Darko Marjanovic, AI Director of Things Solver – Turning Data into Value is the Most Important Business Process Strategy

The idea that “innovations and data usage are the future and that it is the road that everyone has to accept in the time we live in and which is coming” is the foundation on which, during their studies, more precisely, in 2015, Darko Marjanovic and Milos Milovanovic founded the company Things Solver. That the foundation was well set was proven six years later, when Things Solver became the first AI company to join ASEE international group.

On that occasion, we talked to Darko Marjanovic, AI Director & Head of Product at the company Things Solver.

Let’s start out with a metaphor. In the online world, it’s now usual to say that “data is the new gold”. How do you approach the sophisticated goldsmith skill of making precious jewelry from a piece of metal?

– This is very important. We can agree or not whether data is gold, we can also use other comparisons, but turning data into value is what’s most important. As a company, we focus on facilitating that process and really turning the data of some company into gold at first and then “playing” with the data, but not to get jewelry, but something much more valuable, to gain insight into the future and to be able to act in the present more adequately.

Let me give you a concrete example. We all leave traces online, consciously or not, revealing our interest, which, for example, an e-commerce operation can collect for its web shop. This data has potential, maybe it’s gold, but the value as such is not big. If we use modern technologies, models of machine learning, we can get to value in the form of information about how the users are browsing the site, where they run into problems, but also what they would like to buy in the future. By implementing the technology, we enrich the data and get conclusions which we use for business purposes. This makes e-shop users happy, because they can get to what interests them very fast, and on the other hand, the sales increase considerably, which has an impact on any company’s end-goal – increasing the profit. I believe that this is a “win-win” strategy, all thanks to the good use of data.

Machine learning is increasingly recognized as a very important item in business processes. What does this field offer to business people in concrete terms? How can machine learning facilitate business or production processes?

– Machine learning (ML) enables us to learn the behaviors based on the data in a quick way and it is a prediction tool. To clarify, we use simple or complex algorithms which are hungry for data, that is, they need as much data as possible to be as precise as possible. ML can tell us where the problem is in our business process and to upgrade and accelerate concrete points.

It is very important to realize that ML alone, without being combined with domain knowledge and direct business understanding, has no special effect and remains a formula on a piece of paper. That is why we need to understand that this is a great help to business processes, but that the business processes themselves are the main thing. I always emphasize that ML is a business tool, not an IT tool.

Which of your solutions in this field have drawn the most attention in the market?

– Our solution is in fact a set of micro products which aim to have the data used in the decision-making process. The product is called Solver AI Suite. At the moment, the most popular products are micro products which help clients understand their consumers and gain insight into how to best activate them. Concretely, the combination of Solver Audience Studio and Solver Campaigning Studio with AI/ML models of recommendation systems. This is a combination that considerably increases the conversion rate in campaigns, increases the return up to several times per interaction with the consumer and that way directly influences the income and the profit. In addition to that, together with A1 Group, we are working on a platform with uses ML for the planning and optimization of the radio network.

You recently became part of ASEE Group. How important is this acquisition for your company and what are your business plans in the new environment?

– That was a great moment for Things Solver. A large international company had recognized our work and effort and decided to make us the first AI company within the ASEE Group. We also recognized the potential we got as a part of a group which has great knowledge and a large number of clients. I would add that this is also important for our country, because this kind of a company has acquired a company that comes from Serbia. We no longer have just 20 employees, which is how much we had at the moment of acquisition, but 40, and that number is rising, which is good for everyone.

What we are working on is making AI become part of the ASEE product and having our knowledge integrated so as to be several steps ahead of the competition. Personalization and a more precise fraud detection is certainly something that ASEE clients from the banking industry can expect. In addition to that, the goal is certainly to grow together.

Finally, what are your plans for the future? Are you looking to specialize in a segment and which innovations do you plan to offer to the market?

– The focus is certainly on the further development and upgrading of our product. Following the trends, the segment we additionally want to cover is certainly e-commerce, but we don’t want to neglect other industries we operate in and where we have enough domain knowledge which is very important for our business. The new thing we are preparing is our Solver Search, which will use the most modern AI models from this field. With this, we are slowly making our offer complete, becoming one station for clients if we’re talking analytics. After that, we plan to grow when it comes to the number of people too, and not just in Serbia, but also outside it.

Things Solver doo Beograd

Things Solver

ASEE

Darko Marjanović

Miloš Milovanović

Solver AI Suite

Solver Audience Studio

Solver Campaigning Studio

Solver Search

artificial intelligence

machine learning

e trade

e commerce

business processes

web shop

personalization

fraud detection

analytics

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