News Briefs

SAP recently announced a series of partnerships that are helping to drive growth in artificial intelligence-powered capabilities. The company is working with Google Cloud, Meta, Mistral AI, and NVIDIA to "use the power of AI-ready technology to innovate at speed and deliver richer real-world results."

Through a collaboration with Google, the companies will pair AI assistant and cloud technology with integrated business planning. This will help enterprises better predict and mitigate supply chain risks to minimize disruptions and maintain optimal inventory levels. 

With Meta’s Llama 3 platform, the company will also be able to generate scripts to render customized analytics within SAP’s analytics cloud solution and translate enterprise business requirements into tangible outcomes.

• Also read: AWS and SAP Expand Partnership With Generative AI ERP Integration

NVIDIA also lends an infrastructure that will help SAP run, scale, and manage its AI assistant capabilities as SAP embeds Joule in the ABAP Cloud model to generate ABAP code for SAP developers. Partnering with NVIDIA also allows the company to simulate complex manufacturing processes through digital twins. 

"Today's AI announcements and partnerships build on our commitment to deliver revolutionary technology that drives real-world results, helping customers unleash the agility and ingenuity they need to succeed in today's fast-moving business landscape," said Christian Klein, SAP CEO. 

Retail data platform provider Crisp has acquired SetSight and Lumidata, both of which work with retail agencies, brokers, and brands to provide sales and supply chain data to CPGs selling through major retailers. 

SetSight’s and Lumidata’s agency and supplier customers represent over 2,500 CPG brands, according to Crisp. 

• See also: How CPGs Can Unlock the Power of Personalization Through Data Clean Rooms
   

Crisp said the acquisitions will enable it to ingest and share retail data and insights with CPG brands looking to optimize inventory, merchandising, and marketing. Its customers are expected to gain greater visibility into their products’ performance across store locations in order to optimize operations. 

They’re also expected to receive a more holistic view of their business to reduce out of stocks and align their supply with consumer demand across various channels. 

Logility and Deloitte Canada are working together to bring generative AI capabilities to supply chain planning. The companies are developing use cases to accelerate tech growth in demand, supply, inventory, and order fulfillment. 

The companies looked to bring new capabilities to tackle workforce challenges, unpredictable markets, siloed systems, and overall complexities related to data and supply chain analysis. Generative AI tech thus far, say the companies, have not had the data sources and understanding of complex supply chains to drive operational shifts in this area of business. 

• Also read: Gartner: Why AI Misconceptions May Hurt Supply Chain Tech Talent

The companies’ supply chain-focused technology will integrate via natural language interactions, allowing companies to tap into the Logility platform without investing significantly in data science resources.

Allan Dow, president of Logility, said the partnership will help develop next-level decision-making capabilities, bridging the gap between complex data and human understanding to make strategic decisions in seconds. 

Jas Jaaj, managing partner, AI and data for Deloitte Canada, said the companies are looking to empower businesses through data-driven decisions.

Placer.ai and dunnhumby announced an innovation partnership in the U.S. By combining location data, behavioral science, and dunnhumby expertise in retail consulting, the partnership will introduce a new range of connected insights from dunnhumby, powered by Placer.ai’s suite of location data.

As part of the partnership, dunnhumby and Placer.ai will provide services such as collaborative proposition building, go-to-market strategy, and access to the Placer.ai Partner Program (including 1,600-plus Placer.ai customers and 10,000-plus users). In addition, the partnership is enabling the firms to explore new connected data sets across Placer’s partner network.

“Much like last year, 2024 will be a year of increased competition,” said Matt O’Grady, president for the Americas at dunnhumby. “It’s never been more important for retailers – especially in sectors like grocery, pharmacy, and convenience — where differentiation has become challenging – to develop the right value proposition for their customers and to holistically understand their shoppers' journeys. In the past, customer journeys in-store and out-of-store were viewed in isolation. Integrating these insights into a holistic journey creates a great opportunity for retailers to better understand their customers and influence what brings them to the stores.”

“Placer’s ultimate mission is to unlock the power of analytics to help empower businesses to improve their decision making and drive tangible business goals,” said Mark Bowan, head of partner programs of Placer.ai. “The partnership with dunnhumby is a clear step in that direction bringing together industry leading insights, perspectives and analysis in order to better inform strategy and decision making.”

As the consumer goods industry dives deeper into leveraging data and analytics to inform its business strategies, companies are looking to hire talent with niche skills that support these initiatives. AI and analytics vendor Fractal has partnered with Coursera, online learning platform, to help individuals acquire these skills. 

The companies introduced a new Data Science Professional Certificate, which teaches participants the skills necessary for an entry-level data scientist role. 

The eight-course program will include sessions on Python, SQL, Power BI, machine learning, and more, moving beyond operational knowledge. It is open to anyone regardless of prior experience or skills. 

Srikanth Velamakanni, co-founder, group chief executive and vice chairman of Fractal, said that in order to be successful, people will need to adapt and learn to learn.

"In this age of AI, half-life of knowledge is shrinking rapidly," added Velamakanni. “This certificate will help learners master the basics of data science and power enterprise decision-making."

• Also read: Unilever Ramps Up R&D With Collaborative Data and AI Centers

Coursera chief content officer Marni Baker Stein said Fractal Analytics will prioritize the credential when evaluating job candidates.

Earlier this year, CGT predicted that data science-related jobs would grow in popularity in the next several years, naming VP of Decision Intelligence as a potential job title we may see emerge. 

Colgate-Palmolive, for example, is currently exploring the future of decision intelligence and what new roles will be required to support it. The company is already democratizing analytics across the enterprise by investing in supply chain analytics engineers for a dedicated analytics catalyst team, and also a coach to lead them. 

Peloton has named Lauren Weinberg as its new chief marketing officer. 

Most recently SVP and chief marketing and revenue officer for QuickBooks at Intuit, Winberg will replace Leslie Berland. She’ll report to Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy and be a member of the fitness equipment manufacturer’s leadership team. 

• See also: Peloton Leverages AI-Powered Workload Prediction and Automated Resource Optimization Tech

Prior to Intuit, Weinberg led global marketing and communications as CMO for payment solution provider Square. She’s also held marketing roles at Yahoo, MTV and AOL, and she shared in a statement announcing her appointment that she’s an “active member of the Peloton community. 

"Lauren's growth-first mindset, coupled with her proven ability to deliver growth at scale will be critical assets for our revitalized brand," said McCarthy in a statement. "She thrives on understanding both the art and science of effective and impactful marketing strategies for companies, to build awareness and engagement, identify new audiences, and drive customer conversion, all ambitions key to the Peloton growth strategy."