The AI Agenda at Chr. Olesen

Management wanted an AI strategy that would serve as a compass for Chr. Olesen’s AI initiatives. The goal wasn’t to impose change from the top down, but to put AI on the agenda, establish a shared language, and create alignment across internal teams and international partners.

As Christian Dam Olesen explains:

“Even though we’re trying to build adoption from the ground up, it’s important that we, as management, don’t lose sight of why we’re doing this. The strategy keeps us focused.”

Through interviews with management and key stakeholders, Darize identified relevant use cases, flagship projects, and business drivers, translating them into a clear AI strategy.

From the outset, both parties agreed on a practical, phased approach that matched the company’s size and culture.

“Darize’s consultants were excellent at understanding our business model and culture. We shared the view that we needed to tackle AI one step at a time,” says Christian Dam Olesen.

Darize combined strategic insight with technical expertise, a combination Christian Dam Olesen highlights as critical to quickly finding the right direction.

“I am deeply impressed by how the competencies brought in by Darize complemented one another. On one side, we had a consultant focused on strategy, and on the other, a strong technical profile. As a result, we already had a clear direction after the very first meeting.”

Chr. Olesen Chat: Building Trust in AI

The first technical step in 2024 was to establish Chr. Olesen Chat, an internal AI solution built on OpenAI’s language model and integrated into the company’s own cloud environment.

Branded with the company’s logo and connected to internal documents and data, the solution was designed around a clear security principle: Company information would not be used to train the language model or be accessible to anyone outside the organization.

For Christian Dam Olesen, security was about more than meeting technical requirements. It was also about creating a safe environment for employees to explore a technology that few had experience with at the time.

“It was important to create a secure environment and make sure we looked after our employees throughout the process. If they don’t trust what we’re building, we won’t be able to automate anything,” he says.

To build confidence and encourage adoption, Darize introduced the solution through workshops with different teams. Using practical examples from employees’ daily work, from HR policies to procedures for shipping hazardous goods, the workshops demonstrated how AI could support everyday tasks.

Team leaders then followed up to help employees turn what they had learned into new ways of working.

Building the Data Foundation for the Next Phase of AI

While the strategy identified promising AI use cases, it also became clear that the technology wasn’t yet mature enough to automate larger business processes. Rather than pushing ahead, Chr. Olesen made a deliberate decision to focus on its data foundation first.

The long-term ambition is to bring all structured and unstructured data together in a data lakehouse that future AI solutions can build on.

The work began on a small scale by connecting internal documents to Chr. Olesen Chat. The next phase involved the global implementation of a new ERP system to standardize data across the company’s markets.

Over time, additional sources, from emails to external market data, will be integrated to create an increasingly comprehensive and reliable data foundation.

“Our use cases and strategy were probably about six months ahead of the technology. So we decided to get our data in order instead, and now the technology is ready,” says Christian Dam Olesen.

The strategy has already identified several high-value opportunities for future automation, including questionnaire processing, delivery tracking, and transportation optimization.