AI Use Case | Heineken
HEINEKEN wants to explore the capabilities of AI across the organization in a way that builds on past experiences 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.
With Azure OpenAI Service, we get the innovation of OpenAI with the scalability, flexibility, and high security of the Azure platform.
Mark Sleijpen: Manager Global Portfolio Digital Technology
HEINEKEN
Making connections with technology
HEINEKEN, driven by its ambition to become the best-connected brewer, is leveraging technology to advance its mission. This includes connecting executives with critical data for impactful decision-making, providing employees with resources for efficient work, and ultimately linking consumers with the beers they love. HEINEKEN has been using AI to transform its business processes, generating excitement throughout the company. Many employees have experimented with ChatGPT from OpenAI, leading to the launch of a ChatGPT-based chatbot using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, which is now integrated into 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,” says Giada Binelli, Global Product Owner at HEINEKEN. “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!” says Binelli. “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,” says Binelli. “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 English or another language. 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,” says Binelli. “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.”
“When it comes to new technology, we always consider Microsoft due to our strategic partnership,” adds Mark Sleijpen, Manager Global Portfolio Digital Technology at HEINEKEN. “With Azure OpenAI Service, we get the innovation of OpenAI with the scalability, flexibility, and high security of the Azure platform. We look forward to deploying Azure AI services more widely across the company with appropriate governance and guardrails so that our employees can find exciting new ways to use this technology to empower themselves and each other.”
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.
Giada Binelli: Global Product Owner
HEINEKEN
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