Process Excellence & Excellent People: Viacom’s Data-Driven Destiny

Big data, integration capabilities, and early robotic process automation (RPA) techniques have enhanced the consumer experience exponentially over the past few years alone. Over the last decade, the way people watch content, order food, choose a place to stay for vacation, split restaurant checks, and even complete arbitrary everyday tasks has radically transformed with the advent and rapid evolution of new technologies like cloud computing, machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), and RPA. Viacom has leveraged emerging technologies like these to improve customer experiences through initiatives like the joint-venture OpenAP with Fox, Turner, and recently NBCU led by Sean Moran, Kern Schireson, Bryson Gordon, and John Halley. Using data to generate insights and better understand consumers, as well as connecting data across systems to streamline user experiences on emerging platforms and provide personalized content has been a critical driver of success in the evolving media and entertainment industry. But what about turning these tools inward? Viacom’s Head of Data Science and Process Excellence Enabled by Technology (PEET), Das Dasgupta, Program Manager for PEET and Senior Director of Ad Sales Operations, James Immordino and its new head of People Analytics, Tanmay Manohar, have some ideas. 

Firstly, in a world where human beings read the news, develop and distribute content, converse with friends, establish professional connections, and sell products on social networks, the line between "consumer" and "contributor" has blurred. Hence today’s contributors now expect good “customer experiences” at work. These advanced technologies permit and utilize the free-flowing exchange of data across solutions, platforms, and devices to better inform human decision-making, simplify workflows, and automate clerical tasks. Services leveraging these tools have proven that smart technology can empower human beings to use their time in a more rewarding way, spending less time on menial work and more time on meaningful interactions. To benefit from this shift, companies must start offering their workers the same (if not better) tools and experiences they provide their customers. Accessible information, ready-to-use resources, meaningful interactions, useful support systems, and optimized processes are imperative for the success of any organization in a world where only 15% of employees say they're engaged in their jobs.

Viacom is an organization culturally prepared for the automation shift. The company has embraced the blurred line between consumer and contributor, encouraging employees to bring their whole selves to work and emphasizing that their workers are also their #1 fans. Furthermore, with initiatives like Sean, Kern, Bryson, and John's OpenAP, Viacom has demonstrated the power of big data in driving consumer-facing business decisions around how the organization creates, delivers, and distributes content. Now is the time for the intersection of Viacom's data-driven automation capabilities and its employees--who embody the company’s core human values of empathy, honesty, and bravery--to come together.

Under Das and James and in partnership with Tanmay, PEET intends to drive, sustain, and evolve this intersection of human creativity and RPA. Combining best-in-class external providers with outstanding in-house talent, PEET continues to expand its Center of Excellence, a unit intent on delivering the rewards of an initiative like OpenAP internally. Reimagining workflows and data transfer across systems and business functions, the PEET team strategically align with President and Chief Executive Officer, Bob Bakish and Chief Transformation Officer, Jose Tolosa's efforts to transform Viacom into a leading edge entertainment provider, low on cost and high on rewards. The automation PEET envisions could provide real-time information the moment any leader or contributor needs it and complete clerical tasks in a matter of seconds, empowering employees to focus centrally on ideation, collaboration, strategy, and project delivery. In fact, the Center of Excellence just launched its first RPA bot, named “Spongebot”, that will collaborate with Global Business Services employees to automate repetitive tasks to allow employees to focus on more value-added process activities. Potential further examples of how automation can be applied internally include the optimization of HR processes like streamlining onboarding to ensure consistent, personalized experiences for new employees, keeping prospective talent perpetually engaged with chatbots, and synchronizing information across talent acquisition, internal HR, and finance systems to simplify hiring and payroll administration.

According to Paul Daugherty and H. James Wilson, authors of Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI, "In this current era of business process transformation, AI systems are not wholesale replacing us; rather, they are amplifying our skills and collaborating with us to achieve productivity gains that have previously not been possible." Automation enables employees to be more mindful, responsible, inclusive, and productive -- with less stress, fatigue, and aggravation from frustration with simple tasks (like having to re-enter the same information a dozen times in different spreadsheets or systems, hunting for important paperwork or a presentation you saved somewhere on your computer, or playing email tag to find the right person with the information you need to complete a project), employees can focus on work that matters to them, their teams, and the organization at-large, using RPA, AI, and bots as tools to empower them with ubiquitous information access and streamlined process flows.

Das Dasgupta, James Immordino, and internal champions of data, automation, and optimization at Viacom like Tanmay Manohar remain in the early stages, but with tools that could potentially revolutionize the media and entertainment industry at their disposal, the PEET Center of Excellence will rely heavily on the empathy, honesty, and bravery of Viacom's people to ensure the implementation and utilization of these new technologies is done carefully, resourcefully, and meaningfully.