1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:02,960 Speaker 1: Hey everyone, it's Robert and Joe here. Today we've got 2 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:05,240 Speaker 1: something a little bit different to share with you. It's 3 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:09,400 Speaker 1: a new season of the Smart Talks with IBM podcast series. 4 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:13,520 Speaker 2: This season on Smart Talks with IBM, Malcolm Gladwell is back, 5 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 2: and this time he's taking the show on the road. 6 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:19,160 Speaker 2: Malcolm is stepping outside the studio to explore how IBM 7 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:22,880 Speaker 2: clients are using artificial intelligence to solve real world challenges 8 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:25,080 Speaker 2: and transform the way they do business. 9 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:29,560 Speaker 1: From accelerating scientific breakthroughs to reimagining education. It's a fresh 10 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:33,040 Speaker 1: look at innovation in action, where big ideas meet cutting 11 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 1: edge solutions. 12 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:37,160 Speaker 2: You'll hear from industry leaders, creative thinkers, and of course 13 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,920 Speaker 2: Malcolm Gladwell himself as he guides you through each story. 14 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: New episodes of Smart Talks with IBM drop every month 15 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:48,279 Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get 16 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:52,240 Speaker 1: your podcasts. Learn more at IBM dot com slash smart Talks. 17 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 1: This is a paid advertisement from IBM. 18 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 3: H'm Malcolm Gladwell. Welcome to Season seven of Smart Talks 19 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:04,680 Speaker 3: with IBM. This year, we're exploring new stories about how 20 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:08,480 Speaker 3: companies are using the latest advancements in AI and quantum 21 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 3: computing to create smarter business. For the first episode of 22 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:16,160 Speaker 3: the season, I flew to Austin, Texas to join Sergei 23 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 3: Ghosh on stage at south By Southwest. Sergei is Chief 24 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 3: AI Officer at Heineken, the world's pioneering beer company. Founded 25 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:28,880 Speaker 3: in eighteen sixty four. Heineken is deep roots, but it 26 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:33,319 Speaker 3: continues to push the boundaries of innovation today. In twenty twenty, 27 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:35,760 Speaker 3: the company came up with a goal to become the 28 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 3: world's best connected brewer. Surge plays a key role in 29 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 3: leading that transformation, and I sat down with him in 30 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 3: front of a live audience to understand what that journey 31 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 3: looks like and what it takes to reinvent a global 32 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 3: company from the inside out. And before we get to 33 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 3: the question of what you do in your job. So 34 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 3: I'm really interested in people who have jobs it didn't 35 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:03,160 Speaker 3: exist for most of their life, and I'm curious how 36 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 3: you got there. 37 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:06,360 Speaker 4: Yeah, first of all, thanks for having me here. Yeah, 38 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:09,959 Speaker 4: actually it did exist, and people sometimes don't realize AI 39 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,640 Speaker 4: is not new. It's been there for seventy five years, 40 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:14,680 Speaker 4: since nineteen fifty. 41 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:16,919 Speaker 5: It just changed over time. 42 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:19,720 Speaker 4: How the application is happening, right, So one thing to 43 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:22,240 Speaker 4: keep up with is as AI became more popular and 44 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:25,560 Speaker 4: more embedded in business, how do we upscal ourselves to 45 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:28,960 Speaker 4: stay at par with the technology trends. So the preparation 46 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:31,280 Speaker 4: for me personally started actually a long time ago, so 47 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:33,359 Speaker 4: when I was in grad school in US, and I 48 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:34,800 Speaker 4: also to live in US by the way, for a 49 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 4: long time. 50 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:36,400 Speaker 3: You're Indian. 51 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 4: I'm an Indian originally, but it's news. I did my 52 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,800 Speaker 4: grad school here and there. Actually I started taking courses 53 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 4: in newer networks and at fission diagents back in two 54 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 4: thousand and two, and it wasn't popular back then. 55 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 5: I was just curious, what is it? Maybe it's the 56 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 5: next big thing. 57 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 4: And I'm so glad I did that because that sort 58 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:55,960 Speaker 4: of helped me build that foundation. 59 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,519 Speaker 3: What was it you said you were? You were curious 60 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:02,160 Speaker 3: about it? You're curious about it? Why what caught your 61 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 3: eye about it? 62 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 4: Was very different because the main difference was before that 63 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 4: I was an engineer by professions. 64 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 5: I went to engineering college. 65 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:12,919 Speaker 4: Everything is rule based, Everything is based on a formula, 66 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 4: a physical equation. AI is something different because based on 67 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:19,920 Speaker 4: data and statistics, it never gives you a clear answer. 68 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 4: It gives you a probability, and I just thought this 69 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,639 Speaker 4: is very interesting because if you're trying to solve a problem, 70 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:27,920 Speaker 4: you don't know exactly how to solve it. There is 71 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:30,720 Speaker 4: no equation. How do you get around that? I think 72 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:33,760 Speaker 4: that's where AI comes in. It finds those patterns within 73 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 4: data and comes up with some prediction that intrigued me. 74 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:41,800 Speaker 4: So this is what year that you start I started dabbling, 75 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:44,080 Speaker 4: let's call it dabbling in AI was two thousand and two. 76 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:45,960 Speaker 5: It was almost twenty four years ago. 77 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:49,120 Speaker 3: Four years so put what you were playing with in 78 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 3: two thousand and two was an extremely primitive version of what. 79 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 5: We have now. 80 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 4: I think it was very relevant because the way I 81 00:03:56,440 --> 00:04:00,080 Speaker 4: see it, should I have skipped all the foundations that 82 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 4: I learned over the years and just gone to the 83 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 4: current state. Maybe, But when I look back, I think 84 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 4: that foundation really helped me because back then, and surprisingly, 85 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 4: by the way, new on networks. When I talk about that, 86 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:15,360 Speaker 4: it's still very ralliant and relevant within AI. The entire 87 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,719 Speaker 4: foundation is new on networks. So I think that foundation 88 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:21,080 Speaker 4: really helped. Yeah, and I still find it very relevant 89 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 4: and I apply it day to day. 90 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 3: Yeah, imagine in having a conversation with you twenty years 91 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:29,280 Speaker 3: ago and I say what are you up to? And 92 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:33,599 Speaker 3: you say, I'm playing with this thing neural networks. Early version, 93 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 3: would you have used the term artificial intelligence? 94 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:37,599 Speaker 5: Probably not. 95 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 4: I probably would have used something is called statistics, which 96 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:43,600 Speaker 4: is everyone is aware of. Back then, it was more statistical, 97 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:46,520 Speaker 4: so you don't have these big algorithms at that point. 98 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:49,200 Speaker 4: But then something happened. I don't know if you heard 99 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 4: of this company called Cago. They used to host these 100 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,320 Speaker 4: sort of data science competitions and anyone can participate and 101 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,039 Speaker 4: if you do really well, you get a price. That 102 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:00,599 Speaker 4: was a good motivation, just to see, okay, learned something, 103 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:02,680 Speaker 4: let me apply it and see how good I am 104 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 4: I'm getting at it. So I think that was my 105 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 4: first entry point where I really got hands on into AI, 106 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 4: and that probably stayed with me for a while. I 107 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:12,800 Speaker 4: think that was back in two thousand and six. That's 108 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 4: what I started getting hands on. And the funny thing 109 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:17,600 Speaker 4: is when you look at these Caggle competitions, the use 110 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 4: cases they used to give actual industry applications, so you 111 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 4: were really dealing with business problems applying AI to solve it, 112 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,280 Speaker 4: and then you know, wait a minute, a medical company 113 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:29,719 Speaker 4: is using it. A manufacturing company is using it, a 114 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:32,480 Speaker 4: banking is using it. And this is two thousand and six, 115 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:36,080 Speaker 4: so it already started and then it just yeah today, 116 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:38,040 Speaker 4: it's a different ballgame now. 117 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:40,840 Speaker 3: So you you came to Heineken. 118 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:45,560 Speaker 4: When twenty twenty, twenty twenty right middle of COVID, right. 119 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 3: And where you brought in to be the chief AI officer? 120 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:51,600 Speaker 4: Was you explore it and the title changed? But yes 121 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 4: I was the global leader? 122 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, And what made you want to take the job? 123 00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:59,159 Speaker 4: I was actually working for Amazon at that point, but 124 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 4: when I looked at High and I thought, okay, this 125 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 4: is a legacy, traditional company, right, and AI was not 126 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:07,520 Speaker 4: a capability embedded. 127 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 5: At that point of time. 128 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:10,719 Speaker 4: So it's a great opportunity if I can start something 129 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:15,240 Speaker 4: from scratch, really build it across the entire valuation of Heineken. 130 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:17,960 Speaker 4: I mean, that's probably the best job anyone can even 131 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:20,760 Speaker 4: ask for. Yes, it's of course a lot of responsibility 132 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:23,040 Speaker 4: that you have to make sure that you really build 133 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:26,000 Speaker 4: the right products and right capability, But that also happened, 134 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:28,599 Speaker 4: so I look back, it's quite fulfilling. 135 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:32,040 Speaker 3: But it's also if I might playable was advocate for 136 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:34,960 Speaker 3: a moment, you're also taking a risk going into an 137 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:38,800 Speaker 3: established how long has Heineken been around one hundred and 138 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,480 Speaker 3: sixty two years to be specific, eighteen sixty four. It's 139 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 3: a very different proposition walking into one hundred and sixty 140 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:46,240 Speaker 3: year old company and saying I want to bring the 141 00:06:46,279 --> 00:06:48,400 Speaker 3: future to the way you operate. Then it is with 142 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 3: the startup. 143 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 5: That is true, but it's also a challenge. 144 00:06:51,839 --> 00:06:54,599 Speaker 4: It's a good challenge, and also that Heineken is also 145 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:57,080 Speaker 4: looking externally. There are companies that are picking up speed 146 00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:00,600 Speaker 4: and embedding and adopting AI, so should be all behind 147 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:02,800 Speaker 4: not really, so we also need to pick it up. 148 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:05,680 Speaker 4: So I thought it was a good challenge because the 149 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:08,560 Speaker 4: use cases were there, the opportunity I put sense the 150 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:11,040 Speaker 4: business really was having the appetite. 151 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 5: Let's do something different. 152 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:15,040 Speaker 4: When we apply AI in a corporate setting like this, 153 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:18,080 Speaker 4: it's super important to understand how the business actually works. 154 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:20,680 Speaker 4: What's the value chain looking like, what are the nuances? 155 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 4: Where can I And once you get an understanding. It 156 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 4: took me some time, by the way, to understand the 157 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:27,760 Speaker 4: full business and the complexities, but once you cross that 158 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 4: threshold you figure out what's feasible what's. 159 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 5: Not, then it opens up. 160 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:35,440 Speaker 4: Wait a minute, within the valuetion, I see ten areas 161 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:36,520 Speaker 4: I can optimize. 162 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:38,400 Speaker 3: You say, once you want to see in the business, 163 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 3: describe the business. What the Heineken puzzle? 164 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 5: So well, puzzle, Let's see if it's puzzle. 165 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 4: After I explained it's actually you start with the procurement 166 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 4: where you get the glasses, cans and all the raw materials. 167 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 4: Then it comes to the brewery where the magic happens. 168 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:54,920 Speaker 4: That's what behinneqn beer is produced. Then it goes to 169 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:58,560 Speaker 4: the distributors. Basically a supply chain takes over. Then it 170 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,280 Speaker 4: goes to the customers. What we refer to as customers 171 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:06,000 Speaker 4: are the bars, restaurants, retail stores, moment pop stores, convenience stores, 172 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:10,080 Speaker 4: and that's where actually consumers then come and actually consume 173 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:10,560 Speaker 4: the product. 174 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:12,320 Speaker 5: So that's actually the value chain. 175 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 4: It's actually pretty linear when you think of it, but 176 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:17,760 Speaker 4: there are nuances depending on the country and the market. 177 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:20,120 Speaker 4: There are some specific rules and guard rails that you 178 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:20,760 Speaker 4: have to be aware of. 179 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:24,400 Speaker 3: So you have that process going on all around the 180 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:27,600 Speaker 3: world and across multiple brands. 181 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:30,560 Speaker 4: Multiple brands, multiple countries, multiple operating companies. 182 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:34,440 Speaker 3: Yeah, from your perspective as someone who is the chief 183 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:37,440 Speaker 3: AI officer, what are the tasks in front of you? 184 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:38,840 Speaker 3: What's your opportunity? 185 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 4: There any process that you think that is maybe not 186 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 4: digitized or maybe not data driven, you can optimize. I 187 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:49,480 Speaker 4: look at it like a pendulum. So one side of 188 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:52,880 Speaker 4: the pendulum you have complete gut based decision making. The 189 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:55,920 Speaker 4: other extreme is completely data driven. So the idea is, 190 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:58,280 Speaker 4: can we swing this pendulum it will be towards data 191 00:08:58,360 --> 00:08:59,319 Speaker 4: driven from where we are. 192 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:03,360 Speaker 3: Give me a specific example of a problem you set 193 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:05,520 Speaker 3: out solve or address. 194 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:08,080 Speaker 4: There are quite a few, but if I want to 195 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:11,560 Speaker 4: pick one of the most fun one fun one may be. 196 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 5: The most most complex one. Let's bring that one. I think. 197 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:17,320 Speaker 4: So we spend quite a bit on advertising, and Heineken 198 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:20,560 Speaker 4: is a largely a lot of it marketing company, and 199 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:22,600 Speaker 4: we really care about our brands. 200 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 5: And products, you know, we're almost obsessed with it. Let's 201 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:26,000 Speaker 5: take an example. 202 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:28,600 Speaker 4: Let's say you have X million dollars as your budget 203 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:32,280 Speaker 4: and you have two brands, let's say Heineken and Tosa Kiss. 204 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:34,760 Speaker 4: I think the crowd audienceale will be familiar with that. 205 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:38,959 Speaker 4: And then you have three touch points TV, YouTube, Instagram, 206 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:43,840 Speaker 4: and I want to optimize my advertising budget between different 207 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:46,960 Speaker 4: brand and touch points, so heiniken on Instagram. 208 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:49,640 Speaker 5: How much should I spend? It's a very easy question to. 209 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:52,320 Speaker 4: Ask, but to actually solve this you have to study 210 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:55,600 Speaker 4: historically how these performed and then create a model and 211 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:59,080 Speaker 4: then predict if I allocate my budget in this way 212 00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:02,440 Speaker 4: that's probab more optimal. Before it was more like somebody 213 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:05,319 Speaker 4: to con gun based decisions saying okay, here goes xpillion, 214 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:07,560 Speaker 4: here goes five million, and we say no, no, no, that's 215 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:08,520 Speaker 4: not the right proportion. 216 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:11,959 Speaker 3: What did the AI tell you about the accuracy of 217 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:14,240 Speaker 3: those spending decisions? 218 00:10:14,679 --> 00:10:17,319 Speaker 4: In the past, we looked at the return on investment 219 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:20,200 Speaker 4: from this advertising, so how much incremental volume or volume 220 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:23,520 Speaker 4: of brre reselling or revenue are recreating and we find 221 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:26,640 Speaker 4: out can we improve that. It's a moment to apply AI. 222 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:29,440 Speaker 4: And when we look at that this significant improvement. In 223 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:33,439 Speaker 4: some cases we have thirty percent uplift, thirty percent, thirty percent, 224 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 4: three zero not everywhere. In some places we got but 225 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:39,439 Speaker 4: it ranges between ten to thirty percent uplift depending on 226 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 4: the type of AI product you're building. 227 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:43,079 Speaker 5: And that impacts the top line. 228 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:45,960 Speaker 4: So it's very easy to also realize that value. 229 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 5: People get to see. 230 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:49,480 Speaker 3: It, so you say, oh, we we can do a 231 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 3: way better job if we spend x more or x 232 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:54,440 Speaker 3: less in this particular area. Give me another example of 233 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:54,920 Speaker 3: a if. 234 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:57,880 Speaker 4: Another one would be we have a very big large 235 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:01,679 Speaker 4: salesforce within Ainiken. So this sales reap. What they do 236 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 4: they go to the outlets, the bars and restaurants, and 237 00:11:04,559 --> 00:11:08,040 Speaker 4: they maintain that human to human relationships with these our 238 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:11,240 Speaker 4: customers is super important to maintain that, and they go 239 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:13,959 Speaker 4: solve the customer problems. Let's say someone is out of stock, 240 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:17,320 Speaker 4: someone is about to churn, or their surprise mismatch, something 241 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:19,720 Speaker 4: like this, and before they us to go like this, 242 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:22,120 Speaker 4: let's say a sales rep on a day to day 243 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:25,640 Speaker 4: job has to visit five places ab CD E, five 244 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:29,760 Speaker 4: different outlets, and he used to go ABCDE. Turns out, 245 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:32,679 Speaker 4: the model tells you on any given day, if you 246 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 4: optimize taking into account the traffic conditions, instead of going 247 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:40,120 Speaker 4: from that linear route, you go to D first and 248 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:42,000 Speaker 4: then to B, then to C, then to E and 249 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:44,240 Speaker 4: then to A. And the reason for doing that is 250 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:47,439 Speaker 4: the model tells you, if you visit customer D first, 251 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:49,760 Speaker 4: he has the biggest problem that needs the most amount 252 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:52,600 Speaker 4: of time to be solved, and that's how it optimize. 253 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:54,280 Speaker 5: And also the sales reps now. 254 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:57,600 Speaker 4: They are becoming so educated with some of these AI models, 255 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:00,800 Speaker 4: they are now becoming a business advisors. So they are 256 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:04,280 Speaker 4: no longer just solving little problems. They are having the 257 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:06,400 Speaker 4: time to say what else can I do for you 258 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:09,400 Speaker 4: as the customer? So that I think it was a 259 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:12,000 Speaker 4: big change within Heineken because it impacted a lot of 260 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:13,679 Speaker 4: people that were using that. 261 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:16,560 Speaker 3: In an instance, it requires not just building a model 262 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:19,600 Speaker 3: that can be smarter about how people should spend their 263 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:21,720 Speaker 3: time and what they should say, but you have to 264 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:27,280 Speaker 3: obviously educate your salesforce to believe in what the selling 265 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:29,840 Speaker 3: tell me about that piece. Is that a piece that 266 00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:31,360 Speaker 3: you that you're a part of or is someone else? 267 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:33,959 Speaker 4: Yeah, that's also part of because that is super important. 268 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:36,680 Speaker 4: I think we can build the best models. Best algorithm's 269 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:39,800 Speaker 4: highest accuracy doesn't mean anything if it's not used the 270 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:42,199 Speaker 4: right way. So what we do we have within our 271 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:46,440 Speaker 4: company a pretty big upskilling program. So bring everyone along 272 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:50,640 Speaker 4: in common understanding, basic understanding of what AI does. Not 273 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:54,640 Speaker 4: everyone needs to understand new networks or algorithms right, But 274 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:58,320 Speaker 4: what we do is give them a handheld device and 275 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:00,839 Speaker 4: an app which is driven by AI. Play with it, 276 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:03,760 Speaker 4: have fun, see how it changes your life. And once 277 00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:07,160 Speaker 4: you start liking the product, liking the UIUX, then you 278 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:09,680 Speaker 4: start getting more. And the insights also tell you the 279 00:13:09,679 --> 00:13:12,319 Speaker 4: story because once you start getting the value, I am 280 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:16,840 Speaker 4: not having to pitch my models anymore. The sales reps 281 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:19,439 Speaker 4: and the markets they are pitching on behalf of us. 282 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:21,760 Speaker 5: And that's such a good place to. 283 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:26,040 Speaker 3: Be, is it. It's interesting? So in that instance where 284 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:29,760 Speaker 3: you're designing a more efficient form of interaction and fruitful 285 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:33,000 Speaker 3: for of interaction between sales reps and customers, I could 286 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:35,920 Speaker 3: see a version of that where it is really clear 287 00:13:36,559 --> 00:13:40,480 Speaker 3: looking up from a high level that things are working better, 288 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:43,680 Speaker 3: but it might not be clear to the salesperson. Is 289 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:46,680 Speaker 3: the salesperson who's now following the direction of the AI 290 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:48,800 Speaker 3: aware that they are more efficient? 291 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:50,359 Speaker 5: They are? 292 00:13:50,559 --> 00:13:51,600 Speaker 3: How are they aware the market? 293 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:54,360 Speaker 4: They realize few things that they were visiting customers just 294 00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:57,040 Speaker 4: because they had to visit because it was in the schedule. 295 00:13:57,520 --> 00:13:59,959 Speaker 4: Now they go there and they find out, wait a minute, 296 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:03,160 Speaker 4: I never tackled this big problem that was not being addressed, 297 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:07,120 Speaker 4: and they solved it. And the customer feedback also comes 298 00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:09,920 Speaker 4: back saying we are really happy. So for all these products, 299 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:12,000 Speaker 4: we get the feedback not just from the sales reps, 300 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:14,760 Speaker 4: but also for the customers. Do you really like the 301 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,920 Speaker 4: recommendations we are giving you? And that's the best validation 302 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:20,440 Speaker 4: you can think of, because it's four stand or feedback. 303 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:23,800 Speaker 3: When the AI is doing this ranking, it wants you 304 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:27,920 Speaker 3: to focus on the customer with the biggest problem first 305 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:29,240 Speaker 3: or is it much more complex than that. 306 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:30,680 Speaker 5: It's a little bit more complex than that. 307 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:33,400 Speaker 4: Yeah, but usually it's a rank pordert in terms of 308 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:35,960 Speaker 4: which one is the biggest problem that needs the most 309 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:36,640 Speaker 4: amount of time. 310 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:38,160 Speaker 5: That's how it's ranked order. 311 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:40,440 Speaker 4: But sometimes you can also override the model, right, We 312 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:43,720 Speaker 4: also give options to people. You don't have to all 313 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:46,080 Speaker 4: the time one hundred percent follow the recommendation. If you 314 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:48,920 Speaker 4: have some urgent priority, you can overwrite that. 315 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:51,800 Speaker 3: That's also possible with something like that. Is there a 316 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:55,200 Speaker 3: next level you can go to? So you design this 317 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:56,920 Speaker 3: system and you say, oh, I can make our sales 318 00:14:56,920 --> 00:14:59,480 Speaker 3: staff a lot more effective and the way they operate 319 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:03,960 Speaker 3: with their customers, and then you see that it works, 320 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 3: and then it comes back and then you say, okay, 321 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:09,240 Speaker 3: what's two point oh? Is there a two point oh. 322 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:09,480 Speaker 5: It could be. 323 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:13,120 Speaker 4: So it's always about innovation. Then you think, okay, today 324 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:15,360 Speaker 4: we go and solve the problems that have already happened. 325 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:19,080 Speaker 4: What if we solve the problems that are likely to happen, 326 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:22,440 Speaker 4: that will be the next step. So this customer hasn't 327 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:25,160 Speaker 4: been very active for a while, there's a high chance 328 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:28,240 Speaker 4: that that customer might churn out of Heineken. So what 329 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:31,640 Speaker 4: actions can I actually recommend to make sure And we 330 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:33,640 Speaker 4: do this, by the way, we also gather a lot 331 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:37,040 Speaker 4: of customer feedback and complaints and feedback, and we use 332 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:39,600 Speaker 4: LLLMS to extract and glean information. Okay, what are the 333 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:42,080 Speaker 4: real pain points? What's the theme and the topic that 334 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:44,760 Speaker 4: needs to be addressed. And once you do that, then 335 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:47,520 Speaker 4: also you can prepare ahead of time. We're already there, 336 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 4: by the way, when I say two point zero, we're 337 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:52,600 Speaker 4: already testing it. You solve problems or you'll try to 338 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:55,440 Speaker 4: solve problems before daven occur. So I think that's a 339 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:57,280 Speaker 4: little bit of a two point zero. Then we have 340 00:15:57,320 --> 00:15:58,720 Speaker 4: to see what else we can do with it. 341 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:03,600 Speaker 3: Tell me you've had this partnership at Heineken with IBM 342 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:08,480 Speaker 3: for since twenty thirteen, twenty thirteen, So you came in 343 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:12,200 Speaker 3: and there was already a strong working relationship. Tell me 344 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:14,760 Speaker 3: about how that relationship started and what does it mean 345 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:18,920 Speaker 3: on a practical basis. You're building all these tools, how 346 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:20,400 Speaker 3: does the interaction with IBM work. 347 00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:22,640 Speaker 4: Yeah, so I think good to give a little bit 348 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:26,760 Speaker 4: of context. Heineken started this digital transformation journey in twenty 349 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:30,040 Speaker 4: twenty formally, but the tech was already there. We had 350 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:34,120 Speaker 4: our systems, platforms, data, everything was there. So all the 351 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:37,600 Speaker 4: IT four ID systems is where IBM was partnering with 352 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,280 Speaker 4: us from the get go, from twenty thirteen, and it's 353 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:43,080 Speaker 4: a very long standing partnership because as we found the 354 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:46,560 Speaker 4: tech is evolving, our partnership also kept evolving because we 355 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:49,600 Speaker 4: need to keep up up to the speed. So it 356 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:53,520 Speaker 4: was more about IT for IT systems, cybersecurity platform, data, 357 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:56,600 Speaker 4: incident management, service level, you name it. 358 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:57,520 Speaker 5: All of that. 359 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:00,600 Speaker 4: IBM was supporting us both in terms of hands and 360 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:01,560 Speaker 4: also in terms. 361 00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:02,760 Speaker 5: Of strategy to create together. 362 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:05,800 Speaker 4: But that also evolved, like I said, when we went 363 00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:09,600 Speaker 4: into this digital transformation journey in twenty twenty, then we 364 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:13,960 Speaker 4: started building this digital core, which is the central nervous 365 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:17,680 Speaker 4: system software system of finikin that's where IBM is really 366 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:20,600 Speaker 4: partnering with us and helping us not just shape the 367 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:22,560 Speaker 4: whole thing in terms of building it hands on, but 368 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:25,080 Speaker 4: how do we strategize that so that it lands well. 369 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:28,720 Speaker 4: So that's yeah, it's a long trusted partnership. I think 370 00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:30,200 Speaker 4: we are going to go a long way together. 371 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:33,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, Heineken Space just sells out of Amsterdam. 372 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:36,480 Speaker 5: The head office is absolutely so the IBN. 373 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:38,359 Speaker 3: People who work with you are they on site? 374 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:40,720 Speaker 4: There are some on site and there are some teams 375 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:43,680 Speaker 4: in India some times spread across the globe. But for 376 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:46,000 Speaker 4: for tech, I think the location doesn't matter. But you 377 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:48,080 Speaker 4: still need people on site to actually talk with the 378 00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:50,960 Speaker 4: business and really understand what the problem for. 379 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:52,720 Speaker 5: Those interactions are also very important. 380 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:54,639 Speaker 3: When you said you wanted to when you got there, 381 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:57,560 Speaker 3: you wanted to build a digital nervous system, what does 382 00:17:57,560 --> 00:17:58,000 Speaker 3: that mean? 383 00:17:58,440 --> 00:17:59,720 Speaker 5: Maybe good to give you an example. 384 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:04,919 Speaker 4: Let's say iPhone, right, it's a central platform, but you 385 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:08,440 Speaker 4: can download thousands of apps there and all of them 386 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:11,600 Speaker 4: once you download seamlessly integrates with the system and you 387 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:14,439 Speaker 4: don't see any difference. This is the same thing. So 388 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:16,639 Speaker 4: what we want to build within Heineken is a central 389 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:19,159 Speaker 4: software system which the old school way of saying it 390 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:22,879 Speaker 4: is the ERP enterprise resource planning. It removes the fragmentation 391 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:25,760 Speaker 4: of different platforms, it brings it all together. It makes 392 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:29,240 Speaker 4: sure all the business applications within supply chain, commerce, finance 393 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:33,600 Speaker 4: HR all in one place and coordinates them everything orchestrates them. 394 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:37,040 Speaker 4: The benefit of doing that is two one across the 395 00:18:37,119 --> 00:18:39,919 Speaker 4: value channing of one way of doing business because everything 396 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:44,560 Speaker 4: is standardized, but we also have multiple markets globally. Across 397 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:47,440 Speaker 4: the multiple markets also it becomes one way of doing business, 398 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:50,840 Speaker 4: so it's both ways. And once you standardize it, we 399 00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:55,360 Speaker 4: can embed new apps which will seamlessly integrate, and then 400 00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:58,200 Speaker 4: it just keeps scaling further. Can we scaled very quick 401 00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:01,359 Speaker 4: and having that digital core really help us scale because 402 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:04,840 Speaker 4: the value from AI and insights is not just building 403 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:07,359 Speaker 4: one product in one place. It's how quickly can you 404 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:07,840 Speaker 4: scale it? 405 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:10,000 Speaker 3: And are you still building it or is it an 406 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:10,760 Speaker 3: ongoing thing or. 407 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:13,160 Speaker 4: It's ongoing thing because there are nuances in markets, There 408 00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:17,359 Speaker 4: are nuances in tax systems and currency systems, so it 409 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:19,440 Speaker 4: takes a little bit of as much as we want 410 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:21,480 Speaker 4: to standardize, you also have to bake in some of 411 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:25,440 Speaker 4: the nuances otherwise people cannot use it. So those sort 412 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:27,560 Speaker 4: of outliers we have to also bake in. 413 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:31,720 Speaker 3: You must learn something when you suddenly suddenly, but when 414 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:33,800 Speaker 3: you standardize a bunch of things that have not been 415 00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:37,520 Speaker 3: standardized before, presumably you have a basis for comparisons you 416 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:38,479 Speaker 3: couldn't make before. 417 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:40,399 Speaker 5: That's correct. 418 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:43,439 Speaker 4: So we also get a lot of external inspiration. So 419 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:46,560 Speaker 4: sometimes these large projects we don't start by over whom, 420 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:50,320 Speaker 4: so we get inspiration from partners like IBM or someone else. 421 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 4: How have they done it in somewhere else and where 422 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:56,560 Speaker 4: it's really working. So then you get those ideas, the learnings, 423 00:19:56,840 --> 00:19:59,639 Speaker 4: and you start building that way, and while doing that, 424 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:01,600 Speaker 4: you feel out that, wait a minute, we might have 425 00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:04,280 Speaker 4: done something different and maybe it's even better than what 426 00:20:04,359 --> 00:20:05,000 Speaker 4: others have done. 427 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:07,280 Speaker 5: Yeah, so it also creates creativity. 428 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:11,639 Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm just curious whether there was an insight that 429 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:16,040 Speaker 3: you learned from that process that comes to mind A 430 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:16,600 Speaker 3: big one. 431 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:20,040 Speaker 4: I think we don't look at tech for the sake 432 00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:22,600 Speaker 4: of tech and embedding it, you know, just just as 433 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:25,640 Speaker 4: one would say it's one single core, one single platform, 434 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:29,080 Speaker 4: everything coordinated. What's the big deal. The big deal is 435 00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:31,560 Speaker 4: bringing people along to actually believe that there is a 436 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:34,719 Speaker 4: benefit of doing one way of business, and that actually 437 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:37,240 Speaker 4: means the entire company, not just the leadership team. 438 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:38,320 Speaker 5: So to bring. 439 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:41,679 Speaker 4: Everyone on board and say, tell us how this platform 440 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:43,760 Speaker 4: should look like, what are the components we should build? 441 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:46,440 Speaker 4: It's a pretty big task. Yeah, that's where the chain 442 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:47,280 Speaker 4: management comes in. 443 00:20:47,359 --> 00:20:50,840 Speaker 3: Yeah, what was hard about that? Did you have bumps 444 00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 3: or we did? 445 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:55,359 Speaker 4: I think it's about convincing people the benefit of doing this. 446 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:58,000 Speaker 4: Why do we say, if you standardize something, we can 447 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,640 Speaker 4: go at high speed in scaling. It's not very easy 448 00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:03,199 Speaker 4: to visualize that at first. But what you do is 449 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:05,960 Speaker 4: you show some proof of concepts. And that's I won't 450 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:08,240 Speaker 4: call it a trick. It's almost bread and butter of 451 00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:11,320 Speaker 4: what we do. Show a small proof of concept, show 452 00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:13,919 Speaker 4: that it works, show that we can scale, and then 453 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:16,120 Speaker 4: automatically if people start having the faith, and then well 454 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:17,400 Speaker 4: say okay, I see it. 455 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:18,679 Speaker 5: Yeah it makes sense. 456 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:22,080 Speaker 3: Sergery, at least half of what you've talked about is 457 00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:24,080 Speaker 3: not about the check itself, but about being a kind 458 00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:27,320 Speaker 3: of evangelist for the check. It is half the right percentage. 459 00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:30,920 Speaker 3: How much of your time is spent convincing an organization 460 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:33,480 Speaker 3: and people in the organization to see the value in 461 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:35,480 Speaker 3: what you're doing as opposed to building the thing that 462 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:36,280 Speaker 3: has value. 463 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:38,879 Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that proportion changed over time. When I 464 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:41,280 Speaker 4: first joined, I was very much into the products itself. 465 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:44,000 Speaker 4: I was to review codes myself, let me check what's 466 00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:46,480 Speaker 4: going on. And over time, of course, then you focus 467 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:49,480 Speaker 4: on somewhere else. You realize, like I said, best codes, 468 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:52,280 Speaker 4: best models, I use this, if not use the right way, 469 00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:54,800 Speaker 4: then I said, okay, now my time is to actually 470 00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:57,840 Speaker 4: inspire and show people the value of it. What I 471 00:21:57,920 --> 00:22:02,760 Speaker 4: realized is explaining in very simple language really goes a 472 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:06,639 Speaker 4: long way because you take away that that anxiety that 473 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:09,359 Speaker 4: a new product is coming in and we humans a 474 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:12,040 Speaker 4: little bit have this. I don't know if it's the 475 00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:14,560 Speaker 4: right thing to say, but it's inertia of rest. We 476 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:17,919 Speaker 4: like status, poke, we don't sometimes like change that stops our. 477 00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:20,320 Speaker 4: So every time you build a new product that will 478 00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:22,879 Speaker 4: change our way of working. Yeah, there's inherent little bit 479 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:26,000 Speaker 4: of anxiety. Yeah, take that away. Yeah, a job becomes 480 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:26,640 Speaker 4: a lot easier. 481 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:29,159 Speaker 3: Are you a good evangelist? 482 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:30,479 Speaker 5: So far it's working? 483 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:33,760 Speaker 4: I think I can do better, for sure, because it's 484 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:37,760 Speaker 4: about understanding what's the reason people sometimes might be reluctant 485 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,760 Speaker 4: to actually onboard or adopt a new technology. And once 486 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:45,240 Speaker 4: you sort of understand that, then that anxiety goes away, 487 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:46,240 Speaker 4: it becomes easier. 488 00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:48,520 Speaker 3: How many people work for a hidekinde. 489 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:50,760 Speaker 5: About eighty five thousand, ninety thousand. 490 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:55,160 Speaker 3: Globally, so you have essentially a city pretty much. And 491 00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:57,440 Speaker 3: if you look at that universe of eighty five thousand, 492 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:00,719 Speaker 3: is there anyone in that universe who is not what 493 00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:01,200 Speaker 3: you're doing? 494 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:05,200 Speaker 4: The way we do it is we prioritize based on 495 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:09,080 Speaker 4: the size of the market and the potential opportunity. Yes, 496 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:12,560 Speaker 4: if I had infinite resources, I would go everywhere within 497 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:15,119 Speaker 4: the high Naken company and do everything, But we cannot. 498 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:16,840 Speaker 5: We don't have infinite resources. 499 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:18,960 Speaker 4: So we say, let's be a little bit picky and 500 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:21,880 Speaker 4: choosy where the biggest opportunities are. But it's a matter 501 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:24,560 Speaker 4: of time. Right today we touch upon the big market's 502 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:28,080 Speaker 4: biggest scope. Over time, it's going to be pervasive through 503 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,600 Speaker 4: the company. But the appetite is already there, so people 504 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:34,280 Speaker 4: are really even if they have not really embedded some product, 505 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:37,840 Speaker 4: they're asking for it, which is a fantastic place to be. 506 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:41,359 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, what's been your biggest disappointment? 507 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:41,840 Speaker 5: So far. 508 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:44,640 Speaker 4: So far, it's been very fulfilling, I must say, but 509 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:47,159 Speaker 4: I think what I would look back. Can we do 510 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:49,240 Speaker 4: things a little bit quicker? Can we go a little 511 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:52,400 Speaker 4: bit at high speed? And that's why this whole concept 512 00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:55,239 Speaker 4: of digital backbone. Can we standardized everything? If we can 513 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:58,119 Speaker 4: speed that up, if we can really scale quickly, I 514 00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:00,159 Speaker 4: think that will be the best. Because today have a 515 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:03,520 Speaker 4: very good problem. People are asking for products. Sometimes I say, yeah, 516 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:07,040 Speaker 4: I need to put it on a timeline in a roadmap, 517 00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:08,960 Speaker 4: because I cannot just cater to it immediately. 518 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:12,320 Speaker 3: Presumably that's one of the things that the people you're 519 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:14,280 Speaker 3: working with at IBM can tell you. They can give 520 00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:18,639 Speaker 3: you a sense of how quickly others have adopted some 521 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:19,440 Speaker 3: of these technology. 522 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:21,400 Speaker 4: That's correct, and that's actually one of the bench funds 523 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:24,200 Speaker 4: that you're referring to. We see I'll be losing pace, 524 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:26,679 Speaker 4: and which other things can we go forward? And in 525 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:28,720 Speaker 4: some case when you look at the digital core and 526 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:32,040 Speaker 4: the backbone, maybe specific areas we can speed up because 527 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:34,399 Speaker 4: those are the areas that are maximum potential value, and 528 00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:36,240 Speaker 4: some of them we can deprioritize a little bit. 529 00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:38,760 Speaker 5: Yeah, that we do all the time. Yeah, just a 530 00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:39,880 Speaker 5: pragmatic approach. 531 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:43,879 Speaker 3: To I'm curious about a highly specific question, which is, 532 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:49,800 Speaker 3: so here you have a legacy brewer bas in the Netherlands, 533 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:53,840 Speaker 3: one hundred and sixty years old. If I were to say, 534 00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:56,480 Speaker 3: I want you to take an entirely new job, I 535 00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:58,800 Speaker 3: want you to do what you're doing, but I want 536 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:02,159 Speaker 3: you to do it for an American company in a 537 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:07,479 Speaker 3: completely different industry that's thirty years old, maybe a company 538 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:11,919 Speaker 3: that makes the vacuum cleaners thirty years old in America. 539 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:13,760 Speaker 3: How much of what you're doing. I guess what I'm 540 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:16,159 Speaker 3: trying to say is, are there's things that are particular 541 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:20,360 Speaker 3: to Heineken that have made your job sort of challenging 542 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:23,520 Speaker 3: or interesting or that just wouldn't be an issue in 543 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:24,680 Speaker 3: another environment. 544 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:28,520 Speaker 4: So it's a good question, and thanks for the enticing offer, 545 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:30,840 Speaker 4: but I will pollite. 546 00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:33,760 Speaker 3: I tried to make it as an average exactly. 547 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:35,880 Speaker 4: But I won't polite to reject offer. But I'll tell 548 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:36,560 Speaker 4: you why i'll reject. 549 00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:39,320 Speaker 3: You're going to be in Nebraska. They're making just one 550 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:40,359 Speaker 3: kind of vacuum cleaner. 551 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:43,159 Speaker 4: What I went to school in Iowas, Yes, exactly, So 552 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:46,520 Speaker 4: I'm quite a bit. I think there's a cultural difference 553 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:50,240 Speaker 4: we're all very passionate about our brands and products, and 554 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:52,119 Speaker 4: there's a lot of it is connection based in the 555 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:55,280 Speaker 4: sense we create these connections with our customers sometimes consumers, 556 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:58,240 Speaker 4: and it's all about maintaining that. And once you get 557 00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:00,000 Speaker 4: a feel of it, you feel part of the family. 558 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:03,000 Speaker 4: That's a very good feeling to have. And the fact 559 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:04,639 Speaker 4: that today where I am, if I look back, I 560 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:08,520 Speaker 4: probably will happy to say very fortunate to have probably 561 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:09,800 Speaker 4: one of the best jobs in the world in the 562 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:12,200 Speaker 4: current times. And there is no end to innovation, by 563 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:14,760 Speaker 4: the way, and even within Heineken, yes it's a traditional 564 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:17,600 Speaker 4: company who is stopping innovation. There's a lot more too, 565 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:20,359 Speaker 4: so I'll be very busy for the next few years. 566 00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:23,439 Speaker 3: What are the Dutch like? This is one of the 567 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:27,720 Speaker 3: oldest and most successful commercial cultures in the world, A 568 00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:31,000 Speaker 3: tiny country that's been solidly successful, that's for it. I'm 569 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:34,560 Speaker 3: curious about innovating in that kind of environment. How is 570 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:37,359 Speaker 3: that different from innovating in a huge country like the 571 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:40,600 Speaker 3: United States or in a different kind of national culture. 572 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:43,960 Speaker 4: I think it's a question of opportunity because within Netherlands, 573 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,280 Speaker 4: by the way, Netherlands has one of the most highest 574 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:51,280 Speaker 4: number of startups within Europe, if not the highest. So 575 00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:54,760 Speaker 4: there is this culture of innovation that's already embedded in there. 576 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:57,840 Speaker 4: It's happening all the time. Companies like Phillips, ASML some 577 00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:01,640 Speaker 4: of the very big players already there. So it could 578 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:04,399 Speaker 4: be a little bit different. I think in Netherlands we 579 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:06,080 Speaker 4: want to make sure what we are doing really is 580 00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:08,320 Speaker 4: going to work, so there's a little bit of discussion alignment. 581 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:11,960 Speaker 4: It's more structured, but also agile in a way we 582 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:15,000 Speaker 4: do things, and us was more like let's do let's 583 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:18,680 Speaker 4: go quick, experiment, learn fail. So I think there's pros 584 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:22,120 Speaker 4: and cons on both sides, but so far it's quite good. 585 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:25,240 Speaker 3: Give me a sense of what your what's a day 586 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,960 Speaker 3: in a life like for you? What does it look 587 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,040 Speaker 3: like to have the job that you have in a 588 00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:31,760 Speaker 3: place a cande. 589 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:34,280 Speaker 4: First of all, it starts with the calendar and the 590 00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:37,600 Speaker 4: number of meetings I have, which is usually filled for 591 00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:41,240 Speaker 4: forty hours longer in the week. So that's the starting point, 592 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:43,200 Speaker 4: and then I have to pick and choose which meetings 593 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:45,679 Speaker 4: I need to prepare for what, and usually these meetings 594 00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:48,480 Speaker 4: are mostly about where are we with the product. 595 00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:48,960 Speaker 5: What are the challenges? 596 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:51,840 Speaker 4: How can I help and solve it, and then sometimes 597 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:55,560 Speaker 4: also pitching new products or convincing something, and also sometimes 598 00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:58,760 Speaker 4: chain management. I'd also do sessions where I present internally 599 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:01,800 Speaker 4: quite quite often go to different places, because it always 600 00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:04,280 Speaker 4: helps to be in front of the audience when you're 601 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:08,000 Speaker 4: presenting something. We also started something recently which we call 602 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:11,239 Speaker 4: AI boot Camp, which is you use JANEAI as an 603 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:14,600 Speaker 4: interface for all these big AI models and people can 604 00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:17,960 Speaker 4: interact in a very fun way. That's our new way 605 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:21,639 Speaker 4: of really convincing the rest of the company that hey, 606 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:23,840 Speaker 4: this is fun to play with and let's go. 607 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:27,280 Speaker 3: So yeah, it's how many people would you cycle through 608 00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:29,800 Speaker 3: that kind of book camp anyone? 609 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:32,040 Speaker 4: Usually we keep it a small group just to make 610 00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:36,320 Speaker 4: sure everyone is doing something hands on and nobody's just listening. 611 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:39,320 Speaker 4: So usually a twenty to thirty people max. And then 612 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:41,560 Speaker 4: go from one place to other and it's all hands on. 613 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:44,000 Speaker 4: You cannot sit and watch. You have to participate. 614 00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:46,840 Speaker 3: Are you directly involved at all in the design or 615 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 3: creation of any of these tools? 616 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:51,720 Speaker 4: So I review it and then I used to review 617 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:54,920 Speaker 4: also the codes before, and now I'm mostly like trying 618 00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 4: to get the feedback from the people that are using it, 619 00:28:57,520 --> 00:28:59,440 Speaker 4: because that's my best validation point. 620 00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:02,400 Speaker 5: I high net promoter score on these products. 621 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:04,600 Speaker 4: I know the job is well done, but I do 622 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:06,920 Speaker 4: check accuracy of model. Some of the basic things you'll 623 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:09,720 Speaker 4: check in AI. Is the model drifting over time? What's 624 00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:10,400 Speaker 4: the accuracy? 625 00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:10,640 Speaker 5: You know? 626 00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,440 Speaker 4: How is it hosted on a platform? These things I check. 627 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:15,920 Speaker 4: But we also have mechanisms on those, so it's not 628 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:17,600 Speaker 4: like every time you have a DiPT deep and look 629 00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:18,160 Speaker 4: into everything. 630 00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:18,720 Speaker 5: Yeah. 631 00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:21,160 Speaker 4: So once you have these mechanisms in place, then these 632 00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:22,480 Speaker 4: sort of tasks become easier. 633 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:25,280 Speaker 3: You've used the phrase that you want to make honey 634 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:28,200 Speaker 3: in the Best Connected Brewer. What does that phrase mean? 635 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:29,080 Speaker 5: Yeah? 636 00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:30,880 Speaker 4: So I think it started with the ambition in twenty 637 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:33,720 Speaker 4: twenty when we said we're going to digital transform. Remember 638 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 4: the pendulum I was talking about from gut page to 639 00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:39,240 Speaker 4: all the way to data driven And in today's world, 640 00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:41,719 Speaker 4: when you think of digital transmission, there are a few components, 641 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:44,920 Speaker 4: cybersecurity being one of them, the digital core, like I 642 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:47,760 Speaker 4: was saying, is one of them. Simplification and automation of 643 00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:50,520 Speaker 4: systems is one of them. Our breweries, how can we simplify? 644 00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:52,960 Speaker 4: And then comes data and AI, which is the really 645 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:55,520 Speaker 4: one of the biggest components. And when you think of 646 00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:58,520 Speaker 4: best connected Brewer, the idea is we have been serving 647 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:01,720 Speaker 4: our consumers and customers for one hundred and sixty two years. 648 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:06,160 Speaker 4: What's different If you leverage tech into Bay's world. I 649 00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:09,400 Speaker 4: think you can really enhance the experience the customers have. 650 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:12,360 Speaker 4: The example I was giving you earlier about the salesforce 651 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:15,960 Speaker 4: going in different places and optimizing the rout that's a 652 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:18,720 Speaker 4: good example why the relation is maintained just simply by 653 00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:21,680 Speaker 4: data driven insights. So if you can connect all the 654 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:26,240 Speaker 4: different applications, all the platforms, remove fragmentation, scale very quick, 655 00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:30,680 Speaker 4: make sure your company is CyberSecure, things are simple and automated. 656 00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:34,680 Speaker 4: That's what we call the best connected brower. That's the ambition. 657 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:38,280 Speaker 3: Actually, how do you measure this success of what you're doing? 658 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:44,200 Speaker 3: Is do you expect that your efforts will have a 659 00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:46,880 Speaker 3: measurable and tangible effect on the bottom line of the company? 660 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:52,240 Speaker 3: And can you actually figure out what the impact of 661 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:52,960 Speaker 3: your efforts is? 662 00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:53,960 Speaker 5: Yeah, we do. 663 00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:57,000 Speaker 4: I think that is super important to measure because the 664 00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:00,120 Speaker 4: first one I was referring to proof of value and 665 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:03,000 Speaker 4: I'm embedding some model, does it really work? So we 666 00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:06,000 Speaker 4: do a B testing, which is basically you keep aside 667 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:08,560 Speaker 4: some sample and you actually launch the product on a 668 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:10,640 Speaker 4: different sample, and you see the difference between the two. 669 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:14,000 Speaker 4: The assumption is those that had the product and those 670 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:16,440 Speaker 4: that didn't have the product, both of them went through 671 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:20,200 Speaker 4: the same experiences because of market seasonal, etc. That's one 672 00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:22,440 Speaker 4: good way of doing it. And if you cannot have 673 00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:25,120 Speaker 4: the luxury sometimes of doing a B testing because everyone 674 00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:27,520 Speaker 4: is having high appetite, give me the product I don't 675 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:30,040 Speaker 4: want to sit aside. Then you do some sort of 676 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:33,040 Speaker 4: causal models like we say, so you kind of look 677 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:36,040 Speaker 4: at what would have happened if the model was not there, 678 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:39,560 Speaker 4: and then you predict that and since the model was there, 679 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:42,120 Speaker 4: something else happened. The difference between the two is the 680 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:45,080 Speaker 4: incremental value the model is creating. A B testing is 681 00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:47,880 Speaker 4: more accurate the causal models. The other one, like you said, 682 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:50,760 Speaker 4: which called time series model, a little bit less accurate, 683 00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:53,560 Speaker 4: but directionally both give you the sense that yes, it's working. 684 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:55,800 Speaker 3: What happens if you do a B testing or a 685 00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:58,600 Speaker 3: new idea and you don't see a difference. 686 00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:01,280 Speaker 4: In that case, we will move on to something else 687 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:04,800 Speaker 4: because it means it's already optimal. Then we said, good, 688 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:07,680 Speaker 4: check that now let's move on to something else. But 689 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:10,080 Speaker 4: we need to just make sure that the process is 690 00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:11,320 Speaker 4: still running optimally. 691 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:12,600 Speaker 5: So time to time, you keep. 692 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:15,440 Speaker 4: Doing every testing anyway, every six months or whatever the 693 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:17,960 Speaker 4: timeframe is. Yeah, just to make sure that it's still 694 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:18,760 Speaker 4: still relevant. 695 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:21,040 Speaker 3: But what if this is we're getting out on a 696 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:23,680 Speaker 3: little bit of a digression here, but it's something I've 697 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:27,040 Speaker 3: often thought about. What if the value that is being 698 00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:30,440 Speaker 3: created is not measurable? So I'll give you a dumb example. 699 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:34,960 Speaker 3: When you were talking earlier about the salesman and giving 700 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:38,200 Speaker 3: them a new, you know, better instructions about how to 701 00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:42,440 Speaker 3: basically spend their day, what if you tested that, discovered 702 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:45,400 Speaker 3: it it didn't have any effect on the bottom line. 703 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:48,680 Speaker 3: But in fact, what was happening was that the salesmen 704 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:51,520 Speaker 3: were a lot happier with their jobs. And we're satisfied 705 00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:55,160 Speaker 3: and we're excited to come to work. Do you measure 706 00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:57,040 Speaker 3: something like that? Something intolerable? 707 00:32:57,160 --> 00:32:57,640 Speaker 5: Measure? 708 00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:00,720 Speaker 4: One way is NPS four, which I said promoter score. 709 00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:02,640 Speaker 4: Are you really happy with the product? Has it changed 710 00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:05,920 Speaker 4: your life? That gives you a good indication then, And 711 00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:08,160 Speaker 4: by the way, it's a numeric output, so it gives 712 00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:12,480 Speaker 4: you a score between minus hundred to plus hundred, and 713 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:15,400 Speaker 4: sometimes it's not even tangible. Let's say we do something 714 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:18,040 Speaker 4: for corporate affairs because they want to get external signals 715 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:21,640 Speaker 4: of consumer insights and then just lean some information. Maybe 716 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,200 Speaker 4: we act on it, maybe we don't, but this is 717 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:26,160 Speaker 4: for a good cause. Sometimes you just want to study 718 00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:28,680 Speaker 4: the market. There's no immediate value if you don't create 719 00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:31,000 Speaker 4: a product out of it, or something to do with 720 00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:34,400 Speaker 4: legal If there's a reputational risk for Heineken, can I 721 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:36,800 Speaker 4: extract some insight that will prevent us or create the 722 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:41,200 Speaker 4: best briefing or summary or external briefing that using AI 723 00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:45,880 Speaker 4: that will help us protect ourselves. That's also reputational damage. 724 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:49,440 Speaker 3: Last question before we go to questions. I'm curious when 725 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:53,680 Speaker 3: you look at the very beginning you talked about this 726 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:58,080 Speaker 3: linear value chain we're in that along that chain are 727 00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:01,320 Speaker 3: you having the most and where are you having the 728 00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:03,760 Speaker 3: least impact. I'm more interested in the second half of that. 729 00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:07,880 Speaker 4: Yeah, I think we covered few things, but one area 730 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:10,000 Speaker 4: I think we can do more is really. 731 00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:11,440 Speaker 5: Understanding consumer sentiments. 732 00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:15,279 Speaker 4: And the reason for that is Heineken is people go 733 00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:17,520 Speaker 4: to the bars and outlets and you're not really leading 734 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:20,680 Speaker 4: your first hand data there right, you're enjoying a beer, 735 00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:23,239 Speaker 4: then you walk away. I don't know exactly what you did. 736 00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:25,799 Speaker 4: I can get some aggregated data to make some sense 737 00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:29,000 Speaker 4: out of it. But if we can really get consumer 738 00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:32,040 Speaker 4: insights as to what the consumers like and dislike, what 739 00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:34,640 Speaker 4: sort of ad you like? How should I design my 740 00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:39,319 Speaker 4: Hanneken campaign so it resonates with a cluster of individuals. 741 00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:41,400 Speaker 4: That would be a little bit of holy grail as 742 00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:43,560 Speaker 4: the next step, like you were talking about two point zero, 743 00:34:44,160 --> 00:34:47,040 Speaker 4: and to get consumer insights first party data. 744 00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:47,800 Speaker 5: It's not super easy. 745 00:34:48,200 --> 00:34:51,120 Speaker 4: So what we are trying to do is create digital 746 00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:54,680 Speaker 4: twins of consumers. So at an aggregate level, they give 747 00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:57,279 Speaker 4: you a sense of Also with agent Kei, which is 748 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:00,000 Speaker 4: also you hear a lot about to get a sense 749 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:03,200 Speaker 4: of how consumers might react to certain campaign or certain product, 750 00:35:03,719 --> 00:35:05,640 Speaker 4: and that should give us quite a bit of insights 751 00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:07,759 Speaker 4: that right now we don't have access to. I think 752 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:09,359 Speaker 4: that's one of the areas we could really do. 753 00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:10,319 Speaker 5: A lot more. Yeah. 754 00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:12,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, So if I said last question, if I sat 755 00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:16,399 Speaker 3: down with you, it's twenty twenty six. Now, we did 756 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:19,319 Speaker 3: this over five years from now twenty thirty one, we're 757 00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:22,680 Speaker 3: sitting in this chair, tell me what the kind of 758 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:25,280 Speaker 3: what's going to be the next big score. 759 00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:28,480 Speaker 4: I think one area will be how we make our 760 00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:31,799 Speaker 4: lives as employees are finding a lot easier. So the repetitive, 761 00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:35,719 Speaker 4: boring task, manual task. Can we automate those things and 762 00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:38,160 Speaker 4: just use the time to do something more creative and 763 00:35:38,239 --> 00:35:41,520 Speaker 4: think big about the business itself. That will be one area, 764 00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:44,160 Speaker 4: most on the productivity side. But the other area would 765 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:46,960 Speaker 4: be Indeed, when we look at gen Z and this 766 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:50,319 Speaker 4: is fact, I'm not saying something my own opinion, there's 767 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:54,319 Speaker 4: a trend of distinct trend of alcohol as a beverage. 768 00:35:54,560 --> 00:35:57,080 Speaker 4: The consumption is on a decline. So then what's the 769 00:35:57,120 --> 00:36:01,680 Speaker 4: next best thing for the new generation? What will resonate? 770 00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:04,279 Speaker 4: Those are the pockets we need to find, and I 771 00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:07,120 Speaker 4: think that's where we will transition very quickly over the 772 00:36:07,120 --> 00:36:07,719 Speaker 4: next five years. 773 00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:08,920 Speaker 5: And if you get there, I think that will be 774 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:09,520 Speaker 5: big success. 775 00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:16,399 Speaker 3: So you think that your specific department responsibility can help 776 00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:18,880 Speaker 3: the company in discovering what the answer to that question 777 00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:19,360 Speaker 3: is about. 778 00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:21,880 Speaker 4: Definitely, that's the ambition, that's what we're trying to do. 779 00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:23,880 Speaker 4: That's what we are really trying to get this one 780 00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:26,080 Speaker 4: over insights. I think that's the last mile. That's the 781 00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:27,600 Speaker 4: one part that is left. 782 00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:31,000 Speaker 3: Sergey, this has been fascinating. Thank you so much. I 783 00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:33,320 Speaker 3: should say thank you for a question, sir. My uncle 784 00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:37,080 Speaker 3: was a Heineken salesman in Jamaica. He was the local 785 00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:40,960 Speaker 3: distributor and I have so many child memories of going 786 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:43,359 Speaker 3: to Jamaica and he would show up in his Heineken truck. 787 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:50,680 Speaker 3: So we're resonating deep in my mimory with this conversation. 788 00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:52,480 Speaker 3: He would come and he would have a Heineken right 789 00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:54,520 Speaker 3: there on the on the table and would drink it 790 00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:57,000 Speaker 3: at the end of the day. But we have we 791 00:36:57,080 --> 00:37:00,440 Speaker 3: have a few moments for questions. They're all the screen 792 00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:02,319 Speaker 3: and I don't have my glasses. Can you read them? 793 00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:04,640 Speaker 5: Yeah, I can, I can read them. Then they should 794 00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:05,879 Speaker 5: be going order to the first one. 795 00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:08,799 Speaker 3: Yeah no, no, no, no no, no, Rookie air, never 796 00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:12,400 Speaker 3: do that. Okay, read the first four and pick the 797 00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:13,360 Speaker 3: one you want to answer. 798 00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:15,959 Speaker 5: Okay, go tip. 799 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:18,120 Speaker 4: But I gave it away already, so I'm going to 800 00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:21,120 Speaker 4: now do what I said. No, I think the first 801 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:23,399 Speaker 4: one is quite relevant. So it's a question for both 802 00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:26,480 Speaker 4: of us. If you were advising a twenty year old, 803 00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:29,840 Speaker 4: what three skills. Would you tell them to start developing 804 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:33,480 Speaker 4: right now to stay relevant in an AI driven world? 805 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:37,799 Speaker 3: Oh well, well you don't you have a twenty year 806 00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:39,160 Speaker 3: old or a near twenty year old. You have a 807 00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:39,919 Speaker 3: fifteen year old? 808 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:41,319 Speaker 5: You told me I have a fifteen year old? 809 00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:42,600 Speaker 3: All right, what do you tell your son? 810 00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:44,120 Speaker 5: I thought you were going to answer them this first, 811 00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:45,480 Speaker 5: but my. 812 00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:48,040 Speaker 3: Kids are two and four. I tell them to put 813 00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:52,239 Speaker 3: away their toys. You this is more, you start more? 814 00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:55,000 Speaker 3: Do you have a is your fifteen year old son 815 00:37:55,080 --> 00:37:55,479 Speaker 3: or daughter? 816 00:37:55,600 --> 00:37:56,000 Speaker 5: His son? 817 00:37:56,239 --> 00:38:00,440 Speaker 4: And he's already thinker with AI. He's doing his own Python, etc. 818 00:38:00,719 --> 00:38:03,400 Speaker 4: Which I couldn't imagine when I was fifteen. So I 819 00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:06,640 Speaker 4: think I'll give a high level answer to be actually 820 00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:10,480 Speaker 4: successful depending on whether your hands on within AI, building 821 00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:13,160 Speaker 4: models yourself or not. There are three things I think 822 00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:17,160 Speaker 4: is super important. One is having that tech background, having 823 00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:19,319 Speaker 4: a common understanding of what AI really is. 824 00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:20,280 Speaker 5: It always helps. 825 00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:23,239 Speaker 4: Not everyone needs to have the details and algorithms and 826 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:27,120 Speaker 4: how models work, not needed, but having that basic understanding 827 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:29,520 Speaker 4: always is good. Then you know exactly how to gauge 828 00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:31,759 Speaker 4: what AI is really doing. And I think the other 829 00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:35,000 Speaker 4: thing is if you are in a corporate setting and 830 00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:37,839 Speaker 4: you are doing something for the business, work backwards from 831 00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:41,839 Speaker 4: the business and understand whatever you're building should actually touch 832 00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:44,279 Speaker 4: the business and make it beneficial for them. It's not 833 00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:46,680 Speaker 4: AI and modeling for the sake of it. That's for 834 00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:49,520 Speaker 4: a separate research and development. If you're in a corporate world, 835 00:38:49,719 --> 00:38:52,680 Speaker 4: try to build something beneficial for business. And I third 836 00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:54,719 Speaker 4: one I think which myself I learned quite a bit 837 00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:56,280 Speaker 4: in my in last six years. 838 00:38:56,920 --> 00:38:59,759 Speaker 5: It's communication. Talking about AI. 839 00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:02,840 Speaker 4: If you used a lot of tech jargon and mathematics, 840 00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:07,080 Speaker 4: sometimes people lose you. It's about how you really narrate 841 00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:09,440 Speaker 4: the story in a very simple way so people can 842 00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:11,839 Speaker 4: relate to it. I think if the combination of these 843 00:39:11,880 --> 00:39:14,480 Speaker 4: three has worked very well for me, so I can 844 00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:17,279 Speaker 4: say that anything you want to add. 845 00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:22,000 Speaker 3: It's funny because I I met this guy who's the 846 00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:25,480 Speaker 3: headmaster at a Jesuit school in Manhattan. We've been chatting 847 00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:28,120 Speaker 3: and I want to do a little program at his school, 848 00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:33,719 Speaker 3: and it's all about asking questions because we're now into 849 00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:36,000 Speaker 3: the era of asking questions right. 850 00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:36,560 Speaker 5: That's correct. 851 00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:38,560 Speaker 3: AI is this incredibly good tool, but you have to 852 00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:42,680 Speaker 3: ask the right questions. But this is not just true 853 00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:45,439 Speaker 3: of AI, but it's also true of the world we're 854 00:39:45,480 --> 00:39:49,480 Speaker 3: living in is a world that's so interconnected and everything 855 00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:53,640 Speaker 3: involves so many different people that your distinguishing feature in 856 00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:56,279 Speaker 3: many context is not where they're not the answers you have, 857 00:39:56,640 --> 00:39:58,239 Speaker 3: but the quality of the questions that you ask. 858 00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:00,759 Speaker 5: That's fantastic what you said. I fully avery. 859 00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:03,759 Speaker 4: I think it's about asking the right questions that really 860 00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:06,920 Speaker 4: tells you, you know, you're looking for that that unique 861 00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:07,960 Speaker 4: thing that that you're missing. 862 00:40:08,080 --> 00:40:09,839 Speaker 5: Yeah, I fully agree. 863 00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:14,120 Speaker 3: Maybe I'll advite you to this class and like you 864 00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:17,440 Speaker 3: have that kind of time on your hands, if you 865 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:19,879 Speaker 3: brought if you brought up you know, Heineken for all 866 00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:23,080 Speaker 3: the kids in school, that would that would really. 867 00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:26,200 Speaker 5: Yeah, surely we have to build a special product for that. 868 00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:29,360 Speaker 5: Well let's see, all right, next question, let's. 869 00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:32,400 Speaker 4: Go to this one or Malcolm, is there a particular 870 00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:35,920 Speaker 4: AI capability you are each excited to explore? 871 00:40:37,239 --> 00:40:38,240 Speaker 3: That's for you, my friend. 872 00:40:39,719 --> 00:40:42,239 Speaker 4: I think in the in the short term, I'm really 873 00:40:42,239 --> 00:40:44,920 Speaker 4: looking forward to Agent K. I is hearing a lot 874 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:48,400 Speaker 4: of noise and hype and there are a lot of 875 00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:51,000 Speaker 4: feedback that I'm getting from a lot of companies. Have 876 00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:54,320 Speaker 4: you really embedded Agent KI within your systems? There is 877 00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:56,640 Speaker 4: a very mixed feedback. Some say yes, some say no. 878 00:40:57,160 --> 00:40:59,000 Speaker 4: I think the potential of agent k I when we 879 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:02,279 Speaker 4: look at this task we do day to day. Let 880 00:41:02,280 --> 00:41:05,640 Speaker 4: me gives an example, invoice management or transactional finance or 881 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:08,879 Speaker 4: very repetitive task. If you can really automate augment those 882 00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:11,080 Speaker 4: things with agent KI, I think it's going to be 883 00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:13,400 Speaker 4: a game changer. If you free up thirty percent of 884 00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:16,960 Speaker 4: our time just by embedding these things, then I can 885 00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:20,680 Speaker 4: really think big. Everyone can think big. What's next? Then 886 00:41:20,719 --> 00:41:23,240 Speaker 4: the creativity comes in. Otherwise all day you are stuck 887 00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:26,000 Speaker 4: with the repetitive task. So I think that's what I'm 888 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:28,320 Speaker 4: really looking forward to. And this is very short term. 889 00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:29,640 Speaker 4: Within the next few years. 890 00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:33,360 Speaker 3: Yeah, we have I think, what time for one more question, 891 00:41:34,760 --> 00:41:38,560 Speaker 3: Sergey go for let's see this is it's got to 892 00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:40,439 Speaker 3: be the last one always has to be the best one. 893 00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:45,600 Speaker 4: Certain let for people hearing the phrase for the first time, 894 00:41:45,719 --> 00:41:48,880 Speaker 4: what is the real example that shows Heineken being the 895 00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:52,600 Speaker 4: best connected broer? Basically you're asking for a proof point. 896 00:41:53,040 --> 00:41:55,640 Speaker 4: Are we really becoming the best connective brower when we 897 00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:58,640 Speaker 4: look at our markets. Heinek in Mexico is a very 898 00:41:58,640 --> 00:42:01,880 Speaker 4: good example across how value chain if you work backwards 899 00:42:01,880 --> 00:42:06,680 Speaker 4: from consumers, customers and so on. We have advertising optimization 900 00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:10,640 Speaker 4: for consumers. For customers, we have next best action. Actually 901 00:42:10,719 --> 00:42:14,319 Speaker 4: for customers we are pricing and promotion optimized. For the salesforce, 902 00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:16,880 Speaker 4: we have next best action. For the breweries, we have 903 00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:19,680 Speaker 4: connected brewery. We are getting signals from these machines and 904 00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:23,120 Speaker 4: optimizing them. I think it covers a significant portion of 905 00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:26,560 Speaker 4: a value chain that's fully automated end to end. So 906 00:42:26,600 --> 00:42:28,480 Speaker 4: that would be a good example where we really saw 907 00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:31,160 Speaker 4: the benefit of taking it to the next level when 908 00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:34,440 Speaker 4: it comes to automation. So Mexico Heineken Mexico is a 909 00:42:34,440 --> 00:42:35,040 Speaker 4: good example. 910 00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:38,000 Speaker 3: Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you to 911 00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:40,240 Speaker 3: all of you who came to listen. 912 00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:43,480 Speaker 5: Thanks for it. Asper, Thank you very much. 913 00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:48,000 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's it for the first episode of season seven 914 00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:51,759 Speaker 3: of Smart Talks with IBM, But stay tuned. There's so 915 00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:54,360 Speaker 3: much more to come this season as we die further 916 00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:59,360 Speaker 3: into how AI and Quantum Computing are creating smarter business. 917 00:43:00,600 --> 00:43:03,680 Speaker 3: Smart Talks with IBM is produced by Matt Ramano, Amy 918 00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:08,680 Speaker 3: Gains McQuaid, and Jake Harper. Engineering by Ninabird Lawrence, Mastering 919 00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:12,960 Speaker 3: by Sarah Buguer music by Gramoscope, Strategy by Cassidy Meyer 920 00:43:13,280 --> 00:43:17,920 Speaker 3: and Sophia Derlin. Special thanks to Sergei Ghosh and Michelle Ganji. 921 00:43:17,960 --> 00:43:21,440 Speaker 3: Post from the Heineken Company. Smart Talks with IBM is 922 00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:25,399 Speaker 3: a production of Pushkin Industries and Ruby Studio at iHeartMedia. 923 00:43:26,200 --> 00:43:30,120 Speaker 3: To find more Pushkin podcasts, listen on the iHeartRadio app, 924 00:43:30,360 --> 00:43:35,560 Speaker 3: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Malcolm Gladwell. 925 00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:39,440 Speaker 3: This is a paid advertisement from IBM. The conversations on 926 00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:50,840 Speaker 3: this podcast don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies, or opinions.