Paul Zikopoulos is the VP of IBM's Technology Sales Skills Vitality & Enablement group. He has spent almost 30 years at IBM continuously learning and acquiring new skills. Though he joined IBM with no formal technology training, he has since written 21 technology books and hundreds of articles through a commitment to lifelong learning. Zikopoulos believes that to be successful, one must never stop learning. He shares the story of Bradley Cooper spending 3 years preparing for a role in a movie that took 42 days to film, suggesting that level of commitment should be applied to one's career through continuous learning.

1. VOL 08 | ISSUE 03 | 2022
The 10
Most Intelligent
Leaders in
Data Science
& Analytics
2022
Has Humanity Reached
Peak Intelligence?
Paul
Paul
PavingtheWaywith
MultipleLearningCurves
Zikopoulos
Zikopoulos
Cognitive Abilities

4. Humans with
AI: A Centaurean
Future
have been a writer and an artist in the making, so I was pretty
Iexcited about technologies like DALL-E and Midjourney that
can create cool images given text as a prompt. Whatever you
say about my drawing abilities, I have a good imagination and
seeing it come to life as I write seemed pretty amazing to me.
Also, I remember when machines started winning chess matches
against human grandmasters, and there was an undercurrent of
worry in all news stories at that time, iterating, “will machines
overtake us everywhere?”
This worry seems to gain more weight when we start talking about
the manufacturing industry and how automation is putting more
and more people out of jobs. As a passionate enthusiasts of the sci-
fi genre, I am guilty of looking toward books and movies for
answers sometimes – are we going to be ruled by machines or are
we going to gain tools that will propel the evolution of our society
to new heights – in short, will it be an iRobot situation or a Real
Steel situation?
Probably neither, looking at history for a better factual answer,
when transportation evolved from an animal-based system to a
fully motorized one, there were many jobs that did go out of
existence, but dozens of new ones were created in its place. On the
parallel lines, Society industrialized with every man, woman, and
child owning some sort of vehicular system for travel. The same
thing happened when technologies like phones and the internet
were invented, and now it is happening again with artificial
intelligence.
EDITOR’S NOTE

5. As car racing became a beloved sport and computer-assisted humans 'centaurs' chess playing is becoming a
thing, AI assistance is pushing the limits of humans' physical, cognitive, and creative capabilities. But from
the outside, everything about AI can seem intimidating – 'am I too late to catch this train?' is the question
that comes to one's mind.
It doesn't have to be. Like a writer dabbling in novice AI artistry– the bar for entry in this field has become
quite low. The real question is how to reach the top of a field that seems to be inventing something new at a
breakneck speed.
We at Insights Success set to find leaders who have been at the forefront of AI and Data Science Analytics
technologies that are rapidly proliferating in every sphere of life at a speed that seems to leave one's head
spinning. In our latest edition, 'The 10 Most Intelligent Leaders in Data Science Analytics' they talk about
changes AI technology is set to bring in the future, how they keep pace with rapidly evolving tech, and what
it takes to become a leader in this industry.
Dwell into such inspiring stories and make sure to read the insightful articles opined by our In-house
editorial team.
Happy Reading!
Sakshi Shrivastava
SakshiShrivastava
The 10
Most Intelligent
Leaders in
Data Science
Analytics
2022

6. Has Humanity
Reached Peak
Intelligence?
22
The Fuss
about AI
30
Article
Cover Story
Paul Zikopoulos
VP - Technology Sales Skills Vitality Enablement Group
IBM
Paving the Waywith Multiple Learning Curves
08
Cognitive Abilities
CXO
Glimpse into future

7. 44
Venkat Raghavan Powering organisa ons with analy cs
38 Somya Malviya
An Insigh ul Data-Driven Leader
33
The Proper Blend of Business Process, Machine Learning,
and So ware Engineering Exper se
Sibanjan Das
26 Shekhar Gupta
U lizing AI for Predic ng Early Disease for Animals
18
Dr. Sunil Kumar
Vuppala
Solving Challenging Problems in the Telecom Domain Using AI
C O N T E N T

8. CONTENT
Senior Editor Alan Swann
Executive Editors Raunak Mhetre
Alex Spellman
DESIGN
Visualizer Dave Bates
Art Design Director Revati Badkas
Associate Designer Sonia Raizada
SALES
Senior Sales Manager Kshitij S.
Customer Success Manager Jack Ryan
Sales Executives John, Yogesh, Prathamesh
TECHNICAL
Technical Head Aditya K.
Technical Consultant Victor Collins
August, 2022
Copyright © 2022 CIOLOOK, All
rights reserved. The content
and images used in this
magazine should not be
reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without prior
permission from CIOLOOK.
Reprint rights remain solely
with CIOLOOK.
FOLLOW US ON
www.facebook.com/ciolook
www.twitter.com/ciolook
WE ARE ALSO AVAILABLE ON
Email
info@ciolook.com
For Subscription
www.ciolook.com
CONTACT US ON
Pooja M Bansal
Editor-in-Chief
sales@ciolook.com
SME-SMO
Research Analyst Eric Smith
SEO Executive Nikita Khaladkar

9. Brief
Company Name
Joann Stonier
Chief Data Officer
Paul Zikopoulos
Vice President
Shobhita Saxena
IT Leader
Sibanjan Das
Data Science Manager
Somya Malviya
Data Analyst
Stephanie Murphy
Account Manager
Storage Speciality Sales
Venkat Raghavan
Associate Director and
Global Head - Analytics
Dr. Sunil Kumar Vuppala
Director of Global
Artificial Sizing Intelligence
Accelerator (GAIA)
Ericsson
erricsson.com
Mastercard
mastercard.com
ServiceNow
servicenow.com
Asadullah Ansari
Director,
Engineering SW
Harman International
harman.com
Mastercard is connecting and powering an inclusive, digital
economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making
transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible.
IBM specializes in technology and infrastructure, software and
consulting.
MYANIML is an AI powered early disease prediction and
notification company.
Adient is a global leader in automotive seating.
ServiceNows's cloud-based platform and solutions help digitize
and unify organizations for smarter, faster, better ways to make
work flow.
GroupM is the world’s leading media investment company
innovates, differentiates and generates sustained value for
clients.
Dell Technologies provide the essential infrastructure for
organizations to transform their digital futures.
Tesco is the leading retailer of consumer goods from food to
fashion.
Ericsson is the leading provider of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) to service providers.
Harman International is a global leader in automotive
technology, lifestyle innovations, design and analytics.
GroupM
groupm.com
IBM
ibm.com
Tesco Business Services
tesco-bst.com
Adient
adient.com
Dell Technologies
dell.com
Featuring Person
Shekhar Gupta
CEO
MYANIML
myaniml.com

10. Paul Zikopoulos
If one of Hollywood's leading actors spends
three years preparing to film a movie remake
that took 42 days to film, how much time
do you think you should be
putting into learning for your career?
C O V E R S T O R Y
VP - Technology Sales Skills Vitality Enablement Group
IBM
Paving the Waywith
Multiple Learning Curves

12. If you’re not committed
to being a lifelong
learner, you’re going
to get stale in a hurry.
o you remember the famous cartoon featuring
DWile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, where the
speedy bird is persistently chased by a hungry
coyote who always came up with different ideas to
catch the Road Runner?
Though the show brought smiles to millions of faces,
what was most admirable was the sheer determination
and grit of that coyote. Wile E. Coyote was never
deterred by failure, he failed fast, was always learning,
and continuously came up with unique ways to try and
capture that bird. But what about the fact that he never
caught his prey? It's irrelevant because we all know that
would have ended the show. But we all admire Wile E
Coyote's sheer grit and determination to keep learning;
in short, this coyote's learning curve was always up.
When CIO LOOK set on a voyage to find “The 10 Most
Intelligent Leaders in Data Science Analytics,” we were
looking for leaders who have a similar learning
curve — that's when we found Paul Zikopoulos.
A journey with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge
(it comes from his parents, he tells us) has taken Paul
through all kinds of roles at IBM. Something that really
caught us off guard when we looked into his story? He
joined IBM from business school and had no formal
training in technology.
Today, Paul is the VP of IBM's Technology Sales Skills
Vitality Enablement group, where he oversees the
strategic direction to develop deeper technical skills for
IBM's entire sales force. For almost 30 years, Paul has
spent his professional life acquiring knowledge and
satisfying his massive appetite for learning. He advises
all who will listen, “If you're not committed to being a
lifelong learner, you're going to get stale in a hurry” When
you look at his accomplishments, you quickly realize
Paul's not interested in getting stale.
Paul credits IBM's culture of learning as an essential
part of his growth path that's led him to write 21
technology books and hundreds of articles (remember,
no formal training in technology). He was named a “Top
100 AI Big Data Thought Leader” by Analytics Insight
and to dozens of other “Thought Leader” and “People to
Follow” lists, not to mention awards for his speaking
and writing skills.
The Dog Years
Paul's journey has stops in Development, Product
Management, and Sales — going back and forth, all the
while spawning deep roots into technical communities
and clients. He showed us some calendar entries that
were a decade old and some just weeks old, they all had
one thing in common: large blocks of his calendar were
reserved for learning.
Paul began his career writing installation manuals and
in user design, which instilled in him a 'teaching'
capability. He broke down the complex stuff so that
anyone could not only understand what he was talking
about but follow his directions and learn themselves.
This turned out to be one of his greatest strengths.
Later he began to write data-focused magazine articles,
and when the stars aligned, he answered the calling to
become a book author, leading to name recognition as
an expert in the field of data, analytics, and AI.
Paul told us how one inflection point in his career was
when he made the decision to start focusing on other
database technologies; he worked to get certified in
Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server to complement his
database expertise in IBM Db2. With this knowledge,
he began to teach clients about things beyond what he
was selling, which he says was “The gamechanger when
it came to connecting with them.” When the analytics
market shifted, and suddenly everyone wanted to talk

13. about Big Data and Hadoop, it raised Paul's curiosity, so
he learned all he could and wrote the book “Hadoop for
Dummies.”
Paul would rinse and repeat this process many times in
domains such as Data Science, AI, and Cloud, writing
books on all of these topics. He shares, “See the pattern?
My journey has had multiple jobs, but it's all built on a
foundation of non-stop learning about something I
originally knew nothing about.” He jokes as he reflects on
the irony of it all, “I was the dummy that I was writing all
those “for Dummies” books for!”
The Hurdled Path
Paul faced several career challenges on this journey, but
he courageously shared with us that learning to believe
in himself was the biggest of them all. He mentions, “I
have this picture I always look at: it has a blue chair in the
middle and two yellow chairs on each side of the blue one.
Over the blue chair is text with an arrow pointing to it — it
says. “Here sat the leader that believed in me so much I
started to believe in myself.”
Paul humbly reminisces about Bob Picciano, Alyse
Dagehlian, Martin Wildberger, Rob Thomas, John
Teltsch, Fred Gandolfi, Frank Luksic, and Mark Ryan,
whom all shaped his journey, making a significant
difference in his life.
One of Paul's biggest challenges early on in his career
was the label he got for not being “technical enough”.
His hiring manager gave him an opportunity to prove
himself to the brilliant and accomplished minds that
surrounded him.

14. Sharing his experience, he says, “Talk about not
fitting in or feeling I wasn't good enough! It took
time and grit, but I had lots of both. I remember the
day I made a promise to myself to always be more
technical than I was the day before. I still have this
goal today! Remember this: compounding is the 8th
wonder of the world; if you keep learning… you'll
amaze many, including yourself, where you end up.”
Another challenge had some poor managers at
times, but he is quick to note that he had way
more good ones than bad — but this is the
reality of big places. He shares with us some
great advice if you find yourself in a similar spot:
“Remind yourself that you're not a tree… you can
move. I've been giving “Pick the boss, not the job”
advice for years; trust me, it works.” he says
confidently.
Early on, Paul knew that the technical mountain
he was aiming to climb was steep, and when
taking into account the sheer size of IBM (at the
time, ~400,000 people), he knew it would be
easy to get lost in a crowd. Paul made a bet that
putting focus on building his career outside of
IBM would really boost his career inside of IBM.
We admit it sounds strange when you first hear
it, but it makes total sense as you listen to him
speak. He noted how all the writing, public
speaking, and client work he did over the years
created a large following of customers and
communities that got him recognized within
IBM, and the rest took care of itself. He notes,
“One sure-fire way to impress your bosses is to
impress the client base and the community where
your solutions get sold.”
The Learning Never Stops
Paul asked us, “If a personal trainer told you to
workout with their program for the next two
months and you would never have to work out for
the rest of your life, what would you think?” We
answer, “They're crazy.” He says, “Agreed. So why
would anyone think work skills are any different?”
If you want to be successful, the process of
learning can never stop. The good news is that
it's never been easier to learn, well, anything.
There is something online for almost anything
you need to get done, he reminds us. Paul also

15. let us in on his secret (which is really a Robert Heinlein
quote): “When one teaches, two learn.” This is the reason
Paul writes the books he does. He never starts as an
expert in anything, but became knowledgeable by
writing and teaching. He notes, “Everyone can take what
they know really well and teach it in some way to someone
else. I've made content creation a job… and that's my secret
to learning.”
To emphasize the importance of learning, Paul shares
some entertaining trivia that really got us thinking.
“Let me really hit home how critical learning never ends is to
success with a fun fact. I saw a movie called 'A Star is Born.'
It stars two famous people: Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.
The movie is about a drug and alcohol-addicted country
singer (Cooper) and the discovery of a new star (Lady Gaga).
As you can figure out by now, it's about music, and of
course, Lady Gaga is world-famous as one of the most
successful recording artists in history. I found something
interesting. Lady Gaga demanded that Bradley Cooper
perform everything live! He had to play his own
instruments and sing live, too… no lip-synching or
autotuning allowed! Cooper took singing and piano lessons
to prepare for his role. When all was said and done, he spent
three years of effort preparing to film the 'A Star is Born'
movie.”
He reacts to the amusement on our faces while telling
this story by asking rhetorically, “Why am I telling you
this story? If one of Hollywood's leading actors spends three
years preparing to film a movie remake, which has been
done twice before, that took 42 days to film, how much
time do you think you should be putting into learning for
your own career?” He's right. We can all learn something
from this story.
Diversity at Core
Diversity is critical to any successful organization. Paul
states that every person deserves equitable
opportunities; it doesn't matter your race, background,
sexual orientation, or how you identify.
In his opinion, the world hasn't been doing as good a job
as it should have been doing these last decades. He
spends time being an ally to several different groups
because it's the right thing to do for a better world.
There's a nuance here that he's insistent you ponder
because everyone talks about being an ally these days.
“When I say the word 'ally,' I'm talking about that word as a
verb, not a noun,” explains Paul.
IBM has been a leader in diversity for decades; their
lists of firsts are long and spread across many social
justice issues the world is facing today (racial and
religious lines, sexual discrimination, identity). Paul
adds, “I'm so very proud I get to work for a company
dedicated to something that means so much to me
personally. Creating a culture of inclusion and voice is
critical, and it's in so much of what goes on at IBM. I really
must credit our CHRO for that, Nickle LaMoreaux; she's
made it a personal mission to put actions behind
announcements which has taken IBM in this space from the
crowded domain of ‘cool to talk’ about to the less populated
'get stuff done' cohort.”
“I look across the teams I've assembled over the years;
they've been so diverse. I've had representation across all
age groups (into their 60s), races, religions, gender
identification, educational backgrounds, sexual orientation,
etc. It makes me so proud, and the culture at IBM helped me
assemble those teams long before it was the discussion
topic it has become today.”
Recognition and Beyond
Paul was the first-ever male to win the IBM Canada
“Women in Technology Ally” award. He notes it as a
“heart-touching experience in ways he never imagined.”
He shares, “I've been working in this diversity and inclusion
space for a while, not because it's my direct job, because it's
my direct culture. While IBM has their programs, they
support and help employees get involved outside of IBM,
too. I love that.”
Paul's work with Women in Technology began as an ally
(verb) around an incident that went viral on social
media, his words even made their way to “The View” TV
show. Kate Brodock (CEO of Switch, formerly known as
Women 2.0) took notice and approached Paul to join
her advisory board. She insisted that the only way the
world can move forward and overcome issues of gender
representation, socialize mobilization, and change the
digital activism landscape is to recruit #menasallies
(and so the hashtag was born). From there, Paul became
more and more involved by speaking at conferences,
mentoring, and writing (he's amassed over 1 million
views of his opinions in this space). Eventually, word got
out, and Paul ended up with this award.

16. I’ve been giving, “Pick the
boss, not the job” advice for
years; trust me, it works.
Paul's takeaway is that AI isn't going to take all our jobs
away; instead, he thinks AI will become a net job
creator. However, some jobs will go away, but it's really
going to be about the ability to adapt to change. “Don't
get stale,” he reminds us. 'Roughnecks' on oil rigs will
become 'RoughTechs' on oil rigs — but they will be the
same people. He articulates this discussion so well
when he says, “Look, I can't tell you what jobs will be
here and what won't. I'm not a fortune teller. But I will
make this promise to you: those who get comfortable
using AI in their day-to-day jobs will replace those who
don't.” He adds, “We're going to have to change our
taxonomy for job classifications; it's no longer going to
be about white-collar or blue-collar jobs; they will all be
new-collar jobs.”
Then he gets candid about that part of AI that truly
worries him. “What am I scared about when it comes to AI?
I'm afraid of the data we're using to train our AI and a lack
of algorithmic accountability and explainability. In a world
where more and more AI can decide if you live, buy, die, or
try, I'm more concerned about making automated decisions
based on untrustworthy learnings that are not curated,
than I am Ultron… that kind of AI is best left for the movies.”
he says. (Ultron is the AI in the Avengers movie that was
designed to keep peace in the world, but it quickly
learned from the data that humans were the ones
always disturbing the peace, so it concluded humans
had to become extinct.)
His Head is in the Clouds
We ask Paul about cloud computing, and he reminisces
about his time in IBM's development labs and the
struggles he'd endure getting a test database server up
and running. “Things have changed… a lot. Today, as-a-
service models are for everyone and everything. Heck, I can
now run workloads that took me weeks to enable in
minutes for less than the price of a bad cup of coffee!” he
chuckles before telling us he doesn't drink coffee, but
he's pretty sure about his proclamation.
Paul talks about the cloud's future with more history, “If
you've been around awhile, you remember people used to
refer to the Internet, Intranet, and Extranet… but then
communities rallied around a bunch of standards, and these
domains converged. No one uses these words anymore; we
just say Internet. Prefixes for the cloud? Private, Public,
Hybrid, Multi, Distributed, Community… I'm sure there are
more. But a bunch of technologies have come together
(Linux, Kubernetes, and containers), and you're just going to
“The super humbling part of this award is I have no idea
who nominated me and who voted to give it to me… I think
that's what made it so special. The truth is, I don't want to
know. It's not why I do the stuff I do… but it absolutely felt
amazing to see that people noticed. But I thank you,
whoever you all are!” says Paul.
The Impact of Artificial Intelligence
Paul often comes across questions asking for his take
on AI and jobs… should we be scared? To which he
answers, “In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer beat
Garry Kasparov in the now infamous man-versus-machine
chess match. Kasparov decreed later that if he had had
access to the corpus of chess game observations that Deep
Blue had at its disposal during the match, and the ability to
process the data as fast as a computer, he would have fared
better. After all, if a computer could benefit from accessing
a corpus of games played, why couldn't he? Good point!”
“Today, freestyle chess matches dominate the competitive
chess landscape. Freestyle chess is like the mixed martial
arts (MMA) of chess. You choose your techniques. You can
play just using your own brain, enter a computer to play on
its own, or enter yourself with a computer by your side —
referred to as a Centaur Chess player. Last I checked, the
best chess players alive are groups of humans with
machines. When I last looked at the winning stats at these
tournaments, sometimes the machines won independently,
but Centaur Chess players won the most often. Do you
know who never won? A human on their own! This is
exactly what Kasparov was trying to say after he lost;
while most people took it as 'sour grapes, it was a
genius-level observation.”

17. As we close out our cloud conversation, he notes how
the over-allocation of resources in the cloud (which
skyrockets costs) is also a big issue getting in the way of
companies getting the full value out of the cloud. “Quite
simply, infrastructure resource starvation and mis-sized
resource allocations are the most frequent cause of
application performance issues, leading to complexity, SLA
violations, over-spending, and more. Welcome to the space
of application resource management (ARM),” explains Paul.
Today's reactive and single resource monitoring tools
do not understand the relationship between
applications and infrastructure and therefore rely on
manual interpretation and intervention to resolve
resource congestion. When you bring APM and ARM
together… you create powerful AIOPs solutions that
can learn from past issues, alert to future ones, act in
advance to prevent those issues from ever occurring,
and over time get smarter and smarter along the way
(reinforcement learning). He shocks us when he shares
the investment dollars IBM has put into this space. We
cheekily ask him (since we already know the answer),
“Will AIOps replace IT support staff?” He responds as
expected, “No. But IT staff that are comfortable using
AIOps will replace IT support staff who aren't.”
Ready for the Next Chapter?
There are numerous lessons to be learned from Paul's
journey, the knowledge he gained, the ladder he
climbed, the books he wrote, and the experiences he
shared. Everything ties into a continuous thread of
learning. He finishes with one last piece of great advice.
He tells us, “So many people tell me it's too late for them to
start a transformation and upskill for today's hot
technology job market.” He tells them that “technology
years are like dog years… it's not about the head start.
Society spends too much time recognizing the big moments
and often misses the impact small daily improvements can
make in your professional and personal lives. When it
comes to technology, a newbie who never stops learning, in
the long run, will far out skill the CompSci graduate who
thought learning finished the day they got their degree.”
CIO LOOK curiously awaits to see how Paul weaves
this thread and carries on his journey beyond the
horizon.
He tells us that many are surprised to learn that cloud
computing at most companies is still very much in its
infancy. In fact, many companies who went all in on the
cloud aren't getting the value they should be getting
out of their cloud initiatives. Paul gives us an easy tip to
remember that he promises will help organizations get
up to 2.5x more value out of their cloud investments:
“Cloud is a capability, not a destination.” Paul details how
critically important it is to realize how a cloud as a
destination mindset is an anchor to any value vessel; he
goes on to detail how he's seen a number of customers
repatriating some applications back to on-premises. He
notes, “They didn't see the cost savings they expected
(public cloud can save you money, but can also be
responsible for skyrocketing costs), for some… regulations
got in the way, others faced data gravity issues, and more.
These companies started out thinking that the cloud was
simply a destination. When I worked with them and shifted
their thinking to cloud as an operational model, their
company's (now) hybrid cloud initiatives suddenly were
positioned to yield bigger and bigger returns. Think about it.
Shouldn't agility, elastic computing, and flattening the time
to value curve be beneficial everywhere? Just because your
application benefits from data gravity or is under regulatory
compliance doesn't mean it shouldn't benefit from the
cloud. Use cloud everywhere: on-premises, on edge, and yes,
with established hyper scalers too!”
There's another trap he's seeing with the rush to cloud-
native applications (no matter where they're run). Most
people don't realize that while agile and distributed
components made life amazing for developers, it has
created enormous issues for Site Reliability Engineers
(SREs). He notes that, “You don't build applications today,
you compose them. You stitch together discrete and
distributed pieces of logic (microservices), and this
approach gives you scale, availability, and agility.
These apps have components that leverage function-as-a-
service (FaaS) calls that can run in under a second. How do
you monitor this? How do you figure out where a problem is
coming from when the code runs in a second, and its
runtime is ephemeral, and it runs on one of many cloud
providers you're working with? It gets messier as more apps
evolve into cloud native. Trying to figure out anything from
a composed app's reliability perspective has become a
nightmare.” What Paul's talking about has given rise to a
higher order of application performance management
(APM): observability.”

19. 1 Year
12 Issues
$250
6 Months
6 Issues
$130
3 Months
3 Issues
$70
1 Month
1 Issue
$25
CHOOSE OUR SUBSCRIPTION
Stay in the known.
Subscribe to CIOLOOK
Get CIOLOOK Magazine in print, and
digital on www.ciolook.com

20. www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
18

21. W
hen we asked Dr. Sunil Kumar Vuppala
about what the next significant transition in
the Managed Services sector could be, he
answered, Networks will evolve into global digital
infrastructures, supporting a much more evolved digital
society,
Dr. Vuppala is currently the Director of Global
Artificial Intelligence Accelerator (GAIA) at Ericsson,
one of the leading providers of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) to service providers.
From visual intelligence of drone images to forecasting
difficulties with underlying causes from terabytes of
data for huge Telco operators throughout the world, Dr.
Vuppala is solving challenging problems using AI.
CIO Look caught up with Dr. Vuppala to learn about his
role and contribution in the Data Science sector for the
edition, The 10 Most Intelligent Leaders in Data Science
Analytics, 2022.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Brief our audience about your journey as a business
leader until your current position at Ericsson. What
challenges have you had to overcome to reach where
you are today?
My journey started as an applications engineer at
Oracle after my Master of Technology from IIT
Roorkee, India. Thereafter, I accepted the role of the
researcher in Infosys RD Labs and worked there for
11 years on cutting-edge technologies such as IoT,
Automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Data
Science. I completed my Ph.D. at IIIT Bangalore as a
working professional. Managing time for both work and
Ph.D. is a significant problem, even though the learnings
from applied research are fantastic. Later as a principal
scientist at Philips, I solved challenging problems in
healthcare.
After completing my senior management program at
IIM Ahmedabad, I transformed from a core researcher
to a business leader, as my overall perspective changed
to think beyond technical to overall organizational
business perspective. I was able to influence thousands
of learners as a visiting faculty at premier institutes
teaching data science, AI, and analytics. As a director –
Dr. Sunil Kumar
Vuppala
We believe in a
world where limitless
connectivity
improves lives,
redefines business,
and pioneers a
sustainable future.
“
“
www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
19

22. of data science at Ericsson, my key focus areas include
how to accelerate the AI adoption in the organization,
Return on Investment, understanding the vision for AI
in Telecom, setting the right expectations of
stakeholders in terms of AI, and providing the right
guidance to the team to deliver solutions.
Tell us something more about Ericsson and its mission
and vision.
Ericsson is a leading ICT (Information and
Communication Technology) provider to telecom
service providers. The Sweden-based firm maximizes
the value of connectivity by developing game-changing
technology and services that are simple to use, adapt,
and scale, ensuring our customers' success in an
increasingly connected world. With its cutting-edge 5G
technologies, Ericsson is leading the way in
revolutionizing industry and society. 5G networks
provide high throughput, ultra-reliability, low latency,
and security, which are required for mission-critical
services such as telemedicine, autonomous linked
vehicles, and smart factories that run on 5G networks.
Our purpose is to create connections that make the
unimaginable possible. We believe in a world where
limitless connectivity improves lives, redefines
business, and pioneers a sustainable future.
Enlighten us on how you have impacted IT Services
and IT Consulting through your expertise in the
market.
With my strong background in IT services and
consulting experience from Infosys, I could contribute
to how AI can impact the IT services in Ericsson. The
contributions include proposing and executing strategic
projects, various decisions on build vs. buy, building
chatbots for the IT support teams, Cloud vs. Edge AI for
the deployment, choosing the right business use cases
with intelligent automation, optimizing the solutions
beyond software, and how to leverage best out of
available hardware by partnering with the hardware
vendors. Development efficiency is a strategic theme
for us at Ericsson Global AI Accelerator (GAIA).
Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in
almost every sector. How are you leveraging
technological advancements to make your solutions
resourceful?
I completely agree with you. Technology is changing
very rapidly, and it is playing an important role in
addressing business challenges. As a thought leader in
data science, my role is to connect the dots in
identifying the right technology to solve specific
business problems. Building AI models which are fair,
explainable, robust, trusted, secure, and ethical are the
need of the hour using the latest technologies in the
literature. We need to think of end-to-end model
development, deployment, and maintenance of these
solutions to make them resourceful. Our solutions
focus on automation and standardization with MLOps
and deployments in the hybrid cloud.
What, according to you, could be the next significant
change in the Managed Services sector? How is
Ericsson preparing to be a part of that change?
The next significant change in the managed services
sector is in intent-based cognitive networks. Networks
will evolve into global digital infrastructures,
supporting a much more evolved digital society.
Because of the intricacy of running these networks,
www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
20

23. cognitive networks will emerge. In evolving intent-
based network operations, cognitive technologies
combine large data with unique network domain
expertise to enable unparalleled speed, scale, and
accuracy. We are using AI in telecom to help us achieve
our vision of future zero-touch networks by
automatically determining which actions to take with
minimal human intervention.
Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run,
and what are your future goals for Ericsson?
In the long run, I envision that the penetration of AI and
data science will be pervasive in telecom and other
industrial sectors. I want to continue leading and
building solutions with Trusted AI, Ethical AI, Green AI,
and Metaverse for the adoption of AI in solving real
business problems and building frameworks to
democratize AI and data science. With my strong
academic connections and being an active member of
IEEE and ACM, I wish to contribute to bridging the gap
between academia and industry.
The intelligent network platform will be redesigned to
satisfy new requirements and to incorporate features
beyond connectivity. We aim to ensure that today's
powerful 5G network foundation evolves into the 6G
era, bringing new capabilities and the kind of extreme
performance demanded by application areas such as
the internet of things, intelligent machine
communication, and the internet of senses.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs
who aspire to venture into the Network sector?
The Telecom network is a very complex domain. My
advice to budding entrepreneurs is to check the gap
which they wish to address in the network sector and
make it their core business to solve the needs of the
customers. It can be at any layer in the network. Having
the right partnerships is another important aspect the
entrepreneurs need to keep in mind due to the
complexity involved in the network sector, eventually
leading to delivering cost-effective solutions in time
while meeting the quality requirements.
www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
21

24. e live in the age of innovations and
Wtechnologies, where any task is at our
fingertips, from purchasing products to getting
education and finally getting jobs.
But one question that arises in the minds of many is
whether we have reached the peak of intelligence.
Let's begin with the exploration of the ancient origins of
human intelligence. From the moment our ancestors learned
to walk upright 3 million years ago, scans of fossil skulls
suggest that the brains of our first apes were about 400
cubic cm, which is three times the size of today's modern
humans.
Has Humanity
Reached Peak
Intelligence?
?
There are numerous possible reasons for this brain boost,
but it was the response to the increasing cognitive demands
of group living. The larger social groups allowed members
to share ideas and build on each other's inventions, resulting
in inventing tools to improve the efficiency of hunting.
That's where humans developed the intelligence to observe
and learn from others and provide one another a push for
more incredible brainpower.
When our ancestors left Africa around 70,000 years ago,
they were smart enough to adapt to any life in almost every
corner of the planet. The astonishing cave arts clearly
www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
22

25. Cognitive Abilities
www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
23

26. Looking at the future, the potential rise or drop in IQs
should certainly cause us to take a look at the ways we are
using our brains. We now know that this kind of thinking
can be taught; these possibilities are an indication of what
can be done if rationality and critical thinking are given the
same respect as other cognitive abilities. We might even
start to see a steep rise in rationality and wisdom in tandem
with the Flynn effect.
By now, it is clear that you cannot conclude the rise and fall
of IQ is just one piece of the puzzle, which will only get
completed by answering the above world issues. IQ is just
one piece of the puzzle – the cleverer side of the human
being. There are many more things to life than having a
higher IQ or higher score of cognitive ability.
showed this indication and were also capable of solving
cosmological questions.
It was only a century back that scientists first invented IQ
(Intelligence Quotient) to measure someone's intellectual
potential. IQ is undoubtedly good at predicting academic
success and to predict how quickly you pick up new skills
in the workplace. In simple terms, they show a meaningful
change in people's capacity to learn and process complex
information.
th
The rise in IQ started in the early 20 century; when people
take the test, their scores are transformed to ensure the
median of the population remains 100. This allowed the
researcher James Flynn to compare the scores between
generations, and he found out that there has been a steady
increase in IQ points. However, the Flynn theory is still a
matter of debate due to multiple environmental factors. The
best comparison is the change in our height; we are 5 inches
th
taller today compared to the 19 century, which just means
our overall health has changed. Another example can be
taken from education – children lean on developing abstract
thinking to cope with modern technology.
Whatever the cause of the Flynn theory, we have already
reached the end of this era with the rise in IQ. For now, it
looks like our culture is able to shape our minds in
mysterious ways. While researchers continue to find more
of these causes, it's worth questioning what these changes in
IQ mean for society at large.
Necessary Answers
Today people are probably better at figuring out complex
cell phones and technological innovations than they would
th
at the turn of the 20 century. Moreover, as a society, higher
IQs have not brought them solutions to any of the world's
major problems – global poverty, climate change, violence,
rising income disparities, and nuclear war, among others.
That's not to mention, that we have relied on an intelligent
workforce for the enormous benefits of scientific and
technological advances.
Intelligence certainly has helped us to be more creative, but
we do not see a rise in some individual creative thinking
over time as our IQs increase. For our society, it can lead
from medical errors and miscarriages of justice to global
financial crises. It can also contribute to the spread of fake
news and political polarisation on issues like climate
change.
www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
24

28. www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
26

29. www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
27

30. www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
28

32. www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
30

33. www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
31

35. F
inding himself between an offer to move to the
United States and work as a consultant on a job
that he didn't care for or to join an organization
where he sees a huge opportunity to work on the things
he appreciates the most. Sibanjan Das made a decision
that, along the way, had a significant impact on his
career, choosing the latter option. When he started in
Data Science/Machine Learning, it was a relatively new
area. But the journey since then has been equally
challenging and rewarding.
Sibanjan shared his experiences to emphasize how
crucial decision-making is in life. He says, Few decisions
worked well for me, and few didn't. But life is all about
making choices, and once you choose, stay with it. There is
no going back. Perseverance is the key.
Journey as a Leader in Data Science
Being a leader in the Data Science field has been a fun
roller coaster ride for Sibanjan. He started as an
engineer for ERP systems, then became a business
analyst for the Order to cash processes. A few years
later, he felt he was missing the other leg of Enterprise
IT and transitioned into an analytics consultant role. He
finally landed as a Data Scientist in 2013. But things
never look that easy when you want to transition
between different departments, as it takes effort,
courage, sacrifice, and some hard decisions to make.
One of those decisions was Sibanjan quitting his job to
study further in the area of Information systems and
analytics when he was being offered to go United states
as a consultant. He had decided to try the unknown,
Do things that you
can do, don't think
about conditions
beyond your
control Trust
is the thrust
that keeps driving
a team forward
Sibanjan Das
The Proper Blend of Business Process, Machine
Learning, and Software Engineering Expertise
www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
33

36. and no lucrative offers could stop him. When he started
in Data Science/Machine Learning, it was a relatively
new area. His focus was always to work in the field of
Analytics, and he tried to get into a functional analytics
role. He landed up in the field of Machine Learning
unintentionally. But the journey since then has been
equally challenging and rewarding as well.
When Sibanjan started learning Machine learning, he
always had thought about how to inject Machine
Learning into the workflows in ERP systems. Oracle
ERP was always his den, and he kept on trying and
exploring things to make this a possibility.
Things didn't work out well until Sibanjan got a chance
to work with Oracle on precisely what he wanted. He
never wanted to miss this opportunity and gave in all to
design that product. His previous business processes
skills, Oracle ERP technical knowledge, and ML skillset
all came in together to do some justice to the
responsibility that the organization gave him.
The happiest moment was when he saw the modules
that he designed and developed were released as a part
of general availability and are mentioned in the product
user guides. But during this time, he had already
resigned, not because of Oracle, but for Analytics. He
loves product development, but he wanted to be part of
the enterprise analytics team for a long.
But, during this time, again, he was offered to move into
Toshiba US as a Microsoft BI consultant. And yet, again,
he didn't go to the United States even when he had an
H1B visa and was already stamped for travel. This was
the second time he had rejected the travel. His friends
complained that he was killing his growth. It's not the
case that he never wanted to go. But, for him, the work
was more important than the location.
Today when he looks back then, he thinks he made the
best decision. ServiceNow is a great organization to
work with. The leadership there is terrific, with great
people and enthusiastic teams. When Sibanjan joined
ServiceNow, he joined as a business insight analyst
within the Data and Analytics team. He believed this
role was an apt role for him as this is an intersection of
business and data science. But a few months after, he
felt that the Data Science team within the same Data
and Analytics team did the work he could do best.
Going the Extra Mile
During one of his conversations with his leader Brian
Hoffman, Sibanjan expressed his interest in working
with the Data Science team. He never said no, but he
didn't commit to taking him on his team either because
he didn't know him. So, he started testing him and
asking him to solve some problems. He also challenged
him with some more complex problems day after day.
Little did he know, Sibanjan had made up his mind about
a do-or-die situation. He started working on two shifts
– doing the work for Business insights during regular
office hours and Data science work in the evenings. This
continued consistently for a few months until one
evening when Brian became tired and said, Sibanjan,
it's time for you to officially join the Data Science team.
Five years later, when Brian and Sibanjan remember
these events, they laugh thinking of those days.
Sibanjan also advises, Try to focus on things you can
control. Don't focus on something not in your control, as it
will burn you out. Being an Indian, like the rest of India, I am
a fan of cricket. In cricket, there are batsmen, bowlers, and
fielders. If you are a bowler and start thinking much about
the skillset of the batsman, you lose your focus, and he
might hit your ball hard. Focus on your bowling. Don't think
much about the batsman. He is there to bat and is thinking
about how to hit your ball. Fielders are ready to save runs.
Fielders might miss a catch, and you feel bad about it. But
should you feel bad? Yes, but for yourself. Your aim should
be to bowl him out, hitting the stumps directly. If you can't
do that, don't blame the fielder or batsman. Do things that
you can do, don't think about conditions beyond your
control.
The Company's Impact
For Sibanjan, the impact is a magic word. He shares one
of the many things that he likes about ServiceNow:
people love creating solutions for complex problems
and enjoy making them successful. The ServiceNow
team likes solving challenging problems and always
strives to improve yearly.
Sibanjan believes, There are very few companies in the
world who think about their growth and their customer's
growth and success. ServiceNow is one of them, and they
are at the forefront. And I am not saying this because I am a
www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
34

37. ServiceNow employee. I
have truly felt this in
Service Now. ServiceNow
always has a positive vibe
and focuses on making
customers, employees, and
the community successful.
There is always a people
touch in everything they
do at ServiceNow.
A Piece of Advice for
Aspiring Professionals
Sibanjan believes that
leadership is a
generalized term. It's a
responsibility to help
grow your organization
and support the team,
which starts with you. If
you have never made
your own decisions and
worked on your
priorities, you might not
be in a position to make
decisions for your team
and organization when
you are a leader. Can
someone make decisions
that will impact
organization and
individual’s life, career,
and growth when they have never decided for
themselves?
Secondly, Sibanjan talks about empathy. One needs to
feel for their people and consider them as their own. He
expresses, My heart goes out to people who are loyal and
strive to be a better version of themselves every day. When I
say loyal, it doesn't mean following orders but being
dedicated to the commitments and things that they sign up
for. Being a leader, we should try to make them successful
and, more importantly, see them happy.
The third is trust. Sibanjan thinks trust is the thrust that
keeps driving a team forward and achieving its goals.
The great thing that he learned from ServiceNow is
servant leadership.
Sibanjan clarifies, Let me be honest here; I am not a leader
yet. What I was speaking here is something I learned along
the way and from our leadership team, who backs me up
with the decisions I make. I am just someone working daily
to see everyone happy – My family, colleagues, team, and
organization. I try every possible way to have people
around me happy and prosperous. I will consider myself
successful as a leader only when I bring a positive impact on
the world and community. ServiceNow provides me that
platform, and so I am here driving our vision - doing work,
work better for people, and creating a platform that makes
work flow.”
www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
35

40. riven by the life motto, In a gentle way, you can
Dshake the world, Somya Malviya is building up
an ambitious career as a Data Analyst. She has
incorporated Information Systems qualification with strong
business acumen. She aspires to provide exceptional data
analytics insights and technological transformations to
make the world a better place.
The company she is assigned to, GroupM, is shaping the
next era of media where advertising works better for
people. It is the world's leading media investment company,
responsible for more than $50B in annual media investment
through agencies. The company aims to leverage all the
benefits of scaling, innovating, differentiating, and
generating sustained value for its business clients.
Continuously Pushing Boundaries
Somya has big ambitions for the broader industry.
According to research, only 27% of female graduates opt
for a career in technology. Looking beyond the statistics,
she has first-hand experienced the struggles of getting into
an industry typically dominated by men and workplaces
that rarely provide opportunities to inexperienced
individuals. Having encountered such circumstances in her
journey from working in Supply Chain and Healthcare
industries and eventually progressing towards the Data
Analyst role at GroupM, she thrives on eliminating the
notion of technology being competitive and non-inclusive.
Somya's ambition is to progress into leadership positions
where she can influence a wider network of people and help
other women succeed, encouraging female graduates and
interns to pursue Data and Technology.
GroupM's mission is to make advertising better for people,
continually achieved by supporting its clients, partners, and
internal teams in delivering ad effectiveness, optimizing
media investments, and providing the platform to develop
and deploy cutting-edge technological solutions. The
amalgamation of all the different aspects of the business:
Search, Social, Programmatic, and AI, acts as a powerhouse
for three of the top five global media agencies: Mindshare,
Mediacom, and Wavemaker. This is further driven by strong
connections with its premium partners: Google, Amazon,
Meta, and more. It constantly focuses on connecting
technology with talent that allows it to grow and pivot into
different opportunities and capabilities, enhancing
scalability and interoperability within cross-functional
diverse teams.
Somya
An Insightful
Data-Driven Leader
Malviya
Our Leadership
in Data, Technology,
and Scale is our
Unfair Advantage.
The 10 Most Intelligent Leaders in Data Science Analytics, 2022
www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
38

41. Somya Malviya
Data Analyst
GroupM
www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
39

42. Somya tries her best to push the boundaries continuously
and deliver ground-breaking projects working closely with
several team members across Programmatic, Finance, and
Operations. She has worked on several innovative solutions
and navigated through uncharted waters to explore the
media effectiveness capability of Data Clean Rooms like
Amazon Marketing Cloud and Ads Data Hub to discover
high-value audiences and measure holistic brand lift.
Secondly, she has transformed the Pacing process into an
automated dashboard, improving the efficiency with a
performance uplift of 30% and saving GroupM $85,000 on
manual and tedious processes. Additionally, Somya has
created a Commercial Tracker that drove 35% savings in
head hours, accounting for an overall savings of $2,000
each month.
Leaving a Mark in Media World
GroupM has always focused on bringing value to its clients
and aims to touch many lives through global media
campaigns that give back to society by increasing ad
effectiveness through data analytics and insight generation,
media strategy, and investment optimization.
The Go Give One campaign in 2021 was one such
instance to support World Health Organization's mission to
vaccinate the world and utilize strategy building, big data,
and technological advancements as the support system for
campaigns that change the world. GroupM's mission to
make advertising better for people, in turn, aims to play a
key role in bringing this vision to life through leading and
inspiring a team of media and data-centric individuals who
build the backbone of effective work that has an impact on
the world. GroupM has also implemented several initiatives
like DEI Talent Pipelines, Automation, TeamFlex, and
Reconnect plans that allow its employees to work from
home whilst visiting family across borders. It builds
strategic partnerships that give new and different talent
pipelines and eliminate mundane, monotonous tasks to
decrease the staff attrition rate.
www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
40

43. The ever-changing world of media and subsequent
depreciation of cookies has left marketers grappling with
privacy-first solutions that could measure return on
marketing investment with higher accuracy. Somya
shares, My inquisitive nature and go-getter attitude
enabled me to explore a new and innovative solution for
a Pet Food client: Data Clean Rooms. My initial
hypothesis for the first-ever use case for GroupM
Australia was to create connections between platform
and customer data, ensuring data compliance. However,
I have dived deeper into several possible use cases to
explore the ad effectiveness for cross-channel exposure
and optimal frequency for different device types. Results
generated were extraordinary, highlighting a promising
use case where Amazon Sponsored Products along with
Display ads led to an exponentially higher purchase rate.
Almost 60% of total purchases can be attributed to
customers targeted using both the channels, boosting
purchase likelihood by ten times. Additionally, when
multiple devices are used to target a customer, they are
eight times more likely to drive conversions.
Data Visualization tools largely focus on creating a
variety of charts and graphs; however, one of the most
crucial parts of it is also the ability to generate complex
insights and present those in support of the visuals. The
storytelling feature of a dashboard is equally important,
especially when it accounts for driving business decisions
for stakeholders and clients. She has the vision to advance
the Data Visualization dashboards to automate the
generation of visuals from complex natural language
processing questions. Somya explains, I would also enable
ways to display the Prescriptive analytical solutions that
assist our clients in figuring out the solutions to the
seemingly simple but biggest problems in media: Whom
should I target? Where should I spend the biggest chunk of
my budget? How many times should I serve an ad to a
potential customer? Should this ad be served on Mobile,
Desktop, Tablet, or TV?
Cost-Effective Optimal Solutions
Somya believes that as Media Industry is stepping towards
a cookie-less future, it is extremely pivotal to consider the
revolutionized changes it is bound to bring within the
analytics industry. This would shed light on the immense
capabilities and importance of data owned by Walled
Gardens like Google and Facebook and how it can be used
to generate insights within a privacy-safe environment that
guarantee no Personally identifiable information (PII) is
shared across companies. Data Clean Rooms is just one
such solution. Several others focus on utilizing data
pipelines, contextual targeting, and device fingerprinting to
target the right set of users for an ad. According to this
information, these use devices or website content to
monitor user behaviour and target customers. GroupM is
continuously collaborating with its partners like The Trade
Desk, Xandr, Adobe, Google, and Amazon to explore
solutions that maintain the highest level of privacy and
improvise campaign delivery metrics and provide cost-
effective optimal solutions to its clients.
Somya concludes with a bit of advice to budding
entrepreneurs, If the world of media has taught me
anything, it is the paramount importance that must be
placed on the Total Addressable Market (TAM) for a
specific business. This answers the simplest of questions but
provides immense insights into your target market. In
layman terms, any business that unlocks the door to know
whom to target and how to build a product that solves their
biggest roadblocks and appeals to their target audience
wins it all.”
www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
41

46. Venkat
Raghavan Powering organisations
with analytics
Venkat
Raghavan
“
“
“
“
“
“
Appreciate problems,
for they are
opportunities
in disguise.
The 10 Most Intelligent Leaders in Data Science Analy cs 2022
he crux of any business lies in identifying
Tcompelling problems and their most viable
solutions. Gifted are those who have cracked the
formula to run successful enterprises relying on this
strategy. One such leader who has embarked on an
enterprising journey across the globe, spanning
multiple businesses, is Venkat Raghavan, an expert in
analytics. He carries an impressive track record of
successfully leading high-growth portfolios and
believes that businesses grow by growing individuals
and their thoughts.
Tesco Business Services (TBS) is the global services arm
for Tesco, a 100+-year-old leading multi-national
retailer with a well-established presence in Europe and
the UK. As an Associate Director and Global Head -
Analytics, Tesco Business Services, Venkat has already
proved his mettle as an expert in problem-solving with
the power of data.
Let's dive in to find out the reasons behind Venkat's
success in driving the power of analytics towards the
continued success of Tesco as an organisation.
Opening the Gateways of the Mind
Questions are more important than answers. Venkat
started his career as a coder but understood early in his
journey that he liked coding only if he understood
where the code fits in the larger problem it is solving.
This made him gravitate toward asking more business
questions about how things are done and how they can
be done differently. The desire to ask and understand
the 'why' behind the 'what' got him into analytics early
in his career, where questioning and hypothesising are
the bedrocks to success.
Venkat's career can be divided into four parts; In the
first part, he acted as an individual contributor and
wanted to be the best-skilled employee and compete
with others in virtue of his skillset and content. In the
second, where he had the opportunity to move to the
USA to work directly with business stakeholders, he
learned that content is only as important as the
business context in which it is applied.
Midway through the journey, he started taking up roles
with PL responsibility, such as client partnering,
where he realised that skill and context are only
meaningful if it creates commercial value. Over the last
five years, where he has played global leadership roles,
he realised that content, context, and commerce are
only a strategic advantage if they lead to sustainable
cultural shift. He mentions “Real success of analytics
should be measured by the tangible difference created for
customers, colleagues and shareholders and not as a
measure of scientific or technological greatness.” The
challenge was to realise the need for a shift in thinking
at different stages of his career. The mentors
throughout his journey gave him the right nudges to
evolve the mindset to look at a continuum of 4Cs -
Content, Context, Commerce, Culture.
www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
44

47. Venkat Raghavan
Associate Director and
Global Head - Analytics
Tesco Business Services
www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
45

48. Analytics - an Asset For Tesco
Tesco is a food retailer with over 100 years of heritage
with an annual turnover of close to £55bn. As a leading
multinational retailer with more than 345,000
colleagues, the company aims to serve customers daily
with affordable, healthy, and sustainable food – to help
them enjoy a better quality of life and an easier way of
living. Tesco’s core purpose is to serve its customers,
communities and planet a little better every day. Tesco
has been using analytics and data science to find more
opportunities to understand customers and increase
profitability.
From a science standpoint, Venkat is optimistic about
the tremendous scope for true AI to scale to
understand customers and positively influence their
behaviours. The team at Tesco has prioritised
personalisation as one of its key strategic priorities to
better understand the needs and expectations of its
customers and engage with them through the offerings
with high relevance and personalisation. He shares, We
are an extremely customer-centric company, therefore, we
believe that if we get the pulse of our customers right, we
can align our business operations to meet them, thereby
unlocking value for our customers and our business. Having
said this, the path to getting there is non-trivial – the global
economy is going through a highly volatile phase, and our
customers face many challenges Therefore, in a world
that is shifting continuously, analytics and science are
needed to understand, anticipate, and act to win in the
retail industry.
Evolution and Use of Analytics
Over the last 20 years, analytics has evolved from a
support entity delivering reports and MIS dashboards
to a core problem-solving entity that uses the power of
Forecasting, Predictive Modeling, Machine learning,
and AI. Today the industry is mature enough to impact
the business outcomes directly. It is recommended to
look at analytics as a commercial agenda, instead of as a
cost centre to build future capabilities. This shift will
enable a deeper and more meaningful partnership
between business and analytics to deliver tangible
results.
Technology is the largest enabler for analytics and science
to evolve. A lot of what analytics can achieve is
supported by the foundation created by data and
technology teams. The core use cases where Venkat
and his team leverage technology are to:
Ÿ Get more data signals about our customers, product,
stores, online, and suppliers
Ÿ Build the right analytics and science infrastructure
that can make the petabytes of data accessible and
get the right computing power to run large data
queries as well as statistical and machine learning
algorithms to solve complex problems
Ÿ Access to the best tools/technology options to build
and visualize analytical solutions.
Ÿ Automate and deploy the analytical solutions so
that they deliver sustainable value
Retail is an early adopter of data and analytics. Since
the invention of electronic Point of Sale (PoS) registers
about four decades ago, retail has had the gift of
harnessing and analysing data to find opportunities for
better offerings, pricing, promotions, and customer
engagement. One such example from his journey is the
launching of one of the world’s largest loyalty programs
with over 100 million members. The program created
the possibility of understanding customer behaviors to
offer better products, promotions, and customer
service which resulted in a win-win equation for both
the retailer and its customers.
Preparation for the Next Chapter”
Analytics is a highly crowded market today. He advises
young entrepreneurs, Ensure you have a clear
differentiation. For companies in the service industry, cost
and quality of your work make a big difference. There are
some companies in the product space where flexibility
and scalability are pivotal.
For new-age SaaS product companies, it is imperative
to understand where data sits – this is an important
topic, especially in retail, where data protection and
privacy are serious topics.
He adds, Often, I get emails from organisations, including
startups, where the differentiation is unclear. The other
suggestion for startups, especially those targeting food
retail as an industry, is that our margins are pretty thin.
Therefore the ability to connect capability to true PL
impact is essential. Those startups that can establish this
are celebrated more than those that don't.
www.ciolook.com | Aug 2022 |
46