C-Suite Perspectives On AI: Sri Sharma Of Increasingly On Where to Use AI and Where to Rely Only on Humans

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance and integrate into various aspects of business, decision-makers at the highest levels face the complex task of determining where AI can be most effectively utilized and where the human touch remains irreplaceable. This series seeks to explore the nuanced decisions made by C-Suite executives regarding the implementation of AI in their operations. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Sri Sharma.

Sri is CEO and Co-Founder of Increasingly an AI technology that helps ecommerce customers boost revenue. Previously, Sri founded and sold a leading digital marketing technology business. He has won Sunday Times Tech Track 100, Deloitte Tech Fast 50 and Highly Commended Entrepreneur of the Year. In technology, he won a Google awarded scholarship to study AI and futuristic technology at Singularity University at NASA Ames Research Center. He is Board Member of the UK Regional Chapter of YPO (Young Presidents Organisation).

Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I was born in India and had a common migration story moving to the UK and London. I started by studying engineering during the dot com boom and worked in that sector at Accenture in management consulting. I was lucky to work in the UK, France and the US and see the rise of Google and their flagship product Adwords. That led me to take the entrepreneur journey and build products and services to help brands win new customers in this new online world. We drove customers for brands in over 50 countries and did it all on a paid on performance basis. That business grew into a leading technology & professional services business and a leading Google partner. We won awards including The Sunday Times Tech Track fastest growing company in #16 place and Deloitte Fast 50.

From selling that business to private equity, I was lucky to win a scholarship to study futuristic technology to solve UN development goals at the NASA Ames Research Center. To have teachers like Peter Norvig who left NASA to set up Google’s AI division was truly a mind blowing privilege. Also, to be in the silicon valley environment was incredibly powerful.

Next, I launched Increasingly, a machine learning technology that helps ecommerce retailers grow online revenue and new customers. We spotted that customers are never buying a single product but actually trying to complete a project, look or a beauty regime. To solve for this, we used machine learning to predict what customers would buy together and surfaced that to customers through their buying journey on the retailers’ ecommerce site and in their marketing, such as in Google Shopping. We were acquired last year by private equity and I continue to work at the company.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

A funny early mistake I can remember is related to my lack of selling skills when I got started as a solo entrepreneur and founder. We did a fantastic pitch for an early customer that we wanted to win. I worked out what I thought was fair early customer pricing and presented it on the big screen to the customer’s team. They didn’t like the pricing and the head said ‘surely there’s room to get a deal. I didn’t budge and

lost the pitch. Reflecting on that early experience, I quickly learned the craft of commercial flexibility, win-win dynamics, rapport building and very clearly articulating believable return on investment.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

In Ecommerce today, a big focus is on how Generative AI can help our retail customers succeed. To help shoppers find what they need and complete their purchase quickly, we are using Generative AI on the retailer’s ecommerce website to consider shopper intent and showcase products together that fit that intent. This is combined with the crucial ability to buy everything in one click. For example, if the shopper searches for ‘kids party for 15 ten year old girls’, we can showcase all the products they need for that party based on different themes all with the ability to purchase in one click. This helps shoppers research and purchase so easily.

Thank you for that. Let’s now shift to the central focus of our discussion. In your experience, what have been the most challenging aspects of integrating AI into your business operations, and how have you balanced these with the need to preserve human-centric roles?

Machine learning has been at the centre of my most recent venture. The hardest aspects have been data volume, data quality and testing the right algorithms. From a human-centric role perspective, we still require key roles across Sales, Customer Success, Operations, Finance and of course Technology. We try to use software and AI to help us grow revenue for customers and drive efficiency.

Can you share a specific instance where AI initially seemed like the optimal solution but ultimately proved less effective than human intervention? What did this experience teach you about the limitations of AI in your field?

Very practically, in building Increasingly where there is historic data on buying and browsing behaviour, the models do a great job. When there is no data, for example, when it’s a new product, sometimes human intervention can be better. For example, in the apparel sector which is over 50% of ecommerce sales, we explored very sophisticated AI models to recommend based on look, shape and texture of clothing. In many cases, a merchandiser’s eye on aesthetics was helpful to kick start the algorithmic learning.

How do you navigate the ethical implications of implementing AI in your company, especially concerning potential job displacement and ensuring ethical AI usage?

AI/ML has been at the centre of our business from the start so we haven’t had the issue of job displacement. The current best use cases of AI are supporting boosting performance or productivity. This is freeing up people rather than replacing them.

Could you describe a successful instance in your company where AI and human skills were synergistically combined to achieve a result that neither could have accomplished alone?

We have the perfect combination. Some of our large enterprise customers use the platform’s machine learning models to boost performance but also use merchandising teams to control what is recommended by the systems at peak periods of the year such as Black Friday. This is to show products that connect to a specific sale or offer. Another example is where there are newly launched products that have limited data history and retail merchandisers effectively train the systems.

Ok, here is the main question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the “5 Things To Keep in Mind When Deciding Where to Use AI and Where to Rely Only on Humans, and Why?” How have these 5 things impacted your work or your career? Please share a story or an example for each.

1 . Pick the right problem to solve: AI is good for analysing data and making statistical predictions or generating content. Pick cases to test across your business that rely on these capabilities.

2 . Human vs AI: Universally, we all use software in our businesses to drive efficiency and effectiveness. Using AI is an extension of that today. The human is still best placed to lead ideation, strategy, drive planning, collaborate with others and review.

3 . Predictive AI vs Generative AI: In my background we have heavily focussed on Predictive AI, which analyses past data to forecast or predict the future. Generative AI is the recent hot addition of being able to create new content such as text, images or music based on understanding context in natural language. Be clear as to what you are trying to achieve and which approach fits better.

4 . Is imperfection ok?: AI won’t give you a perfect answer. There is the need for acceptance of imperfection or human review. At Increasingly, we are open about the predictions the algorithms make and rather than a blackbox, sharing what the factors were in arriving at the predictions. We also have to tell customers that sometimes simple rules overlaid on top of the algorithms make sense to guide decision making.

5 . Is your organisation ready to change?: In my experience talking to our customers, organisational change has to come from the top and in stages. In addition, the organisations that have adopted AI the fastest are those that have provided clarity to their people as to the benefits. I’ve worked with customers who have an AI lead who drives the initiatives to test AI across departments to solve different pain points. An easy example is an organisation changing meetings to include an AI notetaker that scribes and summarises every meeting. This means anyone not attending can easily catch up without watching long recorded videos. Secondly, key points and actions are clearly documented, summarised and shared with everyone. No more lack of clarity around who is doing what next!

Looking towards the future, in which areas of your business do you foresee AI making the most significant impact, and conversely, in which areas do you believe a human touch will remain indispensable?

Ecommerce and digital marketing technology is all about predicting the customer need, creating a connection with the customer and providing a convenient experience. At the same time, it’s about driving more revenue for the ecommerce retailer. As our products expand we always have this front and centre. As a technology player our thinking will be ‘machine lead’ and we will need people to drive the technology, show empathy for customers, solve problems and strategize the future. As a practical example, in our industry, our customers have teams who use technology to drive the experience they are focussed on achieving for their customers. Our job is to help them to achieve and exceed their goals.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Something I kicked off in my 30s was getting involved with specific charitable causes that I care about. I care about those marginalized in society, be it because of lack of access to healthcare, education or refugee status. Most recently, I have been a Board Member and Trustee for the charity, Lepra. With Lepra, we are on a mission to help eradicate leprosy globally. I feel like I have grown so much through the experience and crucially I have been able to use my experience, skills and talent to give back as Advisor on digital marketing and Chair of the Fundraising & Communications Subcommittee.

The more people explore and get involved in causes that they feel passionate about, the more global issues will be solved. Wouldn’t that be wonderful!

How can our readers further follow your work online?

linkedin.com/in/srisharma

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!