Background
LINDE, a leading global industrial gas and engineering company with a sales revenue of $33 billion in 2022 and 65,000 employees worldwide, recognized the transformative potential of Generative AI (GenAI) in enhancing personal productivity at the workplace.
Enhanced AI Literacy
Data-Driven Decision Making
Proven AI ROI
Challenge
In response to the rising demand for AI-driven solutions, LINDE sought our expertise to raise awareness among their employees about the benefits and opportunities that AI and GenAI can bring to their daily work. They were looking to increase the GenAI literacy across the worldwide company with the objective to introduce employees to GenAI use cases that could be developed into Proofs of Concept (PoCs). For this upskilling journey, a format was needed that would allow active participation in idea development from employees across various time zones in a scalable manner—meaning to reach and engage as many employees as possible.
Action
What to Consider for a Remote Setup
Here is what we recommend doing when the audience is more than 500 people from different time zones and the online collaboration tool Mural is used:
Pre-Event Communication:
- Schedule the event at a time that is most convenient for the majority of participants considering their time zones.
- Prepare the Mural whiteboard with access where no login is needed.
- Send out all necessary information well in advance, including agenda, instructions on using Mural, and the goal of the session.
Facilitation:
- Share your screen and show the board before sending them the link to the Mural via chat.
- Have a central meeting point for everyone in case participants get lost on the board.
- Generally, design the board/canvas with arrows and times with the approach: Don’t make the user think.
- Keep it simple and clean, do not overwhelm them with information.
- Let each participant claim their spot on the Mural, meaning their own canvas that they work on.
- Utilize breakout groups for smaller, more interactive discussions.
- Give clear instructions in written form with clear timelines and have a timer on the board.
- During exercises, ask if there are questions or if people are stuck.
- Use polls or voting to keep the audience engaged.
- Stick to the times to stay in the set frame.
- Share a summary of the event, including outputs and the way forward.
The DAIN Studios Approach: A Bespoke 2-Month AI Training Program for All
To address LINDE’s objective of equipping their diverse workforce with GenAI knowledge and practical skills, we designed, jointly with the Linde Digital Transformation and AI teams, a comprehensive 2-month remote training method that could engage hundreds of employees from various departments and international regions.
- Our approach included a multi-phase campaign, starting with an informative session aimed at educating employees on the fundamentals and potential applications of GenAI. The “GenAI Intro” reached more than 500 people in 7 time zones and featured a keynote from DAIN, providing a comprehensive overview of GenAI’s potential.
- This was followed by an interactive use case generation session, where participants brainstormed and identified relevant GenAI use cases using online collaboration tools. More than 300 people contributed by ideating NLP (Natural Language Processing) use cases on individual canvases.
- Finally, with a selection of 50 participants, we conducted three Proof of Concept (PoC) development sessions, providing hands-on experience and collaborative opportunities to refine and validate the generated use case ideas. Ten groups, each with a maximum of five people, worked on one use case per team. The PoC sessions were divided into three phases: the Empathy Space, where participants focused on understanding the user and identifying pain points; the Solution Space, which involved a detailed description of the technical solution and data sketches; and the Pitch Space, where comprehensive use cases, including next steps and further validation, were presented in standardized pitch decks.
Impact
As a result of these sessions, LINDE’s employees funneled over 70 initial use cases down to 10 validated NLP use cases. This structured approach ensured that employees not only gained theoretical knowledge but also learned to apply it in real-world scenarios, fostering innovation and productivity across LINDE’s global operations.
Conclusion: Unlocking New Business Potential through AI and Data Thinking Methodology
- Positive ROI
Overall, this learning journey has achieved a positive ROI. The global AI initiative has generated significant internal engagement on the topic, resulting in a robust backlog of use cases with strong business potential of several million euros.
- Data Thinking in Application
Beyond the results leading to use cases and business potential, a methodology was established that is now employed to upskill employees across the company on a global scale.
- Concrete and Validated AI Use Cases for Linde in Further Development
Of the 10 final use case descriptions, five advanced to the technical testing phase, and one has already been successfully implemented into the LINDE ecosystem together with DAIN. Linde Audit GPT uses GenAI and LLMs to streamline the internal audit process with a chat interface. The use case leads to a reduction in report generation time from 24 to 2 hours, resulting in a saving of 4-digit hours/year, which equates to a saving of several million euros per year. In addition to cost and time savings, the accuracy of reports was improved to more reliable reporting, more confidence, and ensuring regulatory compliance.
The successful implementation proves that ideas generated by employees can be developed and put into practice within a one-year period.
Client
Linde
