Scaling Generative AI for chocolate sales transformation
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.
"The collaboration with SparkOptimus has been instrumental in accelerating our digital transformation journey. Their expertise in Generative AI and strategic guidance have opened our eyes to the immense possibilities of digitizing our sales processes. The pilot projects have not only proven the value of this approach but have also laid the foundation for us to achieve significant improvements in speed-to-market, cost-efficiency, and overall innovation."
SparkOptimus conducted a Generative AI masterclass for the company’s R&D team, demonstrating the technology's potential to transform sales. Together, we identified 30 specific opportunities for improvement using digital tools and strategies.
To validate this approach, we initiated two pilot projects leveraging Generative AI:
• Automated personalized product recommendations: Streamlining the creation of tailored suggestions based on customer preferences, enhancing engagement and conversion.
• AI-generated marketing copy: Generating targeted marketing materials for specific customer segments, increasing relevance and effectiveness.
These pilots were successfully tested with a core team from the company’s R&D business unit, showcasing tangible improvements in efficiency and customer engagement.
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The successful pilot projects confirmed the potential for a "Sales Journey 2.0," with substantial anticipated benefits ranging from increased speed-to-market by drastically reducing time from product concept to launch, to reduced cost-to-serve by automating tasks and optimizing resources for greater efficiency, to increased innovation from existing portfolio by identifying novel applications and opportunities for existing products. To realize this value potential at scale, we then developed a comprehensive plan to scale these achievements across the entire organization, incorporating necessary organizational changes and a technology roadmap to ensure seamless implementation.
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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.
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.
PVH – globally known for its iconic brands Calvin Klein & Tommy Hilfiger – is one of the world’s largest and most admired fashion companies, operating in over 40 countries worldwide.
PVH Europe’s ambition is to transform from a transaction-led fashion wholesaler into a consumer-led, multichannel fashion player with a tripled ecommerce business by 2025. To turn this vision into reality, PVH wants to connect with its consumers “in the moment”, which implies serving consumers in real-time based on their needs. For example, providing real-time transparency on delivery and payment status, offering personalized recommendations, or promptly providing adequate customer support in case of an incident.
PVH asked SparkOptimus to help shape the path to achieve this ambition, and kickstart execution to gain early momentum.
Wella is a global Germany-based hair care company and the market leader in the DACH markets. To capture opportunities of the digitizing consumer and hairdresser, Wella asked SparkOptimus to help develop the digital strategy to double down on digital sales and futureproof its B2B and B2C routes-to-market.
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.
Eneco faced stiff competition in the energy sector from emerging digital players offering superior digital value propositions. To counter this effectively, they had to transition to a digital-first model to quickly ideate and launch new products.
We facilitated this transformation by establishing an end-to-end, cross-functional organization centered on digital products, fostering a fast-learning way of working through SAFe agile. Concurrently, we validated this model by swiftly launching a dynamic pricing product. This initiative was successful, enabling Eneco to bring the product to market within months.
