Artificial intelligence is no longer just a vision of the future, but an integral part of our daily lives and work. In fact, around 25% of German professionals already use AI technologies to optimise their work processes and promote creative ideas. At REWE Group, we are also purposefully focusing on this groundbreaking innovation to integrate generative AI into our work processes.
For many of our employees, however, the use of AI was uncharted territory for a long time. To address this and promote acceptance of AI, the Learning Center initiated the AI Journey of Discovery from 20 January to 26 February 2025. This series of events offered administrative employees across the group a comprehensive learning programme and demonstrated practical applications and innovative working methods using AI.
With a total of 17,690 participants from 5,692 employees attending 38 sessions, the AI voyage of discovery met with a great response. The two kick-off events, at which Christoph Eltze, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, and Ralph Klin, Executive Director Customer, provided basic information about the technology and its latest developments, attracted 3,440 participants. The subsequent impulse sessions attracted a further 14,250 participants, highlighting the growing interest in the topic.
The sessions focussed primarily on AI basics, the efficient use of prompts and practical applications in everyday working life. Both newcomers and experienced users were addressed by addressing a wide range of AI application fields.
Among other things, beginners were given valuable insights into the use of the REWE Group GPT and the application of established prompts. A prompt is an input or instruction given to an AI in order to obtain certain information or tasks.
More experienced employees, on the other hand, were able to deal with specialised content, such as the optimal use of the Knowledge Hub or specific applications within market research, marketing or the sales department.
„The AI discovery tour was a great opportunity to get a taste of different areas of AI utilisation.“Anna Katharina Mailänder, Internal Communications at DERTOUR We owe the diverse programme above all to the 31 internal experts from the Retail D, REWE digital, DERTOUR and toom divisions, who shared their extensive expertise in the sessions. This practical and interactive approach, which involved all strategic business units, was very well received by the participants. Anna Katharina Mailänder from internal communications at DERTOUR also summarised: "The AI discovery tour was a great opportunity to get a taste of different areas of AI use."
The participants particularly liked the "very inspiring sessions" and extensive "information and outlooks [that] will make working even easier in the future". The trip offered numerous practical examples that can be directly integrated into everyday working life and set a clear future-orientated focus, which also received a lot of praise.
The positive impressions are also reflected in the figures from the internally evaluated feedback forms: around 90 per cent of the 670 respondents stated that they had expanded their knowledge of AI and its practical benefits. Around 95 per cent are keen to continue studying the topic and almost three quarters agree that they will be able to integrate the newly learned content into their day-to-day work.
The voyage of discovery also set the tone for the experts: Maximilian Saedler, acting head of the IT department at our Wilhelm Brandenburg production plant, was impressed by the variety of presentations. After the trip, he is optimistic about the future: "Our goal is to use AI sensibly in as many areas as possible and to support employees with targeted solutions in their day-to-day work." The aim is to integrate AI as an intuitive and practical tool.
Speaker Marc Roehder, Senior Business Analyst, praised the strong team spirit and sense of togetherness that developed as a result of the trip. He also reported growing interest in AI assistance programmes, with over 300 new registrations in the Knowledge Hub.
The first results of the AI journey are already noticeable: progress with AI tools such as Prompt Buddy can be seen across all departments, as Melanie Noll from internal communications at DERTOUR and Ann-Kathrin Balthasar, Head of Strategic Project Management Ware, confirm.
The DOIT team also reports that the use of REWE Group GPT has grown following the AI journey of discovery. The number of daily users increased from 600 to 902 compared to the last quarter of 2024. In addition, there was also a significant increase in the number of prompts written, which rose from 239,000 to 316,000 quarter-on-quarter.
In conclusion, REWE Group is therefore optimistic about the future of generative AI in the company. After all, Ann-Kathrin Balthasar summarises that the voyage of discovery has above all "revealed a realm of possibilities", which makes it exciting to see "what will be possible at REWE Group in the future".
Marc Roehder, Project Manager & Senior Business Analyst
What did you gain from taking part in the AI voyage of discovery and what insights did you gain from it?
There is a lot of interest in the AI Assistant in our Knowledge HUB. We also adapted our training materials accordingly after the voyage of discovery. So we were able to learn a lot from the sessions.
Has the number of registrations or interest in the Knowledge Hub changed after employees have heard your presentations?
Definitely, they did! After my presentations at the AI Journey of Discovery, we received over 300 new registrations and numerous departments are now increasingly asking for support and advice on dealing with AI.
To what extent do you think the workshop has strengthened the team spirit within the Group or fostered a sense of togetherness?
We are experiencing a stronger team spirit and an increased sense of togetherness, as colleagues are actively asking for support in dealing with AI and are not afraid to approach us. We can continue to build on this attitude, which was encouraged by the AI discovery journey!
"I was particularly impressed by the variety of formats and the diversity of the presenters and their talks. The opportunity to gain insights into a wide range of specialist areas and get to know their specific approaches to the topic of AI was extremely enriching. It made it clear how versatile and practical AI is already being used and what potential it offers for the future.
The use of PromptBuddy and the test phase with Copilot was a quick and directly realisable benefit for us. These tools have proven to be extremely helpful in working more efficiently with AI, achieving more precise results and integrating the first practical applications directly into our day-to-day work.
Our next step is to implement a comprehensive, interdisciplinary AI initiative in the production plants. We want to utilise AI effectively in as many areas as possible and support employees with targeted solutions in their day-to-day work. In doing so, we are focussing on integrating AI in such a way that it serves as an intuitive and practical tool - be it to increase efficiency, automate recurring tasks or improve decision-making."
"I was particularly impressed by the advanced technology in the area of image generation. With the help of AI, you could see how creative and precise images can be created.
One quick success I was able to realise was the targeted application of prompt techniques. I find it extremely exciting how precise wording can significantly improve the quality of AI-generated results.
Next, I would like to learn more about specific use cases of AI in project management. I am particularly interested in how AI can support and optimise the entire process from the creation of a project plan to its implementation."
"The AI voyage of discovery gave me an impressive insight into the extensive knowledge that already exists within REWE Group and can be passed on. Through the various formats, I gained an overview of our AI possibilities and had the opportunity to try them out in various topics and learn tips and tricks from practice.
One valuable insight I took away from the trip is how easy and quick it is to use REWE Group GPT or Copilot, especially with the easily customisable prompt templates from 'Prompt Buddy'.
It would be exciting to see concrete application examples from our core business in which AI has successfully and sustainably increased the quality of work and productivity, as well as the use of Copilot across all M365 applications."
"The AI voyage of discovery was a great opportunity to get a taste of various areas of AI use in an entertaining and well-portioned way. I was particularly impressed by the use cases from colleagues, for example from Penny's content marketing or the creation of audio commercials. However, the most impressive session was the impulse session 'Image and video generation with generative AI'. It was impressive to see what is possible in these areas and made me want to get started and start my own creative experiments."