Through Flight Academy, Insight built a culture where AI use was engaging and rewarding—and ultimately, they attained near-universal adoption.
As organizations and leaders race to embrace the potential of AI, sometimes, the hardest part of the transformation isn’t choosing the right technology—it’s getting people to use it. Employees may hesitate to modify established workflows, feel resistant to new technology, or simply not know how or where to start. This can stall even the most ambitious AI strategies.
Insight Enterprises—a Fortune 500 solutions integrator and longtime Microsoft partner—deeply understands this challenge. The company helps clients modernize their operations and embrace innovative technologies to accelerate growth. Their expertise and close partnerships with customers has earned them global recognition, and they were named a 2024 Microsoft Americas AI and Copilot Innovation Partner of the Year.
As a trusted advisor to thousands of organizations, Insight knew they needed to lead by example. While the company was helping clients accelerate their AI journeys, they also wanted to accelerate their own internal AI adoption. To accomplish that goal, Insight launched Flight Academy, a gamified program designed to make AI usage practical, measurable, and rewarding for every teammate.
Leading from within to stay on the frontier of AI innovation
Insight has built their reputation by supporting AI adoption, modernization, and future-readiness for organizations around the world. But they wanted to apply that same philosophy internally, setting the standard for the AI innovation they bring to customers. To remain on the frontier of AI innovation, they committed to becoming an AI-first organization. That meant empowering 16,000 teammates worldwide to embrace AI tools and integrate them into daily workflows.
“We think of each of our teammates as this force multiplier, this little snowball on top of a mountain,” said Stan Lequin, CTO, AI Transformation at Insight. “If we give it a push from an AI perspective, what kind of momentum and force of nature could we create with 16,000 snowballs, fully AI-enabled, rolling down the hill?”
To realize that vision and become an AI-first organization, Insight wanted every teammate to feel confident using AI tools, not just for isolated tasks but as an integral part of daily work. “We had really good conversations with our teammates that AI is just going to make them more powerful,” said Lequin. “They shouldn’t fear it; they should embrace it.”
Initially, AI adoption remained lower than the team hoped. But they quickly came up with an idea that changed the AI landscape, inspiring employees to adopt AI and experiment with solutions at a fast and ambitious rate. They built an environment where AI curiosity was encouraged, success was celebrated, and use cases were visible across the business. Essentially, they gamified AI adoption, incentivizing AI use through light competition and rewards—and in the process, they turned initial interest into sustained engagement.
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