Creative partnership with Sodexo brings people and technology together
Sodexo believes in the power of ecosystems to lift a business up and help it grow. In Proximus NXT, the facility service provider found a like-minded strategic partner with whom to achieve this ambition. Not only to accelerate its own digitalization, but also to help customers move forward together with smart building technology.
Employees are familiar with Sodexo as a distributor of meal and eco vouchers (since 2023 under the name Pluxee). However, the Sodexo Group’s services are much broader: from catering to the integrated management of all kinds of facility services such as cleaning and reception services, and from technical maintenance and workplace management to safety services.
Sodexo Belgium, with Caroline Aelvoet as CEO, profiles itself as a leader in sustainable food and operational services. With around 700 sites, which CIO Koen Willems supports with a small IT team, digitalization was crucial to achieving this ambition. Thanks to the cooperation with Proximus NXT and account manager Peter Van den broeck, the company has the right expertise on board. Stijn Bogaerts, Smart Building & Retail Expert at Proximus NXT, is working with the team under Head of Sales Vincent Claus on a new smart building platform that, following a pilot project at Sodexo itself, can also be used by the joint customers of both partners.
Digitalization supports services
Caroline: "Companies are more aware than ever of the importance of satisfied employees. Which is why I like to describe our services as ‘Quality of Life’ services. Employees, customers, and partners choose us because they know that we are committed to sustainability, well-being at work, and improving quality of life. Our services help them to create a positive ‘employee experience’. Happy employees also make happy customers."
Koen: "Today, there is a growing demand for digital support for our services because the increase in flexible working and teleworking has fueled the demand for flexible workspaces and digital HQs. We are responding to this trend with apps, for example, to help our customers’ employees manage their workplace. Digitalization therefore improves the efficiency and impact of our services and ensures a seamless user experience."
Vincent: "At the same time, this digitalization also opens the door to new possibilities. We manage various applications for the management of our customers' buildings. Peter and Stijn took a fresh look at that existing offer and unleashed their creativity. This is how they came up with the idea and the technology to integrate everything into one app. The result is that you automatically take the management of buildings and the workplace experience to a higher level. It is also a great advantage, for example, to be able to bundle different workplace management applications into a single tool."
Stijn: "We know the facility service sector inside out. We know that they face increasingly strict European and local legislation and that the obligation to be socially responsible can have an impact. That’s why we wanted to share that knowledge with Sodexo."
Digitalization improves the efficiency and impact of our existing services and ensures a seamless user experience.
Koen Willems, CIO, Sodexo Belgium
Trusted partner for digitalization
Koen: "We develop some of those applications ourselves at Sodexo. Except that the volume of development work and its technicality is growing to such an extent that it’s better to entrust that development to a specialized ICT partner."
Peter: "When a challenge arises, even with a limited IT team, you want to be able to react quickly, make no compromises when it comes to security, and be ready to use the captured data, for example to prevent food waste. That’s why you have to dare question things. My goal was to unburden Koen, Vincent, and their IT team as much as possible."
Caroline: "We are digitalizing, but we can’t do it alone. That’s why we’re looking for strategic partners to accompany us on this digitalization journey. Proximus NXT is the perfect match for us in this respect. More than an ICT supplier, Proximus NXT is an ICT partner that we rely on for our own ICT support and with whom we are also developing new smart building services, in order to bring them to the market together."
Stijn: "Now that the European Union is striving for a climate-neutral economy by 2050, smart buildings offer new opportunities. Along with stricter European and local legislation and the impact of corporate social responsibility, awareness of the benefits of smart building technology is also growing. And that same technology also contributes significantly to the sustainability trend, which affects the value of offices. That’s why this is also a perfect match for us."
Growing through collaboration
Peter: "The relationship between Sodexo and Proximus NXT evolved quickly. In just six months we have learned many valuable lessons from our collaboration. Therefore there is a lot of goodwill and trust on both sides."
Koen: "Peter and Stijn advise us on technological decision making, including on innovation, and they offer tailor-made solutions. When, for example, we moved to our new headquarters, Proximus NXT was responsible for full connectivity and the implementation of SD-WAN. We then asked them to find a solution for improving the operational efficiency of our own facility services - and thus also our own 'employee experience' - in that new office environment."
Proximus NXT is an ICT partner that we not only count on for our own ICT support, but with whom we are also developing new smart building services, which we can then also bring to market together.
Caroline Aelvoet, CEO, Sodexo Belgium
Long-term co-creation
Caroline: "What I find so amazing is that they give me the impression that they can almost anticipate our needs. They ask what we are struggling with, and then they think proactively about possible solutions. I think that’s really great."
Koen: "For example, we wanted to be able to provide our staff and facility managers with data to make their on-site activities and facility services even more efficient. So Stijn advised us to install IoT sensors, which we now connect to a central app for building management. The captured data is then used to avoid energy waste."
Stijn: "Providing parking spaces, reserving a meeting room, controlling security, arranging access to the building or the meeting room, providing connectivity to the meeting equipment, and so on: if you integrate all those functionalities, which are still often spread across different applications, into a single app, you can use your facility services much more efficiently."
Vincent: "Under the name 'Digital HQ', we are now going to roll out and test that innovative smart building platform in our own new office building first. That building will then also act as a showcase for our customers. In the longer term, together with Proximus NXT, as a full-fledged partner, we also want to attract new customers, from the financial and medical sectors, for example."
Peter: "Together we have managed to turn the initial technological issue that Sodexo presented to us into an innovative solution that will support their business – and that of both our customers. That is the unique result of joining forces as one team."
Caroline: "I have the utmost confidence in that long-term partnership. From the very start, there was complete transparency. Everything is open to discussion. Problems are immediately put on the agenda. In addition, the human relationships are very warm. And for me, that is a decisive factor in the success of such a unique partnership."
Company profile Sodexo
Sodexo is a facility service provider. The company is active in over fifty countries and employs 400,000 people worldwide.
Caroline Aelvoet is CEO at Sodexo Belgium
Koen Willems is CIO at Sodexo Belgium
Vincent Claus is Head of Sales at Sodexo Belgium
Peter Van den broeck is Account Manager at Proximus NXT
Stijn Bogaerts is Smart Building & Retail Expert at Proximus NXT
