Outlining the core functions of marketing in the `intelligent' world, he said it was necessary to adopt the seven Cs of business: continuous information collection, customisation, connectivity, consistency, contextual pricing, collaboration and communication. He added that marketing in the E-enabled world is not about promises and deliveries, but about request and response; its not about sales pitch but about outstanding services; it is not about push, but pull and it is not about messages and media but about managing a holistic experience.

Pointing out that the world was heading towards `mass customisation,' Mr Suhel Seth, CEO, Equus, called for pre-emption marketing, since companies could not afford to be reactive any longer. He spelt out the key to success as the ability to package information in a manner that it is usable and enactable. Pointing out the difficulty in developing e-consumers, he said this would need undertaking mood, sociological and psychological studies of consumers.

Speaking on the issue of where customisation ends and intrusion begins, Mr Swaminathan, CEO, IRIS Ltd, stressed the need to frame an effective privacy policy. Quoting a survey in the US, Mr Swaminathan said 27 per cent of the respondents would never divulge personal information, while 94 per cent wanted privacy violators to be punished.

Ms Lalita Gupte, joint managing director & COO, ICICI Ltd, in her keynote address, said the convergence of computing, broadcasting and telecom technologies is revolutionising the way people do business and companies have to adapt to this new paradigm. Brand-building on the Net was as important as it was in the physical world. Touching on e-marketing, she said the question is not if but when, as it was bound to take on a big dimension in the future. ``Brick and mortar incumbents are more likely to succeed with the help of the Net as compared to new entrants with no physical back-up,'' she said.