With the rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI), the marketing industry has become a turning point for marketers around the world. AI-powered tools provide marketers with unprecedented insights into customer preferences, industry trends, and market dynamics.
Sanjay Krishnamurthy, President, GALE India, discussed a suite of AI-based solutions, including Alchemy.AI, Ask GALE and DASH, in this exclusive interview. He also highlighted that MarTech investment and adoption in India is poised for significant growth, with businesses increasingly recognizing its potential in terms of ROI. As budgets increase, strategic implementation of MarTech tools will become paramount, with a focus on meeting specific needs and seamless integration with existing systems. Additionally, data-driven marketing will take center stage as companies leverage MarTech insights to deliver personalized experiences and optimize campaign performance.
DQ: How is AI being integrated into MarTech platforms and what benefits does it bring to marketers?
Sanjay: With the recent surge in advancements in artificial intelligence, all major MarTech platforms are adopting AI to better understand the underlying data, outcomes, and the best course of action for marketers. Leveraging this technology can allow marketers to have faster access to more real-time analytics on customer preferences, the industry as a whole, and market nuances to drive targeted marketing campaigns and very effective. As with all other AI/machine learning models, organizations must ensure that responses are not biased or inaccurate. Considerable parallel testing must therefore be carried out before deploying these tools within the organization. When integrated strategically and with the right protocols in place, AI-powered tools can revolutionize the way marketers work by enabling more effective and efficient results.
DQ: Expand GALE’s AI-powered MarTech solutions like Alchemy, Ask GALE and DASH.
Sanjay: When GALE was founded in 2014, we were first to market with our unique blend of creation and data-centric consulting. And since the very beginning, GALE has been at the forefront of developing innovative and cutting-edge marketing technologies.
One of GALE’s key differentiators has always been Alchemy, our robust database and bespoke CDP-like environment. Each client receives a bespoke data environment explicitly designed for them through a combination of our database and, often, their proprietary data. We have continued to develop our model over the past decade to become one of the most successful agencies in North America. This year, we transformed Alchemy into Alchemy.Ai – it’s the biggest product update we’ve ever made.
Alchemy.Ai is a private enterprise AI cloud platform designed from the ground up to comply with the agency’s ISO-27001 certification. Trained on all aspects of the data used at GALE, including first-party and third-party data combined with global data, Alchemy.Ai reduces time spent on critical tasks across all disciplines to help GALE’s nearly 800 people work more efficiently . In addition, it improves agency processes by democratizing access to this information, regardless of the department. Going beyond standard generative AI features, Alchemy.Ai has a custom application layer with a tailored user interface, as well as additional features for data visualization, enriched and custom algorithms and techniques research and discovery. Team members have access to custom client environments created for the specific accounts they work on. Client environments serve as a one-stop shop for all data and information available to each client.
DQ: What ethical considerations should be taken into account when replacing traditional tools with generative AI solutions?
Sanjay: Given MarTech AI’s reliance on vast customer data, robust security measures and extensive testing must be performed to successfully integrate meaningful and reliable solutions. Some might say that GALE is behind schedule in terms of publicly launching an AI platform for the agency, but we take this very seriously and want to ensure that we are compliant with ISO-27001 standards from top to bottom. down. We were very careful to ensure that appropriate safeguards existed to allow us to operationalize Alchemy.Ai in the way our customers expected.
As we have done at GALE, teams must also take very deliberate steps to minimize any issues associated with current AI integrations, such as bias, and be proactive in pushing the boundaries to understand and mitigate any further environmental anomaly that may exist.
Establishing clear communication on how AI should and should not be used is essential for both agency teams and their clients.
DQ: What trends do you foresee in MarTech investment and adoption in India in the coming years?
Sanjay: Increased investment: Studies from Mirum in India show MarTech optimism, with 88% of respondents planning to increase their MarTech spending budgets by a phenomenal margin over the next three years. This suggests a growing recognition of the potential of MarTech to generate ROI.
Strategic implementation: As spending in this area increases, there will also be a shift towards more strategic use of MarTech. Businesses will stop impulse purchases and turn to tools that meet specific needs and integrate well into existing systems.
Data-Driven Marketing: MarTech is becoming increasingly important for businesses looking to use data for customer personalization, campaign optimization and measurement. Marketers will begin to rely on this information to make informed decisions before delivering personalized experiences.
