Asserting the Winners of the 2024 Databricks Knowledge Workforce Awards

The annual Knowledge Workforce Awards showcase how totally different information groups from throughout the globe are delivering options to among the world’s most difficult issues. 

Over 200 nominations had been submitted by firms from numerous industries and areas throughout six award classes. The competitors was stiff, and the pool of nominees was narrowed right down to 29 finalists. Eight winners had been chosen. Their exceptional tales of information and AI innovation are value sharing. 

Congratulations to the 2024 Knowledge Workforce Award winners:

Transformation Award: Virgin Australia Airways 

Virgin Australia Airways’ transition from an on-premises information warehouse to the cloud-based Databricks Knowledge Intelligence Platform marked a considerable leap in its information technique. The aim was to construct a trusted, ruled central information repository for organizational information and allow improved collaboration, real-time reporting, data-driven decision-making, and self-serve information functionality for analysts and operational reporting throughout the group. By integrating Databricks’ Unity Catalog for seamless information governance, Virgin Australia Airways optimized its information querying and analytics practices, which streamlined information ingestion, analytics, and information science into one cohesive platform. Virgin Australia Airways carried out new options, just like the near-real-time Baggage Reconciliation System, enhancing operational efficiencies and buyer experiences. Databricks adoption facilitated a 75% improve in real-time information availability, a 44% lower in mishandled baggage, and a 25% income enhance attributed to insights drawn from analytics. The transformative journey, underscored by a 90% sooner deployment of machine studying fashions and important enhancements in analytical speed-to-insight, has propelled Virgin Australia Airways ahead out there whereas pursuing a tradition of data-driven operational excellence.

Finalists: Banco de Crédito e Inversiones, Los Angeles County Auditor-Controller, Mojang Studios, and the U.S. DoD Chief Knowledge and Synthetic Intelligence Workplace, Advana Program.

Disruptor Award: J.P. Morgan Funds  

J.P. Morgan Funds processes practically $10 trillion in funds day by day, working in over 160 international locations and over 120 currencies. To help processing, the J.P. Morgan Funds information and analytics group spearheaded a complete challenge to transition from legacy, on-premises platforms to a public cloud information lakehouse structure. This structure transformation concerned integrating 50+ methods of financial institution and monetary information — totaling 3PB of information — right into a production-ready format, accessible to over 3,000 downstream analysts. These identical analysts use numerous analytical strategies and polyglot languages to extract helpful insights, inform purchasers of modifications, and optimize day-to-day workflows. 

Finalists: American Airways, Capital One, Nationwide Australia Financial institution (NAB), and Unilever. 

Knowledge for Good Award: Disaster Textual content Line

Disaster Textual content Line is a nonprofit group offering free, 24/7, confidential text-based psychological well being help in English and Spanish by empowering a group of skilled volunteers to satisfy individuals of their moments of want. To help over 1.3 million conversations yearly and the ever-growing want for psychological well being help, the group had a transparent alternative to optimize its service by leveraging Machine Studying Operations (MLOps) workflows to handle international operations extra effectively. Disaster Textual content Line makes use of a mix of Spark and Delta Lake for information ingestion and transformation. Not solely does this assist its small engineering group help a number of platform cases globally, however it additionally permits for tailor-made information pipeline structure to handle numerous worldwide rules for delicate information remedy. Consolidating key information property within the information lakehouse allows information scientists to concentrate on constructing fashions at scale moderately than managing infrastructure, leading to improved operational effectivity. From higher supporting volunteers in coaching simulations to extra successfully sustaining the scientific high quality of our conversations, such technological developments proceed to advance Disaster Textual content Line’s mission of making technology-enabled human-to-human connections at an unprecedented scale.

Finalists: E.ON Drive Infrastructure GmbH, Flo Well being, Sydney Water, and The Ocean Cleanup.

Knowledge Intelligence Award: Ahold Delhaize USA 

Striving for enhanced effectivity, Ahold Delhaize USA (ADUSA), a division of worldwide meals retailer Ahold Delhaize, wanted emigrate from legacy methods to a extra streamlined and sturdy resolution. ADUSA adopted the Databricks Knowledge Intelligence Platform as its enterprise information platform for analytics, machine studying and enterprise intelligence throughout its U.S. areas. ADUSA helps many data-informed initiatives, together with buyer personalization, loyalty packages, meals waste discount, environmental initiatives, logistics, forecasting, and stock administration. ADUSA developed a self-service information platform, permitting its information engineers to construct pipelines that help information science and AI/ML purposes. They’re now analyzing promotions and gross sales efficiency at scale throughout totally different buyer segments, enabling the corporate to leverage real-time information to make knowledgeable enterprise selections. This in the end makes it simpler to help buyers at greater than 2,000 native model shops.

Finalists: Fraport AG, Mastercard, and Windfall Well being.

GenAI Innovation Award: Block

Block Inc., a worldwide know-how firm with a concentrate on monetary companies made up of Sq., Money App, TIDAL, and TBD, confronted the problem of effectively managing its intensive information assets to each enhance companies for purchasers and streamline inner operations. Block’s major situation was an outdated and rigid information structure that struggled to course of huge quantities of information throughout purposes. To pave the way in which for GenAI improvements, Block proactively standardized its information infrastructure utilizing the Databricks Knowledge Intelligence Platform. By leveraging Databricks’ GenAI capabilities, new companies can now onboard even sooner to the Sq. platform utilizing     AI-powered set-up and information import automation. They will additionally leverage GenAI to immediately generate content material for advertising emails, group bulletins, merchandise descriptions, web site copy, and extra. eCommerce sellers can select from greater than 50 model prompts and add hyperreal, AI-generated backgrounds to merchandise photographs, elevating their web sites and attracting extra clients. With Databricks, Block achieved a 12x discount in computing prices, persevering with to redefine monetary companies within the twenty first century.

Finalists: Experian, Mahindra & Mahindra Restricted, OMV, and Workday.

Knowledge + AI Visionary Award: Fox Company and Heineken 

Fox Company – Melody Hildebrandt, Chief Expertise Officer 

FOX, a pacesetter within the media business, produces and distributes information, sports activities, and leisure content material by way of its major manufacturers, together with FOX Information Media, FOX Sports activities, FOX Leisure, FOX Tv Stations, and Tubi Media Group. Melody Hildebrandt, CTO of Fox Company, is charged with strategizing how the corporate can leverage emergent know-how to attach all the portfolio of FOX content material to audiences in probably the most compelling and progressive method attainable. Her technical and business management has not too long ago been seen within the growth and launch of Confirm, an open supply protocol for media firms to implement guardrails in how their content material is leveraged by AI firms and LLMs. Partnering with Databricks, Fox is on the forefront of revolutionizing media interplay, ushering in a brand new period of immersive digital engagement. Via the Databricks fine-tuning API, they’ve skilled a number of customized LLMs with distinctive model and tone, unlocking many Gen AI purposes. Furthermore, FOX continues to innovate in extracting insights from video to develop novel video discovery and playback experiences.

Michael Cagnazzi, SVP, Digital Platforms, Fox Company accepts the Knowledge + AI Visionary award on behalf of Melody Hildebrandt.

HEINEKEN – Ronald Den Elzen, Chief Digital & Expertise Officer

Ronald den Elzen, Chief Digital & Expertise Officer, goals to make HEINEKEN the best-connected, most related brewer for digital-age shoppers and clients. Turning into the best-connected brewer requires an end-to-end digital transformation anchored in HEINEKEN’s total enterprise technique. Knowledge is crucial and “connects all of the dots,” from shoppers to clients, from workers to suppliers. By the tip of 2023, HEINEKEN had carried out eB2B apps in 34 markets and launched a brand new eB2B model, eazle, in 9 markets. The eB2B platform related 700,000 energetic clients and achieved practically €11 billion in gross merchandise worth, a 28% improve from 2022. HEINEKEN has related over 4,500 machines in its breweries and picked up 180 billion machine information factors from its proprietary IoT platform. Knowledge administration, superior analytics, and insights enablement are important for HEINEKEN to win in at present’s and tomorrow’s worlds. The quantity of information obtainable has moved from predominantly inner (transactional) information to rather more exterior information, together with streaming information from numerous IoT sources. Via its strategic collaboration with Databricks, HEINEKEN makes use of all this information to extend shopper understanding, serve clients, optimize advertising, and drive operational effectivity.

Jelle van Etten, Head of International Knowledge Platform, Heineken accepts the Knowledge + AI Visionary award on behalf of Ronald Den Elzen.

Finalists: Chevron Phillips Chemical Firm – Brent Railey, Chief Knowledge & Analytics Officer, KPMG – Jodi Morton, Chief Knowledge Officer, and Rivian Automotive – Wassym Bensaid, Chief Software program Officer.

Finest All Round Award: Los Angeles County Auditor-Controller

The Auditor-Controller (AC) of Los Angeles County — tasked with managing important information for the county’s funds, personnel, payroll, budgets, and extra — confronted challenges on account of fragmented and outdated information administration options, hindering the effectivity and accessibility of information throughout its 41 departments. Recognizing this situation, the Los Angeles AC launched into a brand new information and analytics initiative, by implementing Azure Databricks. This strategic alternative offered a safe, scalable basis for information ingestion, curation, and consumption, straight addressing the ache factors of restricted entry, outdated info, and cumbersome handbook processes. The mixing of Databricks remodeled information processes and enhanced the Los Angeles AC’s information capabilities with centralized information repositories, sturdy visualizations for govt decision-making, and streamlined the event of analytics instruments. This profound transformation introduced operational efficiencies, together with real-time annual statistics reporting, vendor cost reporting, in addition to complete price range and expense reporting that beforehand required intensive handbook time and effort. These efforts lay the groundwork for future expansions, together with extra information evaluation and machine studying capabilities to learn county workers and residents.

Finest All Round: This inaugural award celebrates the info group demonstrating innovation throughout all six Knowledge Workforce Award classes, embodying the spirit of a very empowered information group at scale.

Let’s Increase a Glass! Congratulations to our 2024 Knowledge Workforce Award winners!