What does it really mean to be an AI-first organization? At ZS, it goes beyond learning about the latest tools or experimenting with new technologies. It means building, testing and scaling solutions that solve real-world problems—together. That spirit came to life through the recent global AI hackathon, where ZSers from around the world joined together to turn ideas into working, client-relevant approaches.

Turning learning into agentic AI action

The global event was designed with a clear goal: move beyond theory and enable teams to create solutions using agentic and generative AI. Instead of a typical sprint-style hackathon, this initiative took a different approach. Over the course of several weeks, teams formed organically around problem statements inspired by tangible business challenges. They didn’t just pitch ideas—they designed end-to-end systems, from defining the problem to designing architecture, codebases and working demos. This hands-on, build-oriented format reflects ZS’s practical, collaborative and grounded approach to innovation.

A global AI hackathon with practical business impact

The hackathon saw strong participation from across ZS, with 64 teams coming together to explore how AI can transform the way we solve complex problems.

Participants tackled a wide range of use cases across industries and capabilities, including:

• R&D: building agents to support clinical operations and streamline workflows
• Data and analytics: creating intelligent agents that deliver actionable, explainable insights
• Commercial strategy: exploring agentic workflows for marketing mix and decision-making
• Supply chain: designing solutions to improve planning, forecasting and inventory management

Teams could also propose their own ideas, giving them the flexibility to bring forward challenges they see in their day-to-day work with clients.

Spotlight on innovation: reimagining pharma supply chains with AI

Team Vector5, winners of the global AI hackathon

Among the standouts was PharmRebalance, developed by the winning team, Team Vector5. Their solution focused on a critical challenge in pharmaceutical supply chains—how to anticipate and respond to imbalances in demand and supply across locations.

Using a multiagent system, the team built  PharmRebalance to:

• Monitor inventory, demand and supply signals in real time
• Identify potential stock imbalances across locations
• Recommend intelligent rebalancing actions to optimize supply

By connecting multiple functions and breaking down silos, the solution demonstrated how AI can compress decision-making timelines from weeks to seconds.

It’s a powerful example of what happens when deep domain expertise meets next-generation technology.

Building AI skills through hands-on innovation

Beyond the approaches themselves, the event served as a practical platform for learning and growth.

Participants had the opportunity to:

• Create multiagent systems and integrate them with large language models
• Experiment with new tools, prompting strategies and AI orchestration approaches
• Design full-scale solutions, from architecture to business impact

This kind of immersive experience helps ZSers move from understanding AI concepts to applying them in meaningful ways—accelerating both individual growth and collective capability.

Creating an AI-first culture of innovation

As ZSers continue to experiment, build and scale AI-powered systems, initiatives like this hackathon are helping shape not only how we work today, but also how we solve tomorrow’s toughest challenges. For us, being AI-first isn’t just about technology—it’s about empowering people to push boundaries, solve problems and create impact where it matters.