Dataframed

Loyalty schemes are a hallmark of established retailers—not only do they build consumer trust, they are intelligent and constantly evolving, and Tesco’s Clubcard is the UK’s favorite retail loyalty program. The effects of these discounts are far-reaching, especially for families who rely on getting the best deals to make the most of their money. As Tesco’s tagline goes, every little helps. In turn, the identification and specific details of discounted products can have a profound impact on how consumers view the largest supermarket retailer in the United Kingdom, as well as the operational costs and profits that shareholders are concerned with. How do data and AI inform these offers, what goes into the enterprise-scale analytics that keeps Tesco’s Clubcard the UK’s favorite?Venkat Raghavan is Director of Analytics and Science at Tesco. Venkat’s area of expertise is customer analytics, having been very heavily involved with the Tesco Clubcard loyalty program. Venkat also set up an analytics center of excellenc

Arguably one of the verticals that is both at the same time most ripe for disruption by AI and the hardest to disrupt is search. We've seen many attempts at reimagining search using AI, and many are trying to usurp Google from its throne as the top search engine on the planet, but I think no one is laying the case better for AI assisted search than perplexity. AI. Perplexity doesn't need an introduction. It is an AI powered search engine that lets you get the information you need as fast as possible.Denis Yarats is the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Perplexity AI. He previously worked at Facebook as an AI Research Scientist. Denis Yarats attended New York University. His previous research interests broadly involved Reinforcement Learning, Deep Learning, NLP, robotics and investigating ways of semi-supervising Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning using natural language.In the episode, Adel and Denis explore Denis’ role at Perplexity.ai, key differentiators of Perplexity.ai when compared to other cha

Spatial computing is revolutionizing the way we interact with digital and physical worlds, but its adoption comes with questions about practicality and return on investment. As businesses explore this cutting-edge technology, they must consider how it can enhance productivity and streamline operations. What are the best strategies to integrate spatial computing into your current systems? How can you ensure that it not only boosts efficiency but also delivers measurable benefits to your bottom line? Cathy Hackl is a web3 and metaverse strategist, tech futurist, speaker and author. She's worked with metaverse-related companies such as HTC VIVE, Magic Leap, and AWS, and currently consults with some of the world's leading brands, including P&G, Clinique, Ralph Lauren, Orlando Economic Partnership and more. Hackl is one of the world's first Chief Metaverse Officers and the co-founder of Journey, where she works with luxury, fashion, and beauty brands to create successful metaverse and web3 strategies and

Memory, the foundation of human intelligence, is still one of the most complex and mysterious aspects of the brain. Despite decades of research, we've only scratched the surface of understanding how our memories are formed, stored, and retrieved. But what if AI could help us crack the code on memory? How might AI be the key to unlocking problems that have evaded human cognition for so long?Kim Stachenfeld is a Senior Research Scientist at Google DeepMind in NYC and Affiliate Faculty at the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience at Columbia University.  Her research covers topics in Neuroscience and AI. On the Neuroscience side, she study how animals build and use models of their world that support memory and prediction. On the Machine Learning side, she works on implementing these cognitive functions in deep learning models. Kim’s work has been featured in The Atlantic, Quanta Magazine, Nautilus, and MIT Technology Review. In 2019, she was named one of MIT Tech Review’s Innovators under 35 for her work on p

In the fast-paced work environments we are used to, the ability to quickly find and understand data is essential. Data professionals can often spend more time searching for data than analyzing it, which can hinder business progress. Innovations like data catalogs and automated lineage systems are transforming data management, making it easier to ensure data quality, trust, and compliance. By creating a strong metadata foundation and integrating these tools into existing workflows, organizations can enhance decision-making and operational efficiency. But how did this all come to be, who is driving better access and collaboration through data?Prukalpa Sankar is the Co-founder of Atlan. Atlan is a modern data collaboration workspace (like GitHub for engineering or Figma for design). By acting as a virtual hub for data assets ranging from tables and dashboards to models & code, Atlan enables teams to create a single source of truth for all their data assets, and collaborate across the modern data stack throug

One thing we like to do on DataFramed is cover the current state of data & AI, and how it will change in the future. But sometimes to really understand the present and the future, we need to look into the past. We need to understand just exactly how data became so foundational to modern society and organizations, how previous paradigm shifts can help inform us about future ones, and how data & AI became powerful social forces within our lives.Cristina Alaimo is Assistant Professor (Research) of Digital Economy and Society at LUISS University, Rome. She co-wrote the book Data Rules, Reinventing the Market Economy with Jannis Kallinikos, Professor of Organization Studies and the CISCO Chair in Digital Transformation and Data Driven Innovation at LUISS University. The book offers a fascinating examination of the history and sociology of data. In the episode, Adel and Cristina explore the many of the themes covered in the book, from the first instance of where data was used, to how it became central

In today's fast-paced digital world, managing IT operations is more complex than ever. With the rise of cloud services, microservices, and constant software deployments, the pressure on IT teams to keep everything running smoothly is immense. But how do you keep up with the ever-growing flood of data and ensure your systems are always available? AIOps is the use of artificial intelligence to automate and scale IT operations. But what exactly is AIOps, and how can it transform your IT operations?Assaf Resnick is the CEO and Co-Founder of BigPanda. Before founding BigPanda, Assaf was an investor at Sequoia Capital, where he focused on early and growth-stage investing in software, internet, and mobile sectors. Assaf’s time at Sequoia gave him a front-row seat to the challenges of IT scale, complexity, and velocity faced by Operations teams in rapidly scaling and accelerating organizations. This is the problem that Assaf founded BigPanda to solve.In the episode, Richie and Assaf explore AIOps, how AIOps helps man

Trust is the foundation of any relationship, whether it's between friends or in business. But what happens when the entity you're asked to trust isn't human, but AI? How do you ensure that the AI systems you're developing are not only effective but also trustworthy? In a world where AI is increasingly making decisions that impact our lives, how can we distinguish between systems that genuinely serve our interests and those that might exploit our data? Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned security technologist, called a “security guru” by The Economist. He is the author of over one dozen books—including his latest, A Hacker’s Mind—as well as hundreds of articles, essays, and academic papers. His influential newsletter “Crypto-Gram” and his blog “Schneier on Security” are read by over 250,000 people. He has testified before Congress, is a frequent guest on television and radio, has served on several government committees, and is regularly quoted in the press. Schneier is a fellow at the Berkman Kl

Building a successful data engineering team involves more than just hiring skilled individuals—it requires fostering a culture of trust, collaboration, and continuous learning. But how do you start from scratch and create a team that not only meets technical demands but also drives business value? What key traits should you look for in your early hires, and how do you ensure your team’s projects align with the company’s goals?Liya Aizenberg is Director of Data Engineering at Away and a seasoned data leader with over 22 years of experience spearheading innovation in scalable data engineering pipelines and distribution solutions. She has built successful data teams that integrate seamlessly with various business functions, serving as invaluable organizational partners. She focuses on promoting data-driven approaches to empower organizations to make proactive decisions based on timely and organized data, shifting from reactive to proactive business strategies. Additionally, as a passionate advocate for Women in

Everything in the world has a price, including improving and scaling your data and AI functions. That means that at some point someone will question the ROI of your projects, and often, these projects will be looked at under the lens of monetization. But how do you ensure that what you’re working on is not only providing value to the business but also creating financial gain? What conditions need to be met to prove your project's success and turn value into cash?Vin Vashishta is the author of ‘From Data to Profit’ (Wiley), the playbook for monetizing data and AI. He built V-Squared from client 1 to one of the oldest data and AI consulting firms. For the last eight years, he has been recognized as a data and AI thought leader. Vin is a LinkedIn Top Voice and Gartner Ambassador. His background spans over 25 years in strategy, leadership, software engineering, and applied machine learning.Dr. Tiffany Perkins-Munn is on a mission to bring research, analytics, and data science to life. She earned her Ph.D. in Soci

As we close out our focus on how the venture capital industry identifies and decides which future companies to fund, it might be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the latest methods for discovering future unicorns are ubiquitous among all VCs. However, many VCs still work ‘the old way,’ using data to back up human assumptions. But what happens when a data engineer pivots to VC? What does a data-driven, data-first approach look like, and how does it compare to the incumbent processes?Dr. Andre Retterath is a Partner in Earlybird’s Munich Office, focussing on enterprise software with a particular interest in developer, data and productivity tools, alongside AI-centric products and robotics. Before transitioning into VC in 2017, he gained more than 5 years of experience as a process automation and predictive maintenance engineer at ThyssenKrupp and further insights as a management consultant at GE North America. Andre also has his own VC, AI & data newsletter, Data-Driven VC.In the episode, Richie

In almost every industry, the rate of innovation is increasing, and this is great for consumers around the globe. However, with constant innovation and continual disruption of the status quo, where to innovate next becomes much harder to identify. If your industry hasn’t been disrupted yet, it’s next on the list. So, in order to deal with uncertainty, a new culture is needed, and there’s a clear group of companies that constantly deal with uncertainty and innovation—VC’s. Ilya A. Strebulaev is the David S. Lobel Professor of Private Equity and Professor of Finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is an expert in corporate finance, venture capital, innovation financing, and financial decision-making. He is the founder and director of the Stanford GSB Venture Capital Initiative.In the episode, Richie and Ilya explore the venture mindset, the importance of embracing unknowns, how VC’s deal with unpredictability, how our edu

Speedily adopting new technologies can give your business a competitive advantage, but with so much happening in the world of generative AI, it's difficult to know what to adopt. In this episode, Richie chats to two venture capitalists to get their view on the global AI landscape, where we are in the AI hype cycle, and how to adopt AI tech. Beyond this, we explore Rocketship.vc's use of data and algorithms to make investment decisions in early-stage startups. If our previous episode’s deep dive into 2024’s data & AI trends with VC Tom Tunguz got you excited about how investors are looking at the market at the moment, then this episode is sure to do the same. This time, we have twice the insight, thanks to our two guests.Madhu Shalini Iyer is a Managing Partner at Rocketship.vc, a Silicon Valley based fund investing globally. She was the Chief Data Officer of Gojek and helped grow the business into a $10 billion unicorn. In addition to being a board member, she started the Singapore office and played an ac

Rapid change seems to be the new norm within the data and AI space, and due to the ecosystem constantly changing, it can be tricky to keep up. Fortunately, any self-respecting venture capitalist looking into data and AI will stay on top of what’s changing and where the next big breakthroughs are likely to come from. We all want to know which important trends are emerging and how we can take advantage of them, so why not learn from a leading VC. Tomasz Tunguz is a General Partner at Theory Ventures, a $235m early-stage venture capital firm. He blogs sat tomtunguz.com & co-authored Winning with Data. He has worked or works with Looker, Kustomer, Monte Carlo, Dremio, Omni, Hex, Spot, Arbitrum, Sui & many others.He was previously the product manager for Google's social media monetization team, including the Google-MySpace partnership, and managed the launches of AdSense into six new markets in Europe and Asia. Before Google, Tunguz developed systems for the Department of Homeland Security at Appian C

With seemingly every organization wanting to enhance their AI capabilities, questions arise about who should be in charge of these initiatives. At the moment, it’s likely a CTO, CIO, or CDO, or a mixture of the three. The gold standard is to have someone in the C-suite whose sole focus is their AI projects: the Chief AI Officer. This role is so new that it's not yet widely understood. In this episode, we explore what the CAIO job entails.Philipp Herzig is the Chief AI Officer at SAP. He’s held a variety of roles within SAP, most recently SVP Head of Cross Product Engineering & Experience, however his experience covers intelligent enterprise & cross-architecture, head of engineering for cloud-native apps, a software development manager, and product owner. In the full episode, Richie and Philipp explore what his day-to-day responsibilities are as a CAIO, the holistic approach to cross-team collaboration, non-technical interdepartmental work, AI strategy and implementation, challenges and success me

Countless companies invest in their data quality, but often, the effort from their investment is not fully realized in the output. It seems like, despite the critical importance of data quality, data governance might be suffering from a branding issue. Data governance is sometimes looked at as the data police, but this is far from the truth. So, how can we change perspectives and introduce fun into data governance?Tiankai Feng is a Principal Data Consultant and Data Strategy & Data Governance Lead at Thoughtworks, He also works part-time as the Head of Marketing at DAMA Germany. Tiankai has had many data hats in his career—marketing data analyst, data product owner, analytics capability lead, and data governance leader for the last few years. He has found a passion for the human side of data—how to collaborate, coordinate, and communicate around data. TIankai often uses his music and humor to make data more approachable and fun.In the episode, Adel and Tiankai explore the importance of data governance in

Databases are ubiquitous, and you don’t need to be a data practitioner to know that all data everywhere is stored in a database—or is it? While the majority of data around the world lives in a database, the data that helps run the heart of our operating systems—the core functions of our computers— is not stored in the same place as everywhere else. This is due to database storage sitting ‘above’ the operating system, requiring the OS to run before the databases can be used. But what if the OS was built ‘on top’ of a database? What difference could this fundamental change make to how we use computers?Mike Stonebraker is a distinguished computer scientist known for his foundational work in database systems, he is also currently CTO & Co-Founder At DBOS. His extensive career includes significant contributions through academic prototypes and commercial startups, leading to the creation of several pivotal relational database companies such as Ingres Corporation, Illustra, Paradigm4, StreamBase Systems, Tamr,

Over the past 199 episodes of DataFramed, we’ve heard from people at the forefront of data and AI, and over the past year we’ve constantly looked ahead to the future AI might bring. But all of the technologies and ways of working we’ve witnessed have been built on foundations that were laid decades ago. For our 200th episode, we’re bringing you a special guest and taking a walk down memory lane—to the creation and development of one of the most popular programming languages in the world.Don Chamberlin is renowned as the co-inventor of SQL (Structured Query Language), the predominant database language globally, which he developed with Raymond Boyce in the mid-1970s. Chamberlin's professional career began at IBM Research in Yorktown Heights, New York, following a summer internship there during his academic years. His work on IBM's System R project led to the first SQL implementation and significantly advanced IBM’s relational database technology. His contributions were recognized when he was made an IBM Fellow

Last year saw the proliferation of countless AI tools and initiatives, many companies looked to find ways where AI could be leveraged to reduce operational costs and pressure wherever possible. 2023 was a year of experimentation for anyone trying to harness AI, but we can’t walk forever. To keep up with the rapidly changing landscape in business, last year’s experiments with AI need to find their feet and allow us to run. But how do we know which initiatives are worth fully investing in? Will your company culture impede the change management that is necessary to fully adopt AI?Sanjay Srivastava is the Chief Digital Strategist at Genpact. He works exclusively with Genpact’s senior client executives and ecosystem technology leaders to mobilize digital transformation at the intersection of cutting-edge technology, data strategy, operating models, and process design. In his previous role as Chief Digital Officer at Genpact, Sanjay built out the company’s offerings in artificial intelligence, data and analytics, a

There aren’t many retail giants like Walmart. In fact, there are none. The multinational generates 650bn in revenue, (including 50bn in eCommerce)—the highest revenue of any retailer globally. With over 10,000 stores worldwide and a constantly evolving product line, Walmart’s data & AI function has a lot to contend with when it comes to customer experience, demand forecasting, supply chain optimization and where to use AI effectively. So how do they do it? What can we learn from one of the most successful and well-known organizations on the planet?Swati Kirti is a Senior Director of Data Science, leading the AI/ML charter for Walmart Global Tech’s international business in Canada, Mexico, Central America, Chile, China, and South Africa. She is responsible for building AI/ML models and products to enable automation and data-driven decisions, powering superior customer experience and realizing value for omnichannel international businesses across e-commerce, stores, supply chain, and merchandising.In the ep