Successful AI implementation at Umicore through community management
Over the past 18 months, the rise of artificial intelligence has attracted the attention of industries worldwide. Umicore seized this opportunity and launched a pilot project to test the possibilities of an integrated AI assistant in various areas of activity. The results were impressive: productivity increased, the quality of work improved, and over 90 percent of testers want to continue using artificial intelligence (AI) at work.
Quentin Poncelet, Head of Digital Workplace at Umicore, emphasizes the importance of community in implementing this project. He believes that the most important lesson at Umicore was not the power of AI, but the power of community.
"The Digital Workplace Team can provide training, but at Umicore, we are most successful in adopting new technologies when we can learn from each other as colleagues.“
Community engagement as the key to success
The Digital Workplace team developed a strategy that brought testers from around the world together in a dedicated community. Monthly webinars and virtual coffee talks gave testers the opportunity to ask questions and exchange ideas. An online forum enabled them to share experiments, compare results, and solve any problems that arose.
"It's always more exciting to discover and learn new things in a group than alone. It's a team game! Discussing the challenges and new insights with Umicore colleagues kept us motivated to continue testing and exploring.” Copilot tester Marija Blinova from Brussels, Belgium
Daniel Prial, a member of the Digital Workplace team, explains that this model is not new to Umicore.
"We built our community of AI testers on top of the existing ‘Digital Heroes’ community. These colleagues help their teams adapt new digital technologies for collaboration and have a global reach. By adapting this structure, we created a safe space where testers can connect with each other.”
Future plans for the use of AI at Umicore
As part of the pilot project, 300 Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses were issued to colleagues from all business areas and other departments at Umicore for a period of eight months. Nearly 90 percent of testers reported an increase in productivity, and over 90 percent said they did not want to give up their licenses.
Umicore now plans to roll out AI assistants more widely in the workplace and will continue to use community management techniques to do so.
“We are in the process of transforming our community of testers into a kind of ambassador community. It's good to know that the testers from the pilot phase are ready to help the next round of users learn AI skills faster and more easily. We all learn best when we learn from each other.” Jessica Keller, member of the Digital Workplace Team.
Umicore is proud to continue supporting colleagues who can work together, learn from each other, and adapt flexibly to the latest technologies.