Decoding Retail Data with Vivek Anand

Gordon Chu, the Digital Innovation Manager at Cathay Pacific, and host Erin Pearson have an engaging conversation about creating an innovation culture and democratizing AI within an organization.

In this episode, they explore:
✔️ Strategies for upskilling employees and enabling AI adoption.
✔️ Changing perceptions of AI and its transformative potential.
✔️ How to foster a culture of transparency, collaboration, and innovation.
✔️ The importance of storytelling to inspire and drive AI adoption.
✔️ Real-world examples and practical advice for AI implementation.

📌 Quote from the Episode:
📣 "Ultimately, the technology is not for replacing your entire workflow. But there are definitely spaces in your existing workflow where AI can play a role." – Gordon Chu

📌 Speakers in this Episode:
🎙️ Erin Pearson, Vice President, Marketing at Evalueserve
🎙️ Gordon Chu, Digital Innovation Manager at Cathay Pacific

Like all domains right now, intellectual property (IP) and research & development (R&D) are wrestling with how to apply AI to their work most effectively and what it means for the industry’s future. In this insightful episode, Ashish Bodhankar, IP Strategist Leader at Dow Chemical Company, and Decisions Now host Erin Pearson detail these topics.

Ashish and Erin discuss:
✔️ The evolving role of IP management and how technology is influencing it.
✔️ How AI accelerates R&D processes, from formulation design to predictive modeling.
✔️ The importance of starting small, collaborating, and using cross-functional teams when adopting AI strategies.
✔️ Common misconceptions about AI, especially concerning job displacement and its ability to enhance human work.

📌 Quote from the Episode:
📣 “One of the key challenges is in understanding that this is applicable to our industry. When you look at chemical and material science, people think, ‘What has AI got to do with it? I mean, we're going to make materials, correct? How would a computer make materials? How is this going to be used?’ So, that is one challenge in terms of accepting that this can play a role in the organization or in R&D in particular.” – Ashish Bodhankar

📌 Speakers in this Episode:
🎙️ Erin Pearson, Vice President, Marketing at Evalueserve
🎙️ Ashish Bodhankar, IP Strategist Leader at Dow Chemical Company

In this episode, Erin Pearson welcomes Daniel Helmig, CEO and founder of helmig advisory, as a special guest. With an extensive background in procurement and transformation at companies such as Ford Motor Company, ABB, and PepsiCo, Daniel shares his expertise in supply chain sustainability and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction.

Daniel and Erin discuss topics including:
✔️ Globalization’s impact on GHG emissions.
✔️ The role of CEOs in driving sustainability.
✔️ The importance of modern tools, including AI-enabled products, in advancing supply chain decarbonization efforts.
✔️ Collaborating with suppliers and partners on the net zero journey.

📌 Quote from the Episode:
📣 "As long as the CEOs of the companies are not willing to say it will change because of me and I'll do this for my children and for my grandchildren, it's not going to change in the near future." – Daniel Helmig

📌 Speakers in this Episode:
🎙️ Erin Pearson, Vice President, Marketing at Evalueserve
🎙️ Daniel Helmig, CEO and Founder of helmig advisory

Enter the complex world of the battery space and learn how to apply market insights with host Erin Pearson and special guest Raúl Arredondo. Raúl is a seasoned strategy and marketing executive in the battery industry, having worked for Rockwell, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (now part of Stellantis), and Clarios.

In this thought-provoking episode, they discuss:
✔️ The shift to electric vehicles (EVs) and how it’s reshaping the manufacturing process and supply chains in the battery and automotive industries.
✔️ The significance of market insights in shaping strategy.
✔️ Navigating global markets, cultural differences, and governmental policies.
✔️ Team structures and vendor partnerships.
✔️ Predictions for the automotive and battery industries.

📌 Quote from the Episode:
📣 “If you don’t believe what you’re reading, you’re not going to do anything with the data. And that is the worst thing you can do.” – Raúl Arredondo

📌 Speakers in this Episode:
🎙️ Erin Pearson, Vice President, Marketing at Evalueserve
🎙️ Raúl Arredondo, Global Strategy and Marketing Executive and Expert on the Battery Space

Join host Erin Pearson and special guest Justin Berger, Chief Operating Officer at 7 Knots Digital, as they explore the exciting world of AI’s transformative impact on B2B marketing.

This thought-provoking episode covers topics including:
✔️ Using generative AI technologies to personalize and target content for account-based marketing and campaign optimization.
✔️ The value of AI in repurposing or repositioning content.
✔️ The importance of finding small wins and building confidence on your way to success in integrating AI into your daily work.
✔️ Learning from your peers and your networks. Everyone is experimenting with generative AI, so learn from others and share your own knowledge.

📌 Quote from the Episode:
📣 "More often than not, there'll be little nuggets that I like from more than one. I'll say, 'Give me 10 suggestions.' I tend to take it not wholesale but rather take piecemeal, little elements of each of them and plug them together." – Justin Berger

📌 Speakers in this Episode:
🎙️ Erin Pearson, Vice President, Marketing at Evalueserve
🎙️ Justin Berger, Chief Operating Officer at 7 Knots Digital

Dive into the intersecting worlds of data science and fashion retail! In this episode, Vivek Anand, Director of Advanced Analytics at Gap, joins host Erin Pearson to discuss applying data analytics to the retail industry. Gap is a renowned worldwide clothing and accessories retailer.

Vivek and Erin delve into a myriad of topics, including:
✔️ The complexities of demand forecasting in the fashion industry.
✔️ Identifying emerging trends using user-generated data such as search queries.
✔️ Vivek's experience in creating innovative, data-efficient, yet highly effective AI-driven pricing models across multiple industries.
✔️ The significance of dynamic pricing strategies and methods to discourage team members from engaging in aggressive price undercutting.
✔️ The need for collaboration across departments.


📌 Quote from the Episode:
📣 "People think that, hey, machine learning, AI is coming to replace me. It's taking my job. The idea is to convince or let people see that it's there to make your life easier. You spend most of your time on the most complex problems. If you have vanilla problems, you can just rely on the machine to do it for you. So, it's trying to help you. It's not trying to replace you." – Vivek Anand

📌 Speakers in this Episode:
🎙️ Erin Pearson, Vice President, Marketing at Evalueserve
🎙️ Vivek Anand, Director of Advanced Analytics at Gap

Sustainability and decarbonization are trending topics across every industry right now. The building industry is no exception, and host Erin Pearson is joined by Mike Loth, Executive Director and General Manager of Specialty Services in Global Sustainable Infrastructure at Johnson Controls, for today’s episode.

Johnson Controls is a leading provider of technology and services in energy efficiency, building efficiency, and sustainability spaces. They are renowned for their HVAC, building automation, fire, and security systems.

Mike and Erin discuss:
✔️ Johnson Controls’ eight-step framework for achieving sustainability goals in buildings.
✔️ Voice of the customer research and how important it is to understand what customers want and need.
✔️ How Johnson Controls uses the insights it receives from voice of the customer and market research to formulate a strategy regarding new market opportunities.
✔️ The first steps businesses should take on their building sustainability journey.

📌 Quote from the Episode:
📣 “Typically, about 40 percent of the carbon emissions in the world can be traced back to buildings, whether that's the construction of those buildings or the ongoing maintenance of those buildings. And so, to get that 40 percent of carbon emissions down to zero can be a big challenge.” – Mike Loth

📌 Speakers in this Episode:
🎙️ Erin Pearson, Vice President, Marketing at Evalueserve
🎙️ Mike Loth, Executive Director and General Manager of Specialty Services in Global Sustainable Infrastructure at Johnson Controls

Global standardization of the competitive intelligence function is an important hurdle for many large, complex organizations to overcome. Global standardization comes with countless benefits; it facilitates knowledge sharing and collaboration across geographies, eliminates redundant data collection efforts, allows for scalable, efficient operations, and, most importantly, provides a comprehensive view of the market across regions, enabling better decision-making.

In this episode of Decisions Now, Kory Weisman, Director of Global Commercial Excellence at Clarios, joins host Erin Pearson, Evalueserve’s VP of Marketing, to discuss how Clarios standardized its competitive intelligence efforts worldwide. Clarios is a prominent low-voltage battery supplier powering one in three of the world’s vehicles.

In this installment, Kory and Erin discuss:
✔️ Challenges encountered in standardizing competitive intelligence across the globe.
✔️ The benefits Clarios has seen from transitioning to a global structure.
✔️ The importance of collaboration and strategic alignment across a large organization.
✔️ How to encourage buy-in and adoption of an initiative across various teams.

📌 Quote from the Episode:
📣 “The standardized approach has really allowed us to accurately look at different aspects of our business, such as our segment share, our pipeline, how we’re performing as planned, and so on, in a real-time way that can be leveraged across regions, OEM levels, or even across various pieces of the organization.” – Kory Weisman

📌 Speakers in this Episode:
🎙️ Erin Pearson, Vice President, Marketing at Evalueserve
🎙️ Kory Weisman, Director of Global Commercial Excellence at Clarios

In this installment of Decisions Now, host Erin Pearson is joined by Kirsty Grant, who serves as the International Marketing Director of Public Safety Solutions at Everbridge. Everbridge is a global software company that empowers resilience. For over 20 years, Everbridge has helped both public and private organizations navigate the unpredictable world safely, reduce costs associated with critical events, protect lives, and accelerate recovery.

Kirsty and Erin discuss a variety of topics related to AI in the marketing sphere, including:
✔️ Use cases for generative AI, especially in content creation.
✔️ The tendency of the marketing function to be at the forefront of tech adoption.
✔️ Concerns around generative AI, including issues with privacy, validating the information it provides, and potential regulations.
✔️ Consumer-facing AI is new, but AI has impacted people’s daily lives for a few years.

📌 Quote from the Episode:
📣 "The genie’s out of the bottle. We can’t put it back in." – Kirsty Grant

📌 Speakers in this Episode:
🎙️ Erin Pearson, Vice President, Marketing at Evalueserve
🎙️ Kirsty Grant, International Marketing Director of Public Safety Solutions at Everbridge

In the age of data and analytics, businesses can enhance and make well-informed decisions by leveraging data and technology in their favor. In this episode of the Decisions Now podcast, we talked to Erica Brigance, Vice President of Data Science at Arcbest on how to realize value from analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) projects.

📌Key Takeaways
✔️ The future of using technology well,
✔️ ROI (return on investment),
✔️ Demand and value realization, and
✔️ The hype of ChatGPT

📌Quote Takeaways in this Episode:

📣 “The new technology, of course, keeps evolving, but from a business-centric standpoint, typically you want to not always take the shiniest stuff you want to test and try and make sure it stands to the enterprise-grade needs,” Chevala said.

📌The Speakers in This Episode:
🎙️Rigvinath (Rigvi) Chevala | Chief Technology Officer, Evalueserve www.evalueserve.com 🎙️Erin Pearson | VP Marketing, Evalueserve www.evalueserve.com
🎙️Erica Brigance | Vice President of Data Science at Arcbest https://arcb.com/