After developing AI as part of an ambitious digital transformation strategy for several years, Rexel joins the French HI! Paris hub and places itself at the core of AI research.

Artificial intelligence (AI) based on digital data exploitation, or «big data», is no longer a chimerical dream, but already a very concrete reality of our daily lives. Many objects and applications already use AI: from healthcare to self-driving cars or smart homes. This is also especially true for the energy sector. It allows to optimize production and to moderate consumption at the same time. As such, it is part of the energy transition to which Rexel, a key international player in multichannel distribution for the energy world, is fully committed.

AI for business transformation

At Rexel, AI is also very useful to the ongoing digital transformation. It offers the ability to monitor market developments in real time and to respond to demand with relevance and speed, delivering an ever more immersive and personalized customer experience. To this end, the internal organization adapts to become more productive and coherent, making the relationship between the Group and its partners more fluid. To carry out this transformation, data scientists and engineers are following an ambitious roadmap: making Rexel a successful example of digital transformation, thanks to a controlled use of AI across the value chain.

A joint research center for world-class companies and academics

As such, Rexel holds a key role in HI! Paris, an interdisciplinary research center launched on September 15, 2020, as the result of an alliance between two French schools of excellence, the Institut Polytechnique (IP Paris) and HEC. Its aim is to develop research in the key fields of artificial intelligence and data science. This alliance has a strong international dimension between the academic world and innovative companies involved in the digital revolution and will ensure the funding of the engineers and researchers working at the center. Their breakthrough multidisciplinary research should lead to concrete applications, which will ensure greater competitiveness for companies able to implement them.

A meaningful alliance

“Rexel conducts extensive research on AI and data science. By investing in these topics for several years, we have acquired a unique expertise in our line of work. So today we are happy and proud of joining the HI! Paris alliance and to benefit from the programs that will be carried out there, as much as to actively contribute to them. We will thus be at the core of the development of tomorrow’s innovations,” says Patrick Berard, the Rexel Group CEO. Rexel intends to maintain its technological lead and to be recognized as a global reference in the use of AI for the energy industry. Joining the HI! Paris alliance is also a way of connecting with internationally renowned scientists, some of whom will then take part in the development of the Group’s innovative solutions.

An ever-evolving offer

The issue is all the more important given that Rexel’s offer is evolving, focusing on the sales of expert services in promising markets, such as the electric vehicles market, energy efficiency and Building Information Modeling in the construction industry. In a constantly shifting economy, adapting to the imperatives of sustainable development, Rexel aims to be inclusive, agile and innovative. Internally, AI must be a tool at the service of the employees, helping them through the Group’s digital transformation. Rexel, together with its employees and partners, will therefore continue to develop innovative AI-based solutions that will ensure its commercial success, while helping to protect our planet. That is the true meaning of the HI! Paris alliance.