Kerry Group's, Ben Hallinan on 'Bottling Digital Hallucinations to Inspire Customers and Deliver Growth'

As the digital landscape rapidly evolves, Generative AI (GenAI) is emerging as a game-changer for business processes. At the upcoming #CIOCISOIrelandSummit 2024, Ben Hallinan , VP Digital Enablement Commerical at Kerry , will explore how GenAI is transforming the food and beverage industry.

In this Q&A, Ben discusses how Kerry uses GenAI to reimagine concept generation in co-innovation sessions with customers. He introduces the concept of "digital hallucinations" and its role in sparking innovation, while also addressing the challenges of delivering growth in today's fast-paced market. Ben’s session offers insights that could reshape your approach to innovation and customer engagement in B2B.

Don’t miss the opportunity to gain valuable takeaways from Ben’s expertise at the summit. Here's what, Ben had to say:

Q. Could you please give us a quick summary of your session at the event?

A. I will talk about a GenAI use case in Kerry and how we’re using it to re-imagine our process of concept generation for co-innovation sessions with customers. I will discuss the nature of our business (we sell ingredients to companies in the food & beverage industry, who use those ingredients in turn to create consumer ready products). I will talk about how co-creation is a large part of how we work with customers, and how we have a relatively loose process to support co-creation. And I’ll discuss why we thought GenAI would be a suitable technology to support that process. I will talk about some of the challenges and opportunities of using GenAI in this context.

?Q. How would you define the term “Digital Hallucinations” in the context of your discussion?

A. One of the words that started to become more and more popular in discussions around ChatGPT and Generative AI in general over the last 2 years was hallucinations. I don’t think it had ever been used in the context of computing, but suddenly it was being used a lot in the context of GenAI and it was specifically being mentioned as a word of caution. In the space of innovative thinking people are encouraged to try to apply divergent thinking on a regular basis, so the idea of using a technology that comes with a risk of hallucinating or making things up, is actually kind of appealing in the context of innovative thinking. So I define “digital hallucinations” as being the natural and unpredictable outcomes from a Generative AI solution.

?Q. Why do you think addressing the subject of digital hallucinations to inspire customers and deliver growth is relevant currently, specifically?

A. As mentioned above, I see a big opportunity to utilise those digital hallucinations to inspire and support a human innovation process. As to why it’s relevant currently, there are 2 reasons. One is because hallucinations are being talked about regularly in the context of GenAI right now, and secondly because we operate in a world which is moving faster and faster, and consumers are becoming ever more impatient for the next big thing, whether it’s in computing or food or beverage. So the speed of GenAI in suggesting new ideas is super appealing in this fast moving world where our customers are coming to us looking for new ideas all the time, and they’re impatient to hear them from us.

?Q. In your opinion, what are the key challenges that organizations typically face when attempting to inspire customers and deliver growth?

A. This is always a challenge. It’s why whole functions and job categories exist ??. The biggest challenge is being able to listen and understand what your customer is looking for, so that you can position what you are offering in a way which speaks to their needs. When I think about GenAI and it’s ability to distill lots of information into a short succinct answer, or it’s ability to literally translate from one language to another, or it’s ability to write something using the tone of voice of a pirate or cowboy, I actually start to believe that Generative AI might be the greatest tool ever for sales people. If you can collect sufficient information about your customer and what they need, and enough information about what you have to offer, there’s got to be some way to get a Generative AI solution to communicate the features you have to offer in a way which is more appropriately tuned to the needs of your customer.

?Q. Who do you think will benefit from joining your session?

A. People who are interested in thinking about how GenAI might fit into their organisation, or are trying to figure out how to build consensus around an initiative.

Q. Without revealing all your secrets, what are the two top takeaways attendees will gain by the end of your session?

A. Hallucinations aren’t always bad; and the future of customer engagement in B2B is on the verge of a massive inflection point.

?Q. Where does your passion for your role come from, and what’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone following your footsteps?

A. I really like understanding what people do in other roles, and trying to find ways to make their job and life easier. Piece of advice - Listen and build networks across your organisation.

?Q. What was it about the CIO&CISO Ireland Summit that stood out to you as an environment in which you would like to share your knowledge and expertise?

A. Lots of smart people there and hopefully I get to learn from them.

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