The IT sector is soon going to swamp the marketing tech space

Indian IT players need to improve their capabilities either organically or through acquisitions to remain in the race of increasingly competitive marketing technology. The companies will also have to rebrand themselves as marketing consultants, said a report by Nasscom.

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) had said last year that marketing technology has the potential to be a $37 billion opportunity for Indian IT players. But nearly a fifth of that is in the purely creative space, an area where few Indian IT firms have the capabilities, reported ET.

Global chief marketing officers rated in a survey that there was a need to have high creative skills high and perceived Indian players low on it. They are considered nascent providers in the marketing solution space, according to the report. However, it added that Indian IT players were rated highly on analytic skills.

The report will be released in September. Nasscom is the latest to join a growing band that sees an acquisitive strategy necessary to crack this space. Some Indian IT companies have been building skills in-house. ET has reported that HCL Technologies is expanding its in-house creative team.

"We have our own in-house creative team. An industry response to the creative challenge has been significant acquisitions - we have already built this organically," said Krishnan Krishnan Chatterjee, head of strategic marketing at HCL Technologies.

Some others are employing inorganic methods. Cognizant, for instance, acquired digital marketing firm Cadient last year.

"There is a need to build skills and talent in this space. Marketing technology is both a near-term and longterm opportunity for India IT players," said Sangeeta Gupta, senior VP at Nasscom. "But building internally takes time. Acquisitions are clearly an option."

"Sound acquisition and partnership abilities across the ecosystem are critical to making digital work. Indian IT is tech-savvy, but much less partnership-savvy. In Digital, this partnership applies to market/product coverage, not just for costs (sub-contracting)," JPMorgan analyst Viju George said in a July note.

George said some investors also believed that consulting and active M&A and partnerships were key to winning the digital market.

(Image: Indiatimes)