Increasing productivity and innovation with a unified GenAI platform

As one of the world’s leading specialty chemical companies, Clariant contributes to value creation with innovative and sustainable solutions for customers from many industries. Its portfolio is designed to meet very specific needs with as much precision as possible. At the same time, its research and development are focused on addressing the key trends of our time. These include energy efficiency, renewable raw materials, emission-free mobility, and conserving finite resources. 

With their innate focus on innovation, teams at Clariant immediately saw the potential that generative AI (GenAI) could have for their work: consolidating relevant information from different sources, summarizing documents, and synthesizing patents being just a few relevant use cases. To enable all employees to leverage GenAI, Clariant built the Clarita^AI platform as the foundation for multiple GenAI solutions, each designed to enhance the daily work of specific groups of employees with different needs, making every individual more productive and, at times, helping them identify insights that could lead to breakthroughs. 

Clarita^AI was developed from the outset as a platform that could host different types of solutions, integrating generative AI models with other technologies. Most importantly, the goal was to provide a unified user experience across different use cases. This required attention to both the user experience and the technical aspects of taking an application and transforming it into a modular, scalable platform that could support not only these use cases but also other, future solutions. In true Agile fashion, they wanted to move fast and not let perfection get in the way of progress, and they needed technology and delivery expertise to make that happen. 

Clariant teamed up with Slalom to integrate two solutions that support the daily work of two important user groups: sales and R&D. The process started with an end-to-end assessment of proof-of-concept solutions, comparing them side by side with the original Clarita application. The teams determined what could be reused, what needed to be redeveloped, and what adjustments needed to be made to the initial product, including how Clarita’s user experience would be impacted by this change and any addition of future solutions. “Slalom’s clear grasp of our GenAI vision was instrumental in defining our technical and commercial milestones,” explains Susanna Groth, Commercial Excellence & Clarita^AI Sales Product Owner, BU Adsorbents & Additives. 

Discussions about the appropriate use of GenAI in the prioritized use cases led to the creation of design prototypes demonstrating the future user experience, all while applying Agile development processes to rapidly deliver the desired functionality. Sanjeev Sujan, Global Project Manager, Clarita^AI Sales initiative, notes, “Slalom created an exceptional collaborative environment where they truly felt like an extension of our team, not an external partner. Their commitment to joint solution development, open communication, and responsive feedback loops enabled us to harness the power of generative AI rapidly and effectively. The partnership has been seamless and highly productive.” Groth adds, “Slalom’s collaboration helped us create a game-changing application, as confirmed by user feedback immediately after launch.”

Slalom’s teams focused not only on building the technical solution but also on the long-term sustainability of Clarita. By helping develop Clariant’s teams’ GenAI skills, we provided the means for Clariant to sustain and grow the Clarita platform well into the future. 

“Partnering with Slalom has been transformative for our Clarita^AI Research Assistant project,” says Oliver Hauenstein, Product Owner Clarita^AI Research at Clariant. “Their deep expertise in GenAI and AWS, combined with a strong focus on trustful co-creation, has empowered us to deliver exceptional results. Slalom’s commitment to our success has been evident in every step of the journey.”

With the first versions of dedicated assistants for sales and R&D built, GenAI’s potential to drive faster innovation, growth, and productivity became tangible. Based on these early successes, Clariant is planning to create more dedicated assistants while further expanding the existing ones. 

“Working with Slalom has been a major accelerator for Clariant. At a time when the world was beginning to understand the possibilities of GenAI, finding a partner with the capabilities and experience to drive these ideas forward has been key to our success,” says César Chocou, Clarita^AI Program Head & Head of IT Supply Chain & Operations.