Customer centricity needs tech & data to appeal to customer appropriately: Partho Banerjee

It is extremely important to think from customers’ point of view and use technology to appeal to them appropriately, asserted Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer- Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki while talking about the importance of customer-centricity. 

In a conversation with e4m's Dr Annurag Batra on ‘Customer Centricity: The Key To Enduring Brand Relevance And Consumer Engagement’ at Pitch CMO Summit 2024, Banerjee said that artificial intelligence and technology have made it possible to give customers what they want. 

“Customer centricity requires using technology and data to appeal to customer in an appropriate manner. Today, if I know a gentleman will like to talk to me at 9.30 in the night, I can make a call to him at 9.30. If he wants to converse with me in Telugu, I will talk to him in Telugu. 

“All of his concerns can be taken care of; that is customer centricity. That is how we are using the technology and data to really appeal to the customer in the appropriate manner,” he said. 

Talking about Maruti’s NEXA initiative, he said it was an experience platform which was launched in 2015 but was disrupted by COVID. 

“But we had already ensured how to digitise the sales processes. When COVID hit, others also jumped into digitisation. But most of it was done in a hurry and no one really thought about customer point of view or experience,” he said. 

Talking about digital experience for a customer, he said that earlier the digital was to only improve the efficiency, but now it is about how to give a better experience to the customer. 

“I think the current era is a combination of digital experiences. Earlier the digital was to only improve efficiency. You don't need to come to the bank, but you can sit at home and do the banking conveniently. But how do I give a better experience to the customer? Now if you see the websites today, they are coming with all different dimensions. 

“If you want to break the clutter and stand out, you need to come up with some innovative ideas; the experience which you are going to give through the digital part also, needs to be out of the box to be able to grab the attention of the customer,” he said. 

Talking about the benefits of digitisation, he said that it brings transparency and personalisation. 

“Data mining is happening and now with the help of artificial intelligence, you are coming up with excellent analysis about the customer, his or her propensity to buy and more. Most of the companies in the US are embracing the AI. Voice bots and chatbots are going to be the faces with nano personalization."

Explaining further, he said: “Like if I am talking to someone in the south, I may be having an avatar of the local guy, the way the customer wants to see me. If I am talking to a corporate guy, I will be having a different attire and all these concepts have already started.” He said that Maruti is already implementing this for a better customer experience.