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ZS Associates Case Study Questions 2024

February 13, 2024

ZS Associates Case Study

ZS Associates Case Study questions 2024 are given here on this page!

The ZS Associates Interview Case Study is the third round of ZS Recruitment Process. This round holds the highest importance in the entire ZS Associates Selection Process.

Go through the page to Know all the important questions and details related to Zs Associates Case Study.

ZS Associates Case Study Interview For Freshers

In this round, the interviewer aims to judge the following characteristics of a candidate as mentioned in the ZS Business Consulting Website :-

• Excellent critical thinking and problem-solving
• Desire to innovate and transform organizations
• Client service Orientation
• Emotional intelligence, empathy, and adaptability
• Strong communication skills and ability to persuade

Orientation to quality and creating positive impact

ZS Associates Case Study 2024

ZS Associates Case Study Challenge 2024

The one and only important criteria that can make or break your selection in ZS Associates is your scale of performance in the case study interviews. ZS Associates case study interview mimics what the consultancy job is going to be like by putting you in a simulated business scenario where you are asked to solve a business question and marketing questions.

ZS Associates   Case Study Questions will be based on your profile that you select while filling out the form.

• Pie Charts etc.
• For numerous case studies, you wouldn’t have any right or wrong answer to judge. Your method of approach for  solving complex issues holds higher significance in such cases.
• Ambiguous problems
• Insufficient information and time
• Pressure to quickly develop potential solution

Following a structured pattern and finding problems is the secret to progress in ZS Associates Case Study:

• The situation
• The company
• The objective of the case.
• Structure:- Secondly, you need to develop an approach to solve the problem. Build a framework to help you solve the issue of business. A framework is a mechanism that lets you organize complex challenges into simpler, break down complex problems into smaller.
• First you need to identify the important issues.
• Request information to test hypothesis. A hypothesis is an educated guess on the answer based on the data and information that you have so far.
• Identify specific opportunities
• Conclude:- Make solid recommendations about the action that needs to be taken. All you need is to present the most relevant facts and include the key arguments that justify it.

Types of Case Study asked in ZS Associates:-

Market sizing.

In Market Sizing, there will be large amount of information provided to the candidates that would require a quick assessment and analysis.

Examples:- Our company is opening a new office. How should we acquire the new office space?

Business Problems

Business Case studies are usually real-life business situations. A candidate needs to imagine, handle and summarize a complex business situation or dilemma.

What you need to prepare:

• Try to find out and understand as best as possible the type of work they do.
• Figure out what ideas or concepts do they come out with to solve an existing problem
• Evaluate their effectiveness and longevity of the solutions
• Know the objective of the case study intently.
• Understand the process and apply it accordingly
• Use important check points wherever needed to make your hypothesis clear and strong.

ZS Associates Case Study Questions and Answers

Question 1:

I run a small coffee shop that has been in my family for over 30 years.Recently, I learned that Starbucks has bought the lease on a unit just around the corner.Starbucks will be opening in 3 months’ time. ’m worried about what this means for my business, and want your advice

How would you approach this issue?

What information might you need to solve this case?

Question 2:

For a boot manufacturer that manufactures two types of boots, you have to plan a strategy for responding to a competitor who has launched a new product. To understand the market, you ask the interviewer how big it is. The exhibit below is presented to you.

Take the following steps to analyze this data:

• In this case, the question is market size – a Euro figure. So you must assimilate all the customer segmentation, product and pricing data into the total market size.
• You can see that this exhibit, in both numerical and graphical data representation, is a mixed map. The first section reveals the tendency to purchase (in other words, the percentage of population that bought boots last year). Note immediately that the data is provided for various consumer groups as a percentage, and for each segment, you will have the overall price paid and total population.
• Figure out the most efficient approach to get to the final result, and work the math. If all the required data is not present, ask for it.

In this case,

• Total revenue from all customers would equal market size.
• Total revenue = Number of boots bought * Price per pair
• Number of boots bought = Number of buyers * Boots bought per buyer
• Number of buyers = (Total Population) * (% of population buying boots)

The following steps can help add more context to your analysis. Let us continue with the example of the boot manufacturing company discussed in the last section:

• Think about the end target, and make a short hypothesis about the main indicators needed to measure the situation. We will need to find out the main product segments of the industry and the role of our business with consumers to grasp the strategic nature of the market.
• Understand what the evidence means about the indicators that you just defined. We recognise that, depending on the type of use, the boot industry is split into two divisions and the clients are segmented by occupation.
• Start to think of factors that could have prompted the evidence to appear as it does, and open up new investigation lines. This makes the interviewer realise that not only do you do math, you can also draw company lessons about the exhibit, which is a crucial ability that a contractor should have. In this scenario, since their occupations need more physical labour and so their shoes will wear out faster, it is fair that more blue collar  employees will purchase work boots. Also, in the two boot segments, what is the ultimate status of our client? That’s thenext natural issue.

In this case, the situation can be possibly summed up as follows:

The total market size is €X Mn. My hypothesis is that the work boots category is the most important for us here, since it is €Y Mn larger than the casual boots segment.

Question 3: Your client is Healthcare Cloud Inc., a start-up firm in Palo Alto,California,focused on software and information technology. The company runs as a service (SaaS) or cloud business in computing. Basically, SaaS is a licencing and distribution model for applications in which software is licenced and centrally hosted on a subscription basis. Usually, SaaS is accessed via a web browser for users using a thin client.

 How would you approach this issue?

The client has developed an innovative cloud-based software solution for hospitals, Healthcare Cloud. The software is used for tracking patient outcomes and utilizes an extensive database and proprietary analytics to recommend procedures based on patient comorbidities (In medicine, comorbidity is the presence of one or more additional diseases or disorders co-occurring with a primary disease or disorder).

The client is preparing to launch their revolutionary Healthcare Cloud software to market and is seeking our advice on how to maximize revenue. How would you go about it?

Question 4:

A manufacturing company sells a popular soap product named “Foamy”.

Company Background

The company manufactures and markets one single soap “Foamy”. It is a premium quality soap popular among the Upper-Class population.

The company has a sales team of 200 salespeople for promoting “Foamy” and they visit the warehouses for promotion of “Foamy”.

Project Mission

Mr. David, the Vice President of the company Sales team is confused that if having the salesperson visit the warehouse is the optimal solution.

He also wants to divide the teams in an efficient manner.

Determine the optimal sales force size for the warehouse: How many salespeople should be assigned to promote “Foamy” to warehouse owners? (Also determine the same if we are given that total visits are limited to 1200)

(Hint: Your analysis should be based on the data in the table below and not based on the 200 salespeople).

A salesperson visiting warehouses can make 12 visits/week

Firstly, calculate the number of visits for each type of warehouse.

Big Ones = 50*4 = 200 visits

Tough Ones = 100*3 = 300 visits

Smart Buys = 150*2 = 300 visits

Friendlies = 200*2 = 400 visits

Easies = 300*1 = 300 visits

Thus the total visits = 200+300+300+400+300 = 1500

And the number of visits by a single person is 12 visits/week

Thus the number of sales people to be allotted to this task is 1500/12=125.

Since we are given that the number of visits is 1200. Then we must prioritize the warehouses which are providing more profits to the company.

Thus the preference order will be Big Money>Tough Ones>Smart Buys>Friendlies>Easies.

The total visits = 200+300+300+400 = 1200 (Excluding the Easies one)

Total Number of Salespeople is 1200/12=100.

Question 5:

Assume you are the manager for a consultancy firm. You received the following information and are expected to solve your clients questions:

Digilant Toys is a high-end toys maker in the country of Moldova. Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. Moldova declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991 as part of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The total population of the country amounted to 4 million (2004 Moldovan census).

The owner of Digilant Toys business has seen substantial change in his market in recent years and is contemplating the future of his business. Up until now, he has been in the business of building high-quality, handcrafted toys largely by hand with a skilled labor force. Recently, however, he has become aware of a new technology that would allow him to build machine-made toys with much less labor.

The following data is also provided to you:

• Investment – Investing in the new technology will cost the firm $1M.
• Cost Savings – Material costs remain the same, but labor costs are reduced by 50%.
• Proprietary Nature of Technology – The new toy-making technology is being offered for sale by a machine tool company, who holds the patent. They are not offering exclusivity to any customers (i.e. they will sell to Digilant Toys’s competitors if possible).
• Competitive Threat – It is not known whether the competitors have acquired or are planning to acquire this new toy-making technology.
• Customer Preferences – While the machine-made toys are not “handmade”, the quality perceived by the customer is the same or better. It is believed that the customer will be indifferent between the quality and appearance of hand-made and machine-made toys.
• Brand Impact – The candidate may argue that machine-made toys might negatively impact Digilant Toys’s brand. If so, ask them how they would test this (e.g. consumer research), but tell them to assume that it would have negligible impact.
• Assets – Since the firm has been building toys by hand, the fixed assets are essentially only the land and improvements. These are owned outright by the company. – Book Value of Land: $20,000, Book Value of Improvements: $80,000, Years Owned: 48 and Average Real Estate Appreciation: 6% / years

The following market details are also given:

• Population of Moldova: 4 million
• Population Growth: 0%
• Average Life Expectancy: 75 years
• Age Distribution: assume a flat age distribution, i.e. same number of people at every age.
• Burial Customs: 75% of people use toys.
• Price – toys are priced at $5,000 for hand-made high-end toys.
• Costs – Material accounts for 10% of the direct cost, while labor accounts for the other 90%. COGS is $4,800 per toy. Fixed costs for the business are $700,000 per year. Assume all assets are fully depreciated and ignore taxes.
• Competition – The client has a 10% market share and a relative market share of about 1 (if asked, you may explain that relative market share is the ratio of the company’s market share to that of its nearest competitor.)
• Market Trends, Regulation, etc. – If asked about any exogenous factors, simply tell the candidate to assume that the market is expected to continue as it currently is.

You as a manager of the consultancy firm are supposed to answer these questions:

• What strategic alternatives should the owner of the toys business consider?
• Calculate the market size.
• Calculate the value of the company toy’s business
• What is the value of the company if it were shut down and the assets were sold?
• What would the value of the company be if the owner invests in the new technology?

We need to decide firstly whether to stay in the toys business at all and if so, whether he uses the new technology:

Option 1: Sell the business to a third party

Option 2: Sell the assets of the company and shut it down

Option 3: Keep operating as is

Option 4: Keep operating and invest in the new technology

(4 million) x (1/75) * (75%) = 40,000 toys purchased per year.

Margin per toys = $5,000 – $4,800 = $200

Contribution Margin = $200 per toys x 40,000 toys x 10% market share = $800,000

Profit = Contribution Margin – Fixed Costs = $800,000 – $700,000 = $100,000

Assuming a discount rate of 10% (candidate can assume anything reasonable here as long as they are consistent later), a perpetuity with cash flows of $100,000 per year has a present value of $100,000 / 0.1 = $1 Million. So the current business is worth $1M whether they keep it or sell it.

Using the “rule of 72″, a 6% growth rate will double the investment every 72/6 = 12 years. Since the property was held for 48 years, the current value will be $100K * (2 x 2 x 2 x 2) = $1.6M.

Since the assets ($1.6M) are higher than the value of the discounted cash flows ($1M), then it would make more sense to liquidate the business and sell the assets.

Since the company has no proprietary control over the technology, it is likely that competitors will also acquire it, resulting in an overall lowering of the industry cost structure. If this is the case, price will also fall as competition cuts price in an attempt to gain share. If we assume that gross margins remain the same, since the industry competitive structure has not changed we can calculate the new margin contribution as follows:

Gross Margin = $200 / $5,000 = 4%

Labor Cost = (4800 x 90%) x 50% = $2,160

Material Cost = 4800 x 10% = $480

COGS = $2,160 + $480 = $2,640

Price = $2,640 / (1 – 4%) = $2,750

Contribution Margin = $2,750 – $2,640 = $110 per toy

Profit/Loss = $110 * 4,000 – $700,000 = -$260,000

So the introduction of the new technology to the market might be expected to reduce industry profits, making this business completely unprofitable.

FAQ's on ZS Associates Case Study

How many questions are asked in zs associates case study.

There will be 7-8 MCQ questions are asked in ZS Associates Case Study.

What type of Case Study Questions are asked in ZS Associates?

It depends on your job profile. The job profile you will select while filling the form the case study questions will be also asked related to this.

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The ZS Associates Interview: Our Ultimate Guide to Acing It

• Last Updated January, 2024

If you’re reading this article, you probably have a ZS Associates interview coming up. The ZS Associates interview includes case study questions, behavioral or fit questions, and a written case. That’s a lot to prepare for!

But My Consulting Offer is staffed by former recruiters and consultants from top consulting firms. We can tell you what to expect and how to prepare for the ZS Associates interview.

In this article we’ll cover:

• The history and culture of ZS Associates.
• The ZS Associates recruiting process.
• The ZS Associates case interview.
• The ZS Associates fit or behavioral interview.
• How to prepare for a written case interview.
• MCO’s top 3 tips on acing your ZS Associates interview.

Let’s get started!

ZS Associates History

The ZS Associates Case Study Interview

Zs associates values and culture, the zs associates behavioral interview, the zs associates application process, 3 tips to ace the zs associates interview, zs associates history: established by two college professors, now a key player across sales force optimization & healthcare.

ZS Associates is a global management consulting and professional services firm, designing solutions to solve difficult business problems.

ZS Associates was founded in 1983 by two college professors at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Andris Zoltners and Prabhakant (Prabha) Sinha. Zoltners and Sinha met as Ph.D. classmates at the University of Massachusetts, where they researched the “knapsack” problem. The goal in solving the knapsack problem is to optimize the combination of items in the sack in order to get the maximum value from the combination of items while keeping the weight within a set limit.

Realizing that their research could be applied to solve resource allocation problems across multiple industries, the pair became pioneers in salesforce sizing and territory alignment models. They ultimately developed the world’s first personal-computer-aided territory mapping system. With their proven software, the pair worked off-hours to help companies improve their sales force efficiency.

Within 3 years of opening, ZS Associates helped 8 of the 10 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world align territories and resize their sales forces. Today, the firm continues to offer sales force alignment services alongside strong capabilities in analytics, strategy, sales, and marketing. ZS Associates is often quoted as experts in salesforce optimization topics, especially in the healthcare sector.

ZS now operates out of 28 offices across 4 continents, namely Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America.

ZS Associates is gaining recognition as a great place to work thanks to its people and culture. In 2022, ZS Associates was ranked among the Top 25 Best Workplaces in Consulting and Professional Services by Great Place to Work ®.

Employees at ZS, or “ZSers,” live by 3 core values:

• Treat people right
• Get it right
• Do the right thing

ZS builds on a culture that values the unique qualities in every individual. The firm fosters a global community and a sense of belonging through education, leadership programs, networking, and more importantly, ZSer-led inclusion and diversity groups to drive positive change in the company.

The top 3 reasons employees stay at ZS Associates according to the report include: 

• They are given a lot of responsibility.
• They deliver excellent service and impact to their clients.
• Management is both competent and humble.  

ZS Associates has a 3-step application process.

Step #1 – Explore current open roles

Candidates can explore open roles at ZS Associates through campus recruitment drives or via the firm’s career page . Roles are classified based on the applicant’s experience level (e.g., undergraduate, Ph.D., MBA, Masters’, experienced professional, etc).

Step #2 – Apply with a resume

Applicants at campus drives are encouraged to submit their resumes on the spot. Online applicants are required to create a profile by completing an online form and uploading their resume and relevant transcripts before they can submit the application.

Step #3 – Attend the interview rounds

Selected applicants are invited for the interview rounds to be considered for an offer.

Similar to other management consulting firms, ZS Associates uses case interviews to assess the candidate’s ability to succeed in consulting.

If you are new to case interviews, our Ultimate Guide to Case Interviews explains what case interviews are and the 4-step approach to answering them. This encompasses:

• The opening – Check to make sure you understand the client’s problem.
• The structure – Think through the factors relevant to the problem and organize them so you can address them in a logical manner. Most candidates would use an issue tree to organize the factors at this stage.
• The analysis – Gather data to identify the factors most relevant to the client’s problem and develop recommendations.
• The conclusion – Present your recommendation to the “client” (the interviewer) in a well-structured and persuasive manner.

ZS Associates offers a broad array of roles, ranging from business consulting to more technical data and knowledge management roles. The interview rounds vary based on the country and role , as well as the application channel. However, the interview section can be broadly grouped into 5 key rounds.

1. Aptitude Test

An online test with multiple-choice questions tests candidates for verbal ability, logical thinking, and numerical reasoning. The purpose of the test is to measure the candidate’s ability to understand the information provided, organize it, and then use it to solve problems.

2. AI-Video Interview

A video interview leveraging AI is used to analyze the candidate’s body language, facial expressions, word choices, and tone of voice in reaction to 3 or 4 pre-set questions. Candidates need to record their answers and submit them within a set time limit.

3. Unstructured Case Interview

The unstructured case is an interview with a consultant or partner in which candidates are asked to solve an open-ended business question. These are similar to “interviewee-led cases” used by Bain and BCG.

The candidates are given 30 to 45 minutes to break the problem into key parts and lead the interviewer through their logic to solve the problem. While it’s called an “unstructured case,” that doesn’t mean your answer should be unstructured.

The ZS Associate’s unstructured cases include:

• Market sizing and market entry strategies
• Declining market share due to growing competition
• Operational process optimization
• Revenue and profit growth or maximization

4. Structured Case Interview

The structured case study is an interview with a consultant or partner, in which candidates are required to interpret data and/or solve a puzzle. Candidates are given 30 minutes to solve 1 to 2 questions in this interview. 

This round is more interviewer-led and candidates are required to share insights or provide estimates based on data and graphs provided. Knowledge analysts may receive more technical questions related to their domain during this round (e.g., DBMS and SQL queries). A few sample questions include:

• Market sizing : How many cakes can be sold in a day in your city?
• Puzzle : How many races will it take to identify the 3 fastest racehorses in a group of 20?
• [Technical] Discuss the issues with traditional file-based systems that make DBMS a better choice for storing files.

5. Behavioral/Fit Interview

This is a 30-minute interview with a recruiter designed to understand the candidate’s fit with the company’s culture and values. A more detailed explanation is provided in the following section.

Nail the case & fit interview with strategies from former MBB Interviewers that have helped 89.6% of our clients pass the case interview.

The behavioral interview (or “fit-test”) at ZS Associates is the portion of the interview process that enables you to showcase the soft skills that will help you succeed in consulting and add value to your teams and clients. Given the pressure surrounding the case interviews, candidates often underestimate the importance of the behavioral interview. However, the behavioral interview is still a critical opportunity to leave a positive impression with the firm, and it is equally important to invest time in preparing for this interview.

Some commonly asked questions at ZS Associates include:

• Why do you want to join ZS Associates?
• Tell me about a time you had to deal with conflict in your team.
• What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your past professional experience?

The key to passing behavioral interview questions is to highlight:

• Your values – Show what matters to you and that your values are aligned with the firm’s values and culture.
• Your soft skills – Show your ability to lead, influence, and manage through adversity.
• Your impact – Show the value you’ve contributed or the lessons you’ve learned from past projects on the job, at school, or in the community.

Prepare stories that answer these questions and practice your stories so you can tell them in a structured and compelling manner . We suggest using the A STAR(E) framework. Beyond the interview process, it will be important for you to understand what sets ZS Associates apart from the other firms and why that matters to you.

1. Prepare and Practice

Start preparing early and commit time to research the company and practice for the different interview rounds. Spending time to read up on your interviewers (on the ZS Associates website or LinkedIn) could also give you hints on the case interview questions or ideas on questions to ask at the end of your interview.

2. Don’t Memorize Answers

You don’t want to sound like a robot delivering a pre-written script in response to either case or behavioral questions. If you prepare in a more natural style, you are more likely to be able to adapt and respond to unexpected questions. Remember your key points and stories and deliver your thoughts naturally.

3. Know the Firm

These interviews are also an opportunity for you to understand if you would like to work at the firms you’re applying to. ZS Associates is a people-centric firm. They value the uniqueness in their people and pride themselves in working with their clients to design solutions that work for them. If you share similar values and purpose, you will naturally help tell your story in a more compelling manner.

– – – – –

In this article, we’ve covered:

• The founding story of ZS Associates.
• ZS Associates people-centric culture.
• How to apply to ZS Associates.
• The ZS Associates behavioral interview.
• 3 tips to ace the ZS Associates interview.

Still have questions?

If you have more questions about the ZS Associates interview, leave them in the comments below. One of My Consulting Offer’s case coaches will answer them.

Other people prepping for their ZS Associates case study interview found the following pages helpful:

• Our Ultimate Guide to Case Interview Prep
• Consulting Behavioral Interviews
• Top Consulting Firms
• List of Consulting Firms: 200+ To Apply To
• Written Case Interviews

Help with Case Study Interview Prep

Thanks for turning to My Consulting Offer for advice on consulting interview prep. My Consulting Offer has helped almost 89.6% of the people we’ve worked with to get a job in management consulting. We want you to be successful in your consulting interviews too. For example, here is how Aaron was able to get his offer from ZS Associates.

© My CONSULTING Offer

3 Top Strategies to Master the Case Interview in Under a Week

We are sharing our powerful strategies to pass the case interview even if you have no business background, zero casing experience, or only have a week to prepare.

No thanks, I don't want free strategies to get into consulting.

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Hacking the Case Interview

ZS Associates interviews consist of case interviews, a written case interview, and behavioral or fit interview questions. There are typically three rounds of interviews that candidates must go through before being extended an offer.

• First round : 30-minute phone screen with a recruiter. The interview will be focused on behavioral or fit interview questions.
• Second round : Two 30-minute interviews. One interview will be focused on a case interview while the other is focused on behavioral or fit interview questions.
• Third round : Three 30- to 40-minute interviews and a 45-minute written case interview. For the 30- to 40-minute interviews, two will be focused on case interviews while the third will be focused on behavioral or fit interview questions.

If you have an upcoming ZS associates interview or are expecting to interview with them, we have you covered. In this article, we’ll cover:  

• The 6 steps to solving any ZS Associates case interview
• ZS Associates case interview examples
• How to ace the ZS Associates written case interview
• The 10 most common ZS behavioral or fit interview questions
• Recommended ZS Associates case interview resources

If you’re looking for a step-by-step shortcut to learn case interviews quickly, enroll in our case interview course . These insider strategies from a former Bain interviewer helped 30,000+ land consulting offers while saving hundreds of hours of prep time.

The 6 Steps to Solve Any ZS Associates Case Interview

Acing your case interviews is the single most important factor that determines whether or not you will receive a consulting job offer from ZS Associates.

A case interview is a special type of interview that nearly every single consulting firm uses. ZS Associates case interviews simulate what the consulting job will be like by placing you in a hypothetical business situation in which you are asked to solve a business problem.

ZS case interviews, also known as case study interviews, are all candidate-led. You will be in the driver’s seat of the case interview and will be expected to ask the right questions, probe for data, and propose each next step to solve the case.

According to ZS Associates previous career website, they look for the following six core skills:

• Excellent critical thinking and problem-solving
• Desire to innovate and transform organizations
• Client service orientation
• Emotional intelligence, empathy, and adaptability
• Orientation to quality and creating positive impact
• Strong communication skills and ability to persuade

There are also three core values that ZS Associates lives by, according to  ZS' career page :

• Treat people right : treating other people with respect and dignity and creating a welcoming work environment that installs a sense of belonging
• Get it right : prioritizing finding the right answer and delivering quality work
• Do the right thing : holding people to high ethical standards and approaching work with integrity

Follow these six steps to solve any ZS case interview or case study interview:

1. Understand the case

The case will begin with the interviewer giving you the case information. While the interviewer is speaking, make sure that you are taking meticulous notes on the most important pieces of information. Focus on understanding the context of the situation, the company, and the objective of the case.

2. Verify the objective

Understanding the business problem and objective of the case is the most important part of the case interview. Not addressing the right business question is the quickest way to fail a case interview.

Make sure that you ask clarifying questions to better understand the business situation and problem. Then, confirm that you understand the case objective with the interviewer. This ensures that you start the case on the right track.

3. Create a framework

Develop a framework to help you tackle the business problem. A framework is a tool that helps you structure and break down complex problems into smaller, more manageable components. With a framework, you’ll be brainstorming different ideas and organizing them into different categories.

For a complete guide on how to create tailored and unique frameworks for each case, check out our article on case interview frameworks .

Afterwards, walk the interviewer through your framework. They may ask a few questions or provide some feedback to you.

4. Develop a hypothesis

After creating a framework, you should develop a hypothesis. A hypothesis is an educated guess on the answer based on the data and information that you have so far.

Your hypothesis does not need to be correct. You’ll be continuously testing and refining your hypothesis throughout the case. The purpose of having a hypothesis is to guide your analysis and ensure that you are spending your time answering the right questions.

5. Test your hypothesis

The majority of the case will be spent testing your hypothesis.

After stating your hypothesis, it is up to you to lead the direction of the case. Depending on the context of the case, you may want to ask for data to do some analysis. You may also want to explore qualitative questions that you have. As you uncover more information, your hypothesis will likely have to change. 

Sometimes, your hypothesis will be completely wrong and you’ll need to develop a completely new hypothesis to test. Other times, your hypothesis may be on the right track, but you’ll need to refine or narrow it down further.

Throughout the rest of the case, you’ll be answering a mix of quantitative and qualitative questions. Make sure that after each question, you explain how your answer impacts your hypothesis or answer to the case.

6. Deliver a recommendation

In the last step of the case interview, you’ll present your recommendation and provide the major reasons that support it. You do not need to recap everything that you have done in the case, so focus on summarizing only the facts that are most important.

It is also good practice to include potential next steps that you would take if you had more time or data. These can be areas of your framework that you did not have time to explore yet or lingering questions that you do not have great answers for.

ZS Associates Case Interview Examples

Example #1: Disposable Diapers

Proctor & Gamble (P&G) is an American consumer goods company that specializes in personal health, consumer health, and personal care and hygiene. One of its most revolutionary products is the company’s disposable Pampers Premium diaper.

Kimberly Clark has also entered the disposable diaper market and has been constantly improving and marketing its own brand, Huggies. What can P&G do in response to maintain Pampers’ market share?

Example #2: Entry Level Car Model

Our client is a multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Japan. They are the fourth largest automaker in Japan. Our client currently offers two car models, a mid-level car and a high-end car.

They are considering introducing an entry level car in the United States that they already sell in other countries. However, the United States market is different from that of other countries because there are numerous entry level cars available. How would you decide whether or not our client should introduce its entry level car model?

Example #3: Financial Software

Our client is a software and information technology based in San Francisco, California. Their software allows individuals and businesses to receive payments over the Internet. Our client provides the technical systems, fraud prevention, and banking infrastructure needed to operate online payment systems.

We have been hired to help them determine how they can increase the number of people using the online bill pay feature. What would you recommend?

Example #4: Luxury Watchmaker

Tissot is a Swiss watchmaker that manufacturers watches in the $300 to $3,000 price range. They sell watches through three distribution channels: department stores, specialty watch stores, and online through its own website.

Online purchases of Tissot watches have increased drastically over the past year to the point that sales from department stores and specialty watch stores has decreased dramatically. Owners of these two types of stores have begun to voice their objection to online sales. What can Tissot do to resolve this sales channel conflict?

Example #5: Party Goods

Your client is a leading American manufacturer and distributor of party goods. They sell everyday products and seasonal goods. Recently, major customers have complained to management stating that prices of your client’s products are too high.

Your client is looking to decrease prices to keep their existing customers. To be able to do this, they would need to significantly reduce its cost structure. How would you look for opportunities to cut costs?

Example #6: Patient Analytics Software

Your client is Healthcare Co., a software and information technology startup. They operate a software as a service (SaaS) business in which software is licensed to customers on a subscription basis. Healthcare Co. hosts the software on their own servers and customers access the software through a web browser.

Your client has developed an innovative software solution for hospitals that would enable hospitals to better track patient outcomes and use advanced analytics to recommend treatments. You have been hired to help them determine how to maximize revenue. How would you go about this?

For more practice, check out our article on 23 MBA consulting casebooks with 700+ free practice cases .

How to Ace the ZS Associates Written Case Interview

Here’s how the ZS Associates written case interview works:

• You’ll be taken to a meeting room and given either a packet of 8 - 10 slides or a laptop that has all of the case information. You may also be given a list of 4 - 5 questions
• You’ll have 45 minutes to read through the slides, answer the given questions or develop a recommendation, and create PowerPoint slides
• At the end of the 45 minutes, you’ll present to the interviewer and have a discussion

Follow the steps below to perform well on the written case interview.

1. Understand the business problem and objective

The first step in completing a written case interview is to understand what the objective is. What is the primary business question you are trying to answer with the data and information provided?

2. Read the list of major questions

Your written case interview may provide you with a list of 4 - 5 key questions that you will be expected to address or answer. Read through these questions first since these will be the questions that you will want to prioritize.

3. Skim the materials

Next, flip through the information packet that is provided to see what information is available. Identify what data you have and what data you do not have.

The goal in this step is not to read and analyze every slide. That would take too much time. Instead, by seeing what information exists, you will be able to better prioritize what you spend your time reading and analyzing.

4. Create a framework

Before you begin reading and analyzing the information in the slides in more detail, you should create a basic framework to help guide your analysis. The list of key questions will help set the foundation of your framework.

5. Read and analyze the material 

Afterwards, read and analyze the information that is relevant to each area of your framework. As you begin answering questions and drawing insights, make sure to write a one or two sentence summary. This will make it easier to decide on a recommendation later.

6. Create your slides

Once you have a recommendation, it is time to start filling in your slides. Write your executive summary first and make sure that it tells a clear and logical story that leads to your ultimate recommendation. 

Then, write the headlines for your slides. Make sure the headlines summarize the key point of each slide. If the interviewer were to only read the headlines of your slides, they should be able to understand your entire presentation.

Afterwards, fill in the content for that slide to support the headline.

7. Prepare for potential questions

If you have any time remaining, brainstorm potential questions the interviewer may ask you during your presentation. They may want to know how you performed your analysis or how you reached your conclusions.

Preparing for these potential questions will help your presentation go much more smoothly. You will also feel much more confident while presenting.

For a full guide on written case interviews, check out our consulting written case interview step-by-step guide .

The 10 Most Common ZS Behavioral or Fit Interview Questions

In addition to case interviews, you will likely be asked a few behavioral or fit interview questions. There are ten questions that are most commonly asked. 

For more help, check out our complete guide on consulting behavioral interview questions .

1. Why are you interested in working at ZS Associates?

How to answer: Have at least three reasons why you’re interested in working at ZS Associates. You could mention that you loved the people that you have met from ZS Associates so far. You can talk about ZS Associate’s massive global presence and expertise in consulting, software, and technology. You can speak to how ZS Associates provides strategy and implementation, so you can see the impact of your work. Finally, you can talk about their fantastic company culture.

2. Why do you want to work in consulting?

How to answer: Again, have three reasons why you’re interested in consulting. You could mention the fast career growth opportunity, the opportunity to develop soft and hard skills, or the level of impact that you can make by working with large companies on their most challenging issues.

3. Walk me through your resume

How to answer: Provide a concise summary of your work experience, starting with the most recent. Focus on emphasizing your most impressive and unique accomplishments. At the end, tie your experiences to why you are interested in consulting.

4. What is your proudest achievement?

How to answer: Choose your most impressive, unique, or memorable accomplishment. Structure your answer by providing information on the situation, the task, the actions you took, and the results of your work.

5. What is something that you are proud of that is not on your resume?

How to answer: This is a great opportunity to highlight an accomplishment that is not related to your professional work experience. Perhaps there is a non-profit that you volunteer at, a side project or business that you work on, or a hobby that you have won awards or recognition for. Choose something that is impressive and interesting.

6. Tell me about a time when you led a team.

How to answer: If possible, choose a time when you directly managed a person or a team. For this question and the following questions, make sure that you structure your answer. Structure your answer by providing information on the situation, the task, the actions you took, and the results of your work. This is known as the STAR method and is commonly used to answer behavioral or fit interview questions.

7. Give an example of a time when you faced conflict or a disagreement.

How to answer: When answering this question, focus on emphasizing the steps you took to resolve the conflict or disagreement. Speak to the interpersonal skills you had to use in order to mediate the situation. Interviewers want to know that you are a great mediator and that you can handle conflict in a constructive way.

8. Tell me about a time when you had to persuade someone.

How to answer: Choose a time when you were able to change someone’s mind. Focus on emphasizing the steps that you took to persuade that person and what impact and results this had. Interviewers want to know that you are a great communicator and a good people person.

9. Describe a time when you failed.

How to answer: Choose a time when you failed to meet a deadline or did not meet expectations. Focus on emphasizing what you learned from the experience and how you used that experience to deliver even better results in the next opportunity that you got. Interviewers want to see that you don’t get discouraged from failure and that you treat those experiences as learning opportunities.

10. What questions do you have for me?

How to answer: This is a great opportunity to get to know the interviewer on a more personal level. Ask them questions about their experience in consulting or their career. Express genuine interest in what they have to show and ask follow-up questions. The more you can get the interviewer talking about themself, the more likely they will have a positive impression of you.

Recommended ZS Associates Case Interview Resources

Here are the resources we recommend to learn the most robust, effective case interview strategies in the least time-consuming way:

• Comprehensive Case Interview Course (our #1 recommendation): The only resource you need. Whether you have no business background, rusty math skills, or are short on time, this step-by-step course will transform you into a top 1% caser that lands multiple consulting offers.
• Hacking the Case Interview Book   (available on Amazon): Perfect for beginners that are short on time. Transform yourself from a stressed-out case interview newbie to a confident intermediate in under a week. Some readers finish this book in a day and can already tackle tough cases.
• The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook (available on Amazon): Perfect for intermediates struggling with frameworks, case math, or generating business insights. No need to find a case partner – these drills, practice problems, and full-length cases can all be done by yourself.
• Case Interview Coaching : Personalized, one-on-one coaching with former consulting interviewers
• Behavioral & Fit Interview Course : Be prepared for 98% of behavioral and fit questions in just a few hours. We'll teach you exactly how to draft answers that will impress your interviewer
• Resume Review & Editing : Transform your resume into one that will get you multiple interviews

Land Multiple Consulting Offers

Complete, step-by-step case interview course. 30,000+ happy customers.

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ZS Associates Interview Experience for Data Science Associate

• ZS Associates Interview Experience for DAA
• ZS Associates Interview Experience for DAA | On-Campus 2021
• ZS Associates Interview Experience for DAA (On-Campus) 2023
• ZS Associates Interview Experience for BTSA
• ZS Associates Interview Experience for BTA Role 2021
• ZS Associates Interview Experience for BTSA (On-Campus)
• ZS Associates Interview Experience For BTSA (On-Campus)
• ZS Interview Experiences for Business Operations Associate
• OFSS Interview Experience for Associate Consultant
• ZS Associates Interview Experience for BTSA | On-Campus 2021
• ZS Associates Interview Experience for Business Technology Solution Associate | On-Campus
• ZS associates Interview Experience for BTSA 2023 On Campus
• ZS Associates Interview Experience for BTSA (On-Campus) 2022
• ZS Associates Interview Experience BTSA

ZS Associates is one of the best consulting firms which also has a great team of Data Scientists. The main clientele of ZS is Pharmaceutical companies, but it consists of other domains as well. Consultant Roles at ZS follow below hierarchy:

• Associate Consultant

Working with ZS was a goal for me when in college. I had applied for the DAA(Decision Analytics) role, but couldn’t crack it then. ZS hires freshers and entry-level experienced candidates for the Data Science Associate(DSA) role. When I started into ML and Data Science, I had made a list of target companies that I’d want to be a part of. ZS was one of them considering its work ethics and how it treats its employees.

Application Process: I had applied for the DSA role in March 2020 initially. I didn’t have anyone to ask for a referral, so I had directly applied on their website. The first step in the application is the shortlisting of your resume. So make sure the resume is on point for the job you’re applying for. I’ll be soon writing a blog on resume writing as well. Back to the point, I received the invitation to submit a Machine Learning test on Hackerearth after getting my resume shortlisted.

I submitted the test, but soon after the lockdown happened and ZS froze its hiring! That was a bummer for me but I kept expanding my skills either way.

Fast-forward to October 2020, ZS started hiring again after a gap of 6 months. I applied again and got the call to submit the test again. The process consisted of 3 rounds and all were elimination rounds.

Round 1(Machine Learning Challenge): The first round was to solve a Machine Learning problem and submit the predictions CSV along with the source code. The ML problem I had got was a text classification one which had Job Descriptions from a Pharmaceutical company’s job portal. My task was to make a Machine Learning model that takes in the job description text and predict 2 targets: Job Type and Job Category. The submission was to be a CSV file containing the predictions on test data.

Problem and Approach: Job Type consisted of 6 classes and Job Category consisted of 11 classes. In essence, this was a Multi-Class Classification problem and of 2 targets. I did the below steps to solve the problem and submit the solution and predictions:

• Data Understanding
• Text preprocessing
• Tokenization
• Stemming/Lemmatization
• Word Vectorization & creating embeddings using Word2Vec
• Hyperparameter Tuning
• Getting predictions on test data
• Saving and submitting the source code and CSV

I was given almost 2.5 days to complete this challenge on HackerEarth. I submitted the solution and crossed my fingers.

Round 2(Case Debrief): I received a call from HR regarding the second round 4-5 days after submitting the round 1 problem. This round was a technical discussion of the ML challenge and my solution. I had to make a PPT describing the steps I did, the results I got, and the source code.

The interview was scheduled on Zoom for 1 hour and required me to share my screen and present my solution to them. The interview started and I described the entire solution to them step by step through my presentation.

Discussion: After seeing my presentation from start to end, I was asked almost no questions. And I thought this is easy! But it was not. Once I finished explaining the solution, they started asking me questions about my approach from the first step. Some of them were:

• Why didn’t you do more EDA? What else could you have done?
• You ignored word importances. Any way by which you could have analyzed the word importance and add another feature for it?
• The first target had a class imbalance. How did you deal with that?
• What all feature engineering did you do?
• You removed all numeric values from the text. Couldn’t it be a case that job descriptions having numeric values such as dates mean that it is an internship or something like that?
• Did you think of a better way than to drop all non-alphabetic values?
• You used stemming. Why didn’t you use lemmatization? When is lemmatization helpful over stemming and vice-versa?
• You used word embeddings using Word2Vec. Was it a pre-trained one or you trained it on this data? Don’t you think a pre-trained embedding would have done better?
• Did you use other techniques like Bag of words, TF-IDF, N-grams, etc? How were they performing?
• You averaged out the word vectors of all words in a sentence to form the complete feature vector. Don’t you think this would have resulted in a loss of information? What better way could you have used here?
• What all models did you try running and what was the result?
• Did you use Deep Learning too? Don’t you think Deep Learning could have fetched better results?
• How do you think the metrics could have been improved? What are the reasons for a low score on target- Job Category?

After answering the majority of the above questions, I was exhausted! I thought I could have done much better with my solution and tried more techniques to get better results. Nevertheless, I crossed my fingers again and hoped to get a call for the 3rd round.

Round 3(Technical+Fit round): The 3rd and last round was a technical round which I thought would be on my resume, projects and skills. However, the interviewer had different plans.

Technical Interview: The interviewer asked me about my strong areas in Machine Learning, and I answered that it is NLP. He started the round by giving me a scenario that we have a client who has text data of emails which are customer feedback on their products. He started with the complete Data Science lifecycle and went step by step till the end.

• The data we have is not labelled and we want to classify it into different classes regarding the department it belongs to and the product it is for. How will you proceed?
• Once you have labelled it, how will you clean it and pre-process it?
• Once the data is clean, what next step will you take to analyze it and add features?
• How will you vectorize it? What are all the ways you know of?
• Do you think there could be a bias in the data? How to tackle that?
• What will be the next step? How will you make sure you have the best model?
• How can you reduce the training time?
• Once the model is finalized, how will the deployment be done, and what all to be taken care of?
• What and how will the retraining be done?
• What are the types of clustering?
• How does a linear model make assumptions? What will be its drawback?
• How do ensembles work?
• Any cloud platform you’ve worked on? What all elements do Azure consists of?
• How can you decide whether a feature is important or not during regression analysis?

He asked a few more questions on statistics and Machine Learning concepts. He also went a little into Deep Learning and CNNs. Overall, I answered most of the questions he put towards me.

I asked him a few questions on the work there, the clients, and the different domains involved to which he answered graciously.

I was pretty confident about my application now after the last round went pretty well. Fingers crossed, again.

Confirmation & Offer Letter: The moment that I had been waiting for finally arrived when I received the confirmation call from HR, and I was delighted! The hard work and persistence of months finally brought colors. Soon in a few days, I received the offer letter and happily accepted it. The process couldn’t have been any smoother and perfect. Hard work does pay off!

I received tons of requests from the community regarding my interview experience and I thought that this blog would do justice to all of them. I would be soon writing blogs on resume preparation and job search strategy as well.

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Zs associates: sales force sizing case study analysis & solution, harvard business case studies solutions - assignment help.

ZS Associates: Sales Force Sizing is a Harvard Business (HBR) Case Study on Sales & Marketing , Fern Fort University provides HBR case study assignment help for just $11. Our case solution is based on Case Study Method expertise & our global insights.

Sales & Marketing Case Study | Authors :: Robert E. Spekman, Sameer Kumar, Arya Kalla

Case study description.

This is a Darden case study.This case describes a consulting firm that is assisting a pharmaceutical company as it faces a strategic question regarding how to determine the size of its sales force. An Excel file containing two of the case exhibits is included and is available by contacting [email protected]. A related Technical Note entitled "A Note on Sizing the Sales Force" (UVA-M-0746) is available that describes several approaches one could employ to size a sales force; it addresses the advantages of each approach as well as the weaknesses.

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[10 Steps] Case Study Analysis & Solution

Step 1 - reading up harvard business review fundamentals on the sales & marketing.

Even before you start reading a business case study just make sure that you have brushed up the Harvard Business Review (HBR) fundamentals on the Sales & Marketing. Brushing up HBR fundamentals will provide a strong base for investigative reading. Often readers scan through the business case study without having a clear map in mind. This leads to unstructured learning process resulting in missed details and at worse wrong conclusions. Reading up the HBR fundamentals helps in sketching out business case study analysis and solution roadmap even before you start reading the case study. It also provides starting ideas as fundamentals often provide insight into some of the aspects that may not be covered in the business case study itself.

Step 2 - Reading the ZS Associates: Sales Force Sizing HBR Case Study

To write an emphatic case study analysis and provide pragmatic and actionable solutions, you must have a strong grasps of the facts and the central problem of the HBR case study. Begin slowly - underline the details and sketch out the business case study description map. In some cases you will able to find the central problem in the beginning itself while in others it may be in the end in form of questions. Business case study paragraph by paragraph mapping will help you in organizing the information correctly and provide a clear guide to go back to the case study if you need further information. My case study strategy involves -

• Marking out the protagonist and key players in the case study from the very start.
• Drawing a motivation chart of the key players and their priorities from the case study description.
• Refine the central problem the protagonist is facing in the case and how it relates to the HBR fundamentals on the topic.
• Evaluate each detail in the case study in light of the HBR case study analysis core ideas.

Step 3 - ZS Associates: Sales Force Sizing Case Study Analysis

Once you are comfortable with the details and objective of the business case study proceed forward to put some details into the analysis template. You can do business case study analysis by following Fern Fort University step by step instructions -

• Company history is provided in the first half of the case. You can use this history to draw a growth path and illustrate vision, mission and strategic objectives of the organization. Often history is provided in the case not only to provide a background to the problem but also provide the scope of the solution that you can write for the case study.
• HBR case studies provide anecdotal instances from managers and employees in the organization to give a feel of real situation on the ground. Use these instances and opinions to mark out the organization's culture, its people priorities & inhibitions.
• Make a time line of the events and issues in the case study. Time line can provide the clue for the next step in organization's journey. Time line also provides an insight into the progressive challenges the company is facing in the case study.

Step 4 - SWOT Analysis of ZS Associates: Sales Force Sizing

Once you finished the case analysis, time line of the events and other critical details. Focus on the following -

• Zero down on the central problem and two to five related problems in the case study.
• Do the SWOT analysis of the ZS Associates: Sales Force Sizing . SWOT analysis is a strategic tool to map out the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats that a firm is facing.
• SWOT analysis and SWOT Matrix will help you to clearly mark out - Strengths Weakness Opportunities & Threats that the organization or manager is facing in the ZS Associates: Sales Force Sizing
• SWOT analysis will also provide a priority list of problem to be solved.
• You can also do a weighted SWOT analysis of ZS Associates: Sales Force Sizing HBR case study.

Step 5 - Porter 5 Forces / Strategic Analysis of Industry Analysis ZS Associates: Sales Force Sizing

In our live classes we often come across business managers who pinpoint one problem in the case and build a case study analysis and solution around that singular point. Business environments are often complex and require holistic solutions. You should try to understand not only the organization but also the industry which the business operates in. Porter Five Forces is a strategic analysis tool that will help you in understanding the relative powers of the key players in the business case study and what sort of pragmatic and actionable case study solution is viable in the light of given facts.

Step 6 - PESTEL, PEST / STEP Analysis of ZS Associates: Sales Force Sizing

Another way of understanding the external environment of the firm in ZS Associates: Sales Force Sizing is to do a PESTEL - Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental & Legal analysis of the environment the firm operates in. You should make a list of factors that have significant impact on the organization and factors that drive growth in the industry. You can even identify the source of firm's competitive advantage based on PESTEL analysis and Organization's Core Competencies.

Step 7 - Organizing & Prioritizing the Analysis into ZS Associates: Sales Force Sizing Case Study Solution

Once you have developed multipronged approach and work out various suggestions based on the strategic tools. The next step is organizing the solution based on the requirement of the case. You can use the following strategy to organize the findings and suggestions.

• Build a corporate level strategy - organizing your findings and recommendations in a way to answer the larger strategic objective of the firm. It include using the analysis to answer the company's vision, mission and key objectives , and how your suggestions will take the company to next level in achieving those goals.
• Business Unit Level Solution - The case study may put you in a position of a marketing manager of a small brand. So instead of providing recommendations for overall company you need to specify the marketing objectives of that particular brand. You have to recommend business unit level recommendations. The scope of the recommendations will be limited to the particular unit but you have to take care of the fact that your recommendations are don't directly contradict the company's overall strategy. For example you can recommend a low cost strategy but the company core competency is design differentiation.
• Case study solutions can also provide recommendation for the business manager or leader described in the business case study.

Step 8 -Implementation Framework

The goal of the business case study is not only to identify problems and recommend solutions but also to provide a framework to implement those case study solutions. Implementation framework differentiates good case study solutions from great case study solutions. If you able to provide a detailed implementation framework then you have successfully achieved the following objectives -

• Detailed understanding of the case,
• Clarity of HBR case study fundamentals,
• Analyzed case details based on those fundamentals and
• Developed an ability to prioritize recommendations based on probability of their successful implementation.

Implementation framework helps in weeding out non actionable recommendations, resulting in awesome ZS Associates: Sales Force Sizing case study solution.

Step 9 - Take a Break

Once you finished the case study implementation framework. Take a small break, grab a cup of coffee or whatever you like, go for a walk or just shoot some hoops.

Step 10 - Critically Examine ZS Associates: Sales Force Sizing case study solution

After refreshing your mind, read your case study solution critically. When we are writing case study solution we often have details on our screen as well as in our head. This leads to either missing details or poor sentence structures. Once refreshed go through the case solution again - improve sentence structures and grammar, double check the numbers provided in your analysis and question your recommendations. Be very slow with this process as rushing through it leads to missing key details. Once done it is time to hit the attach button.

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How Retailers Became Ad Platforms

• Sebastian Gabel,
• Duncan Simester,
• Artem Timoshenko

It’s a major growth opportunity — if companies can navigate the strategic challenges.

Major retailers are today, most notably Amazon, are creating and operating their own advertising platforms — and they’re making millions doing it. McKinsey estimates that by 2026, retail media will add $1.3 trillion to enterprise values in the U.S. alone, with profit margins between 50% and 70%. In this article, the authors introduce readers to the main kinds of retail media, discuss three strategic challenges that they present, and provide guidance for effectively managing those challenges.

A rapidly growing number of major retailers are today creating and operating their own advertising platforms — a phenomenon widely referred to as retail media.  Nobody has had more success in the space than Amazon, which in 2023 earned $46.9 billion from advertising, comprised primarily of sponsored ads on its site. This figure exceeds the annual global revenue of Coca-Cola and makes Amazon the third-largest advertising platform in the United States, behind only Google and Facebook.

• SG Sebastian Gabel is an assistant professor of marketing at Erasmus University. His research focuses on developing deep learning for targeting applications in retailing. Prior to his academic career, Sebastian co-founded a retail-media services company that was sold to the Schwarz global retail group.
• DS Duncan Simester is the NTU Professor of Marketing at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His research focuses on marketing strategy, go-to-market strategies, and the use of artificial intelligence and experiments to improve business decisions. He regularly consults with companies on these topics.
• AT Artem Timoshenko is an assistant professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, at Northwestern University. His research focuses on applications of AI to marketing analytics and customer insights.

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JSmol Viewer

A sustainable solution for urban transport using photovoltaic electric vehicle charging stations: a case study of the city of hail in saudi arabia.

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Al-fouzan, A.A.; Almasri, R.A. A Sustainable Solution for Urban Transport Using Photovoltaic Electric Vehicle Charging Stations: A Case Study of the City of Hail in Saudi Arabia. Appl. Sci. 2024 , 14 , 5422. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14135422

Al-fouzan AA, Almasri RA. A Sustainable Solution for Urban Transport Using Photovoltaic Electric Vehicle Charging Stations: A Case Study of the City of Hail in Saudi Arabia. Applied Sciences . 2024; 14(13):5422. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14135422

Al-fouzan, Abdulmohsen A., and Radwan A. Almasri. 2024. "A Sustainable Solution for Urban Transport Using Photovoltaic Electric Vehicle Charging Stations: A Case Study of the City of Hail in Saudi Arabia" Applied Sciences 14, no. 13: 5422. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14135422

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Telefónica Tech and IBM Sign a New Collaboration Agreement to Drive the Development of AI, Analytics and Data Management Solutions for Enterprises

MADRID , June 18, 2024 / PRNewswire / -- Telefónica Tech and IBM (NYSE: IBM ) today announced a new collaboration agreement to drive the deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI), analytics and data governance solutions and respond to the constant and dynamically evolving needs of enterprises. The agreement, initially limited to Spain , establishes a framework of collaboration between the two companies to help their customers deal with the complexity of managing new technologies in a heterogeneous and changing environment and to extract the full value of these technologies in their business processes.

According to findings in IBM Global AI Adoption Index study , almost half of the companies in Spain that are already working with AI claim that they have accelerated their investments in this technology in the last 24 months. This highlights the need to provide the business landscape with tools and solutions that drive their digital transformation journeys, in which AI plays a prominent role.

Through this new collaboration, the companies will work together on the development and deployment of an open, hybrid and multi-cloud platform, specializing in data management and AI to facilitate and accelerate business initiatives for customers, a use case office, demonstrations and development of MVPs; and the implementation of resources, training and certifications. Last year IBM launched the watsonx AI and Data platform, which will be at the heart of the collaboration agreement.

Elena Gil Lizasoain , director of the Artificial Intelligence and Data business unit at Telefónica Tech, said: "This new collaboration with IBM will help drive the many benefits of Artificial Intelligence, traditional and generative, and proper data management in the business world. By combining the knowledge of both teams, we will continue to advance in the construction of use cases aimed at creating more efficient and sustainable businesses."

Adolfo Hernández Pulido Technology Managing Director for Telefónica at IBM added: "This collaboration is another step in our long history of working with Telefónica Tech. Together, we are accelerating the digital transformation of the Spanish business community, enabling the development of innovative technology solutions that will help companies adapt to the AI era. Analytics, data governance and the correct deployment of AI are key elements for today's business success, and we both share the commitment to help businesses achieve it."

Technology and co-creation to provide answers to real business needs

Telefónica Tech and IBM will launch a use case office, made up of highly qualified professionals from both companies, to promote and coordinate the definition and development of use cases, proofs of concept, and MVPs to accelerate business development and further showcase the value available to clients through the use of these technologies.

IBM Client Engineering, the IBM team that helps solve business challenges through co-creation and innovative work with experts, will play an important role in the use case office, as will the Telefónica Tech professionals who brings extensive technical knowledge and experience in the implementation of AI in the business sector.

The collaboration is already providing generative AI solutions to its customers that include code generation for IT applications, automation of processes and incidents, cognitive assistants in industrial operations, advice and customer service, analytics, processing and management of audiovisual content and text documents.

IBM and Telefónica Tech have a strong history of collaboration that includes hybrid cloud-based solutions, such as TROS, Telefónica Tech's multi-cloud service based on RedHat OpenShift; integrated AI for the creation of virtual assistants to improve customer service; and optimized supply chain management to increase the traceability of business assets with blockchain. This joint effort is the next step in the fruitful relationship in which both companies continue to drive innovation and digital business transformation through the implementation of cutting-edge technologies.

SHARK.X, the new platform to drive end-to-end AI deployment

SHARK.X, a new and innovative open, hybrid and multi-cloud platform that hosts different IBM hardware and software components, with access to IBM Cloud and other clouds, where the native hyperconverged IBM Storage Fusion HCI infrastructure for running enterprise applications stands out, will be deployed in Telefónica Tech's La Cabina facility, which is Telefónica's technological inspiration centre for the digital transformation of companies and public administrations.

Telefónica Tech will provide specialized professional services to define the most appropriate deployment architecture for each customer and integrate the solution into their environment, as well as ingest data from different sources and develop artificial intelligence use cases aimed at addressing their business priorities. It will also provide advice in the field of data governance and artificial intelligence models and in the field of regulatory and ethical compliance, which is especially relevant with the new regulations approved in the European Union.

At the software level, SHARK.X will include several IBM technologies that will cover the entire value chain associated with enterprise data management, analytics and management of enterprise data. SHARK.X will host IBM Cloud Pak for Data to enable data collection, organization, analysis and governance; it will include the IBM watsonx AI and Data platform to build, deploy and scale AI applications in a simple, secured and governed way; as well as Cognos and Planning Analytics, which enables collaborative business intelligence, planning and reporting solutions.

With these capabilities, the SHARK.X platform will address both traditional and generative AI initiatives and address end-to-end data governance and management while providing a Lakehouse as a robust enterprise data management solution, helping address data security and protection, and delivering business intelligence, planning, optimization and reporting.

About Telefónica Tech Telefónica Tech is the leading company in digital transformation. The company offers a wide range of services and integrated technological solutions in Cybersecurity, Cloud, IoT, Big Data and Blockchain. For more information, please visit: https://telefonicatech.com

About IBM  IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information.

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• IBM-Telefonica-Tech

Release Categories

• Artificial intelligence
• Hybrid cloud
• Research and innovation
• Social impact

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