Deloitte’s Beena Ammanath on AI, Data, and Analytics
Todd Pruzan, HBR
Welcome to the HBR Video Quick Take. I’m Todd Pruzan, senior editor for research and special projects at Harvard Business Review. And today I’m with Beena Ammanath, executive director of Deloitte AI Institute. Beena’s expertise spans e-commerce, finance, marketing, telecom, retail, and software products with companies like HPE, GE, Thomson Reuters, British Telecom, Bank of America, E-Trade, and a number of Silicon Valley startups. She’s also the founder of the nonprofit Humans for AI. Beena, thanks so much for joining us today.
Beena Ammanath, Deloitte
Todd, thank you so much for having me on the show.
Todd Pruzan, HBR
Beena, to open with a broad question, what fuels your curiosity?
Beena Ammanath, Deloitte
Todd, I think as you were reading my bio, I was thinking my career just shows a curiosity path that I’ve taken, leading me to all these different industries. I think it’s a need — a relentless need — to get knowledge, to learn about different things. That quest for knowledge is what’s fueling my curiosity across all these different industries, and my career path reflects it.
Todd Pruzan, HBR
So as a leader, then, how are you encouraging curiosity within Deloitte?
Beena Ammanath, Deloitte
Yeah. And look, Todd, we live in these interesting times where there is innovation coming at us at a faster pace than ever before. There’s certainly been triggers. And my work at Deloitte is really bringing [the] AI ecosystem and all the dimensions of the ecosystem, along with data and analytics, to Deloitte. So what I do to encourage curiosity is really part of my job, which is challenging the status quo, encouraging new ideas and thoughts within Deloitte, but also providing a safe space to try out those new ideas.
Todd Pruzan, HBR
Now, when you were a new emerging leader, what were you most curious about? And what do you feel you should have been curious about?
Beena Ammanath, Deloitte
So my background is very much in computer science. And then I did an MBA as well. And my curiosity early on in my career was really about how [do] data analytics and technology in general impact businesses? How did businesses work? What is the impact of these technologies? What drove business decisions? The curiosity was very focused on business.
But as I grew in my career, the curiosity expanded to what made people click. Why did somebody behave or respond in a certain way? What made successful teams? What motivated my team, and how could I empower my teams to achieve the most success?
Todd Pruzan, HBR
So then how would you describe the relationship between curiosity and innovation?
Beena Ammanath, Deloitte
Todd, I believe curiosity is one of the key factors that fuel innovation. Without curiosity, innovation would be at a standstill. Curiosity [is] that urge to learn more, to find those ways to do things better, faster, in a more optimized way. Curiosity is what helps us make human lives better. And this is the anchoring point for everything happening in innovation.
Todd Pruzan, HBR
So then what areas of technological innovation have the most potential to change the world?
Beena Ammanath, Deloitte
My career has always been anchored in data. I have been in different organizations, different industries. But it’s always been anchored in data. And so I’ve seen the evolution of the data space from when it used to be purely transactional databases. Then came the era of business intelligence and analytics. And then came the era of big data and machine learning and AI.
So for me, the area of technological innovation that I think has [the] most potential to change the world is data analytics, AI. I’ve seen that whole space evolve in my career. I’ve anchored my career in data. And I’ve seen it grow from transactional database systems to business intelligence and data warehousing and then on to AI, machine learning, analytics. And we’ve seen that use of data and analytics expand just from a few years ago.
We are now seeing it expand out into almost every industry, into almost every function within a business. Even today, analytics is everywhere. And I believe that we will continue to find new use cases for analytics as AI itself advances. We are going to see new applications, new ways to innovate by leveraging analytics and AI. And AI and analytics will really be the foundation for what I believe will be the intelligent future, which benefits all humankind.
Todd Pruzan, HBR
How will AI and analytics shape and transform the future of the financial services industry?
Beena Ammanath, Deloitte
So I have been in the financial industry from different perspectives, whether it was during my time at E-Trade or Bank of America and Merrill Lynch. I’ve seen different perspectives of the financial services industry. And what I see is AI, analytics, and predictive modeling in financial services — that has been around for years, right? We didn’t call it AI. It was still being done with statistics and analytics.
And now we are seeing how these new technologies are impacting financial institutions, whether it is a better way to interact and engage with their customers, provide more personalized services, improve the customer relationship. Analytics and AI [are] being used to engage customers in a more personalized way. [They’re] used for marketing campaigns. So truly in the financial space, I would say [they have] moved from the back office to the front office and really being at the center of how business is done.
Todd Pruzan, HBR
Do you believe it’s possible to emerge from this global pandemic more curious and innovative as a society? And if so, how?
Beena Ammanath, Deloitte
One hundred percent. Look, data and analytics and AI [were] the fire behind these life sciences companies and pharma companies and their ability to deliver a vaccine at an astounding speed — right? — something that no one thought was even possible three or four years ago. And the world was watching, and they did it.
So I think everyone is thinking, well, if data and analytics would fuel drug manufacturing and innovation, what else could [they] fuel? How can I get greater efficiencies out of the processes in my organization? How do we move faster? How do we provide better service? How do we get more efficient, right?
Can data and AI and analytics be the way to get there? That’s what’s on everyone’s mind right now. And that curiosity is going to change our lives forever, even beyond the pandemic.
Todd Pruzan, HBR
Beena, thank you so much for joining us today.
Beena Ammanath, Deloitte
Todd, thank you so much for having me.
SAS and Deloitte partner to help their clients improve business performance through analytics insights that are powered by deep sector knowledge and sophisticated analytical technology. To learn more about their partnership and how other innovators are putting curiosity to work, visit sas.com/curiosity.