
From driving cars to driving sustainable change
Leaving a “dream job” as an automotive design and test engineer in 2005, to complete his MBA at IMD, was the start of a journey in a completely different direction for mechanical...
Published 26 August 2022 in Career path • 4 min read
Companies across industries, as well as governments, are increasingly realising that AI, the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, is fundamental to their future success.
“For many years companies have had the capability to collect massive amounts of data from their day-to-day operations. With access to ever advancing AI capability, companies are increasingly able to use this data to solve business problems and create competitive advantage,” explains Martinez Camus, IMD MBA 2018.
However, many companies have been held back by limited access to the talent required to develop the AI they need internally. DataRobot, whose clients include a third of the Fortune 50, prides itself on democratizing AI by taking the complex, time consuming task of analyzing numerous machine learning algorithms to generate, employ and build custom-made predictive models by automating it. This platform not only augments data science and data engineering capabilities by improving data scientists’ productivity by five times, but also enables business analysts with no code background to build highly automated machine learning models.
“We enable ‘citizen data scientists’, which can be anyone in an organisation with a quantitative background, to use our platform to create value from their data,” explains Martinez Camus.
An important part of his role is to assist DataRobot’s clients with the development and implementation of their AI strategies and to develop new AI use cases.
“The importance of AI in all companies may be not critical now, but in five to ten years it will be a commonplace. All decisions in any value chain will be impacted by AI solutions. It’s no longer a case of AI coming, AI is already here. Companies that aren’t putting their data to work are falling behind and losing out to new and existing competitors,” explains Martinez Camus.
Martinez Camus explains that it is not just companies but also countries that will either benefit from being an AI first mover, or risk falling further behind by not giving it the attention it deserves.
“Some governments are taking AI very seriously. In Saudi Arabia, for example, they have Saudi Vision 2030, an plan to build a digitally-led economy. For them, AI is their number one priority,” he says.
“In Saudi Arabia, for example, they have Saudi Vision 2030, an plan to build a digitally-led economy. For them, AI is their number one priority”
For Martinez Camus, a computer engineer who studied an MBA at IMD in 2018, the skills he learnt through consulting for the likes of PwC, IBM and Ranzal, and the leadership knowledge he gained at IMD, have helped prepare him for a role of leading diverse businesses across regions on their AI journey.
“For many incorporating AI into their business can seem a daunting prospect. But it doesn’t have to be. An important part of my role is to demystify AI and to clearly articulate its role in helping unlock business value.”
Other skills that he relies on are problem solving skills, road mapping and implementation planning. Also critical is the flexibility to adapt to different size businesses from start-ups to Fortune 50 companies.
The exposure he has had to different cultures, through having lived in more than five countries during the course of his career, has also been very important.
“I work with CEOs and government leaders from companies and governments across regions. How these leaders engage, and what they expect from a strategic partner, varies greatly from region-to-region. Cultural sensitivity is vital,” notes Martinez Camus.
Before joining DataRobot a year ago, Martinez Camus was VP of Global Business Transformation at the Swiss cable manufacturer Datwyler Cabling Solutions in Frankfurt. In this role he was instrumental in transforming what was then a cabling company into a turnkey IT infrastructure solutions provider, with a special focus on edge computing. As part of this process he developed, and ran, a global business transformation office to drive the strategy implementation across EMEA and Asia, this involved over 120 participants and six work streams.
As part of multiple pilot initiatives to launch cutting-edge solutions to enable time-critical applications, he also spearheaded the digitalisation of a traditional Swiss factory by developing the first industrial IoT prototype, reducing production downtime by 20% and implemented metrics to monitor production efficiency.
“The pace at which AI is moving and the opportunities it presents are tremendous. To have role in which I am actively involved enabling companies and governments to solve problems in a fraction of the time it would previously have taken is truly rewarding,” concludes Martinez Camus.
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