Specialists in mobile, retail and membership.
AI-enabled operating models for better business performance
Formalus works with mobile operators, multi-site retailers and membership organisations across Europe & MENA. Each has different economics. In each, we bring relevant operating experience and independent commercial design: what should change, what it is worth, and where AI can add measurable value.
Commercial AI transformation for mobile, retail and membership organisations across Europe & MENA.
Choose your industry.
Three industries, one recurring problem: money spent on customers and members without knowing whether it changes what they do.
Retention offers, promotions and member services all carry that risk. Each page sets out the commercial problem, the two programmes, the economics and the experience behind them.
Mobile Operators
Independent MNOs, MVNOs, eSIM providers and mobile challengers.
Improve customer value. Make retention spending count.
Retention discounts and acquisition spending only pay when they change what customers do. The commercial question is which customers, propositions and interventions create incremental value, and which give margin away.
Michael Williamson took O2 Pay & Go from fourth to first in UK prepay, with predictive churn models across 12 million customers, and led prepay commercial growth at Vodafone across more than 30 countries.
Multi-site Retailers
Multi-site and multi-channel retailers, across stores, ecommerce and other trading channels.
Grow the sales that grow profit, in stores and online.
Promotions can lift sales and still lose money through discount leakage, cannibalisation, returns and channel shift. The commercial question is which pricing, promotion and customer investments create incremental contribution.
Michael Williamson led marketing, analytics and promotions for Staples Europe across around 800 stores and 19 websites, with 42 data scientists on promotion and price decisioning.
Membership Organisations
Professional bodies, trade associations, chambers of commerce and business membership organisations.
Create more member value. Retain more members.
Renewal, member value and sustainable income pay for the mission. The commercial question is which services, journeys and decisions protect recurring membership income, and which growth pays for itself.
Norton/Symantec subscription renewal across 71 million customers, plus current work with Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce.
Why we chose these three industries.
Formalus works only in industries where Michael Williamson could advise the leadership team on the commercial operating model even if AI did not exist.
- Mobile · O2 and VodafoneCustomer value management, acquisition and retention, with machine learning in commercial decisions and the P&L on the line.
- Retail · Staples EuropeStores and ecommerce together: pricing, promotions and data science, accountable for commercial performance.
- Membership · Norton/Symantec and Greater Birmingham Chambers of CommerceSubscription lifecycle and renewal economics from Norton, and direct membership-sector work with the Chamber, a current Formalus client.
Senior leadership at Symantec, a global cybersecurity company, and Equifax, a global data, credit and identity business, adds an enterprise view of security, identity and data to the work in all three.
£1.8bnP&L
O2 Pay & Go.
€2.5bnregional sales
Staples Europe.
$650Msales
Norton/Symantec EMEA.
Results from previous executive roles, not Formalus client results.
One method, in every industry.
A new platform, an AI pilot, your own team or a large consultancy can each play a part. Formalus does the step before them: deciding what should change and whether it pays, before the technology is chosen. Six commercial programmes run through the same Formalus Value Architecture, and you decide whether to take each next step.
Change the work before you change the technology.
Enterprise-wide by design. Secure and governed from the outset. Commercially justified throughout.
AI is one possible means, not the predetermined answer. A sound conclusion may be to proceed, investigate further, wait, or not invest at all.
- Free Value Signal Free AI Opportunity Assessment Is there enough commercial value to investigate? Free Get Your Free Assessment Sponsor agrees a Value Focus day
- Phase 1 Value Focus Executive Sizing Day How much is at stake, and is a Value Map worth it? £2,500 · one day, credited See Value Focus Sponsor signs the Value Map charter
- Phase 2 Value Map Discovery & Audit Where is value being won and lost? From £15,000 See Value Map Leadership prioritises the workstreams
- Phase 3 Value Blueprint Requirements, Specification & Redesign What must change, and is the investment justified? From £25,000 See Value Blueprint Board approval; baseline locked
- Phase 4 Value Assurance Support through the build Is the build preserving the value case, and are people working the new way? From £5,000 a month See Value Assurance Alongside: your technology partner builds Go-live; assurance complete
- Phase 5 Value Ledger Value Realisation & Optimisation Is the investment delivering attributable value? From £5,000 a month See Value Ledger The next justified Value Map
Explore the Formalus approach → See the services in detail →
Start with the problem, not the technology.
Whether the opportunity lies in customer retention, retail margin or member value, the first step is a Free AI Opportunity Assessment: what could improve, what would need to change, and whether the economics justify going further. A free 60-minute executive discussion, followed by a concise written assessment.