, build awareness for CX practices, and share best practices amongst each other to build common customer experience standards across organisations.”

     

    Ajay Kelkar

    Ajay Kelkar, COO and Co-Founder, Hansa Cequity, said, “By partnering with CXPA in India, we hope to create a vibrant community of CX professionals who would lead and implement CX initiatives in their companies. During the Mumbai launch more than 30 companies signed up to participate and know more about CX initiatives.”

     

  • Acquisition will help scale breadth of analytics offerings; entry into artificial intelligence, machine learning capabilities

    Hansa Cequity acquires data sciences co, D-Square Solutions

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hansa Cequity has announced a majority stake in D-Square Solutions Private Limited, a data sciences and analytics company based out of Bengaluru, India. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

     

    In a statement, S Swaminathan, CEO and Co-Founder of Hansa Cequity said, “This acquisition would strengthen our data science expertise and help in building strong capabilities in building cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities in addition to enhancing our analytics-driven marketing offerings.”

     

    “Founded in 2009, Bengaluru based D-Square Solutions brings together business analytics products and consultancy solutions to help optimise time spent on informed decisions,” added Swaminathan.

     

    “There has always been a growing appetite by decision makers for data science,” said Anand Srinivasan, founder and chief executive of D-Square Solutions. The company currently caters to clients in IT & networking, BFSI and other industries across markets. Srinivasan is a thought leader and leading solution specialist in data science. He is an alumnus of IIT, Chennai and has done his Masters in Operations Research from Purdue University. He has also published a book – Business Analytics, which is a definitive guide to many industry practitioners.

     

    Ajay Kelkar

    Ajay Kelkar, COO and Co-Founder of Hansa Cequity said, “The new acquisition would help leverage on data science in many of Hansa Cequity verticals while giving a lot of focus and cutting-edge capability to the products and platforms that we are developing.”

     

    Hansa Cequity had raised around $5 million (Rs 30 crore) from private equity firm ASK Pravi in June last year. This is Hansa Cequity’s first acquisition in the India market where analytics start-ups are emerging with niche offerings. “D-Square will operate as a separate entity but will synergize its resources and offerings with Cequity,” informed Kelkar.

     

     

     

  • Hansa Cequity will work as a Business Level Partner of Adobe to provide digital marketing solutions and integrated technologies to its pan-India customers

    Hansa Cequity joins Adobe Solution Partner Program

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hansa Cequity has announced it has joined the Adobe Solution Partner Program as a Business Level Partner. This will allow Hansa Cequity to work more closely with Adobe to provide digital marketing solutions and integrated technologies to its pan-India customers.

     

    Hansa Cequity will use Adobe Marketing Cloud solutions such as Adobe Audience Manager (a data management platform), Adobe Analytics (a leading marketing analytics solution), Adobe Campaign (for multi-channel campaign management), to provide integrated customer marketing solutions to its clients in retail, automotive, banking and travel and hospitality domains. In strengthening its relationship with Adobe, Hansa Cequity will receive greater levels of support from Adobe and in turn be able to pass that along to its clients.

     

    “Hansa Cequity is excited to build our relationship with Adobe, and in signing this enterprise agreement, we will have a great Digital Technology partner in Adobe as we continue to expand as a full service Customer Experience Management Company,” said S Swaminathan, CEO and Co-Founder, Hansa Cequity.

     

    “With customer centricity gradually becoming an integral part of organisational thinking, marketers are looking to partner who can provide integrated services for enhancing their customer’s experience. And that is what we aim to achieve with this partnership,” added, Ajay Kelkar, COO and Co-Founder, Hansa Cequity.

     

    Commenting on the partnership Umang Bedi, MD – South Asia, Adobe Systems said, “Hansa Cequity has been one of the pioneers of data-driven marketing in India. This partnership will enable customers to act on the insights to deliver differentiated customer experiences in this rapidly changing digital world.”

     

    The Adobe Solution Partner Program is designed to create a successful relationship between Adobe and digital marketing companies to help build customer experience solutions and facilitate exchange of resources and support.

     

  • The survey received 1,368 responses from 86 Indian cities and towns

    Hansa Cequity’s omni-channel shopper study throws up interesting findings

    By A Correspondent

     

    Customer marketing company Hansa Cequity released its first omni-channel shopper study to understand customer behaviour and how India shops. The survey received 1,368 responses from 86 Indian cities and towns.

     

    The report, launched in association with the Retailers Association of India (RAI) during the ‘Cequity Conclave: Data Driven CMO’, revealed that with increased choices, higher disposable incomes and exposure to global shopping formats, the Indian shopper is changing. The findings highlight in detail why data will drive the decisions of the future CMOs.

     

    According to the study, 74 per cent respondents’ exhibit omni-channel behaviour (they have shopped in all formats -local retailer, large department and online). The research further reveals that around 40 per cent of the urban Indian shoppers’ shop regularly using modern trade, the numbers have more than doubled as compared to 2012.

     

    The study also revealed that the level of penetration of omni-channel behaviour in the next multi-billion Rupee markets – small towns – is sluggish. However, optimistic signals with some retailers already taking measures to address this latent need of shoppers both by trying to extend the omni-channel experience and by increasing service levels was also observed.

     

    Commenting on the report Ajay Kelkar, Co-founder and COO, Hansa Cequity said, “The Indian shopper has changed. She is as comfortable haggling with the local vegetable seller as much as she is tapping open apps on her smartphone to scour ecommerce stores for the best deals. As consumers embrace new technologies, the shopping experience has become increasingly sophisticated, enabling new ways for leading retailers to reach their audience. By integrating and aligning channels – stores, e-stores, mobile apps and social media – omni-channel retailing provides a flexible and seamless shopping experience to customers.”

     

    “With multi-channel shopping interfaces: physical stores, malls, e-commerce platforms, social-enabled shopping experiences, and smartphone app based services consumers have so many ways to discover and buy the things they want to. Our first omni-channel retail study has been aimed at understanding the customer behaviour and tries to capture in the way Indians shop,” said S Swaminathan, Co-founder and CEO, Hansa Cequity.

     

    Kumar Rajagopalan, Chief Executive Officer, Retailers Association of India added, “RAI is the unified voice of retailers in India and works towards continuous updating of modern retail trade practices in the country. We recognise that today’s customers have multiple channel options to buy and this report reemphasised the need for retailers to adopt an omni-channel approach to interacting with consumers. A nation of shopkeepers, India has been on the high-growth trajectory, and retail in India has seen generational shifts as it modernises and shifts gears. We are glad to be associated with the first research report on the omni-channel retail in India.”