Celebrating Data & AI Innovation: Dataiku Frontrunner Awards 2024

As data, analytics, and AI continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible, 2024 has brought forward a new wave of groundbreaking use cases and innovative leaders. The Dataiku Frontrunner Awards honor these trailblazers — organizations and individuals who have harnessed Dataiku, the Universal AI Platform, to drive transformation across industries. This year’s winners and finalists exemplify how data-driven insights, AI advancements, and scalable strategies can unlock unprecedented business value and societal impact.

We are proud to announce the winners and finalists of the 2024 Dataiku Frontrunner Awards, showcasing a refreshed set of categories that focus on analytics modernization, Generative AI, and governance. These categories highlight the latest trends and achievements in AI, reflecting the evolving landscape of data and usage. 

Watch the recording from the announcement on October 11, or read through for the winner and finalists!

• Best Analytics Modernization Use Case: Winners BCLC and Perdue Farms
• Best Generative AI Use Case: Winners F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. and Novartis Healthcare Private Limited
• Best Governance Use Case: Winner Convex Insurance
• Best MLOps Use Case: Winner FLOA 
• Best AI Democratization Program: Winner Prologis
• Best Showcase of Return on AI (ROAI): Winner Zayo Group

Industry & Ecosystem Categories: Innovating Across Sectors and Founder's Vision Awards

Main Categories: Leading in Analytics and AI Innovation

Best Analytics Modernization Use Case

This category recognizes those spearheading analytics modernization by consolidating technologies and enhancing agility and decision-making through innovative frameworks.

BCLC modernized its marketing analytics by adopting Dataiku to build internal Marketing Mix Models (MMM), optimizing their multimillion-dollar media spend and saving $1 million in consulting costs. This transformation allowed BCLC to reallocate budgets more effectively, enhance decision-making, and improve marketing efficiency across their retail and online channels.

Perdue Farms addressed the inefficiencies of manual USDA data collection and reporting by implementing Dataiku to automate the entire process, from data ingestion to report generation. This automation has significantly reduced errors and time spent on data preparation, allowing the team to focus on analysis and insights. The streamlined workflow has empowered business users to generate reports faster and more accurately, enhancing decision-making and improving operational efficiency.

Finalist:

Best Generative AI Use Case

As Generative AI takes center stage, this category celebrates those leveraging the Dataiku LLM Mesh, Prompt Studios, and other pre-built capabilities to deliver Generative AI applications.

Winner: F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. - GenAI for Patent Attorneys to Identify and Analyze Relevant Case Law

By leveraging Dataiku’s Generative AI capabilities, including the Dataiku LLM Mesh, Prompt Studios, and Dataiku applications, Roche’s Group Patents team developed a cutting-edge chatWhitebook tool to streamline the preparation for patent opposition and appeal cases. The solution automates semantic searches and full text analysis across the library of 40,000+ European Patent Office case law references. This innovative use case showcases how citizen development and Dataiku’s tools can deliver powerful AI solutions, enabling faster, more informed decision-making in patent proceedings.

Winner: Novartis Healthcare Private Limited - Revolutionizing Healthcare Market Research With the Dataiku LLM Mesh

Novartis’ Market Research team streamlined the analysis of healthcare professional interviews with the Dataiku LLM Mesh and Prompt Studios. By automating the processing of hundreds of transcripts, they accelerated insights gathering while maintaining a patient-first focus. This solution improved efficiency, democratized data access, and enhanced agility in responding to market changes.

Best Governance Use Case

Excellence in governance requires transparency and accountability. This category acknowledges organizations that have implemented robust frameworks for Responsible AI and data use.

Winner: Convex Insurance - Building a Comprehensive Monitoring Solution: The Dataiku CoE Experience
Convex Insurance’s Dataiku Center of Excellence (CoE) transformed its governance framework by creating an incident management dashboard that provides real-time visibility into production health. This proactive approach has significantly reduced risks, improved operational efficiency, and fostered transparency, ensuring smooth and accountable project management across their data and AI initiatives.

Finalists:

• Great Eastern Life Singapore - AI-Powered Transformation: Leveraging Dataiku for Scalable and Governed AI Models
• Novartis Healthcare Private Limited - Transforming Data Workflows and Governance With Dataiku

Best MLOps Use Case

This category highlights organizations that have scaled their machine learning (ML) operations, streamlining model management and deployment at scale.

FLOA has streamlined its ML operations by creating SOUL, an assistant tool integrated into Dataiku to ensure adherence to best practices in AI service development. This innovation has improved project monitoring, reduced risks, increased productivity by 25%, and enabled FLOA's data teams to efficiently manage over 200 projects and 50+ API services, enhancing operational reliability and scalability.

Finalists:

• Standard Chartered Bank - Innovating Wealth & Retail Relationship Management: The Power of AI and Dataiku
• Trellance - Predictive Analytics for Credit Union Next Best Product Offerings

Best AI Democratization Program

Democratizing AI is key to its broader adoption. This category honors programs that onboard large communities of professionals to expand data and AI use.

Prologis has transformed its AI capabilities by implementing Dataiku, empowering a diverse range of users—from business analysts to data scientists—to build and deploy AI solutions without extensive coding skills.  Making AI more accessible has expanded the number of active users, increased AI projects in use, and sped up the development of AI products, greatly improving time to market and data-driven decision-making across the organization.

Finalists:

• Johnson & Johnson (Vision) - Transforming Vision Care With GenAI: A Hackathon Powered by the Dataiku LLM Mesh
• Toyota Motor Europe - Empowering Toyota with AI: Driving Innovation Through Hackathons and Hands-On Training

Best Showcase of Return on AI (ROAI)

Celebrating the organizations with the most impressive value stories, this category spotlights the largest ROI generated from AI initiatives.

Zayo transformed its Chief Data Office from a cost center to a profit center by leveraging Dataiku to deliver rapid, impactful data solutions. Through "data quick strikes," the team developed a churn prediction model and a revenue assurance initiative, realizing millions in savings and uncovering previously unrealized revenue. This approach showcased the substantial ROI of implementing data and AI initiatives at scale, optimizing operational efficiency across the organization.

Finalists:

• OHRA - Simplifying Pet Insurance Claims for Better Efficiency and Satisfaction
• Western Digital - Transforming NAND Die Screening: How Western Digital Uses Dataiku to Automate Outlier Detection

Industry & Ecosystem Categories: Innovating Across Sectors

Best Partner Acceleration Use Case

Collaboration often accelerates innovation. This category honors partnerships that have brought use cases to fruition faster and smarter.

Winner: Operationalizing AI at Scale: How John Lewis Partnership Transformed MLOps With Dataiku and Deloitte
Deloitte partnered with John Lewis Partnership (JLP) to overcome operational challenges in their AI/ML journey by leveraging Dataiku to deploy 12 production-grade AI models. Through a comprehensive MLOps foundation and extensive training, Deloitte streamlined the deployment process, achieving an average time-to-value of just five weeks instead of months. This initiative not only generated tens of millions in financial benefits but also empowered JLP's data science team to manage and maintain AI solutions independently, fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation across the organization.

Finalists:

• Aviva - A Holistic View of Customer Experience Using Clickstream Data, Customer Feedback, and Log Events
• The Airline Pilot Club - Transforming Pilot Training With AI: Streamlining EBT and CBTA Implementation Through Amelia and Dataiku

AI for Retail/CPG

Retail and CPG companies are harnessing AI to revolutionize customer experiences and optimize operations. This category celebrates these transformative efforts.

Travis Perkins Plc is the U.K.’s largest distributor of building materials. As part of its commitment to keeping people safe and well, the Group has developed The Safety Beacon. This is a new technology solution that provides early warnings of heightened operational risk. It works by enabling early intervention and a de-escalation of risks to prevent incidents. By bringing together data and applied AI, it creates a score based risk dashboard which is based on a wealth of historical factors and will continue to develop as new risks emerge, and the business learns how to utilize this effectively.

AI for Healthcare & Life Sciences

Innovation in healthcare is critical. This category honors organizations that are developing new technologies or expanding their applications with data and AI.

The PReDICT model and Advanced Analytics Dashboard allow Novo Nordisk to provide its stakeholders with valuable insights about Type 2 diabetes patient populations. Through cohort identification of Type 2 diabetes patients with substantial risk of developing comorbidities over a five-year span, the PReDICT model and Advanced Analytics Dashboard provide information to support healthcare professionals in creating tailored care strategies. This empowers Medical Science Liaisons to engage more effectively with healthcare professionals, informing these stakeholders around the importance of guidelines-based care and providing them enhanced insights on the patient population(s) they treat.

Finalists:

• Alnylam - ML-Based Patient-to-Treatment Signal Engine
• Novartis Healthcare Private Limited - Revolutionizing Healthcare Market Research With the Dataiku LLM Mesh

AI for Financial Services

The financial services industry continues to benefit from AI. This category highlights those using data to improve or accelerate processes.

Standard Chartered Wealth & Retail Banking leverages Dataiku to build over 300 AI models annually, enhancing customer engagement and relationship management for its 12 million customers. This integration has streamlined model development and governance, enabling the bank to build more effective models while learning through the process, significantly reducing costs and fostering innovation. Dataiku's platform has supported the analytics team, allowing for a focus on delivering value to stakeholders and improving overall efficiency.

Finalists:

• Security Bank Corporation - Revamping Time Deposit Models for Liquidity Risk Management
• Banque Saudi Fransi - Harnessing Data for Personalized Loan Offers

AI for Manufacturing

Manufacturing companies are increasingly using AI to streamline processes and boost efficiency. This category celebrates their efforts.

By integrating Dataiku into the Tire-manufacturing process, Sumitomo Rubber Industries transformed its operations, automating critical steps previously marred by inefficiencies and human error. This new system streamlined production, greatly improved product uniformity, and enabled real-time adjustments, significantly enhancing overall quality and productivity. Dataiku's capabilities have fostered a collaborative, data-driven culture, allowing teams to focus on strategic initiatives rather than manual data handling.

Finalist:

Deloitte - Accelerating Operational Efficiency: How Dataiku, Rolls Royce, and Deloitte Revolutionized Rolls-Royce's Data Science and Analysis

Most Impactful Ikig.AI Story

Data and AI can drive positive social change. This category honors those making a meaningful impact on the world through the Dataiku platform.

myAgro leveraged Dataiku to automate data processes and create real-time dashboards, leading to a 75% increase in vendor sales and improved monitoring of farmer training programs, with over 900,000 attendees. This transformation empowered staff across the organization to make faster, informed decisions, significantly enhancing their impact and scalability.

Finalist: 

The Ocean Cleanup - Leveraging Dataiku for Efficient Data Science and Plastic Pollution Solutions

Founder's Vision Awards

In addition to the predetermined categories, we are excited to announce the Founder’s Vision Distinctions as part of this year’s Dataiku Frontrunner Awards. These special recognitions celebrate exceptional achievements that caught the attention of Dataiku's CEO and co-founder, Florian Douetteau, highlighting innovative and transformative uses of AI beyond the pre-established categories.

Founder's Vision Award for Platform Scalability

Recognizes an organization’s transformation of their data science infrastructure, as they replaced their previously complex and costly setup with a streamlined Dataiku platform.

Founder's Vision Award for Build Over Buy

Celebrates a team's initiative to enhance operational performance by developing a custom solution within Dataiku, replacing a traditional off-the-shelf product. This award recognizes the team's efforts in leveraging Dataiku's capabilities to create a tailored solution that meets specific organizational needs more effectively.

Awarded to: BMO Financial Group - Automatic Tag Classification for Large Databases 

Founder's Vision Award for AI-Powered Efficiency

Recognizes innovative solutions that enhance operational processes through automation and data integration, empowering organizations to improve accuracy, streamline workflows, and foster a data-driven culture for informed decision-making.

Founder's Vision Award for Self-Service Analytics

Recognizes an organization for utilizing Dataiku to empower teams to independently analyze real-time data, successfully identify the root cause of operational issues, and implement optimized practices to improve overall efficiency.

Founder's Vision Award for AI for Science

Recognizes innovative applications of AI technology that enhance scientific research and operational efficiency.

Founder's Vision Award for AI for Safety

Given to an organization that uses innovative solutions that leverage artificial intelligence to enhance operational efficiency and decision-making processes, ensuring safety and compliance in critical services by optimizing workforce management and improving overall job satisfaction for employees.

Awarded to: Enhancing Survey Operations at ABS: A Data-Driven Staffing Approach - American Bureau of Shipping

Founder's Vision Award for Dataiku for Education

Honors initiatives that enhance educational outcomes by integrating advanced analytics and data science tools into curricula, empowering diverse student bodies to acquire essential skills for success in an increasingly data-driven world.

Awarded to: Dayananda Sagar University - Empowering Future Business Leaders With Data-Driven Skills: Integrating Dataiku Into SCMS Curriculum

As we celebrate the winners and finalists, we are inspired by the immense creativity, innovation, and value they have brought to their organizations and industries. Stay tuned as we dive deeper into each of these stories in the coming weeks, shining a spotlight on the remarkable achievements that are shaping the future of analytics and AI.