The Alldus Podcast - AI in Action

Today's guest is Ryan Walton - King, AVP Transformation - Technology and User Experiences at AT&T in Dallas, Texas. Ryan is a successful Transformation executive and top performer with over 20 years of experience leading large enterprise teams, defining and executing strategic direction, delivering business outcomes through process and technology transformation. He is an expert at design strategy and research, convergent and divergent ideation, end-to-end design solutions and execution across strategic initiatives. Ryan has consistently implemented high-impact business and technology initiatives including launching AT&T’s first Transformation Office in Global Operations. He is adept at adapting to new roles, experiences, and businesses across several companies including four different AT&T Technology & Business Units, BellSouth Technology Group & KPMG Auditing and Consulting Services. He is well-known for excelling at bringing Product, Technology and Operations together to revolutionize customer experiences. In the episode, Ryan will tell you about: Highlights & key learns from 20 years working with AT&T, Digital transformation trends he is seeing in Telecoms, The value ServiceNow brings to the business & the challenges it solves, Three key reasons why ServiceNow is the platform of choice for AT&T, Implementation best practices, Building a successful ServiceNow team, What’s next for the ServiceNow platform & Key advice for navigating into an executive leadership role

Today's guest is Notger Heinz, Principal Engineer Data Science at sennder in Berlin. Founded in 2015, sennder are Europe’s number one digital freight-forwarder platform for Full Truck Loads. With its in-house-developed platform, sennder provides a new level of automation, transparency and efficiency to the European €300 billion road freight market, which until now has been dependent on paper, phone and fax and characterized by multi-layer subcontracting. sennder’s digital connection to over 10,000 vehicles in all segments allows for almost unlimited capacities, no matter what time of the day. They digitalize the truckload-shipping ecosystem by providing mobile apps to drivers, fleet management tools to carrier managers and logistics management solutions to shippers. By integrating directly with the shippers’ Transport Management and Freight Management Systems via APIs and by cutting the multiple middlemen, sennder increases efficiency and reduces cost for all stakeholders. In the episode, Notger will tell you about: His passion for technology and his journey to date, sennder’s work within digital freight forwarding, The problems they are solving within the digital freight industry, Challenges they need to overcome to achieve success & Is Deep Learning the future of AI?

Today's guest is Bret Greenstein, SVP and Global Head of AI & Analytics at Cognizant in New York. Cognizant is one of the world's leading professional services companies, transforming clients'​ business, operating and technology models for the digital era. Ranked on the Fortune 500 and consistently listed among the most admired companies in the world, Cognizant's unique industry-based, consultative approach helps clients envision, build and run more innovative and efficient businesses. Bret is an accomplished leader in applying Artificial Intelligence and Data to drive digital transformation across industries. A passionate innovator and business leader, he delivers business growth, accelerates new technologies, and transforms his clients and organizations. Bret is a powerful and effective communicator who inspires his organization and delivers clear messages to the market. He is also adept at working across cultures and with clients from the largest enterprises to the smallest, most nimble startups. In today's episode, Bret tells us about: The interesting work he does with Cognizant, Exciting projects that the AI and Analytics are working on, Use cases of the problems they are solving for clients, Helping companies understand what AI can and cannot do for them, How to successfully implement a data-driven culture, What it is like to work at Cognizant after the Covid-19 pandemic, and What excites him for the future

Today's guest is Rameez Tase, Co-Founder & CEO at Antenna in New York. Antenna is an early-stage data analytics startup that is shaking up the way subscription businesses in various industries have access to insightful metrics to make strategic business decisions in today's hyper-competitive environment. They help define the metrics that matter, benchmark success standards vs. the competition, and illuminate the strategies required to build winning direct-to-consumer subscription businesses. In today's episode, Rameez tells us about: Who are Antenna & how it all came about, The success that they have enjoyed so far, Early challenges they have overcome within the customer journey, Interesting projects & the day-to-day work within the data team, Three core values they follow to achieve success,  Plans for growth and what the future holds for Antenna

Today's guest is Emil D. Atanassov, VP of Internationalization at ServiceNow in Dublin, Ireland. Emil is an experienced Vice President with a demonstrated history of working in the computer software industry. He is responsible for providing a meaningful voice to the internationalization strategy and execution at ServiceNow. Headquartered in California, ServiceNow make the world of work, work better for people. They deliver digital workflows that create great experiences and unlock productivity. With over 6,000 customers, they serve ~80% of the Fortune 500 and were included on the 2020 list of FORTUNE World’s Admired Companies. In the episode, Emil will tell you about: The importance of a growth mindset, What attracted him to the world of ServiceNow, His role as VP of Internationalization, How localization has evolved, Developing a global product, Challenges and complexities to overcome & Three key trends he is seeing in the ServiceNow industry

Today's guest is Puneet Gangrade, Data Science Team Lead at MightyHive in New York. Founded in 2012, MightyHive is the leading data and digital media consultancy that helps marketers take control. MightyHive delivers sustained results from the ground up through advisory for business transformation, privacy-first data strategy and digital media services. MightyHive is trusted by brands like Autodesk, Bayer, Electrolux, Renault, Sony, Sprint, TransUnion and US Bank to name a few. Puneet manages and implements clients' global portfolios for their complete digital transformation. His responsibilities include building end-to-end data warehousing systems in different cloud platforms (GCP, AWS, Azure), using the privacy-safe platform (Google Ads Data Hub) for KPI-driven analysis, utilizing the advertising, on-site analytics, and other data to look beyond the numbers, and bringing machine learning into action for all his clients. In today's episode, Puneet tells us about: Helping companies build an effective digital transformation strategy, Challenges the Data Science team are solving in industry, The importance of working effectively with stakeholders, How new data privacy laws will impact their offerings to customers, What he enjoys most about working at MightyHive & Exciting opportunities within the team

Today's guest is Shawn Ramirez, Head of Data Science at Shelf Engine in Seattle. Shawn is an accomplished data science leader and SME in causal inference, experimentation, Machine Learning, statistics, optimization and game theory. She drives AI product development building, testing, and leveraging statistical and cutting edge machine learning at scale on high impact problems. Shawn's passion is working on complex questions about behavior, users and customers. Founded in 2015, Shelf Engine uses machine learning to help grocery stores dial in their orders to minimize waste and maximize profits.  Shawn joined the company in late 2020 and leads a high-performing team in data science, machine learning, research, ML Ops, causal inference and experimentation. Shawn and her team are working on forecasting and price optimization to solve the $160B food waste problem, lower prices and feed America. In today's episode, Shawn tells us about: Shelf Engine’s work within grocery forecasting, Problems they are solving within food waste and hunger, How they are applying Machine Learning to solve these problems, What she looks for when hiring into the team, Advice on how to become a leader within Data Science and Why she loves working at Shelf Engine

Today's guest is Richard Ross, Director of Emerging Technology at ICF. Richard is a technology executive with a demonstrated history of leading and implementing complex initiatives across the public and private sectors, setting a strategic vision and executing comprehensive digital & business transformation strategies and IT plans. His expertise includes aligning technology and organizational strategy, guiding large-scale transformative initiatives from concept to completion with an executive presence, program management and people development. As the Director of Technology at ICF International, he provides advisory, IT, strategy and other implementation services to Public Sector businesses. He serves as a trusted advisor to organizational leaders with a proven track record of helping them discover new ways to deliver value through the creative use of information technology. Richard understands the importance of people, change, culture, technology and the power of data to capture the value promised by digital transformations and IT modernization efforts. In the episode, Richard will tell you about: The interesting work he does with ICF, What he’s learned from his fascinating career to date, Digital Transformation trends in the public & healthcare sectors, Challenges to be aware of on your digital transformation journey, Emerging technologies we should embrace, Use cases of the benefits ICF bring to clients & Advice he would offer to his younger self

Today's guest is Kolja Dobrindt, VP and Global Head of Analytics at Lidl International in Germany. Kolja is responsible for the end-to-end analytics capability of a $100 billion+, 11,000 store, 32 country organization, ranging from decentralized self-service capabilities to large-scale, operational data products. Lidl are on a mission to build an operational analytics capability from vision and strategy, from hiring the right talent of experts and leaders to defining the organizational and technical framework to deliver data-driven solutions. Kolja has gained broad exposure to the IT and retail industries as well as digital transformation, strategy and project, and program management. He works hand-in-hand with the board and senior executives at Lidl to build a project portfolio of over 20 initiatives with millions in realized benefits already delivered to date. He is also collaborating across business functions and IT to establish a common vision and roadmap to develop broad organizational data and analytics capabilities beyond the core team. In the episode, Kolja will discuss: Interesting projects the Analytics team are working on at Lidl, The key to understanding the problem you are solving, Challenges they need to overcome to achieve success, How the pandemic has changed customer behaviour in retail, The success of their Loyalty app,  Upcoming projects and what the future has in store

Today's guest is Emily Bailey, Director of Data Products & Machine Learning at Rent the Runway in New York. Founded in 2009, Rent the Runway is transforming the way modern women get dressed by pioneering dynamic ownership and enabling women to rent, subscribe to and purchase secondhand clothing. They have been named on CNBC’s “Disruptor 50” five times in ten years and have placed on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list multiple times. Rent the Runway is disrupting the $2.4 trillion fashion industry through their in-house proprietary technology and a one-of-a-kind reverse logistics operation. Emily leads a team of talented data scientists and machine learning engineers who work on problems that span all areas of the business and many technical domains, such as recommender systems & personalization, dynamic pricing, Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing and operations research. In today's episode, Emily tells us about: The impact Rent the Runway are making in the retail industry, How the pandemic has impacted the business, Leading and building a successful data science team, What they look for when hiring into the team & Interesting projects they are working on at Rent the Runway