Exclusive: How Treasury Wines is using GPTStrategic’s new AI assistant

Treasury Wines, a multinational winemaking business with an annual turnover of $2.5 billion, has taken a significant step towards the future of data-driven decision-making with the recent implementation of GPTStrategic's AI assistant.

This technology aims to revolutionise how the company navigates its extensive data landscape, providing real-time insights to optimise operations and facilitate faster, more accurate decision-making.

GPTStrategic's AI assistant, launched in response to Treasury Wines' growing need for enhanced data management and efficiency, is designed to tackle the organisation's complex data demands.

"Treasury is a vast organisation with tremendous amounts of data," explained Dave Phung of GPTStrategic.

"They need to make decisions that move their business forward, whether it's launching new products, acquiring new customers, or enhancing customer experiences." The AI assistant, he added, supports these goals by allowing quick, reliable insights from the mountains of data that Treasury Wines collects.

For Treasury Wines, the time saved by the AI assistant is a critical benefit. Phung illustrated this by highlighting a typical query: "For example, if someone needed to understand trends for Shiraz in New Zealand, it would previously take days, multiple people, and several reports. With the AI assistant, it's instantaneous." This shift towards speed and precision is key in a business with seasonal and regional demands.

As Treasury Wines operates globally, managing campaigns from Christmas to Lunar New Year across various regions, the ability to make quick, informed decisions is paramount.

The implementation includes two tailored AI assistants, named VT and AV. Each is crafted to meet specific business needs within Treasury Wines. VT handles data-related tasks, such as research, insights, and summarisation, while AV functions as a brainstorming partner, gathering data to support creative ideation. "It's a brainstorming powerhouse," Phung noted.

"Trained on a completely different dataset, AV is perfect for ideation tasks, equipped with knowledge from selected wine industry influences." This dual-functionality enables Treasury Wines to seamlessly progress from insights to product ideation and strategy, allowing for more robust and targeted business development.

Unlike general AI tools, GPTStrategic's assistants are designed specifically to meet Treasury Wines' unique requirements.

This customisation is critical for companies in specialised industries like winemaking, where a one-size-fits-all solution doesn't meet the intricate demands of the business. "The AI assistants we build are very narrowly focused," Phung explained.

"They're not general-purpose AI tools but crafted for specific data to achieve specific outcomes."

Treasury Wines has long been an innovator in the industry, even pioneering automated, staff-free production facilities. According to Phung, the introduction of generative AI is another chapter in the company's journey of technological advancement. "Generative AI is new to Treasury, and several successful pilots are already underway across different business lines, from product development to supply chain management," he said.

These pilots, which span departments from people and culture to sustainability, are part of Treasury Wines' strategic adoption of AI to maintain its competitive edge.

When asked about the broader impact of generative AI on the wine industry, Phung emphasised that while technology is essential, its true potential is realised only when people can fully engage with it. "There's a need to meet people where they are in terms of technology," he explained, "bringing them along on the journey so that they feel comfortable with and see the value in these new tools."

He added that human oversight remains critical. Although the AI assistant can accomplish tasks from product ideation to marketing copy creation, human review is essential, particularly when it comes to sensitive and brand-related output. "Human in the loop is vital," Phung stressed. "You want someone to review before it hits the public eye."

In addition to transforming daily operations, Treasury Wines expects generative AI to impact strategic planning over the coming years. "I imagine a future where digital assistants become an extension of our work," Phung said, envisioning a scenario in which each employee is supported by multiple AI assistants specialising in different areas, from scheduling to document review.

"Generative AI is becoming part of every tool we use," he added, noting that it's already appearing in platforms such as Zoom and Office applications. For Treasury Wines, AI capabilities will be embedded into various business functions, boosting productivity and freeing up employees to focus on strategic, relationship-driven tasks.

Looking to the future, Treasury Wines sees generative AI as an opportunity to not only save time but to reinvest that time into critical activities that could shape the company's long-term success.

Referring to a recent study indicating that half of information workers save about half of their time with generative AI, Phung highlighted the value of reallocating those time savings to high-priority tasks.

"What do you do with the time saved?" he asked. "It could go towards strategic initiatives, customer relationships, or developing new markets—all areas that rely on human interaction."

The introduction of AI within Treasury Wines has been far from a "plug-and-play" process. Instead, GPTStrategic has approached the task as a platform deployment, providing a foundation for Treasury Wines to build upon according to their unique business goals. "We build the stage, and they produce whatever show they need," Phung said. This platform approach allows for a level of flexibility and scalability, enabling Treasury Wines to adapt the AI assistant to various use cases and iterate based on feedback and performance.

"We encourage emergent thinking, which is all about users discovering new ways to leverage these tools within their own context," he explained.

Data security, privacy, and regulatory compliance are central concerns in AI applications, especially in an enterprise setting. Phung acknowledged the challenges of balancing innovation with regulation, noting that while AI technology advances rapidly, regulatory bodies are still catching up.

"The practical approach is to treat AI applications with the same standards as any enterprise application," he said, citing guidance from standards organisations that provide a framework for secure AI deployment.

Treasury Wines follows best practices to safeguard data, ensuring that their AI use remains both compliant and secure.

For GPTStrategic, the focus remains on building customised solutions that align with their clients' specific needs. The company's platform-based approach allows for continuous development and expansion, meeting the demand for innovative AI tools across various industries. Phung is confident that generative AI will continue to reshape the wine industry and beyond.

"If you give good people better tools, they'll do better work," he said.