Dhawan to accelerate the enterprise software company’s expansion of AI solutions across industries
PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — SymphonyAI, a leader in high-value enterprise AI software solutions for strategic industries, announced Sanjay Dhawan has joined as CEO. Dhawan will drive SymphonyAI’s growth as an integrated company pursuing a single strategy across retail, CPG, financial crime prevention, manufacturing, media, IT service management, and additional sectors.
“We are one of the largest and fastest-growing enterprise AI companies, with more than 1,000 major customers globally,” said SymphonyAI Founder and Chairman Dr. Romesh Wadhwani. “Our work addressing specific customer needs and applying AI to capture value across industries is unique. I know Sanjay’s successful track record. His reputation for unlocking market value is well-earned, and he will bring that leadership to SymphonyAI for our next growth phase. With the addition of our CFO and CTO in December, we now have the full senior leadership team we need to be the leader in enterprise AI.”
Dhawan brings his experience rapidly growing technology companies to SymphonyAI. He was most recently CEO and president at Cerence (NASDAQ: CRNC), leading its 2019 spin-out from Nuance (NASDAQ: NUAN). Under Dhawan, Cerence delivered record revenue by accelerating conversational AI market penetration in the automotive industry. Under Dhawan’s leadership, Cerence stock was number 39 in performance on NASDAQ among 3,300 listed companies in 2020. He drove growth in market capitalization of Cerence from $500 million in 2019 to reach a high of more than $5 billion in 2021. Previously, Dhawan led Symphony Teleca to an $830 million acquisition by Harman International, and then led Harman Connected Services division as its president. He was part of the management team that enabled Harman’s $8 billion acquisition by Samsung Electronics in 2017. Before this, Dhawan spun out Flextronics’ $500 million software platform and services business into an independent company, Aricent, Inc., owned by private equity firm KKR.
“I am delighted and honored to lead SymphonyAI as its CEO. SymphonyAI’s scale, growth, customer base, and expertise combined with the Eureka platform is set to deliver sustained value,” said Dhawan. “Having had the experience of working with Romesh to build world-class, results-oriented teams and companies, I am pleased to have the opportunity to join him again. SymphonyAI’s relentless focus on delivering rapid, measurable value to customers is our recipe for success. SymphonyAI’s ability to catalyze the next generation of problem-solving for business, fueled by enterprise AI, will lead to exciting outcomes for both customers and investors.”
Dhawan’s appointment follows SymphonyAI’s executive announcements in December 2021 of Wayne Kimber as CFO and Vijay Raghavendra as CTO.
SymphonyAI’s businesses leverage Eureka capabilities and deep industry expertise in their vertical solutions. Recent growth approaching $300 million annual revenue sets the company on course for a new phase. In 2021, the businesses achieved the following:
- Retail and CPG: In a year of rapid, foundational changes in consumer behavior, SymphonyAI’s expansive suite of retail and CPG-focused solutions helped customers significantly reduce inventory and waste to quickly adapt to new levels of demand.
- Manufacturing and heavy industry: SymphonyAI advanced its industrial AI platform to help customers increase reliability and availability and reduce risk via AI-based anomaly detection and machinery monitoring. The company expanded its AI solutions for digital manufacturing plant operations, operational visibility, and frontline work orchestration.
- Financial crime prevention: SymphonyAI launched Sensa AML as a unique solution to combat financial crime and money laundering by discovering hidden suspicious activity and helping investigators pinpoint truly fraudulent activity.
- Media and entertainment: SymphonyAI introduced a new digital media distribution management solution that automates and normalizes distribution platform datasets to identify rapid consumer behavioral changes and surface predictive insights and actionable, prescriptive recommendations on content performance and value. The solution adds to an already robust offering that manages over $8B in linear content distribution.
- IT service management: New automation and engagement features in the SymphonyAI IT service management solution launched in 2021 for improved service experiences and increased automation. The capabilities help lower costs and IT management complexity while increasing efficiency and productivity.
About SymphonyAI
SymphonyAI is building the leading enterprise AI company for digital transformation across the most important and resilient growth industries, including retail, consumer packaged goods, financial crime prevention, manufacturing, media, and IT service management. SymphonyAI businesses have many leading enterprises as clients in each of these industries. Since its founding in 2017, SymphonyAI has grown rapidly, approaching 2,000 talented leaders, data scientists, and other professionals. SymphonyAI is an SAIGroup company, backed by a $1 billion commitment from successful entrepreneur and philanthropist Dr. Romesh Wadhwani.
Media Contact: Chris Gale at Chris@GaleStrategies.com
