Says Mr. NiteenBhagwat , Executive Director and CEO, Asterii Analytics
With the advent of the marketing concept, organisations are more inclined to understanding the behavior of customers to create better customer value. Not only are they willing to understand the customer, but they are also striving to understand their behaviour patterns, their needs, their demands, and their psychology. With the options available to consumers, marketers are refining their ability to predict future trends with reasonable accuracy to latch on the opportunities and recognise threats.
In this context, a huge amount of data is created and collected from the consumers and analyzing these data to create meaningful interpretations can be of competitive advantage to the organisations. On the sidelines of Marketing & Media Analytics Conclave, held at Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication, Pune on 7th August 2016, Niteen Bhagwat, Executive Director and CEO of Asterii Analytics discussed the basics of
analytics, the prospects it holds and the effects of social media.
When asked about the inspiration behind a career in analytics, Mr. Bhagwat confessed “I am an out and out advertising and marketing guy. It is my general belief that analytics is the future and this is a competency that is required for every organisation including ad agencies.”
Mr. Bhagwat in his presentation outlined psychological and social traits of people who are active on social media. He spoke of how concepts like Altruism, Tribalism, Narcissism, Hedonism, Control and Fear of Missing Out motivate people to engage on such media. In turn, social media has brought a change in human behaviour by influencing decision making, bringing conformity and new genres of advertising and introducing social search by recruiters.
On the issue of privacy and data safety of the individuals, Mr Bhagwat admitted that privacy is an issue and that privacy concerns would only increase in the future. He mentioned that getting data anonymized is one way to protect identities to an extent. However, even with all the precautions that they take, it is still possible to track down data. He hopes to see the emergence of a solution that would be acceptable to everybody in the coming days.
Speaking about the shift in industry standards in advertising, Mr. Bhagwat says, “When I started out, advertising was of soft skills, but now they are becoming number oriented. High level of quantitative skills will be required in marketing and advertising”. His advice to students keen on pursuing analytics was that it should be pursued as a course whether or not it will be taken up as a career onward.
He added, “Studying analytics as a course will make you future ready and prevent obsolescence. If you don’t have the ability to understand numbers then you are dinosaurs.” This quote signified the end to an insightful discussion and many students were enlightened about the facts of analytics, with a majority of them wanting to opt for it.
