Dr. Paul Pallath, vice president, applied AI practice, Searce Inc
Describe your career to date
Throughout my career, I have gained extensive experience in developing digital, data and artificial intelligence (AI) technology strategies and have had the opportunity to deliver millions of dollars in incremental top and bottom-line benefits by leveraging Artificial Intelligence. I have had the privilege of working at some of the world’s top companies, including SAP, Intuit, Pitney Bowes, Vodafone, Levi Strauss & Company and currently at Searce.
As the vice president - applied AI practice at Searce, I take pride in driving impactful and futuristic business outcomes using artificial intelligence. Before joining Searce, I played a key role as the global head of data, analytics and AI technology for Levi Strauss & Company, where I established state-of-the-art AI technology capability from the ground up for the company and scaled artificial intelligence solutions across several parts of the business.
In addition to my industry achievements, I have also contributed to the research community through ongoing academic research and serving as a reviewer for several technical journals in the field of machine learning. I also had the opportunity to co-author several patents with amazing colleagues throughout my career.
While I am proud of my accomplishments, I believe that there is always room for growth and improvement. I am excited to continue pushing the boundaries of AI and machine learning and finding innovative ways to apply these technologies to benefit businesses and society as a whole.
What stage has your organization reached on its data maturity journey?
In my new role as vice president of applied AI practice at Searce, my dedication is to guide our clients in achieving intelligent, impactful and innovative business outcomes through the use of data and artificial intelligence. We collaborate with businesses at different levels of data maturity to facilitate their digital transformation journeys.
At Levi Strauss & Company (LS&Co), my team and I were responsible for integrating data, analytics and AI into core business processes, contributing to LS&Co’s digital transformation journey. Our data-centric approach had a profound impact on LS&Co’s operations, including sourcing, manufacturing, pricing, assortment, sales and shareholder value. We treated data as a strategic asset and utilized predictive and prescriptive analytics to make informed, real-time data-driven decisions. As a result, various business functions were able to harness the transformative power of data and artificial intelligence to drive long-term success and achieve outsized impact. Although we made significant progress on the data journey, there is still a long way to go to extract the most value from data and achieve intelligent business outcomes for companies.
Tell us about the data and analytics resources you are responsible for
As a leader of data and analytics teams in my previous roles, I had the privilege of leading a geographically distributed teams of around 130-350 data and analytics professionals. However, the organizational structures varied depending on the company I worked for. For instance, in one organization, the data and analytics organization was part of the CIO organization, while in another instance, it was part of the commercial organization.
One of the most significant challenges I faced in these roles was finding the right talent with the required technological skills in artificial intelligence (AI). To overcome this challenge, we often leveraged the expertise of our GSI partners for various projects. These collaborations helped us deliver quality solutions while maintaining flexibility and cost-effectiveness.
The companies I worked for were global organizations with operations spanning across various geographical regions worldwide. To cater to the diverse needs of the different regions, I oversaw a core team located at the corporate headquarters and smaller teams in various locations across the globe. This approach enabled us to deliver tailored solutions that met the unique needs of each region while maintaining a global view of the organization’s data and analytics strategy.
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