DIGIWISE Summit 2014 by HTCampus.com & Google India

In India, advertising has traditionally been on print and television but we are witnessing a very fast shift towards digital because of the immense optimizing and targeting options digital offers. More and more Indian marketers are demonstrating the business impact and value of digital as a strategy to engage customers today. The digital footprint of consumers in the country is increasing making it extremely important for marketers in India to utilize digital to their benefit and enter the next phase of digital advancement.

In a first of its kind symposium brought together by click4college.com & Google India, the DIGIWISE Summit 2014 addressed just that. Organized at the Taj Palace, New Delhi on December 1, 2014 on the theme Digital Marketing for the Education Sector, the event was attended by top educationists from all over the country.

The DIGIWISE Summit 2014 focused on how education institutes could reach digitally savvy audiences, build deep customer relationships, and create new markets, products, and business models. Case studies at the DIGIWISE Summit illustrated the best practices across B2B and B2C audience. The Summit had an impressive chain of speakers, who talked about various aspects of digital marketing followed by a panel discussion and an open house session.

Google India MD, Mr. Rajan Anandan opened the Summit with a presentation on Digital Transformation for the Education Sector where he highlighted that the growth in the number of Internet users in India has been phenomenal. He said that the growing usage of smartphones means people today are more connected to one another than ever before.

He, therefore, suggested that digital marketing should be adopted in a big way by education institutions to create brand awareness and boost lead generation.

The key takeaways from his presentation were:

• Decision making is happening online
• Students are influenced by online information for college/course selection
• Online education is becoming mainstream

Rajan Anandan, Google India - MD

Mr. Amit Garg, Business Head - HT Digital shared insights on online student behaviour in a research presentation that brought about the extent to which the youth of India has adopted the digital lifestyle. The high usage of mobile devices and the depth of trust placed on the information available on the net were some of the key takeouts of the report.

In his presentation, he also pointed out 4 out of 5 students consider Internet main source of information for finding about courses or colleges. Students are searching information on placements, availability of courses, location and cost of programmes, he added.

Mr. Amit Garg, Business Head - HT Digital

The Summit also had famous Digital Marketing Executive Consultant Mr. Lee Kantz talk about Digital Marketing for Education with focus on Global Case Studies. He discussed how most of the lead generation happens via education portals.

He talked about:

• Different Digital Marketing channels
• Optimizing Digital Marketing for Education
• How Digital Marketing is overtaking traditional marketing techniques

Digital Marketing Executive Consultant Mr. Lee Kantz

The panel discussion included Mr. Nitin Putcha, Vice President - ITM University, Mumbai & Mr. Samir Kharkhanis, Head - Marketing & Business Development at Welingkar Institute of Management, who spoke about the challenges they face as an educational institute. They also shared the advantages of Digital Marketing and how they benefitted from it.

Mr. Kantz, using his vast international experience, stressed on how everyone should be a part of the digital marketing process.

As facilitators and providers of digital marketing services, Google India SMB Marketing Head Sapna Chaddha & click4college Business Head - Mr. Ruchir Arora spoke about the merits of digital marketing.

Panel Discussion: (Starting Left) Mr. Samir Kharkhanis, Head - Marketing & Business Development at Welingkar Institute of Management, Digital Marketing Executive Consultant Mr. Lee Kantz, click4college Business Head - Mr. Ruchir Arora, Mr. Nitin Putcha, Vice President - ITM University, Google India SMB Marketing Head Sapna Chaddha

The main questions that were raised post the panel discussion included:

• What is the competitive advantage for a digital business model?
• How can one manage business complexity in the global digital economy?
• How does one design the organization to ensure ongoing development and exploitation of internal and externally available business capabilities?
• How can one ensure that one uses the growing availability of data to contribute to the education institute's business objectives?

Mr. Rajan Anandan, MD - Google India & Mr. Rajiv Verma, CEO - HT Media led the Open House session sharing insights and talking to the delegates. The conversation focused on digital technology being the prime enabler of growth in the education sector.

Mr. Rajiv Verma, CEO - HT Media (Left) & Mr. Rajan Anandan, MD - Google India

The DIGIWISE Summit promised frameworks and planning tools to lead new initiatives in their own organisations to the delegates and delivered promptly on it. Looking at its immense success, HT plans on making it an annual event.