Better Together: Mattias Ulbrich on Combining Coffee, Business, and Technology at Porsche

**Sam Ransbotham** (0:03)
What does coffee have to do with artificial intelligence?

**Shervin Khodabandeh** (0:07)
In this episode, Mattias Ulbrich will talk to us about how Porsche is driving a culture of innovation and digital transformation with AI across all functions in the company.

**Sam Ransbotham** (0:22)
Welcome to Me, Myself, and AI, a podcast on artificial intelligence and business.
Each week, we introduce you to someone innovating with AI. I'm Sam Ransbotham, Professor of Information Systems at Boston College, and I'm also the guest editor for the AI and Business Strategy Big Idea Program at MIT Sloan Management Review.

**Shervin Khodabandeh** (0:41)
And I'm Shervin Khodabandeh, senior partner with BCG, and I co-lead BCG's AI practice in North America. And together, BCG and MIT SMR have been researching AI for four years, interviewing hundreds of practitioners and surveying thousands of companies on what it takes to build and deploy and scale AI capabilities and really transform the way organizations operate.
Hi, Mattias. Welcome to the podcast. We're really excited that you could join us today. How are you?

**Mattias Ulbrich** (1:15)
It's a pleasure for me to be with you. Thank you for your time.

**Sam Ransbotham** (1:18)
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your role at Porsche?

**Mattias Ulbrich** (1:23)
My name is Mattias and I'm the CEO of Porsche and at the same time, the CEO of Porsche Digital, a subsidiary of Porsche, where we really focus on the new stuff, for example, for AI, for cloud technology, for other like blockchain, and where we are, let's say, more international. And that means we are in the United States, like Atlanta and Silicon Valley, but we are as well in China, for example. We are in Tel Aviv, and of course in Germany. So this is a company where we really look for digital projects that we can really support within a Porsche organization.
But at the same time, we are looking at new ideas in the market and looking for new business ideas and business models within this organization.

**Sam Ransbotham** (2:13)
You know that I'm actually from Atlanta?

**Mattias Ulbrich** (2:15)
Oh, I didn't know that, no.

**Sam Ransbotham** (2:16)
Yes.

**Mattias Ulbrich** (2:17)
But you know that the Porsche headquarters there, right? That's the reason why we're there, because we have a very close collaboration with the headquarters in the United States and Atlanta.
We were really looking to find the best solution for the US market.

**Sam Ransbotham** (2:31)
I like the phrase new stuff. Tell us a little bit about how you yourself got interested in new stuff.
You mentioned a fair number of new technologies as new stuff.

**Mattias Ulbrich** (2:40)
Yeah, I'm personally very interested in new technology. Well, I studied electronics when I started my career. I worked with Hewlett-Packard.
That was a very innovative, at that time, it was a very innovative organization.
So I really like to understand what are the advantages of new technology and what can it bring to the business. To bring really technology and business together. This is what drives me and where I'm interested in finding the best solutions.

**Sam Ransbotham** (3:12)
So tell us how that background started. Like how you got from Hewlett-Packard or from electronics to Porsche.

**Mattias Ulbrich** (3:19)
I started my career at Hewlett-Packard a long time ago in the 19th. Then I had the opportunity to join Audi at the time in Neckarsum. This is a plant where the A8, for example, is built. And there was a lot of new stuff between the car, the IT, and the production side. So it was very interesting to see all the electronics and the software in the car and how you can handle that in the production process.
And so I learned a lot about car business, IT business, and production at that time.
And after that, I had the opportunity to move to SEAT. That is as well part of the Volkswagen Group as Audi is.
And I had a great time in Barcelona where I was the CIO of SEAT at that time. After that, I had six years in Wolfsburg, the headquarter of the Volkswagen Group. I was responsible for the IT services worldwide. And after that, I became the CIO of Audi. I took this position for six years. And then I decided to get, let's say, a wrap up of the new technology. So I moved to MIT and St. Gallen here in Switzerland to learn more about the term of, let's say, transformation, digital transformation about new technology. And after that, I came to my role here at Porsche to drive the transformation of Porsche and as well getting all this stuff as well from this Porsche digital organization into the Porsche organization.