Looking back: 31 years of Survey Research Lanka

Survey Research Lanka was established in 1989 and over the last 30 years, it has been at the forefront of the marketing research industry, introducing various products to the Sri Lankan market for the first time while displaying its excellence in qualitative and quantitative research.

However, more than anything else, SRL distinguishes itself as a top quality agency through its consistency, accuracy and dedication to its clients. Chairman, Neel De Silva and CEO, Mihirani Dissanayake, of SRL, highlighted their journey through the history of the company, how they have continued to keep up with the competition in the industry and how they plan to take the company into the future. Following are excerpts: 

Q: Marketing and research consultancy is not an avenue that many are involved in locally. Being in the industry for over 30 years, therefore, is a huge achievement. Can you briefly relate the roots of SRL, how and why it was established?

Neel De Silva: On 28 September 1989, we registered SRL as a research company. During that time, we were working for another company, but the country was in a very bad state, so they wanted to close down their operations. However, we had clients who wanted to continue working with us. So we started our own small operation to cater to them. That was the birth of the SRL. 

Slowly we grew in size and we started introducing various products to the Sri Lankan market. These products were ones that we started and introduced for the first time in Sri Lanka. We also had a policy that if any other agency was doing a type of research, we wouldn’t do it. We would make our own unique products and introduce it, rather than copy. 

The beauty of our operation is that it is wholly Sri Lankan and independent. Independent in the sense that we had four directors and they were all not involved with any other business. Additionally, all the application software we use has been developed by our own Sri Lankan developers - we haven’t bought any foreign license software, save for the basics. 

Q: What are your accomplishments over these three decades?

Neel De Silva: Back in the day, every two years we were introducing a new product or new concept because we know the Sri Lankan taste and how to cater to it. When doing research, you must understand the market, you must ask the correct question, you must analyse correctly and select the sample suitably. This is the secret behind our success. Thus, over 31 years, we don’t really have any unsatisfied clients. Our history and our services throughout this time have been very good. 

When the then president declared 2006 as the year of Information Technology, we too started offering online research data to use. We would give the client a username and password and they could log in and get the data, which was the first time in Sri Lanka that this was implemented. We also introduced the first national media survey at a time where nobody wanted to go to the north and the east, and 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.

Our most recent milestone is that we continue to be dedicated to continuous improvement, making the change into the digital era with tablets and smart devices rather than pen and paper questionnaires. Now when we interview someone, the database receives the data within the next hour for analysis. 

Q: Looking back, how has research consultancy evolved?

Neel De Silva: Marketing was not a popular thing in Sri Lanka when we started. It was always combined with Sales. But now everyone is educated on this. Unfortunately, though, they are still getting western education, which means they lack a lot of the practical knowledge you need in this industry. 

Back in the day, we would have to teach clients all of the technical terms involved in our research, but now they understand and ask for it. Back then all marketing was also done on gut feeling. Now it is more data-oriented – a lot of companies need a research background before they take any action. Even smaller agencies now want research conducted. 

Now, I can see that particularly for the research industry, we need young blood. We need new ways of thinking and people with more exposure to the modern world. We hire many new people so that we can continue to evolve the industry and keep challenging old ideas. 

 Q: What changes would you like to see taking place in research?

Mihirani Dissanayake: This is not so much about the actual research aspect, but more about the attitude towards it. First off, I think there is a certain attitude with which you should treat your client. While most people think of it as a sort of partnership you make with a client for both parties to get what they need, I feel like it is more of an intellectual conversation that is much needed. You need to treat them genuinely and with care. This is something that should change in our industry, as right now, clients are treated more as a paycheck rather than people who are looking for a good quality service. The word client even becomes synonymous with a sense of stress if you properly get to know them, and treat them with the respect that you would expect for yourself, it all becomes so much easier.

Q: What role will SRL play in catering to the current research needs, and in developing the industry as a whole?

Mihirani Dissanayake: SRL isn’t in the data industry, we are in the knowledge industry so we are hungry for knowledge and we share our knowledge to bring up the entire industry and raise the standards. Every research design and concept that we build, we are greedy to brainstorm and get the best for the client – not to simply win the project, but to do it with due diligence to give something solid and valuable to the user. 

We can’t be holding on to our knowledge, we first have to give what we have, and pay cheques will follow. While on the face of it, we represent our company called SRL, but what we are really representing are our clients. We also take on a lot of the younger generation in order to teach them these values to ensure that this industry does not go on to become one that is data driven. 

Q: Now that you have marked over three decades, what future plans do you have for SRL?

Mihirani Dissanayake: What we have to develop in this country is a knowledge hub and we all need to share and collaborate. We need to turnaround the perception of this industry and all at SRL do this by action and not just with words. We are also planning on making the SRL a knowledge hub for the country; a knowledge hub for all clients, where if we have all the required secondary data, my clients would have one place to get trustworthy and quality data to take fast and informed decisions. From a business point of view, we should also be more aggressive in this journey, but we are taking those aggressive steps carefully and growing the business slowly but steadily!