Sodexo's global transformation is starting in Australia

Every day in Western Australia, Sodexo cooks and serves more than 18,000 meals, transports more than 6000 workers to and from work, services 16,000 rooms and manages 23,500 smoke detectors. In Australia, Sodexo now employs around 4000 people. The company began operations here in 2001 when it began offering its food services to the mining, oil and gas sector and now delivers integrated facilities management services to a wide range of enterprises, including some of the nation’s leading miners, as well as corporate, schools, offshore oil rigs, aged-care facilities and prisons.

Sodexo is starting major digital transformation initiatives in Australia with the intention to then implement them globally. Using a number of Microsoft technologies, including Azure, Dynamics 365, IoT Hub and Power BI, the company is hunting efficiency gains.

To streamline operations and boost efficiency, Sodexo has replaced a series of standalone and siloed computing systems with Azure and Dynamics 365. The integrated cloud-based solution ensures that Sodexo personnel and clients have secure, anytime, anywhere access to information and real-time decision-making support.

The digital transformation has allowed Sodexo to accelerate the rollout of its ‘mutualisation’ business model. Under this model, clients sign up for a broader range of integrated services, and Sodexo and the client share in the resulting efficiency dividend.

One of Sodexo’s clients has already saved tens of millions of dollars in the start-up phase, while Sodexo’s movement towards mutualisation — offering full management of all non-core business to clients — has allowed another to replace 600 separate contractors with a single integrated and highly efficient service from Sodexo.

Mutualisation’s success, however, depends on Sodexo management having streamlined access to accurate and granular data that allows services to be optimised rapidly to meet changing client needs or expectations.

Dynamics 365 has initially been deployed to underpin Sodexo’s customer service and field services, and it forms the foundation for a secure cloud-based client portal for end-user self-service, feedback and status updates.

Tight integration across Microsoft platforms, particularly Dynamics 365 and Power BI, ensures transparency and accuracy along with rich reporting tools to support Sodexo executives’ decision-making and service optimisation.

Sodexo has also deployed Azure machine learning, predictive analytics via Power BI and Azure’s IoT Hub.

Sodexo’s first IoT initiative has commenced introducing using sensors to automate and streamline water treatment inspection. This initiative will mean instead of sending staff out to make routine checks, personnel are only deployed when an anomaly is identified or forecasted by predictive analytics, saving money and time.

Sodexo wants to automate as many routine tasks as possible — from water inspection to air-conditioning servicing, or managing 300 buses and their drivers spread over an area the size of California.

Besides enhancing efficiency, the system delivers a rich data source, allowing Sodexo to transform itself.