Sachin Sharma is a seasoned senior management professional with over 20 years of well-rounded experience in sales, business, operations, service and IT in the financial services sector, with an interest in technology enabled services and leveraging the MarTech change in the SME lending business.
During his conversation with Santosh Abraham, Lead Analyst at Research NXT, he shares the best practices and challenges of implementing marketing automation in his organisation. Read on to know how Religare Finvest is managing the surge of technology in the business.
Data security is the biggest challenge we face as a financial institution. It is always a fine line that we tread between cost and efficiency.
Could you please elaborate on your role as Director, IT Operations and Strategic Initiatives at Religare Finvest?
I drive strategies for making the organisation future ready at all times. Whether it is about creating new business lines in the SME segment and making sure we leverage them, or introducing interventions that increase efficiency and performance across metrics, I make sure we harness technology for positive impact.
What is the size of the customer database you work with? How do you manage this database?
While I cannot reveal the database size, I can tell you that we are using a Netcore product for our emails and SMS.
Do you use marketing automation tools in your organisation?
We currently use an external product, from Netcore, which typically involves designing the communication and pushing the emails to the intended recipient.
What are the main challenges that you have faced while implementing or using marketing automation in your organisation?
Data security is the biggest challenge we face as a financial institution, hence going in for an external intervention is not very desirable. However, in our attempt to keep costs low, investing in an in-house system becomes challenging. Hence it is always a fine line that we tread between cost and efficiency.
Which is the most effective channel in your marketing strategy to reach out to your consumers?
The top three most effective channels for us are email, SMS and the mobile application.
