How Procter and Gamble Pioneered Big Data

Description: 

Michael Jordan once said that players win games, and teams win championships. In this episode, Cindi interviews Alfredo Colas, Senior Vice President of Data and Analytics at Procter & Gamble. Together, they explore the importance of fostering a data-driven culture and digital fluency, while delving into strategies for overcoming challenges in data culture. They also discuss the company's rich history of data innovation and the evolving impact of technology on data access and processing. From key insights on investing in data and AI fluency to discussing the role of the AI factory in accelerating machine learning processes, Alfredo and Cindi cover it all. 

Key Moments: 

• Building a data-driven culture and data fluency [9:48] 
• Overcoming challenges in data culture and adoption [10:16] 
• Investing in data and AI fluency across the organization [19:55] 
• The AI Factory and accelerating machine learning processes [20:16] 
• Addressing fears and human oversight in AI [27:50]

Key Quotes: 

As part of that also, we believe we need everyone in the organization to understand data, to understand analytics. So we are heavily investing in the digital fluency of the full organization and not just the IT function.

Michael Jordan said that players win games and teams win championships, I agree with him. To me, it's not about one trait. It's about having a diverse team where everyone brings something different. 

If we want to be here another 100 years or another 183 years, we need to be training the new generations so that they can be successful in the future.

Mentions: 

• AI Factory 
• chatPG 
• Generative AI

Bio: 

Alfredo Colas is the Senior Vice President of IT for Data & Analytics, and Digital Go-To-Market. He leads an organization of more than 850 P&G IT professionals and over a thousand partner resources.

Data and Algorithmic solutions are a key engine of P&G’s Integrated Growth Strategy. Through a combination of Enterprise Data Lake platform, data pipelines and machine learning workbenches, this team is creating cutting-edge capabilities across all dimensions of the business.

As part of his Digital Go-To-Market role, he is accountable for developing new capabilities to help P&G win by unlocking the full potential of P&G’s Sales organization. He oversees the digitization of the company’s sales processes and powering them with analytics. He also leads P&G’s Salesforce Platform Team.

Alfredo joined Procter & Gamble in 1996 in Spain and, over the years, led various local, regional and global organizations across the U.S. and Europe, including Italy, Russia, Spain and Switzerland. In 2005-2006, Alfredo participated in a Manager-On-Loan program, where he worked in PC business operations at Hewlett-Packard. He has extensive experience in transforming and enabling the sales organization at P&G, and has led commercial and supply chain redesigns, e-commerce initiatives and the integration of multiple acquisitions. Most recently, he led IT & Shared Services for North America, P&G’s largest region.

Alfredo thrives at the intersection of business and technology. He is motivated by applying technology to transform the business and create significant value. He also has long-standing experience working in external forums to identify opportunities and impulse efficiencies that improve the end-to-end value chain and ultimately benefit consumers. He started working with GS1 Spain (AECOC) more than 20 years ago. He has been in the board of GS1 US since 2016 and actively participates in key industry initiatives such as Verified by GS1 and the migration from product barcodes to 2D codes.

Alfredo resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife and his two younger children. His eldest is a freshman in engineering at Purdue University.

Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Alfredo Colas on The Data Chief. 

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.