FrieslandCampina's AI Journey: From Grass to Glass, Data to Dairy

Joëlle emphasized the importance of digital leaders guiding their organizations through this transformation while ensuring inclusivity across all levels.

Centralizing Data and Building Trust

FrieslandCampina, selling over 40 beloved brands in more than 30 countries, combines 150 years of experience with cutting-edge technology to achieve its data-driven goals.Initially hindered by siloed data, we modernized our legacy BI landscape on a cloud-based, AI-ready Azure with Databricks platform, creating a secure, scalable foundation for advanced analytics and AI, seamless Power BI integration, accelerated business solutions delivery, and readiness for productionized GenAI use cases. Joëlle outlined a phased adoption strategy—"Discover, Inspire, Navigate," followed by "Co-drive Business Outcomes"—with trust as a cornerstone. "Trust is essential—not just among employees but also for clients and society as a whole," Joëlle explained.

Leadership in AI and Empowerment

Mayank Srivastava, FrieslandCampina’s Global Director of Data & Analytics, shared his insights on leadership in technology. He likened effective leadership to providing a “Google Map” for guidance rather than micromanaging every step. Reflecting on IT’s evolution from operational support to strategic partnership, Mayank noted that while the focus once lay in execution and delivery, today’s challenge is shaping what effective AI leadership truly looks like in a rapidly changing landscape.

Mayank also described how employees might independently develop innovative AI applications that don’t align perfectly with north star of the enterprise architecture—much like crafting brilliant side projects that don’t quite fit the blueprint of a larger structure. He stressed the need for vision, shared understanding, and execution strategies within frameworks that empower individuals while maintaining organizational coherence. He stressed the need for vision, shared understanding, and execution strategies within frameworks that empower individuals while maintaining organizational coherence.

A Hub-and-Spoke Model for Data-Centricity

FrieslandCampina is transitioning into a data-centric organization using a hub-and-spoke model. The Global Hub ensures scale, consistency, and value tracking through a standardized platform and governance, fostering talent and sharing success stories. Spokes are decentralized data teams, close to the business groups and functions to transform data into meaningful actions, ensuring relevance and impact. Mayank expressed pride in FrieslandCampina's progress: approximately 9,000 jobs are running on Databricks across diverse domains like HR and supply chain. "All jobs work in exactly the same way but deliver very different values," he noted.

He shared key lessons learned: prioritize simplicity, security, compliance, and user adoption while treating data as a product governed by design principles. A well-designed user interface ensures that users can realize the true value of AI-driven solutions. This concluded a very interesting breakout session, made possible by Databricks.

By: Arnoud van Gemeren