Demand for data analytics on the rise owing to cost pressure, better profits

Data analytics as an area remains a high growth segment in the overall technology space. During the pandemic, digital channels have been tapped by businesses to reach out to end users. Therefore, demand for data driven insights has gone manifold. As growth rates globally slow down, enterprises are again searching for data-led insights to save cost and maximise profits. Skewb Analytics is a Delhi-based data analytics company that has seen sound demand for its offerings among enterprises. In a conversation, company cofounder & CEO, Sandeep Pandey told Bizz Buzz that digital-first approach by companies are driving demand for data analytics solutions for better marketing investment, which can yield more profits. The company, which counts Delhivery and Cloudnine as its clients, is eyes many large enterprises as its customers this year. Despite intense competition, the company has been able to create a space owing to its highly accurate predictive analytics solutions, Pandey said. As part of its growth plans, the company will soon open its office in the US and is actively looking at raising money for funding its future growth

What we have gathered from our conversations with the clients is that they are looking at extracting better returns. So, businesses want to invest on those areas where the downside is less. Some other clients have increased their budgets as they invest in new emerging brands. These clients want to understand in which channels to invest, in which format to invest and which initiatives have huge headroom to grow. So, both scenarios are playing out

AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning) are the backbone of our platform Skewb Analytics. Our algorithm has been developed by running through billions of models. So, our algorithm is highly responsive. The algorithm is highly responsive as the technology is very strong and whenever a new thing happens, our R&D team improvises the algorithm to make sure that it is updated. Also, it has been written like a self-learning engine so that the engine learns every day as it works with new tasks

How is the overall demand for data analytics among enterprises? Has the hyper-demand waned after the pandemic?

Demand for analytics-driven insights has gone up manifold during the pandemic period. As the world stares at a slowdown, companies are looking at how the money can work harder. How do I access the value of money in terms of the benefit it adds to the business, sales, acquisitions and customer satisfactions. Do I continue to invest the same amount of money or do I increase the money to get a higher share? Also, a lot of reprioritisation happening with regard to investments. So, we see a lot of demand for more technology-led insights, especially leveraging data analytics.

Can you throw some light on how Skewb Analytics has fared since inception? What are your growth expectations for 2023?

Overall, the performance has been satisfactory. Many businesses are looking at engaging with niche players like us than working with legacy companies. Currently, we are taking to very large clients with global presence. Given that our services transform the way marketing analytics used to be done with our offerings being far more agile and real-time, I am expecting more clients opting for our services this year and going ahead.

Marketing spend by companies across the globe has come down in the wake of slowdown concerns. Where Skewb Analytics’ exposure is more, whether it is towards those businesses operating on the traditional sectors or is it towards technology firms?

We have exposure to both sides of the spectrum. What we have gathered from our conversations with the clients is that they are looking at extracting better returns. So, businesses want to invest on those areas where the downside is less. Some other clients have increased their budgets as they invest in new emerging brands. These clients want to understand in which channels to invest, in which format to invest and which initiatives have huge headroom to grow. So, both scenarios are playing out.

There are many pure-play companies like you which provide data analytics services. Also, many full stack IT companies provide these services as part of their portfolio. So, overall the competition is intense. What are Skewb Analytics differentiators in such an intensively competitive market?

Our biggest differentiator in the marketing analytics space is that nobody provides this service as a plug and play service. We are bringing the concept of SaaS (software as a service) in this space. Our evaluation and assessment are real time unlike many legacy players. Many legacy solutions will do the evaluation and assessment twice or thrice a year. But given the way, things are happening, our system is far more agile. Second big USP (unique selling proposition) we have is our assessment process- what has worked for the business and what has not worked for the business. The accuracy of our offerings with regard to what will be the growth prospects stands at 95-96 per cent, which is far higher than other service providers in this space. That accuracy is very important.

Right now the biggest focus area is marketing analytics. It includes digital analytics, web analytics, media analytics, and CRM analytics. We are currently doing R&D focussing two more industries. Trading analytics is the area in which we are working on right now.

Can you throw some light on the technology behind your marketing analytics platform? Do you customise it as per the requirement?

AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning) are the backbone of our platform. Our algorithm has been developed by running through billions of models. So, our algorithm is highly responsive. The algorithm is highly responsive as the technology is very strong and whenever a new thing happens, our R&D team improvises the algorithm to make sure that it is updated. Also, it has been written like a self-learning engine so that the engine learns every day as it works with new tasks. Also, every business has a different requirement. The needs of a healthcare service provider are more focussed on registration of patients, and how it should go up. But for a logistics company, the needs are different like it is sensitive to many macroeconomic data. So, such business will require insights on if these things happen then how will be the company sustain growth. So, the entire product is then customised to the requirement of different players.

Do you collaborate with system integrators like IT services firms? What is your go to market strategy?

We collaborate with software services companies for providing our services. Whenever these companies go their clients, our products are offered (as a package). We also collaborate with many marketing agencies. These agencies provide a lot of creative services and we come at the top of that and work with them. We also work with many digital platforms like digital aggregators. So, we are working with all the channels for a better distribution reach.

Which kind of enterprises are in your focus as prospective clients this year and going ahead? Can you throw some light on your growth plans?

We will look at large enterprises as clients. Strong D2C (direct to consumer) and digital players will also be on our radar. For these companies, data analytics-led services are very important and they need it on real time basis. So, these categories of players will be our first priority. We are in talks with many D2C players as of now. As far as geographical expansion is concerned, we are focussed on India as of now. We will soon be having our office in the US. We are around 11 people team now but we will keep adding people as we grow. For distribution of services, we will continue to partner for better distribution reach.

Are you planning to raise funds for driving growth?

We are bootstrapped now and our growth is funded through internal accruals. But we are looking at raising funds in the near future. We have the product, people and distribution. So, we will now go to the market and raise the money.