Digital transformation: strategy and implementation
Colgate-Palmolive Europe (CP EU) is a leading oral, personal, and household care producer with sales in Europe of over $2.4Bn. In recent years, sales of CP products have started to transition towards online through ‘clicks & bricks’, online drugstores, and online marketplaces. Recognizing the potential for online sales to grow further and being aware of the potential for improvement in digital and & e-commerce, CP EU has asked SparkOptimus to refine its digital & e-commerce strategy, including implications for the operating model, develop the resulting roadmap, and support implementation of the strategy.
SparkOptimus has been a true partner and an integral part of our digital transformation journey over the past year, from detailing the strategy to actually doing the implementation work side-by-side with our ecommerce & digital teams. SparkOptimus helped challenge our thinking about digital, and then worked with us to set up the right team to lead the transformation. Now we have a fully-fledged central digital team that can drive our digital strategy together with our country teams across Europe.
SparkOptimus accompanied CP EU in a 3-phase journey, during which we worked side by side with all layers of the organization, building capabilities and fostering their ownership and leadership in strategy development and implementation as quickly as possible.
First, SparkOptimus refined CP EU’s digital & e-commerce strategy by assessing the status quo & opportunities, refining the strategy & operating model, and defining priority workstreams and detailed activities for roll-out of the digital opportunities, including the financial impact based on a three-year roadmap. In the next phase, we engaged with the wider leadership to develop the workstream ‘blueprints’ and drove the implementation work, actively engaging with workstream leads to design and set-up the Online Acceleration Center, their center of excellence for ecommerce & digital, launch pilot initiatives to develop CP EU online business with 2 retailers, and to define and launch experiments to develop ‘online-first/-only’ product lines. Next, we kick-started implementation and structured all new digital processes for the new Online Acceleration Center, and shoulder-to-shoulder with the OAC team initiated the Europe scale-up of commercial initiatives through active onboarding, training and in the development of practical value creation plans with partner retailers and pure players.
Take the insights with you
Through the joint strategic review, and now during implementation, CP EU’s leadership and the OAC have been able to claim a pathfinding role for the wider CP business with respect to how digital and ecommerce are delivered and scaled. This is driving the digital and eCommerce transformation throughout Europe, enabling new data insights on ecommerce performance, stepping up digital marketing efforts through in-sourced content creation and (social) media initiatives and scaling a pragmatic test-and-learn approach with regards to digital & ecommerce innovation activities. In addition, the OAC’s eCommerce team successfully engaged and trained 10 local country teams and supported them in planning engagements with 30+ partner retailers and pure players.
Want to find out how your business can benefit from our 1-week digital strategy scan? Click here to get in touch with us.
Ready to transform your organization? Discover how with our 1-week scan.
Heineken Mexico, part of the world’s most international brewer with over 80,000 employees and more than 35 billion in global revenues, was looking to harness the potential of Generative AI (Gen AI) to drive efficiencies and improve customer satisfaction. They wanted to explore AI use cases across their operations and kickstart AI initiatives in key areas like sales and customer service.
A leading Belgian private equity firm approached SparkOptimus to conduct a technology due diligence on an AI-driven media company poised to disrupt its industry. As part of their investment evaluation, they needed a deep dive into the company's use of Generative AI (Gen AI) and the future impact of emerging technologies like OpenAI’s Sora. With this in mind, they sought our expertise to assess the company's technical and data landscape, ensuring they could make an informed investment decision.
De Energiebespaarders embarked on the next phase of growth to realize its ambition of becoming the leading digital contractor for making existing houses more sustainable.
They enlisted our support to co-shape a strategic growth plan, identifying and prioritizing future growth initiatives while determining the organizational, technical, and financial implications of each, providing crucial input for the next funding round.
Shell sought a comprehensive assessment of its Lubricants Marine business and the AccuPort venture.
We established the current baseline, refined and iterated both short-term (MVP) and long-term (vision) propositions and business models, and developed organizational and technological blueprints. We also crafted a rollout strategy and plan, including financials and buy/build decisions, ultimately identifying 8 key initiatives to enhance Shell’s Lubricant Marine business.
