Sodexo Global Accelerator

Sodexo delivers a wide range of services across its extensive portfolio, catering to a diverse set of clients through its Global Strategic Accounts (GSA).

The Sodexo Global Accelerator, Sodexo’s first global accelerator programme, was launched to encourage startups and emerging suppliers to bring innovative new solutions to Sodexo Global Strategic Accounts (GSA) clients and the numerous services across their extensive portfolio.

The categories selected for the Sodexo Global Accelerator were

• Data Analytics
• Sustainability
• Customer Experience
• Operational Efficiency

Of the 162 startup applications, 42 were further screened, before 11 were invited to pitch their solutions at Pitch Day, which was held at a Sodexo venue in Paris, France.

The Pitch Day concluded with four teams being selected to take part in the Global Accelerator programme. Each startup team was paired with Sodexo Sponsors and Mentors who worked with the teams over the 10 weeks. Throughout the programme, there were high levels of engagement from the teams and the sponsors and mentors which led to excellent results.

All four teams ran a proof of concept (PoC) and trials in the 10-week period, with the majority implementing these trials at Sodexo’s client sites. All teams presented their achievements in person at a successful Demo Day event in Ascot, England.

Following the success of the Global Accelerator, all four companies who took part were selected to continue conversations with Sodexo post-programme.

Results

Tawny

Tawny is a solution that uses camera-based vision AI and analytics to decode complex emotions and behaviours, providing access to real-time data in diverse environments.

Sodexo and their GSA clients have reported a lack of real-time insights and knowledge around utilisation and consumer behaviour within their restaurants. Long queues and wait times have often led to dissatisfaction among employees. Over the 10-week programme, Tawny demonstrated its ability to provide such insights and showcased to Sodexo that leveraging their solution could significantly improve service processes, enhance customer experiences, and increase revenue. Tawny conducted a trial at a canteen on a Sodexo site in Paris, France. Data was collected via a one-hour video recording to capture crowd analytics and people flow within the canteen, testing the technical feasibility of Tawny’s software. Following this, Tawny interviewed the Sodexo team to assess the business viability of their solution and explore potential future applications of the data analytics.

From the trial, Tawny concluded that their data analytics algorithms were highly effective, confirming their technical feasibility. Tawny also noted that these insights could inform decision-making on elements such as restaurant layout and staff management, effectively improving customer experiences, enhancing planning processes for cost savings, and providing valuable insights for consulting and RFP processes.

Inspekly

Inspekly is a SaaS platform that leverages digital twins and augmented reality to remotely train and manage staff, eliminating the need for sensors and retrofits. This approach streamlines the entire inspection process, saving both time and resources.

Sodexo and their clients face challenges with efficient inspection routines due to not being familiar with a site, lack of access to digitised data, and inefficient routing. During the 10-week programme, Inspekly conducted a trial with one of Sodexo’s clients, introducing both the client and Sodexo to the Inspekly app. The trial demonstrated that Sodexo and their client could achieve significant time and cost savings by adopting Inspekly’s solution over the current inspection process. Additionally, the Sodexo team and technicians involved in the programme provided positive feedback on the trial results. Inspekly trialled their solution at a Sodexo client site in Madrid, Spain. The team scanned a plant room and office spaces within the client’s building, digitising the scan along with all relevant inspection assets. Using the Inspekly app, the on-site team carried out inspection routines for three specific use cases: failure simulation, fan coil route, and flagging potential issues. Data was collected based on the team’s usage of the app.

The proof of concept trial carried out by Inspekly successfully showcased the substantial value that Inspekly can provide to Sodexo and their clients. In addition to the impressive quantitative results from the trial, Inspekly received positive feedback from the Sodexo team who worked with Inspekly and used their app.

HiveBotics

HiveBotics is an autonomous restroom and toilet cleaning robot designed to streamline the restroom cleaning process. It allows human cleaners to spend just 5-10 minutes inspecting and replenishing supplies before moving on to other tasks, while the robot takes care of the actual cleaning.

At Sodexo and their client sites, cleaning restrooms consumes significant time and resources, despite only making up a small portion of the buildings. Over the years, there has been a growing demand to automate cleaning tasks and reduce the human hours spent on them. During the 10-week programme, HiveBotics successfully demonstrated its ability to automate toilet cleaning and enhance the cleaning quality, conducting a demo at their own offices in Singapore. The results showed that if Sodexo and their clients were to adopt HiveBotics’ robots, this would lead to substantial time and cost savings.

In the post-Demo Day deliberation session, Sodexo confirmed that they are keen to continue potentially engaging with the Sodexo site in Singapore on the work that was initially discussed during the Accelerator. This would be a live trial on their site, which wasn’t carried out during the programme.