Mapping of AI use cases at SGAV

SGAV

From AI potential to prioritized initiatives with proven value

Challenge

(SGAV) needed a clear understanding of where generative AI could create the greatest value across the organization and what it would take to move from isolated experiments to enterprise-scale impact.

Solution

SGAV began with a broad AI opportunity assessment and capability-building program in collaboration with Darize. The initiative was driven through a series of workshops with broad participation across the organization, followed by a pilot focused on a selected use case and further validation through working groups. All initiatives were evaluated against compliance requirements and SGAV’s organizational maturity.

Impact

Within just 10 weeks, SGAV established a documented foundation for decision-making, identified 31 use cases, and built a prioritized portfolio of 16 AI initiatives. The business case shows that the three largest initiatives alone could generate annual benefits of more than DKK 20 million. With full implementation, the total annual value potential is estimated at DKK 25-35 million.

Challenge

Use cases with real value

SGAV wanted to find new ways to streamline knowledge-intensive processes and therefore turned its attention to generative AI as a technology with significant potential.

The agency had already gained some initial experience with the technology and understood that AI does not deliver value on its own. If the organization is not ready, promising ideas can easily remain pilot projects that never gain real traction. For that reason, SGAV chose to begin with a broad, systematic AI opportunity assessment combined with a capability-building program to ensure that the initiative was anchored in the organization from the outset.

“One thing is the personal use of AI, which is often driven by individual interest in technology. Another is using it at an organizational level. We were unsure what it would take to make that successful,” says Jon Emil Simonsen, Deputy Director at SGAV.

As Jon Emil Simonsen explains, it was also important to ensure that employees had the necessary knowledge and confidence to use AI responsibly:

“Many of our employees were concerned about the use of AI and uncertain about what they were and were not allowed to do. It was an important realization for us that implementing AI involves a significant change management effort.”

Solution

Domain expertise and capabilities across disciplines

Darize was selected as SGAV’s partner through a competitive procurement process involving both specialized technology firms and large consulting companies.

SGAV chose Darize because it believed the company could cover the full scope of the assignment.

“Many of the other vendors fell into one of two categories. They were either very strong in identifying efficiency opportunities but less capable when it came to the technology or maturity assessment, or vice versa,” says Jon Emil Simonsen, who continues:

“What sets Darize apart is that they combine both.”

Workshop-driven opportunity assessment

Darize took a workshop-driven approach, engaging leaders and employees across the agency to identify AI initiatives with the potential to create value across the organization.

“The workshop-driven approach worked extremely well. The level of engagement from participants was remarkable. We were positively surprised by how ready people were to work with this,” says Jon Emil Simonsen.

The workshops were followed by a hands-on AI demonstration based on a selected use case and further refinement through working groups, ensuring that the proposed initiatives were both grounded in the organization and continuously developed into more concrete opportunities.

“For us, it was important that the assessment did not become too theoretical, but instead resulted in a concrete catalog of ideas that could be used directly to support the planning and prioritization of future AI initiatives,” says Jon Emil Simonsen.

Compliance and maturity

A key part of the engagement was a compliance assessment of all identified AI initiatives, covering requirements such as the EU AI Act, GDPR, ISO 27001, and NIS2. This was particularly important for an agency like SGAV that is ISO-certified and serves as an accredited EU paying agency.

“We are a fairly conservative organization where compliance plays a major role. That’s why it has been extremely valuable to evaluate the various proposals through a compliance lens and document that regulatory requirements are not an insurmountable barrier,” says Jon Emil Simonsen.

Darize also assessed the agency’s organizational AI maturity, looking at how well SGAV is equipped to work systematically with AI across departments, competencies, and processes.

“Among other things, Darize’s consultants were positively surprised by the capabilities of our data analytics department and the fact that we have actually developed a solid internal AI tool. Sometimes you look under the hood and find there is not much there, but we have some highly skilled people who are already well underway,” highlights Jon Emil Simonsen.

Customer perspective

“Many of the other vendors fell into one of two categories. They were either very strong in identifying efficiency opportunities but less capable when it came to the technology or maturity assessment, or vice versa.”

Jon Emil Simonsen

Deputy Director, SGAV

Impact

From strategy to execution

In just 10 weeks, SGAV established a documented foundation for decision-making, identified 31 use cases, and built a prioritized portfolio of 16 AI initiatives with assessed value potential that can be actively managed and tracked.

According to the business case, the three largest initiatives alone could generate annual benefits of more than DKK 20 million. Across all initiatives, the total annual value potential is estimated at DKK 25-35 million.

“A natural question from the Executive Management Team was whether the portfolio was ambitious enough, given that we are talking about a transformative technology. In that light, DKK 20-30 million may seem modest for an agency with 1,400-1,500 employees. But that is exactly the point,” explains Jon Emil Simonsen.

“It’s credible. We now have a set of concrete projects where we can actually document the benefits being realized, and that’s something you don’t see very often yet.”

To maintain momentum and direction, SGAV has established a governance structure with monthly Executive Management Team meetings to monitor project progress, prioritize new proposals, and review business cases and benefit realization.

The first projects are already underway, including an upgrade of the agency’s internal AI chat tool, MY, from an early cloud-based version to a secure internal IT environment that has now been rolled out across the organization.

About the Danish Agency for Green Land Reallocation and Water Environment

The Danish Agency for Green Land Reallocation and Water Environment is an agency under the Ministry for the Green Tripartite Agreement. Its mission is to support the implementation of the political Agreement on a Green Denmark, helping the country achieve its 2030 climate targets while improving conditions for nature, biodiversity, the aquatic environment, and drinking water.