Making Way For Marketing Technologists

At a time when technology and creativity are both just as crucial, SapientNitro is making a case for marketing technologists. Sheldon Monteiro, senior vice-president and chief technology officer, SapientNitro speaks to BW Businessworld’s Noor Fathima Warsia on why the new breed of hybrid specialists matter. Excerpts:

We have been speaking about marketing meets technology for long now. Where does India stand in getting the marriage right?
It is imperative to first broad base the conversation. We have to look at the impact of technology across the board, including the overall business model. Take the example of banking and insurance. The customers expect their experience across channels and product lines of a brand to be consistent. Marketers are asking for help in a world that is characterised by an empowered consumer. Technology has created reasonable expectations for a brand to deliver on that promise.
As part of that, brand communication needs to be in sync with the experience. To get the marriage of marketing and technology right, a company needs to bridge the gap between the chief information officer and tech so that information technology and marketing can work together, making the latter more agile.

This can be achieved when the vision is top down. What is your advice to the CEOs?
In one sentence — reinvent the organisation for the digital world. Do not focus on just a slice of the business, but all of it — the people, the processes and the technology used in setting up the business.

Essentially take more risks, right?
It is not as much about taking risks as it is about understanding the articulation of experimentation versus the-tried-and-the-tested ways. There are budget constraints today even in Fortune 500 companies. They need to have a mix of innovation, and create a portfolio of consciously made choices leveraging the prevalent culture of open source and sharing. It is a great time to be a marketing technologist.

What skillset is needed to address these changes?
Now more than ever, we need to look at business and creativity together. The famous math men need to be tremendously creative to know how to use data and analytics, to reinvent and think, and have a more competitive business model. On the traditional side, the need to level up business, tech and analytics skills is much more pronounced today. There is a lot more desire and willingness to bridge the gap. Creativity and technology or data have to infuse in all aspects of the process. Because it is only then that you can provide consumers with that consistent brand experience that will become hallmark of a successful and relevant brand.

So mad math men?
The math versus mad men conversation has changed. Both are required right now. Consumers demand consistency in all respects of what a brand offers — the interaction with the brand, the communication, and the product itself. We need to leverage everything that a tech-empowered world offers.