Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are quickly evolving and becoming integral pieces to every company’s technological landscape. While many look to find ways to extend their current practices and capabilities and ignore the new innovations of these technologies, we at EC Group chose to create an environment that would allow our employees to embrace AI and ML.
Therefore, EC Group recently launched The CAMEL Factory. CAMEL stands for Concise AI ML Exploratory Learning and serves as a response to the evolution of these cutting edge technologies as well as the tools they contain. Our 100 days of learning through The CAMEL Factory was from March 15th, 2023 to June 22nd, 2023.
The primary objective of the CAMEL Factory was to ignite interest and awareness regarding AI and ML technologies among our team of employees. By creating a learning environment it would allow our team to become genuinely interested in the technologies as well as curious to experiment. Overall this approach allows our employees to champion these solutions well into the future.
The CAMEL Factory Core
In order to achieve our objectives, the CAMEL Factory was segmented into three core approaches to drive the programs.
Learn: Learning avenues such as AI Wall, AI in 15 Minutes and Expert Talks allow for the foundational building and understanding of concepts to increase comfortability among our team.
Teach: Employees share AI-related concepts, experiences and useful tools that they have discovered within the AI/ML space. The sharing of knowledge allowed us to foster a collaborative learning environment. In turn, our employees became educators and mentors.
Contribute: Engaging in blog writing, presentations in colleges and even the creation of open-source apps to address causes our employees took their learned knowledge and made a meaningful impact.
CAMEL Factory Learning Approaches
Throughout the CAMEL Factory, there were a wide variety of learning approaches used to help empower our team of employees.
AI Minute: Short AI learning links are shared in a WhatsApp group, providing employees with bite-sized AI knowledge that can be easily consumed and shared.
AI Wall: An AI Wall is created to feature AI-related news, updates, and trends. This serves as a visual reminder and source of inspiration for employees to stay informed about AI developments.
AI in 15 minutes: Regular sessions are conducted virtually, focusing on daily learning of AI/ML concepts. These sessions are designed to be concise and accessible, allowing employees to fit learning into their busy schedules.
Expert Talk: Subject matter experts from the industry are invited to teach core concepts of AI/ML. These sessions provide employees with valuable insights and practical knowledge shared by experienced professionals.
Service Exploration: Employees are encouraged to explore and present AI tools and services. This helps them discover new technologies and understand their potential applications.
YouTube Channel: All the learning sessions are recorded and uploaded to a YouTube channel for future reference. This enables employees to revisit the content and reinforce continuous learning.
Streams of deep learning: To cater to different needs, three streams of deep learning were created – AI coding tools, Python for AI, and AI Testing. This allows employees to focus on specific areas of interest or expertise.
CAMEL Factory Statistics
Total Training Hours: 700+
Expert Talks: 9 sessions conducted by industry experts
Internal Trainers: 24 employees raised as trainers
Average Participants: 27 employees per session
Active Participation: 22 employees attended over 75% of the sessions
Total Sessions: 65 sessions, including the three streams of deep learning
Total Participation: 66% of employees
Significant CAMEL Factory Benefits
Upon the conclusion of our 100 days of learning through the CAMEL Factory, our reflection showed incredible success our employees were able to experience as a result of the program. Their commitment to an enriched learning environment built on experiences proved to be extremely successful and inspiring.
Our employees were able to overcome fear of a new technological shift and in turn build significant confidence through the collaboration of experiences. The initiative also created awareness of a wide range of AI tools as well as how their applications can be implemented in the future of their work. Finally, our employees are now equipped with a deeper understanding of AI and ML technologies which builds even stronger customer trust when proposing suitable solutions with these new tools.
EC Group’s Next Steps
The success of the CAMEL Factory’s 100 days of learning has inspired EC Group to build upon the initiative and pave the way for more impactful measures heading into the future.
Knowledge and Idea Factory: Continue fostering a culture of learning and innovation through Knowledge and Idea Factory. This will promote continuous growth, exploration, and idea generation in the AI/ML domain.
Collaboration with Institutions/Colleges: Strengthen connections with institutions and colleges to create opportunities for employees to teach and share their AI knowledge with students. This collaborative effort will expand the organization’s impact and contribute to the larger AI/ML community.
Pet Projects and Experimentation: Identify a small group of employees interested in AI experimentation and provide them with resources and support to develop pet projects. This hands-on experience will further enhance practical application skills and drive innovation.
