SRL aspires to build research-driven knowledge industry with backing of 30 years’ experience

SRL, one of the oldest marketing and research consultancy agencies that is fully independent and fully Sri Lankan, was established on 28 September 1989. As one of the pioneer research and consultancy companies in the country, SRL has been at the forefront of the industry designing and developing

Chairman Neel De Silva

CEO Mihirani Dissanayake

Market-related Information Systems and introducing various products for the first time to the Sri Lankan market over the last 31 years. 

Back when it started, market research wasn’t a very popular word in the country. Its work was all about showing people the advantages of its data collection. Over the years it has proved itself and its business, introducing avenues that were unheard of before. Some of the main services introduced by SRL that are now considered integral parts in any marketing communication strategy are media monitoring, TV rating services, and tracking services. 

SRL has brought new products and new innovative concepts to the forefront of the marketing industry almost every two years. Now market research is something that is so common, with everyone knowing these terms. SRL has grown in many ways over the years, contributing significantly to the development of marketing and social research. 

Nevertheless, SRL still considers itself more than just a research company, instead seeing itself as part of the knowledge industry. It still goes the extra mile by not only showing its clients what the data shows, but what the data means. It is part of its service to provide quality research in a way that is entirely valuable to the user.

SRL is also an entirely Sri Lankan company, which makes it stand out as a company that understands the local market and how to get accurate knowledge out of it; it asks the right questions, analyses correctly and obtains the right samples. It knows Sri Lankan taste and therefore knows how to understand the data in a way that can only be taught by experience in the field – not by Western-centric models. 

All its application software has been developed by Sri Lankans and it prides itself on its specialised catering to Sri Lankan clients. “In 2004, we predicted the election results 99% accurately one week before the election results were published, with other election predictors nowhere as close as we were. It was published in the Sunday Times,” said SRL Chairman Neel De Silva. 

Consistency and dedication has earned SRL its reputation as a top quality agency among its clients. After so many years in the business, SRL continues to keep up its standards, representing its clients and the data over itself. As the market has evolved, so has SRL, being one of the first companies to take its data online in 2006 and even now, keeping up with the digitalised world and social media so as to provide the best quality analysis in order to provide clients with actionable information.

“By March 2019, with Neel’s blessing, I managed to digitise everything 100% through the use of tablets and smartphones for the best data quality and real time data,” highlighted SRL CEO Mihirani Dissanayake.

Today, SRL prides itself for its achievements spanning three decades, out of which they continue to value data driven knowledge sharing. The commitment and enthusiasm of the team towards research and data analysis has helped grow the knowledge market of Sri Lanka and benefited a wide spectrum of industries to make better and effective business decisions.