Our cases

SHV Energy, a leading global distributor of off-grid energy, serves 26 million customers across 25+ countries with over 13,000 employees. To become future-proof – seizing long-term opportunities while optimizing current operations – SHV Energy launched a Digital &Transformation Academy for its ~150-person Extended Leadership Team. This academy empowers Business Units (BUs) with common methodologies, tools, and examples to drive local transformation. SHV Energy asked SparkOptimus to design the Digital & Transformation Academy and facilitate part of the program. This initiative aimed to equip all BUs with the knowledge and resources needed to implement effective changes. The ultimate goal was to better serve customers by fostering a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, and digital proficiency across the organization.

Greif is a global leader in industrial packaging, with a vision to be the best customer service company in the world. Annual revenues are approximately $6B, with products ranging from steel, plastic & fiber drums, to IBCs and containerboard & corrugated products. From their headquarter in the US, they operate in over 35 countries.

Opella CHC, leader in the Consumer Healthcare market, offers a wide range of over-the-counter products and vitamin & mineral supplements. The consumer healthcare landscape is rapidly changing, with both established players and new brands constantly launching new products. To maintain and grow its strong market position, Opella needed to accelerate its product innovation process. To expand its mass retail presence and streamline innovation, Opella collaborated with SparkOptimus to enhance their product development capabilities and significantly reduce the time from idea to market launch.

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.

Orac, a premium wall decoration manufacturer active in most European countries, was seeking to define its next chapter of commercial growth. Operating in a highly competitive market, the company recognized that refining its route-to-market (RtM) strategy would be critical to achieving its ambitious sales goals for 2028. To accelerate its growth, Orac aimed to strengthen its customer engagement, merge digital and business capabilities, and create a scalable foundation for the future.

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.

In recent years, the energy sector has faced significant disruptions due to the energy crisis and the ongoing transition towards sustainability. Eneco, a leading producer and supplier of natural gas, electricity and heat in the Netherlands, recognized the need to not only adapt to these changing market dynamics but to take the initiative in fostering a shift towards more sustainable consumption behaviours. Their vision was not just to introduce a new product but to catalyze a profound behaviour change that benefits both consumers' wallets and the environment. Driven by a vision to empower consumers with greener, more cost-effective energy choices through dynamic pricing and a broad range of services and products, Eneco partnered with SparkOptimus to kickstart the transformation, set-up and delivery of these innovations.

Biocodex, a global family-owned pharmaceutical company, expanded into the consumer health sector by acquiring IPRAD, a large women's health business, in 2020. Recognizing the growing shift towards online shopping, Biocodex sought to strengthen its ecommerce capabilities. They initiated 3 major projects: e-retail, direct-to-consumer (D2C), marketplace selling, led by a global ecommerce & digital team. These early initiatives highlighted opportunities for further alignment among stakeholders regarding the urgency, current state, and future direction of Biocodex's ecommerce efforts.

VNAB is the trade association of the Dutch co-insurance market, which represents the interests of 96 insurers & brokers. They facilitate large commercial high-risk insurances in the Netherlands through different types of services: supply relevant IT technology products, guarantee knowledge transfer between members, and function as a physical meeting center. SparkOptimus & VNAB jointly defined a vision to work towards the optimal, predictable, and digitally enhanced co-insurance chain for an excellent customer experience. This vision was iterated with members in round table discussions, where they subscribed to the ambition, while expressing the need for a business case before committing to the joint effort.

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.

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.

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A global leader in industrial packaging with annual sales exceeding $6 billion aimed to become the best-performing customer service company in the world. To enhance its customer experience and expand its digital service model, the company needed support in accelerating the roll-out of a pilot customer portal. This portal would empower customers to place and manage orders 24/7, allowing local teams to focus on higher-value tasks.

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.

Henkel Consumer Brands (HCB) offers a wide range of consumer goods, represented by leading and well-known brands such as Persil, Schwarzkopf, and Dial. Committed to sustainability, HCB is transforming its product portfolio by integrating more sustainable solutions. The aim is to empower consumers to make sustainable choices not only in their purchase decisions but also in the usage of the products. To accelerate this journey, HCB collaborated with SparkOptimus to develop a comprehensive approach on shifting consumer behaviors and establishing sustainable choices as the new norm.

Schiphol is a leading global airport, serving around 52 million passengers annually. It has already established itself as a frontrunner in digital services, winning the Skytrax Award for World’s Best Airport Website & Digital Services in both 2022 and 2023. To strengthen its position and align with the broader vision of creating the world’s most sustainable and high-quality airport, Schiphol engaged SparkOptimus to develop the three-year vision for Schiphol’s digital passenger experience.

Sandvik Mining & Rock Solutions (SMR) is a leading global supplier of capital equipment, tools, services, and technical solutions for the mining & construction industries. Recognizing the vast strategic potential presented by the growing aftermarket sales, the company engaged SparkOptimus to support the development of their venture concept. This evolved into velroq.com, the first online retailer of drilling machine parts, ranging from hydraulic pumps to maintenance kits.

PGGM Investment Management with €230B assets under management is the pension investor for the healthcare sector. Based on the new investment beliefs of their client they formulated together with this client the strategy to fundamentally shift from 2D investment management (optimizing risk & return) to 3D investment management (risk, return, and impact). PGGM IM realizes that the existing operating model does not support this ambition, especially in a rapidly changing landscape with high volatility and ever-evolving industry standards. Therefore, PGGM IM engaged SparkOptimus to design and ignite a transformation of its operating model, aiming to become a highly adaptable organization with ESG fully ingrained in its investment processes and portfolio.

Schneider Electric (SE) is a leading global specialist in energy management and automation, with €34bn in revenue. To better serve its customers, SE launched a B2B online portal, aimed to offer a digital E2E self-service environment where customers of all types can easily search, configure & order products and have direct access to training & customer support. To ensure SE would set the right strategic priorities going forward, they engaged SparkOptimus to independently benchmark their B2B portal against industry competitors and best-practices.

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Henkel Adhesive Technologies is the global leading solution provider for adhesives, sealants, and functional coatings worldwide, with annual revenues of €10 billion. Recognizing that digital developments could enable them to better serve their customers along the entire customer journey, Henkel asked SparkOptimus to accelerate the digital transformation of their global sales and marketing functions.