Home Retail & Consumer How the World's Biggest Beer Company AB InBev Embraces AI and Cloud...

How the World’s Biggest Beer Company AB InBev Embraces AI and Cloud Technology

Currently, all entities regardless of their size are adopting cloud computing services in a bid to minimize infrastructure costs, create new services and boost agility.

More than a third of all the companies interviewed by Lopez Research are utilizing public cloud infrastructure services.

However, the most impressive bit is the wide array of services that organizations are adopting today.

Advanced analytics utilizing cognitive functions makes up a remarkable example of the cloud computing market’s growth beyond infrastructure.

Most companies are faced with the problem of legacy infrastructure.

However, only a few people can claim that their business dates back hundreds of years.

For instance, AB InBev boasts a company history spanning over 600 years. “The world changed around us.

At one point, sales were dictated by how fast a salesperson could drive a motorcycle between locations.

Today, AB InBev needs to digitize all aspects of its business to be successful,” the AB InBev VP of Global Solutions Tassilo Festetics.

In case you are asking yourself how a company of this age and size starts its transformation efforts? Well, it begins with bringing customer-facing workflows to where the return on investment is visible.

AB InBev has entered into a deal with Microsoft in a bid to transform itself. As such, it is using Microsoft’s AI cognitive services, Azure Infrastructure, and Microsoft M365.

MORE: 10 Powerful Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Retail

MORE – Big Data: All the Stats, Facts, and Data You’ll Ever Need to Know

Furthermore, companies are increasingly sharing that choosing a software solution like the M65 suite has played a key role in their selection of cloud providers. AB InBev faced many challenges in its cloud transition.

“The only way to resolve this issue was to rebuild from scratch. You go directly to the cloud. No other route makes sense. The biggest benefits lay in tapping into technologies that weren’t available before,” explained Festetics.

The main obstacle affecting a global brand ’s selection of a cloud service concentrates on developing a consistent cloud footprint across the globe that complies with the rules of a given geography.

Data governance problems call for transparency of both data policies and location. Network latency for global activities forms another problem, specifically when you are conveying data from destinations such as Asia to Latin America.

In fact, AB InBev managed to transition 40% of its entire workloads to the cloud in one and a half years.

Moving the first forty percent of its workloads to the cloud must have been seamless for AB InBev since you begin by shifting the easier or new items first.

Currently, the team faces the problem of shifting its previous back-office systems to the cloud.

Embracing these systems’ cloud versions offers the opportunity for AB InBev to shift away from a monolithic form to more agile and nimble versions. “Even our legacy backend systems become cool with cloud computing.

Cloud computing services are loaded with machine learning and real-time analytics. It just offers us more and is constantly updated.”

It began with replicating paper processes as digital forms. However, it intends to simplify and automate how the back office operates with cloud services.

Furthermore, the company is seeking to offer varying functions like account reconciliations.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Spearheads New Cloud Computing Workloads

It is important to note that simplification does not necessarily translate to simplistic. Like other companies, AB InBev is moving from IT tasks that shed light on the creation of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven service that will change the business.

Numerous entities are aware that if you search for artificial intelligence and machine learning use cases, you will find out that they are available all over your company.

For AB InBev, artificial intelligence is useful in the commercial and sales section, particularly for analytics.

The company utilizes AI for those use cases that span from optimizing promotions to image recognition intended for planograms.

AB InBev also uses AI coupled with POS system data to attain various insights into understanding assortments, consumer preferences, and how to integrate beverages to optimize assortments.

In logistics and supply chain, AB InBev is also leveraging artificial intelligence to go beyond routing optimizations for both traffic and fuel.

It intends to enhance routes on the basis of when a customer’s shop opens and when it is ideal for a client to receive orders.

Although voice interfaces are on high demand in the consumer market, it is also attaining increased traction in commercial areas.

Natural language processing (NLP) and sentiment analysis have proven to be at the core of artificial intelligence (AI) voice services, primarily those that are available from top cloud computing providers like Microsoft, IBM Watson, Google, and Amazon.

AB InBev is looking forward to weaving voice into all its enterprise applications with chatbots.

However, the company wants its employees to not only place orders but also perform other activities through voice commands to a given mobile application.

Artificial intelligence (AI), analytics, mobility, and cloud computing make up some of the foundational services for any business today.

Nevertheless, technology is acting just as a facilitator of digital transformation. The transformation win is drawn from the provision of new concepts and ideas.

The largest obstacle for any enterprise is defining what you would do differently when it comes to serving your clients as well as improving your workers’ ability to cater to client needs.

According to AB InBev, its team is a digital transformation team as opposed to an IT one. The team uses technology in running the company’s process in an automated manner.

The company offers designs that enable employees to concentrate on delivering value, not to carry out boring routine tasks like checking invoices.

AB InBev is convinced that machine learning and cloud computing will make jobs more interesting for people performing them.

Considering its ongoing projects, AB InBev looks like it is in the path of fulfilling its promise.

AB InBev prides itself on being a global drink and brewing holding entity.

Headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, the company has other main offices in other cities such as Johannesburg, St. Louis, Bremen, London, New York, and Sao Paolo among many others.

Source Forbes

Subscribe to our newsletter

Signup today for free and be the first to get notified on the latest news and insights on artificial intelligence

KC Cheung
KC Cheung has over 18 years experience in the technology industry including media, payments, and software and has a keen interest in artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, neural networks and its applications in business. Over the years he has worked with some of the leading technology companies, building and growing dynamic teams in a fast moving international environment.
- Advertisment -

MOST POPULAR

AI Model Development isn’t the End; it’s the Beginning

AI model development isn’t the end; it’s the beginning. Like children, successful models need continuous nurturing and monitoring throughout their lifecycle. Parenting is exhilarating and, if...