Stellantis: driving innovation by investing in employees’ digital skills

Across all industries, competition is growing, and companies are increasingly recognizing the fundamental role of employee training in strengthening their bottom line. As companies strive to remain innovative, investing in their people is increasing in importance.

In 2023, the World Economic Forum forecasts that 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted in the next five years, up from 35% in 2016.

Stellantis, a constellation of 14 iconic automotive brands and two mobility arms, including Alfa Romeo, Citroen, Chrysler, Peugeot, Jeep, Maserati and Opel/Vauxhall, is about more than transportation: they’re about moving people and making connections, and they are on a mission to transform into a sustainable mobility tech company. Stellantis is guided by the clear vision of their Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, which paves the way for Stellantis to achieve carbon net zero by 2038.

With a community of more than 160 nationalities, industrial operations in 30+ countries, and in over 130 markets, Stellantis is one of the most diverse companies in the world and has an ability to unite people and ideas across borders and cultures.

Identifying ways to engage and upskill existing employees

In 2022, Stellantis selected Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its preferred cloud provider for vehicle platforms. Using AWS to migrate the data pipeline of its existing vehicles into a cloud-based data mesh, their engineers now have the ability to use the data in developing digital products with AWS tools.

To support this, Stellantis is dedicated to ensuring it has the tech talent required to enable their transition to zero-emission connected vehicles. One way they’re doing this is through their learning academies. By focusing on upskilling and reskilling employees from any area in the company, they are not only accelerating their current knowledge and skills, but also their career progression and mobility across data and software, and electrification roles internally. Stellantis has already seen over 1,000 employees from their software function sign up to take part in the academies to learn a new field or update their digital, tech, and cloud skills.

Minoo Monajjemi Nejad, a Stellantis employee, became a Scrum Master, following her involvement in one of the academies. “From the very first moment I decided to make this shift in my career, I received precious support from various people starting with my manager who helped me to make that shift possible, my scrum master colleagues helping me integrate successfully, and the training I received, helping me take the role with much more confidence.”

Launching a dedicated tech and cloud training program

In addition to their academies, Stellantis, in collaboration with AWS Training and Certification, launched their internal training program, TechXelerate in July 2023, with the ambition to upskill 5,000 employees in AWS Cloud technologies over five years.

By adopting the AWS Skills Guild framework, a consultative engagement designed to inspire organization-wide cloud adoption and unlock innovation, Stellantis is building holistic cloud competencies across the business. TechXelerate is helping to broaden Stellantis’ technology and cloud adoption across key functions by combining instructor-led training, hands-on learning, sharing best practices, and interacting with experts to drive innovations for the business.

The TechXelerate strategy focuses on three key areas:

1. Develop a culture of innovation that empowers people to take considered risks as a necessary input to innovation. In turn, Stellantis encourages employees to experiment and re-learn new ways of working;
2. Provide employees with the time, permission, and means to develop their skills, whilst ensuring that up-to-date and relevant training opportunities are made available to them; and
3. Excite and inspire employees about what’s happening in the world of tech (i.e., current trends), whilst enabling them to be customer centric when applying their new skills.

“There is an intense and competitive search for talent in the market today. To support the overall transformation to a mobility tech company, Stellantis continues to evolve its workforce by offering opportunities to learn new skills outside their existing skillset or enhance current skills,” said Anne Fenninger, VP and Head of Data Software Academy at Stellantis.

Unlocking innovation

For Stellantis, success is defined by the impact the training has on its people, and they’ve outlined the majority of these success measures by:

• Upskilling and/or reskilling 5,000 employees in cloud technologies and innovation;
• How well employees apply and utilize their newly acquired tech and cloud skills;
• How many innovative ideas are being created and shared by employees; and
• The number of experiments conducted and lessons learned from them.

Stellantis will be at UNLEASH World Paris this year, the world’s most influential HR conference and exhibition. Anne Fenninger is the featured guest speaker sharing her insight and experience in running people training programs and initiatives to support large-scale organizational change. For more information on how to develop your team to build the AWS Cloud skills they’ll need to innovate and drive transformation, contact AWS Training and Certification.