Case studies

Different industries. Real problems. Practical solutions.

14 selected projects across five sectors. Each started with a real-world challenge. Each case says what dePraetere’s role was, when the work took place and what can be shown, so you know exactly what it proves.

Service areaIndustry

Projects

Business Strategy & Operational Performance
General management · four years · completed

Healthcare Business TransformationFour years of work to improve business performance.

Service areasBusiness DiagnosticLaunch & Growth
Discuss a similar challenge
Project overview
Over four years, Sara de Praetere, dePraetere’s founder, led a healthcare business as general manager, strengthening it through strategic and operational improvements. This completed project helped shape its practical approach to business transformation.
Business challenge
Improve the performance of the business by connecting strategic priorities with how the operation worked day to day.
Approach and contribution
Strategic and operational improvements, including the clinic’s processes, team structure and patient flow.
Outcome or demonstrated value
30% year-on-year growth. The project provided an early foundation for dePraetere’s approach to connecting business strategy with execution.
Related capabilities
  • Business strategy
  • Operational improvement
  • Process and team design
  • Patient flow
AI & Operational Innovation
2016 · historical project

Medclick — Predictive AI for Healthcare OperationsUsing predictive models to make clinic operations more efficient.

Service areasLaunch & GrowthSystems & Software
Discuss a similar challenge
Project overview
In 2016, Medclick explored a more intelligent approach to healthcare operations through a platform aggregating clinics and using AI models to predict patient no-shows.
Business challenge
Patient no-shows waste clinic capacity and make it harder to plan staff, rooms and schedules.
Approach and contribution
Sara de Praetere, dePraetere’s founder, was a partner in Medclick, which applied predictive modelling to a practical operational problem rather than to technology for its own sake.
Solution or innovation
AI models that predicted which appointments were likely to be missed, so clinics could anticipate them, improve planning and make more efficient use of operational capacity.
Outcome or demonstrated value
An early example, from 2016, of applying predictive AI to a tangible business problem.
Related capabilities
  • Predictive modelling (AI)
  • Platform business model
  • Healthcare operations
  • Capacity planning
Digital Innovation & User Experience
Jornal Económico · innovation project

From Printed News to VideoTurning a newspaper story into an interactive video experience.

Service areasSystems & Software
Discuss a similar challenge
Project overview
An innovation project for Jornal Económico that explored a new way for readers to engage with printed journalism.
Business challenge
Create a direct connection between the printed newspaper and digital content, in a way that fits how people already read.
Approach and contribution
dePraetere worked on the project, focusing on the reader’s experience and on a new distribution format for journalistic content.
Solution or innovation
By pointing a camera at a news story in the newspaper, readers could access a video in which the journalist summarised the story.
Outcome or demonstrated value
A new format that linked print and digital content, designed around reader behaviour.
Related capabilities
  • Digital product innovation
  • User experience
  • Print-to-digital distribution
Business Strategy & Automation
2022 · strategy and hardware selection

Quantum Logic — Intelligent Automation for Business SpacesConnecting business needs with the right automation technology.

Service areasSpace & HospitalitySystems & Software
Discuss a similar challenge
Project overview
In 2022, dePraetere worked with Quantum Logic, a domotics company focused on automating business spaces.
Business challenge
Align commercial objectives, operational requirements and technology choices for automating professional and commercial environments.
Approach and contribution
Working with Quantum Logic, dePraetere contributed to the development of the business strategy and supported the evaluation and selection of suitable hardware.
Solution or innovation
Hardware and strategy choices aligned with how business spaces are actually used, to support practical, intelligent automation.
Related capabilities
  • Business strategy
  • Hardware evaluation and selection
  • Business-space automation
Business Model Transformation
2010 · Architecture practice · business strategy and implementation

Alvarez e Serra Arquitectos — From Reseller to DistributorChanging the commercial model, not just the space.

Service areasBusiness DiagnosticLaunch & Growth
Discuss a similar challenge
Project overview
In 2010, dePraetere worked with Alvarez e Serra Arquitectos on its business strategy and its implementation. It was dePraetere’s first project.
Business challenge
Rethink the business model and commercial positioning, to improve the company’s economics and strengthen its market position.
Approach and contribution
dePraetere developed and implemented, with the company, a new business strategy that moved it from reseller to distributor.
Solution or innovation
A change in the commercial model itself: from reselling products to distributing them.
Outcome or demonstrated value
The company became a distributor, with a substantial improvement in profit margins. Changing the underlying commercial model can have a greater impact than optimising individual activities.
Related capabilities
  • Business model design
  • Commercial positioning
  • Implementation
Interior Design
Four projects since 2015

Interior Design ProjectsSpaces designed around how a business works.

Service areasSpace & Hospitality
Discuss a similar challenge
Project overview
Since 2015, dePraetere has completed four interior design projects.
Approach and contribution
Interior design and decoration, informed by training in architecture and hospitality.
Related capabilities
  • Interior design
  • Decoration
  • Space planning
Flexible Workspace Strategy
Consultancy · two coworking spaces

Coworking ConsultancyOperating experience applied to other coworking spaces.

Service areasSpace & Hospitality
Discuss a similar challenge
Project overview
Consultancy projects for two coworking spaces outside the businesses we run.
Approach and contribution
Advice drawing on the experience of designing and operating Lisbon WorkHub.
Related capabilities
  • Flexible workspace strategy
  • Operating model design

Businesses we own and operate

Property & Operations
Owned and operated · since 2015

Lisbon WorkHubTwo industrial buildings brought back into use.

Service areasSpace & HospitalitySystems & Software
Visit workhub.pt Discuss a similar challenge
Project overview
Two industrial buildings in Marvila, Lisbon, with 3,750 m² of coworking space between them.
Business challenge
Turn buildings that were out of use into a business that fills them and pays for itself.
Approach and contribution
A mixed operating model of coworking, private offices and storage, run day to day on management software we built in-house.
Outcome or demonstrated value
340 members and occupancy above 90%. Underused property becomes valuable when the operating model, not just the lease, is designed around demand.
Related capabilities
  • Operating model design
  • Reuse of industrial property
  • Flexible workspace operations
  • In-house management software
Operations & Systems
Owned and operated · Lisbon, Cascais, Montijo

CondGestCondominium management run on its own software.

Service areasSystems & Software
Visit condgest.com Discuss a similar challenge
Project overview
A condominium management company working across Lisbon, Cascais and Montijo.
Business challenge
Condominium management means many small requests from many owners. Without a system, requests get lost and accountability blurs.
Approach and contribution
We built CondGest’s management software: every request has a number, an owner and a deadline, and performance is measured weekly.
Outcome or demonstrated value
1,520 units under management. Service quality scales when accountability is built into the system, not left to individual effort.
Related capabilities
  • Service operations
  • Accountability systems
  • Custom management software

Pro bono

Pro bono
Pro bono · in progress

Animais Sem FronteirasSystems for an animal welfare association.

Service areasSystems & Software
Visit animaissemfronteiras.pt Discuss a similar challenge
Project overview
An animal welfare association based in Alcochete.
Business challenge
Coordinating rescues, adoptions and volunteers.
Approach and contribution
We are building its website and a management app for rescues, adoptions and volunteers, at no cost.
Outcome or demonstrated value
Work in progress. No results to report yet.
Related capabilities
  • Website
  • Management app
  • Non-profit operations

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