SRL, one of the oldest marketing and research consultancy agencies that is fully independent and fully Sri Lankan, established on the 28th of 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 Market-related Information Systems and introducing various products for the first time to the Sri Lankan market over the last 31 years.
Back when they started, market research wasn’t a very popular word in the country. Their work was all about showing people the advantages of their data collection. Over the years they have proved themselves and their 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 themselves more than just a research company, instead seeing themselves as part of the knowledge industry. They still go the extra mile by not only showing their clients what the data shows, but what the data means. It is part of their service to provide quality research in a way that is entirely valuable to the user.
SRL is also an entirely Sri Lankan company, which really makes them stand out as a company that truly understands the local market and how to get accurate knowledge out of it; they ask the right questions, they analyze correctly and obtain the right samples. They know Sri Lankan taste and therefore know how to understand the data in a way that can only be taught by experience in the field – not by Western-centric models. All their application software has been developed by Sri Lankans, and they pride themselves on their specialized catering to Sri Lankan clients. “In 2004, we predicted the election results 99 percent accurately one week before the election results were published, with other election predictors nowhere as close as we are. It was published in the Sunday Times,” remarks Neel De Silva, Chairman of SRL.
Consistency and dedication has earned SRL their reputation as a top quality agency among their clients. After so many years in the business, SRL continues to keep up their standards, representing their clients and the data over themselves. As the market has evolved, so has SRL, being one of the first companies to take their data online in 2006 and even now, keeping up with the digitalized 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 digitize everything 100 percent through the use of tablets and smartphones for the best data quality and real time data,” highlights Mihirani Dissanayake, CEO of SRL.
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.