DENTSU AEGIS NE T WORK
DIGITAL REPORT 2020
Elevating human potential through automation IN ASSOCIATION WITH
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Dentsu Aegis: elevating human potential through automation
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Max Cheprasov, Chief Automation Officer, explains why developing an AI and automation strategy is essential to modern enterprises’ future
D
entsu Aegis Network prides itself on being a company with a talent for innovativethinking and being thoroughly in-tune with
the technological zeitgeist. When we last spoke with the global marketing group which operates in over 145 countries, we learned how a highly client-centric approach was defining its mission to introduce 04
digital transformation and lay the foundations for a next-gen way of operating. Despite the discussion occurring at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dentsu Aegis demonstrated the confidence and optimism that only great teams guided by visionary leadership can achieve under such duress. Now, we revisit the company to explore one of the prevailing tech trends in modern business: artificial intelligence (AI) and automation. Having spent six years (2011 to 2017) as Senior VP and Head of Operations and Technology at iProspect – a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dentsu Aegis – Max Cheprasov took on the role of Chief Automation Officer for Dentsu Aegis Americas in November 2017. Considering himself a “digital native”, Cheprasov says that his transition into the role was a natural one and
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“ There’s always a need for creativity and ingenuity when designing your own unique and differentiated business strategy” — Max Cheprasov, Chief Automation Officer, Dentsu Aegis 06
was a decision guided by a long-term mission: “I transitioned into this new role to focus on acceleration of intelligent automation solutions and to promote best practice across Dentsu globally.” In a career clearly defined by his commitment to finding new and better ways to service clients and enable employees to do their best work, Cheprasov is a believer in going beyond convention and working out cutting-edge tech solutions to everyday problems. “There’s always a need for creativity and ingenuity when designing your own unique and differentiated business strategy,” he says. It is this attitude that he brings to bear on his daily activities at Dentsu Aegis. An early enthusiast of AI’s potential in business, Cheprasov embarked on his first automation-related project in 2016 by experimenting with natural language processing (NLP) and natural language generation (NLG) technology for data analysis reports and insights. It was because of this project that he and Dentsu Aegis’ leadership team became convinced that it was an avenue worth exploring with high priority. Certain that AI could lead to a dramatic boost in business performance and
The future of AI and your business CLICK TO WATCH
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functions to optimise the working lives
established an eight-year road map
of a company’s employees. Capable
(2017 to 2025) and the company for-
of augmenting workloads by automat-
mally established the Dentsu Aegis
ing a boring or repetitive task, Dentsu
Automation Centre of Expertise
Aegis can help mitigate or eliminate
(CoE). “Today, we have over 400 peo-
the laborious strain caused by routine
ple engaged with the CoE as part of
tasks, approval turnarounds and bot-
our global community of automation
tlenecks. “We can automate a process
champions and experts. But, as far
end-to-end and give that time back
as I’m concerned, this is still only the
to employees to handle more critical
beginning; the future of automation
tasks that cannot be automated, such
should be placed in the hands of every
as creative, critical, strategic thinking,
single employee,” he states. With the
complex problem solving and more.
goal of making teams as efficient, pro-
Our mission is to elevate human poten-
ductive and happy as possible, the CoE
tial,” says Cheprasov. w w w.de ntsua e gi sne t wor k. com
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“ Our mission is to elevate human potential” — Max Cheprasov, Chief Automation Officer, Dentsu Aegis
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Of course, this aim would be very dif-
incorporating the trend-setting new
ficult without a suitably agile workforce
ideas of the startups and other firms
behind the scenes at Dentsu Aegis,
it has acquired. “We operate without
and this is exactly what Cheprasov
borders and limitations as one enter-
says the company has. “I think we have
prise across 145 countries, where highly
a unique workplace culture. One word
collaborative teams of highly intelligent,
to describe everybody in the business,
optimistic and passionate people are
across 65,000 professionals, is that
working together and willing to take
we’re ‘entrepreneurial’ by the nature of
calculated risks to achieve impres-
how we’ve grown.” Having expanded
sive results for Dentsu Aegis and our
rapidly over the last five years due
clients,” he continues. Indeed, with over
to a fast-paced M&A (mergers and
150 acquisitions made and a growing
acquisitions) strategy, the company
capacity for innovation, talent and scale,
has continually rejuvenated itself by
Cheprasov’s observation that “there’s
no future in staying the same” certainly
UiPath as essential partners: “We used
rings true.
Catalytic’s AI-enabled platform to
As well as its robust internal collabo-
design an automated RFP (request for
ration, Dentsu Aegis also prides itself
proposal) workflow, in combination with
on working well with other companies
NLP and ML (machine learning). As a
which share its vision and mission.
result, we reduced the time it takes to
With regard to the company’s pursuit
compile the initial draft of the response
of automated superiority, Cheprasov
from two weeks to just several minutes.
highlights FortressIQ, Catalytic and
Our most recent project with UiPath
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :
Max Cheprasov Title: Chief Automation Officer Company: Dentsu Aegis Network Industry: Marketing & Advertising
Location: New York
As Chief Automation Officer at Dentsu, Max Cheprasov leads the Automation COE on a mission to “Elevate Human Potential”. Dentsu, with its 65,000+ employees, is a global media and digital marketing communications company focused on innovating the way brands are built. The COE harmonizes Operational Excellence with AI and Automation to create the never-before digital exoskeleton for the enterprise. Max has 20+ years of experience within the Digital Economy, specializing in digital transformation, operational excellence, and AI-powered automation. Prior to his current role, Max served as the Senior Vice President of Operations, PMO, BPO, and Technology for iProspect between 2011-2017. Max holds an MBA degree from JWMI and professional certificates from Stanford University, MIT, and PMI, among others. w w w.de ntsua e gi sne t wor k. com
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“ I think we have a unique workplace culture. One word to describe everybody in the business, across 65,000 professionals, is that we’re ‘entrepreneurial’ by nature of how we’ve grown”
required a deeper partnership with their Professional Services group, as we needed to temporarily add 10 RPA (robotic process automation) experts to our team to help us build 60 bots in six weeks. As a result, the software bots have automated 157,000 hours of work during their first deployment, completing over 600,000 tasks. Finally, FortressIQ helps us accelerate process mining and process discovery, exponentially improving our ability to identify new
— Max Cheprasov, Chief Automation Officer, Dentsu Aegis
use-cases for automation and process reengineering. Additionally, the time and motion analyses led to improved FO RT RESSI Q
Founded in 2017, FortressIQ is the creator of a cognitive automation platform which is capable of accelerating digital transformation through a combination of ANN, NLP and ML, as well as OCR. Able to quickly grasp the fundamentals of a business’ operations, the platform enables the collection of swift insights which can be used in the development of an automation strategy.
Commenting on the relationship that Dentsu Aegis shares with FortressIQ, Cheprasov praises the company’s technology and states that without its partnership “it would have taken over 30 business analysts to gather the same level of detail and insight that [FortressIQ’s] AI was able to capture if it was done manually.” Pankaj Chowdhry, Founder & CEO, FortressIQ
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SOPs, compliance and training. Using FiQ’s artificial neural network (ANN), NLP, and ML models, in combination with advanced computer vision (OCR), we automatically mined, modelled and documented data for over 2,200 processes in five months with just two people operating the system.” On the subject of automation, Cheprasov is evangelical about its growing importance, not only for Dentsu Aegis but for its clients and modern business generally. “Automation is just a natural 14
evolution from operational excellence,” he explains. “Traditional operational workflows are no longer sustainable; the workforce is changing rapidly, yet very few global companies are ready to manage their workforce with people, bots and AI working side by side.” He asks every company to consider the subject of advancing technology seriously; it is an aspect of business which is both exciting and intimidating – staying on top of it and processing the large amounts of data accessible requires automation integrated into every process. It was because of this that Cheprasov formulated his seven-year roadmap. “It’s in response to client demands for
The transformation of AI & Automation CLICK TO WATCH
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2013
Year founded
50,000 Number of employees
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Covid 19 and the impact of technology CLICK TO WATCH
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higher levels of agility and consistent
When considering the future, not just
operational excellence,” he explains.
of Dentsu Aegis but also automation
As such, Dentsu Aegis plans to go
generally, Cheprasov identifies two
beyond traditional forms of automa-
key trends: hyperautomation and the
tion (AI, ML, RPA, etc) to fulfil its quest
democratisation of AI. The former,
for ever-greater heights of operational
a term with Industry 4.0 connotations,
efficiency. This brings the conver-
imagines an operational state which
sation back to the importance of
combines digitisation with connectivity
collaborating with startups in the sec-
and AI to create a supremely auto-
tor: “We continue to monitor who the
mated system capable of seamless
emerging players are; there’s a lot of
interoperability; regarding the latter,
new startups that have fantastic ways
he adds this: “The future of automa-
of applying AI to different problems
tion should be placed in the hands of
in business,” he says.
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to low-code or no-code platforms and
into the less overt considerations that
providing the necessary training and
furthering automation entails, such as
support.” This, Cheprasov anticipates,
its CSR activities with AutonomyWorks.
will lead to unprecedented efficiency
“Their goal is to create new job opportuni-
gains for workers and unlock the human
ties for individuals with autism and similar
potential in a way which was unfeasible
disabilities. At Dentsu, we recognise
previously. As the post-COVID-19 world
society as one of our key stakeholders
continues to make companies re-exam-
and one of our key objectives right now
ine their relationship with technology,
is to upskill the organisation’s workforce
Dentsu Aegis is already expanding
with the necessary automation skills to
accelerate the work that they currently do for their clients.” Considering what the rest of 2020 might hold for Dentsu Aegis, Cheprasov summarises its goal as continuing to help its clients win, keep and grow their own customer bases. If the COVID-19 disruption has taught the company anything, it’s that close collaboration, an agile mindset and an innovative attitude will help Dentsu Aegis navigate the lingering aspects of disruption, which, in turn, will help its clients. “Every business today needs to have an AI and automation strategy and plan,” Cheprasov concludes. “By 2025, AI-powered companies will be 10 times more efficient and hold twice the market share over organisations that fail to embrace the technology
“ Automation is just a natural evolution from operational excellence”
today. I think we have reached a point in the evolution of intelligent automation when you can no longer delay this decision.”
— Max Cheprasov, Chief Automation Officer, Dentsu Aegis
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