BOLOGNA, ITALY — November 22, 2024 — The Hera Group and Bain & Company announced a three-phased initiative to accelerate the multi-utility company’s development and adoption of generative artificial intelligence capabilities.

With more than 10,000 employees and a $5.8 billion market cap, the Hera Group is a leading provider of energy, water, waste management, and related utility services, operating in Italy. Bain worked with the Group’s management teams to identify how generative AI can help enhance performance. Together, Hera and Bain developed a comprehensive, flexible roadmap, prioritizing ~150 generative AI use cases into three waves of implementation across seven areas of the business.

An initial success from the first phase includes a proof-of-concept contact center chatbot which has the potential to support interactions with customers and employees across the company—the first of many AI-powered capabilities Hera will roll out over the life of the project.

“In just three short months, our collaboration with Bain has enabled us to grasp the key technological drivers for implementing generative AI solutions and to fine-tune the effectiveness of a first AI product with feedback from our users,” said Salvatore Molè, Chief Innovation Officer of Hera Group. “With Bain’s support we have swiftly addressed most of our technological uncertainties regarding generative AI, focusing solely on the critical factors that make AI solutions successful. This approach has also allowed us to develop, in partnership with them, a thorough roadmap for the most valuable use cases identified within our organization and sector.”

This collaboration brings together Hera Group’s deep industry expertise and influence with Bain’s unmatched business strategy and technical acumen, along with its breadth of experience in digital implementation. Bain brings to this collaboration an ecosystem of strategic relationships and a state-of-the-art suite of AI tools to support Hera in realizing AI’s full potential.

“We are proud of the tailored, cutting-edge AI solution we have built with Hera,” said Roberto Prioreschi, partner at Bain & Company and leader in the firm’s Energy & Natural Resources practice. “Hera is one of the major players in the Italian multi-utility sector, and this innovation puts it at the forefront of the industry while enhancing both its customers’ and employees’ experiences. With phase one of the initiative complete, we look forward to rolling out even more AI-backed solutions together in the coming months.”

Bain’s AI, Insights, and Solutions practice includes more than 1,500 AI, data, analytics, architecture, and engineering experts. This multidisciplinary team combines algorithmic, technical, and business expertise to solve business leaders’ hardest problems. This includes machine learning application implementation, business insight delivery, technology architecture and engineering, organizational development, and analytics strategy. The group integrates closely with the firm’s industry and capability practices to deliver holistic business and technology solutions.

Editor’s note: To arrange an interview or for any questions, please contact:

• Katie Ware (New York) — Email: katie.ware@bain.com
• Gary Duncan (London) — Email: gary.duncan@bain.com

About Bain & Company

Bain & Company is a global consultancy that helps the world’s most ambitious change makers define the future.

Across 65 cities in 40 countries, we work alongside our clients as one team with a shared ambition to achieve extraordinary results, outperform the competition, and redefine industries. We complement our tailored, integrated expertise with a vibrant ecosystem of digital innovators to deliver better, faster, and more enduring outcomes. Our 10-year commitment to invest more than $1 billion in pro bono services brings our talent, expertise, and insight to organizations tackling today’s urgent challenges in education, racial equity, social justice, economic development, and the environment. We earned a platinum rating from EcoVadis, the leading platform for environmental, social, and ethical performance ratings for global supply chains, putting us in the top 1% of all companies. Since our founding in 1973, we have measured our success by the success of our clients, and we proudly maintain the highest level of client advocacy in the industry.

About the Hera Group

The Hera Group is one of Italy’s largest multi-utilities and operates in the waste management, energy and water sectors, with over 10,000 employees. Over 7.5 million citizens have at least one service provided by the Group. Publicly listed since 2003, it is among Italy’s top 40 companies in terms of capitalisation (and is part of the FTSE MIB index) and since 2020 has been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, World and Europe.

For more information: www.gruppohera.it