BrazilSparkOptimus helps Heineken adopt Generative AI in Mexican business
When Heineken’s team in Mexico set out to adopt generative AI solutions to enhance its operations, the beer brewer tapped SparkOptimus for guidance.
Headquartered in the Netherlands, Heineken is one of the world’s largest beer brewers, with over 80,000 employees and more than €36 billion in global revenues. Heineken owns a worldwide portfolio of over 170 beer brands, mainly pale lager, though some other beer styles are produced.
As part of its digital strategy worldwide, Heineken is leveraging emerging technologies to enhance its client services, streamline its processes, and improve its manufacturing. At the forefront of its digital agenda is artificial intelligence (AI), including its little brother, generative AI (Gen AI).
The company’s Mexican business asked SparkOptimus to explore the potential of generative AI to drive efficiencies and improve customer satisfaction, with a focus on key areas like sales and customer service.
The engagement saw SparkOptimus conduct a one-week value scan, identifying over 50 potential Gen AI use cases across the Mexican business. Following a prioritization of use cases, SparkOptimus developed a long-term vision and roadmap for Generative AI in sales and customer service.
Building on that plan, Heineken and SparkOptimus teamed up to launch two pilot projects, aimed at demonstrating the use case and its assessed value to the business. The results were impressive: Heineken saw a 10% reduction in customer service time spend in Mexico, and a 2-point increase in its net promoter score (NPS).
By integrating Gen AI solutions in place of third-party technologies, the pilot projects also unlocked considerable cost savings in IT total cost of ownership.
Additionally, SparkOptimus also supported the implementation and adoption of off-the-shelf Gen AI tools in the Trade Marketing domain. These tools boosted efficiency by up to 50%, showcasing the transformative power off-the-shelf tool can have.
“To ensure long-term success, we designed and built a structured innovation approach, including the hiring of data scientists and data engineers, and established a cross-functional ideate/test/scale process to continue generating value from Gen AI across the organization,” stated SparkOptimus.
With the groundwork in place, Heineken is now fully equipped to continue its AI journey, supported by newly established teams and governance designed to foster continuous innovation, from ideation to scaling.
