SNCB / NMBS

In 2016, the Belgian national rail company SNCB/NMBS appointed us to unlock its digital and innovation challenges: grow the usage of its digital touchpoints for ticket sales, servicing and information; define the digital organisation to build and run those activities; and review its digital and innovation roadmap against the strategy. In short — rethink how SNCB serves its travellers, and set it up to deliver and sustain the change.

The engagement, at a glance:

• Audit — digital and innovation plans, KPIs, teams and supporting agencies
• Strategy — the role of digital touchpoints, priorities, experience guidelines and a phased roadmap
• Organisation — the Digital Marketing & Sales team to build and run it

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The challenge: grow digital, and build the organisation to run it

SNCB didn't just need a strategy — it needed the means to execute it. Three connected objectives:

• Grow digital touchpoint usage for ticket sales and customer servicing and information
• Define the supporting digital organisation to build and run the digital activities
• Review the digital and innovation roadmap, based on the strategy

Audit & diagnostic: a clear read on where things stood

We started with an audit of the digital and innovation plans, KPIs, teams and supporting agencies — then turned it into a diagnostic that separated quick wins from the medium-term tracks needed to enable the digital activities. A clear picture of what to fix now, and what to build over time.

Strategy & organisation: from role of digital to a team to run it

We designed the digital strategy and the organisation to carry it:

• The role of NMBS's digital touchpoints among its multiple channels
• Digital touchpoint priorities and experience guidelines
• A phased roadmap to deliver the strategy
• KPI and business-plan evolution
• A recommended structure and composition for a Digital Marketing & Sales team

Why it worked: an objective read on a complex environment

SNCB is a large, complex organisation with many stakeholders. The value we brought was the ability to understand that complexity quickly, bring an objective outside perspective, define the role digital could play, and then synthesise it all into strong, clear, concise messages that could actually travel inside the company. The audit ran in one month and the strategy design in two and a half — structured, fast and communicable.

"In 2016/2017, Belly & Brain assisted SNCB Marketing & Sales on a digital journey — a digital audit, a digital sales strategy and recommendations on creating a Digital Marketing & Sales team. One of their great strengths was the ability to quickly understand the complexity of the environment, bring an objective perspective and define the role digital could play, then synthesise the strategy into strong, clear, concise messages easily communicated within the company." — Arnaud Wattiez, Systems and Innovations Manager, SNCB/NMBS