Heineken is embracing AI to revolutionize its business processes, leveraging Microsoft Azure OpenAI to empower employees, enhance supply chain efficiency, and build connections across the organization.
Heineken wants to explore the capabilities of AI across the organization in a way that builds on experience and takes advantage of the latest developments. The company has begun using Azure OpenAI Service and its built-in ChatGPT capabilities to build chatbots for employees, while also using other Azure AI services to bring innovation to existing business processes. Employees are thrilled about the possibilities of AI and have been suggesting a wide variety of use cases. Heineken has begun developing some of them and plans to roll out more over time.
Heineken, one of the world’s leading brewers, has embarked on a digital transformation journey to enhance its operations and customer experience. Central to this transformation is the strategic use of artificial intelligence (AI) across various facets of the business. Heineken leverages AI to optimize its supply chain, enhance marketing strategies, and drive sustainability initiatives.
In supply chain management, Heineken uses AI algorithms to forecast demand with greater accuracy, reducing waste and improving inventory efficiency. This predictive capability ensures that products reach markets on time while minimizing overstocking and understocking issues. Additionally, AI-powered analytics enable Heineken to monitor and manage equipment health, anticipating maintenance needs to prevent costly breakdowns.
In marketing, Heineken applies AI to analyze vast amounts of consumer data and refine its targeted campaigns. This helps the company deliver personalized content, enhancing customer engagement and brand loyalty. AI also aids in sentiment analysis, allowing Heineken to gauge consumer reactions to products and promotions in real-time.
Furthermore, Heineken employs AI to support sustainability efforts by tracking and minimizing carbon emissions across its supply chain. This data-driven approach aligns with the company’s goal of creating a more sustainable brewing process, reflecting Heineken’s commitment to environmental responsibility.
Heineken has been leveraging AI to enhance various aspects of its operations, particularly through the strategic use of data and digital platforms. Lalo Luna, the company’s Global Head of Strategy and Insights, highlighted that AI has significantly improved their ability to access and analyse internal data. By implementing platforms like Stravito, Heineken has streamlined how employees interact with consumer insights and business information. This has led to a marked increase in the data utilized internally, nearly doubling from 30% to 60% in just four months
Stravito is a knowledge management platform designed to help organizations access and leverage their internal and external data efficiently. It uses AI-powered search and intuitive interfaces to enable employees to find insights quickly, making it easier to make informed business decisions. The platform organizes data into a centralized hub, allowing teams to navigate complex information, collaborate effectively, and unlock valuable insights with ease. This platform is particularly known for its user-friendly design and ability to integrate large datasets while prioritizing privacy and security.
Shift to Ai-driven efficiency
Heineken has strategically integrated AI into its operations to drive efficiency, optimise sales, and enhance customer engagement. According to Ronald den Elzen, Heineken’s Chief Digital and Technology Officer, AI advancements have revolutionized key areas like revenue management, sales execution, and commercial mix optimization. In Mexico, a crucial market, AI is shaping the company’s distribution model, with a notable shift towards digital channels as 80 percent of orders are now placed online.
This digital transformation goes beyond logistics, AI-driven insights guide sales teams on which establishments to target for promotions or to mitigate customer churn. Innovative solutions, like integrating shelf-image recognition technology in refrigerators, showcase Heineken’s efforts to harness AI creatively in emerging markets.
The integration of AI extends to Heineken’s brewing operations, where digital tools are now ubiquitous. The company’s 3,500 IoT-connected machines reflect its commitment to a data-driven supply chain. As den Elzen notes, while Heineken’s manufacturing lines once saw operators sharing a single PC, today, tens of thousands of operators utilize digital tools globally, highlighting a transformative shift.
However, this shift towards AI-powered efficiency also necessitates a cultural transformation within the workforce, fostering a mindset of continuous learning and adaptability. As Heineken strives for net-zero emissions by 2030, its AI-driven initiatives underscore the potential of digital solutions to align sustainability goals with operational advancements. Nonetheless, Heineken’s journey highlights the importance of balancing human intuition with algorithmic precision to maintain meaningful customer interactions and uphold ethical standards.
Making connections with technology
As part of its ambition to become the best-connected brewer, Heineken is constantly seeking ways that technology can advance its mission. This includes building connections between corporate executives and the information they need to make impactful, data-driven decisions; connections between employees and the resources they need to do their jobs effectively and efficiently; and, ultimately, connections between consumers and the beer they love.
Like many companies, Heineken is now using AI to transform business processes and has been for some time. Excitement for AI has rippled throughout the company, and many employees began experimenting with ChatGPT from OpenAI when it became widely available. One Heineken initiative was to launch its own ChatGPT-based chatbot based on Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and running in a corporate Microsoft Teams channel.
“Everyone was jumping on the ChatGPT bandwagon, and we wanted them to do it in a way that offers greater security and governance than sharing potentially sensitive corporate information through a public interface,” Giada Binelli, Global Product Owner at Heineken, says. “Employees can now use it through Teams, safely within our Heineken IT ecosystem.”
Heineken still considers itself in the exploration phase when it comes to automation and ChatGPT, learning what Azure OpenAI Service can do, but the company has found a lot of demand for AI-based chatbots across the organization. “Everyone wants a bot!” Binelli, says. “We’re looking at a variety of use cases, figuring out how they will add value, and managing expectations because people would love to have everything right away, and we want to make sure to do this properly.”
The use cases under consideration include an internal chatbot to help connect employees with corporate resources that are currently spread across many disparate locations, another chatbot built on top of Microsoft Power BI to help executives easily access meaningful financial data, and a third chatbot to help employees who manage equipment across the company’s supply chain.
Thus far, Heineken has found that the semantic search capabilities within the Azure AI services portfolio are a highlight of the offerings. “Semantic search can help employees pinpoint exactly the information they need across multiple knowledge bases and document repositories,” Binelli adds. “This saves them a lot of time, and potentially a lot of frustration, as part of their daily work. If they need to know how to submit a purchase order, they can just ask the chatbot, rather than scouring through numerous links on the internal web.”
Heineken has been piloting an AI-enabled voice bot to help its on-site sales representatives log the status of each retail location, raise technical issues, and trigger any necessary processes on the Heineken side. The app is also multilingual thanks to Azure AI Speech, letting representatives speak in either Greek or English. Other AI projects for the field include the use of Azure AI Document Intelligence for intelligent document processing in multiple areas, including for Sales representatives.
Planning an intelligent rollout of AI
Looking ahead, Heineken sees tremendous growth potential in Azure OpenAI Service and other Azure AI services. “We have chosen the right strategic partner for AI with Microsoft,” Binelli continues. “AI is a growing technology, and Microsoft provides a wide range of products that can work together to implement AI in a responsible and effective way—we can add AI to Microsoft Power Platform or Teams without having to learn vastly different skill sets because we’re already a heavily Microsoft shop.”
