IE School of Science and Technology Kicks off new Sci-Tech Talks Series

IE's School of Science and Technology kicked off its new Sci-Tech Talks series with Aleem Bandali, Global Head of aim 10x and Executive Council of o9 Solutions, who spoke about the company's unique innovative services and opportunities it provides for organizations. 

The speaker introduced o9 Solutions’ technology called Digital Brain, a smart system that allows employees to make decisions with regards to all departments. By processing data that those divisions provide, Digital Brain informs about current indicators that influence a company’s sales, predicts the demand, and analyses revenue. 

Sci-Tech Talks forms part of the Master in Computer Science & Business Technology and is designed to bring successful global tech industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and experts to share professional successes, challenges and examples to inspire students. More than 45 students–including some from the Master in Business Analytics and Big Data–  attended the event, which is the first of the new series open to all Sci-Tech students.

Bandali explained that, in an ordinary office environment, departments in organizations lack coordination, working in their silos and sub silos, without any contact with colleagues from other divisions. That is why some modern companies are turning to the help of AI, particularly to o9 Solutions.

“Each organization, regardless of industry, is trying to make a better plan integrated across the organization– and execute that plan. And those are all the things we're affecting.” Aleem Bandali, Executive Council of o9 Solutions

He pointed to the fact that Walmart, AT&T, Nestle, Google, and many other leaders currently use o9 Solutions’ technology as an indication of the growing demand. 

Bandali gave an example of resolutions the company offered a coffee company. After analyzing each coffee store separately, taking into account local events, outside temperature and weather, storage space, and other indicators, the system provided information about challenges that the company faced and how o9 helped to solve them. For example, an employee had to spend hours in the back store manually filling in forms. So, with the use of o9 Solutions’ innovation, the AI optimized and automated replenishment plans based on store policies and constraints.

Bandali told students that demand forecasting is the most popular feature of Digital Brain, allowing companies to plan ahead for a year, taking into account variables such as weather, local events, or discounts, which are all stored and analyzed by the system. 

Students questioned whether Digital Brain had ever encountered a situation when two competitors got the same forecast. Bandali explained that every company codes unique data from one store, and, then, the AI can scale it to ten thousand stores. So, the system works individually, from case to case. 

Bandali encouraged students to apply for positions at o9 Solutions, saying the company is looking for  young and ambitious data enthusiasts in Madrid. 

“We are hiring like crazy.”Aleem Bandali, Executive Council of o9 solutions