Brewing innovation: Heineken Mexico enhances operations with Gen AI
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.
We conducted a one-week value scan, identifying over 50 potential Gen AI use cases across Heineken Mexico’s business. From this, we jointly launched two pilots focused on Sales and Customer Service, and developed a long-term vision and roadmap for Generative AI in these key areas. We also supported the implementation and adoption of off-the-shelf Gen AI tools, specifically enhancing performance in Trade Marketing. To ensure long-term success, we designed and built a structured innovation approach, including the hiring of the first data scientist and data engineering roles, and established a cross-functional ideate/test/scale process to continue generating value from Gen AI across the organization.
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Through our collaboration, Heineken Mexico saw a 10% reduction in customer service time spend, which, combined with a 2-point increase in NPS, highlighted the clear business impact Gen AI can have in the short term. By integrating Gen AI solutions in place of third-party technologies, we also unlocked considerable cost savings. In trade marketing, AI-driven tools boosted efficiency by up to 50%, showcasing the transformative power even off-the-shelf tool can have. With the groundwork now laid, Heineken Mexico is fully equipped to continue its AI journey, supported by newly established teams and governance designed to foster continuous innovation, from ideation to scaling.
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Zijerveld (a subsidiary of FrieslandCampina) is one of the largest cheese wholesalers in Europe. Recognizing the vast potential AI can bring to their business, they approached SparkOptimus for a one-week data scan. The scan consisted of identifying and prioritizing potential AI use cases across Zijerveld’s business and creating a first view of business value for selected use cases.
This leading chocolate manufacturer sought to accelerate their speed-to-market, enhance customer-centric innovation, and streamline their vast product portfolio. They recognized the potential of Generative AI to transform their sales processes and partnered with SparkOptimus to realize this vision.
Budget Thuis is a leading energy and telecom services provider in the Netherlands, committed to providing reliable services at affordable prices. Serving more than a million customers, Budget Thuis holds a prominent position in the industry. Recognizing the substantial potential of Generative AI to enhance internal processes and the customer experience, Budget Thuis faced challenges in realizing its value independently. Therefore, they asked SparkOptimus’ support in identifying and prioritizing company-specific use cases, rapidly testing and proving the value by collaboratively building, testing, and improving MVPs, and designing an organizational setup for long-term, sustainable (Gen) AI innovation.
HEINEKEN is the world’s most international brewer, with revenues of over €27bn, brands present in over 180 countries and operations in more than 75 markets. Heineken is a proud and independent global industry leader, with a strong brand portfolio and an extensive sales & distribution network across the globe. Understanding that digitisation is driving a seismic shift in how people connect, consume media and consume products, HEINEKEN launched a broad set of digital initiatives across functions and markets throughout the world, with a view to ‘staying in the game’ and learning along the way.
Acknowledging this promising start, SparkOptimus urged HEINEKEN to fundamentally elevate and accelerate its digital transformation. Committed to accelerating growth in a rapidly changing competitive playing field and driven by the ambition to become the clear winner in beer & cider in a digital age, HEINEKEN asked for SparkOptimus’ support in co-developing a shared vision, strategy, and execution plan with HEINEKEN’s key decision makers: the Executive Team and MDs of HEINEKEN’s largest global Operating Companies.
Together with the Executive Team and key local leadership teams, we co-created a shared vision, strategy and 3-horizon plan for accelerating growth in a digitised world. We also defined what was required to realise this ambition across the globe. After formulating the 3-horizon strategy and plan, HEINEKEN asked SparkOptimus for support with achieving the core components of the plan. As part of that support, HEINEKEN and SparkOptimus jointly embarked on an ambitious, multi-year programme to drive the most exciting, most rewarding but also the most complex ‘pillar’ of the three-horizon plan: digitising HEINEKEN’s B2B Route-to-Market to outlets across the globe (scope of this case study). This represented a significant challenge given HEINEKEN’s decentralised governance model and the large variety of routes-to-market and digital maturities present across different markets.
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.
As part of its 2035 vision, Shell Mobility BeNeFrux aims to ‘make green and enjoyable mobility seamless for everyone’, supporting the global net-zero emissions ambition. To turn this vision into reality, we developed a concrete and actionable plan and began testing key hypotheses central to its 2035 strategy.
This involved conducting a series of tests and proof-of-concept projects within a controlled environment. Some tests yielded successful results, which were then scaled within the existing Shell organization. Other tests disproved hypotheses, thus preventing unnecessary resource expenditure and providing valuable insights.
