Up next on The Retail Podcast: Dive deep into the evolution of customer experience with Shamas Aziz, Interim Customer Experience Specialist at MATCHES FASHION.

Shamas drops his views on how to elevate customer experience, effectively use data, tackle digital transformations, and the importance of building customer trust in AI technologies.

Get ready for a conversation full of insights on adapting and growing with the ever-changing needs of customers!

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Introducing Giovanni Zaccariello who has dedicated more than two decades of his life in transforming the fashion industry. Currently, as the senior vice president of global visual experience at Coach, he leads various teams like visual merchandising, 3D creative studio, brand events, and digital experience.

In this episode of The Retail Podcast by Vue.ai, Giovanni talks about how Coach shifted from modern to expressive luxury, focusing on customer obsession and glocalization. He explains the importance of visual experiences in retail and how Coach blends physical and digital elements to create an immersive store experience.

This episode of the AI Transformation Podcast featuring Anand Chandrasekaran, Ashwini Asokan and Costa Colbert, founders of Vue.ai unveils a new branding for their company that accentuates the theme of ‘uncomplicate’. The founders discuss their journey, the evolving AI space, and the launch of an AI orchestration platform. Ashwini highlights the culmination of years of AI discussions and the challenge of navigating an overwhelming, jargon-filled AI landscape. Costa emphasizes the need for a platform that seamlessly integrates traditional computing concepts and AI, avoiding the chaos of piecemeal solutions. Anand discusses the fundamental shift in people’s thinking towards adopting new technology and the importance of orchestrating skills and data for effective problem-solving. The founders stress the platform’s composability, orchestration, and automation, envisioning it as an AI-based operating system for enterprises, simplifying the complexity of AI adoption and delivering concrete outcomes.

Channel IT resources into three buckets: running the business, growing the business and transforming the business. The more you automate the "running the business" part, the more resources you free up to grow and transform the organization. Murali Sundararajan, EVP & CIO, Victoria's Secret on the challenges before CIO's undertaking AI transformation.

Our guest today is a social entrepreneur and activist - Rónán Ó Dálaigh. His passion to bring about large-scale, systemic change goes way back to his days as a youth social entrepreneur who lent his voice at the UNESCO Youth Forum until today and as the founder & CEO of Thriftify, an online resale platform based out of Ireland.

With Thriftify, he provides powerful digital commerce tech to enable dozens of leading resale and charity retailers to be the leaders of the sustainable fashion revolution.

Our guest today is bringing his expertise in data and passion for music to create an entirely unique learning experience. Tiankai Feng, Ambassador at DQ & Head of Marketing at DAMA Germany brings into this conversation, a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the field of data analytics, governance and compliance. 

With over half a decade as a Senior Director of Product - Data Governance at Adidas, he delves into the various facets of data governance, the role of AI and his vision to make data accessible and fun for everyone working with it.

On being a coach and a player, amidst blurring job titles

Through a serendipitous journey of fortuitous decisions, Pankaj Rai has embraced diverse roles in various industries over the course of his multi-decade career. His fearlessness towards change and wholehearted acceptance of the outcomes have become the guiding ideals he holds dearly. In an inspiring podcast, the Chief Data Analytics Officer at Aditya Birla Group sheds light on the transformative potential of AI and data analytics in revolutionizing businesses.

As Chief Data Analytics Officer: The focus is on being a coach and a player, helping to build data analytics capabilities in each group company to drive transformation and better decision-making. Aditya Birla Group is a Fortune 500 global conglomerate with a diverse portfolio of businesses, including metals, cement, chemicals, fashion, and finance. Pankaj's role involves developing a data analytics culture across the group companies.

Balancing centralization and decentralization: Aditya Birla Group's approach is to have a central data analytics function that acts as a thought leadership entity and an advisory, while also helping to develop data analytics capabilities in each group company. This model allows for a balance between centralization and autonomy while considering the diverse businesses within the conglomerate.

Consideration of context: Pankaj highlights the importance of considering the context when implementing any approach to transformation. The growth mindset and willingness to innovate may be more suitable in certain contexts, while in others, external factors like regulation and market conditions might limit the scope for innovation.

Serendipity and Growth Mindset: Pankaj attributes some of his success to serendipity but also acknowledges that having a growth mindset and being open to new challenges and opportunities played a significant role in his career trajectory.

Blur in roles: Pankaj mentions that roles such as Chief Data Analytics Officer, Chief Data Officer, and CIO are increasingly blurring. There is a need to focus on driving transformation and value creation rather than getting stuck in traditional role definitions.

Pankaj offers three key takeaways for CIOs, CDOs, and other professionals:

a. Break away from past thinking and structures; adopt an entrepreneurial mindset.

b. Focus on the customer as the center of your efforts, rather than being bound by industry definitions.

c. Embrace ecosystem thinking, fostering collaboration and partnerships for better outcomes.

Joining us today is Karan Kunal, the Lead Product Manager at 6thStreet. Based in the GCC, Apparel Group's exclusive omnichannel e-commerce platform, 6thStreet.com is a one-stop destination for all things fashion and apparel. Their Phygital store - which combines their online store with their physical store is truly an experience that takes omnichannel to a whole other level. In this conversation, we'll talk to Karan about his journey at 6thStreet, how we're creating unique customer experiences, and of course, an insight into how they're planning on adopting tech in the near future.

Our guest today is Federica Gioia, Founder and eCommerce Strategist, TechLab Cmerce. With nearly a decade of experience behind her, lending her expertise to brands like Tommy Hilfiger & Karl Lagerfeld in the field of eCommerce, Federica enters the consulting space in the Middle East. In the episode, she dives into where the region is heading in its digital transformation journey and much more.

Welcome to a brand new episode of the AI Transformation Podcast, CIO Diaries with Kirk Ball.

Our speaker today is Kirk Ball, the EVP & CIO of Giant Eagle. Kirk is a seasoned leader with over 30+ years of experience across industries. He is accustomed to managing multiple, large-scale projects and priorities in fast-paced environments.

In this episode, Kirk delves into how he has led AI transformation projects in large enterprises, how he uses data to fuel growth, Giant Eagle’s top tech priorities for 2023, and most importantly, actionable tips for enterprise leaders looking to drive change in large organizations.