The benefit, in brief
At Franprix, deploying generative AI for everyone is a priority led by Laurent Dedieu. To bring on board very different profiles, he chose Mendo from the start, without going through traditional training. The result: employees who were afraid of AI got started, and some haven't stopped since. Learning through daily practice made the difference where training alone would probably not have been enough.
Franprix context
Franprix is a leading convenience retail brand in France, particularly present in the Paris region, with several hundred stores. Within the organization, Laurent Dedieu holds a cross-functional and strategic role: he oversees data governance, value creation through reporting, studies, machine learning, and more recently, the deployment of generative AI to all employees.
In this context, he looked for a solution capable of bringing on board very different audiences, from experts to complete beginners, without assuming any prior AI knowledge or culture.
The goal is to have Mendo where we can practice every day to keep getting better and do things better than we thought we could before.
Before / After Mendo: from fear to daily practice
Before Mendo
Before Mendo, there was no structured guidance on generative AI at Franprix. As in many companies, available training was in classic formats that employees would follow and quickly forget, with no immediate practice.
From experience, everyone has already gone through training that we'll apply maybe never, maybe in a month, two months, six months. And in general, there's not much value in it. It doesn't stick.
For some employees, the question wasn't even about training; generative AI was simply frightening. Approaching the tool without a safety net or framework felt too risky or too complex.
After Mendo
Mendo allowed Franprix to start experimenting directly, without going through a traditional training phase. The principle: practice freely and regularly, at your own pace, using the platform's labs and resources.
I immediately really liked Mendo's approach, which allows you to embed all of that learning by practicing freely and regularly.
The most reluctant profiles were able to get started gradually, supported by Mendo. And the result exceeded expectations: some employees who had been afraid of generative AI now use it daily, with an intensity and effectiveness that Laurent Dedieu had not anticipated.
We had some really great stories of people who were very afraid of generative AI. They started with Mendo and now they use generative AI all the time. They work like they've never worked before. It's incredible.
Mendo labs: learn to do it in 2 to 10 minutes
One of the elements Laurent Dedieu highlights as particularly valuable is the labs. When an employee wants to do something but doesn't know how, they don't need to search online or wait for training, they go directly to Mendo, find the lab that matches their need, and within minutes they know how to do it.
Sometimes, we want to do things and we don't know how to do them, and we'll find that there's a lab available right there that we can click on, and in 2 to 10 minutes, we'll know how to do it right away.
This format — short, actionable, immediately applicable — does exactly what long training sessions failed to do: create a usage reflex embedded in daily work.
A platform that evolves with the tool
At Franprix, Mendo is used in combination with Copilot. And Copilot evolves: new features, new behaviors, new possibilities. Mendo plays a role here in continuously keeping skills up to date.
We use Mendo with Copilot, a Copilot that's constantly evolving. So Mendo is there to stay on top of those updates and be able to use the tool as effectively as possible at all times.
Rather than a one-off training that quickly becomes outdated, Mendo is built for the long term and supports employees through AI's ongoing evolution — which is particularly well-suited to the pace at which this field is moving.
An ambassador program to accelerate adoption
To structure the experimentation, Laurent Dedieu set up an ambassador network. The selected profile: motivated employees, curious about generative AI, and ready to get started, including those who had been afraid but wanted to take the leap.
In the end, it was quite easy to get them on board with the tool, since they were already willing to do it.
Mendo's onboarding played a key role in this launch: structured, energizing, with a quality of guidance that boosted adoption from the very first weeks.
We had great guidance right from the start. There was a general onboarding and there is a truly high quality to energize everyone and boost them in using the tool and in generative AI overall.
Concrete benefits for Franprix
- Adoption by reluctant profiles: Employees who were afraid of generative AI became regular users.
- Lasting skill retention: Free daily practice replaces one-off training that left no trace.
- Continuous upskilling: Mendo keeps up with Copilot updates and keeps employees current at all times.
- Fast and structured launch: Quality onboarding and accessible labs allowed the experimentation to start without delay or prior training.
In one sentence
We had some really great stories of people who were truly very afraid of generative AI. They started with Mendo and now they use generative AI all the time. They work like they've never worked before. It's quite incredible.
Laurent Dedieu, Head of Data at Franprix
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