Impact of information technology on marketing: a case study of Airtel company

Abstract

Information technology affects marketing in many ways. Some of these save labor and provide service. Others create entirely new products and new organizational forms. Still others enhance marketing operations in ways that can change their character. An example of the latter is now taking place behind the scenes in the consumer packaged goods industry, where a new generation of data is producing a discontinuity in the information available to marketers. In this case the combination of data and technology is brining increased marketing effectiveness, organization change, and shifts in power within channels of distribution. More general, information technology blurs traditional strategic and functional boundaries by enabling an organization to deliver a large number of differentiated products to a large number of differentiated markets. For this to be successful, marketing must be closely interwoven with operations, RandD, and sales. Researchers on information technology have not provided a clear definition of the term Information Technology (IT), many papers on IT either assumed that there is a common understanding of the concept, that the meaning of the term is implicitly understood, or define it in such a way as to serve a specific purpose. For the purpose of the present study, Information Technology (IT) refers to the collection of products and services that turn data into useful, meaningful, accessible information. IT encompasses all forms of technology used to create, store, exchange, and use of information in its various forms (business data, voice conversations, images, motion pictures, multimedia presentations, and other forms, including those not yet conceived). It includes modern technologies, such as, telecommunications and microelectronics. India s telecom sector has been doing exceptionally well in the past decades. Its structural and institutional reforms have provided tremendous growth opportunity to this sector.