A summit organized on Saturday by IIM-Rohtak, themed - 'Marketing Analytics: From measurement to insight' was focused on the need for a change in the ways how brands and organizations reach out to their targeted audience and connect with them through various channels. According to the statement by the institute, leaders from top corporate houses had attended the summit and the various panel discussions were held on marketing opportunities and problems that can leverage analytics for solutions and insights. Some of the industry experts said that the data can be used for value creation through use of analytics, but, comes with a problem of it being misused. Hence, stating that India should have robust data protection laws. Furthermore, they discussed about the fear of misuse of data not only from public agencies but also from private companies and also warned about the private companies who can observe and measure the online activities of the customer and can use this data to determine whether to provide a particular service to a particular individual.   

According to the statement made by the institute on Sunday, "One panel focused on value creation through the use of analytical tools with a large chunk of data being generated. Due to digitization and coming of cyber-physical system, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created each day. Companies are offering personalized and tailored products to customers by micro-analyzing their behavior. Technology has been a great enabler to the capabilities of the human mind."  

“As India is near the cusp of the data revolution, there is a need for robust data protection laws in line with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). One of the most significant changes in data privacy regulation in 20 years has come from the European Union, and India should adopt similar data protection laws.”  

Panelists also had highlighted the need of finding the critical balance between data analytics and data protection. As, the demand for data localization from the developing countries has been due to the need for data protection, and also the fear of restraining of freedom of expression due to monitoring of the online content by the authorities.

Finally, the experts concluded by signifying the importance to involve all stakeholders so as to come up with balanced data use and protection mechanism.