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Bhagyesh Phanse, Vice President, Data Science and Analytics, Starbucks

Bhagyesh Phanse, Vice President, Data Science and Analytics, Starbucks

Describe your career to date

With over 17 years of experience in analytics, I work with my team to drive customer engagement, sales growth, and profitability. Through research, statistics, experimentation, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning model development, my team and I have transformed the way in which marketing and operations are seen globally through end-to-end processes.

My experience and expertise touch on supply chain management, price analytics, revenue management, personalization, customer analytics, and omnichannel retail.

How are you developing the data literacy of your organization, including the skills of your data teams and of your business stakeholders?

We take a multi-pronged approach toward developing data literacy both within and outside the data and analytics organization. There is already a strong foundation that exists in the organization through years of intentional investments in building out our data capabilities. We engage regularly with business stakeholders on strategic alignments where we share out key data points and insights that would help them run the business.

We have invested in a self-service ecosystem to push analytics and insights out regularly. Within the analytics function, we have established practices around data strategy and governance and continue to innovate through programs designed to upskill our data and analytics partners.

Finally, we prioritize time for regular ceremonies where various teams get to share their strong work and democratize data and insights to continue to improve data literacy.

What role do you play in building and delivering conventional artificial intelligence solutions, including machine learning models? Are you also involved in your organization’s adoption of generative AI?

The analytics organization takes a central role in developing and delivering artificial intelligence solutions. Starbucks’s revolutionary AI product DeepBrew has spearheaded a transformative journey within our organization, helping transform the way we operate and engage with our customers.

By harnessing cutting-edge data-driven technologies, including capabilities like network optimization and expansion, natural language understanding, generative AI (genAI) applications, and personalized offerings, we have set new standards in the industry.

How are you preparing your organization for AI adoption and change management?

There is a strong foundation for AI adoption that has been established at Starbucks. Our AI initiatives go beyond strengthening our technological prowess; they emphasize tangible value creation and foster enduring relationships with customers. Empowering informed decision-making, enhancing communication, and enriching experiences.

Since our AI-driven strategies showcase the potential of innovation, it creates a natural desire and interest from the organization that helps with adoption. We then layer a test and learn approach to mitigate risk and deploy innovation through AI that can help accelerate adoption of AI capabilities.

Bhagyesh Phanse
has been included in:

100 Brands 2024 (USA)