Danone needed to boost competitiveness and growth by empowering employees with digital skills and integrating AI across global operations.
Through a partnership with Microsoft, Danone launched a global upskilling program and deployed Microsoft 365 Copilot and autonomous agents to automate HR and order-to-cash processes.
Danone reduced manual errors, sped up order handling, cut billing disputes, improved cash flow, and fostered innovation—turning AI ambitions into measurable business value.
For over a hundred years, Danone has played a pioneering role in bringing health through food to as many people as possible. With operations spanning over 120 countries, achieving competitiveness and fostering sustainable, profitable growth is essential to keep fulfilling this commitment—and innovation serves as one key pillar of reaching these goals. As part of a multi-year collaboration, the group has partnered with Microsoft to empower its employees with digital tools and skills they need to thrive in the new AI-driven economy, as well as integrate artificial intelligence (AI) across its operations. Erwin Logt, Group CIO at Danone, shares insights into the company's ongoing progress and strategic direction.
As an organization committed to people, Danone has aligned its digital transformation plan with its most valuable asset—the 90,000 employees worldwide. In 2024, the organization launched a program designed to upskill and reskill approximately 100,000 Danone employees to meet future job requirements and enhance talent attraction. This initiative highlighted a strong emphasis on enhancing personal productivity through AI, notably by deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot to over 50,000 employees, including 10,000 licenses distributed from day one. By automating routine tasks, employees were able to significantly reduce time spent on routine activities, thereby allowing greater emphasis on innovative and high-value tasks. The swift and large-scale implementation of Copilot demonstrated the immediate advantages of AI, serving as a catalyst for further organizational transformation.
"AI doesn’t sit still. It is challenging and reshaping our strategy," Logt highlights. Building on this momentum and the rapid advancement of AI, Danone consistently reviews and refines its transformation journey. The focus naturally shifted to Agentic AI while the technology is emerging—autonomous agents designed to streamline and enhance business processes.
HR, Procurement and Shared Services emerged as primary topics at the forefront of this new transformation step. Previously, organizational changes such as promotions or new assignments required manual form-filling and coordination between managers and HR, often leading to errors and poor user experience. Danone leveraged its collaboration with Microsoft in AI to automate the HR process: managers now interact directly with an agent that pre-fills data, validates information, and ensures correct organizational structures, resulting in faster, more accurate, and more satisfying outcomes.
Order-to-cash optimization is an additional area where agents have the potential to effectively address and reduce process bottlenecks. Danone processes thousands of customer orders daily, received through various channels and formats—such as email, PDF, and Electronic Data Interchange —resulting in pricing inconsistencies and data entry errors. These issues frequently led to billing disputes, delayed payments, and put a strain on customer relationships.
Danone implemented an autonomous agent that enhances order processing. Powered by Microsoft Copilot Studio and integrated with Microsoft Collaborative suite such as Microsoft Teams, this agent analyzes all customer orders regardless of format and cross-references prices against internal systems such as ERP and promotional tools. It also proactively detects potential discrepancies so that any issues can be resolved before invoicing takes place.
The autonomous agent goes beyond simple error detection, it provides actionable recommendations, suggests tailor pricing adjustments, and can even generate professional email drafts to help employees quickly resolve pricing issues with clients.
The approach has led to notable gains in Danone’s procurement process. Automated validation workflows have sped up order handling and sharply reduced billing disputes. Payment delays have also dropped, improving cash flow. Beyond these achievements, it fosters an integrated workspace where AI precision enhances human judgment, leading to greater efficiency while maintaining strong, personal customer connections.
"What's exciting is when I visit the many markets of Danone, I see Agentic AI really coming to life - how we leverage it in marketing, in engaging consumers, in better understanding our patients, in transforming Research & Innovation, in operations," Logt says. Danone’s approach to AI success centers on the prioritization process that begins with aligning AI initiatives to the company’s digital and commercial strategies. This ensures every project is relevant to core business goals. “We managed to embrace that excitement for AI, funnel it and focus it more on two or three key priorities,” he highlights.
“What's exciting is when I visit the many markets of Danone, I see Agentic AI really coming to life - how we leverage it in marketing, in engaging consumers, in better understanding our patients, in transforming Research & Innovation, in operations.”
Erwin Logt, Group CIO, Danone
Early in the ideation process, Danone determines if an idea can be implemented on a large scale in different markets and factories. The company also reviews technical feasibility, data maturity, process harmonization, and readiness for change to ensure it only invests in projects that can be successfully adopted and expanded. By focusing on a small number of high-impact priorities, Danone secures executive sponsorship, financial resources, and broad employee adoption, ultimately ensuring that AI delivers concrete P&L impact and supports the company’s long-term transformation.
Danone’s approach to digital transformation goes beyond technology. By integrating digital transformation with a human-centric approach, the company is leveraging AI and data to enhance decision-making while maintaining its commitment to wellbeing, equity, and purpose. "Transforming the culture, building the capabilities and truly generating digital and a data savvy organization within Danone can only go through the Danone x Microsoft partnership". By launching initiatives such as the Danone Microsoft AI Academy, the organization intends to equip employees with the necessary skills and confidence to use new technologies and services. It offers a wide range of learning opportunities aimed at boosting AI literacy and fosters a dynamic, inclusive environment for developing expertise. "We don't only deploy Copilot because of the impact on productivity. We also deploy Copilot because it is a way for our employees to experience and to learn about AI," Logt highlights.
"What really excites me is to think about what we are doing with AI today and extrapolating that to see how we can better serve our customers in the near future, " he concludes. Danone’s journey demonstrates how clear vision, strategic partnerships, and a commitment to people can turn AI from a buzzword into a powerful driver of business transformation while maintaining its commitment to responsible AI development.
“Transforming the culture, building the capabilities and truly generating digital and a data savvy organization within Danone can only go through the Danone x Microsoft partnership.”
Erwin Logt, Group CIO, Danone
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