“Training is just easier now. People learn through having fun” Francesco D’apice Operational Training Partner
Creating impactful training content at speed with Attensi AI
Customer experience is critical for itsu. To achieve the same high standards for every customer in every location in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, itsu requires top-class training that is consistent, measurable and scalable. To achieve this, itsu needs to create large volumes of consistently excellent training. In addition, they must ensure that their teams engage well with the training to translate their learning into real life competencies.
Using Attensi AI features in SKILLS and CREATOR, itsu is now creating the training content they need faster, ensuring that it’s available when they need it, keeping their people engaged, knowledgeable and delivering the best possible service to customers.
As a growing brand locally, nationally and now internationally, itsu had several training challenges.
With huge volumes of training to deliver, the goal was to find a scalable training solution that was fast, engaging, and ensured that new shops opened with staff who were ready to carry on the itsu legacy – giving customers the best possible experience in whichever shop they visited.
What itsu set out to achieve
Consistency, quality, and scalability.
Accessible training for everybody, everywhere.
Save time, whilst increasing engagement.
Visibility of training completion and compliance.
How we addressed the challenges
As a growing brand locally, nationally and now internationally, itsu had several training challenges.
With huge volumes of training to deliver, the goal was to find a scalable training solution that was fast, engaging, and ensured that new shops opened with staff who were ready to carry on the itsu legacy – giving customers the best possible experience in whichever shop they visited.
CREATOR, with the AI features of dialogue, voiceover, and avatars that can be given different emotions and expression, enabled itsu to provide:
- Skills
- Simulated Experiential Learning
- Welcome to Itsu Digital Version
- Videos and PDFs
Consistency for scale
itsu’s international expansion has presented its fair share of challenges but has also provided laser-sharp clarity about what their training must deliver.
International Manager, Alba Trujillo Mora, said “we want to reach every employee in the same way”, no matter their location.
With Attensi CREATOR, every piece of training content is useable anywhere by anyone, whether they’re in management, front of house, or creating beautiful and healthy food.
“Attensi has helped us reach new borders. We’re now creating content that we can use not only here in the UK, but also internationally.” Alba Trujillo Mora International Manager | itsu
Impact that doesn’t get lost in translation
When itsu opened their doors in Paris, France, all their training content needed to be translated.
Reliant upon other companies for translation services, itsu found the process and the results very hit and miss, as well as time-consuming and costly. Many translations needed to be redone. The core principles of the training were often diluted or completely lost in translation, impacting negatively on training and the overall performance of individual shops.
Now, as Operational Training Partner, Francesco D’apice can testify, “with Attensi CREATOR translator and voiceover functionalities, in the click of a button we can translate the content, review once, and have training materials that are not only consistent with our standards, but also with our brand”.
This is a sentiment echoed by Mora, who describes the AI functionality as “very close to perfect”, opening “doors we never even knew existed”.
Attensi AI is also helping to sell the brand as a franchise partner – being able to offer that vital consistency in training materials and their translation is a big pull.
“An immersive experience that previously would have taken months to create, we can now have in an instant”
Whilst the use of dialogue in training wasn’t new to itsu, the capacity to have a voiceover presented various obstacles. The requirement for actors, microphones and other equipment took valuable time and resources.
itsu now uses an AI voiceover functionality that lets them create storylines, and interactive avatars with different characters, voices, and emotions. For D’Apice, this makes the training far more engaging.
itsu have also integrated the Attensi co-pilot, a virtual assistant that co-creates content. This has helped itsu tailor their training to different types of learners and align it with the wider goals of the business. If there’s a creative ‘block’ or difficulty in finding answers, CREATOR provides hints, ideas and inspiration, so that the flow of content production doesn’t grind to a halt.
“We can create content easily, it saves a lot of time, it gives us ideas, we can stay consistent in our training and skills.” Francesco D’apice Operational Training Partner
A digital Welcome to itsu: an example of consistency in action
Using Attensi CREATOR, the itsu team digitally recreated their flagship ‘Welcome to Itsu’ training – an integral part of their onboarding process. With dialogues, translation, videos and mini games, it makes for what D’Apice described as “a really great experience”.
Whilst staff working in London had always had the benefit of face-to-face training, those who were more remote had to train remotely, too. Attensi AI gives everyone a consistent experience, increasing employee engagement and making people feel a part of itsu from the very beginning.
As Mora observes, with Attensi CREATOR “we’re able to create content based on our company values and that reflects our brand. Content that looks, feels, and is, Itsu”.
D’Apice added that the digital ‘Welcome to itsu’ has been so successful that even existing employees are choosing to play it again and again – just for fun.
“Thanks to Attensi, we can cover all learning styles. People can hear, see, play and practice. From that point of view, it makes life easier.” Francesco D’apice Operational Training Partner
Game-changing AI providing a wealth of impact data
Operating within a highly regulated industry, itsu’s mandatory training on food standards and safety must be completed and understood.
Previously, there was no way to accurately pinpoint which staff had completed what training and when. Managers travelled to each shop to manually check the training records – a costly process in terms of both time and money.
Now, progress can be tracked, easily kept up to date, and crucially, compliant. When it comes to delivering consistency, itsu can do this for every shop, and each employee.
For both Mora and D’Apice, the wealth of digital impact data the Attensi platform provides means that they can see training progress, but also analyze it and feedback, coaching staff in areas where this is required. Mora said:
“We can see what people have done, and what they haven’t done. Having this visibility helps us to coach our managers so that they can motivate their teams, and in turn the progress of the business”.
D’Apice added that:
“thanks to Attensi AI, we know where people need help, and we know how we can support them in the best way”.
For itsu, there’s an undeniable connection between the experience they want their customers to have, and the training experiences they give their staff. As Mora told us, “if our people are happy, then they’re going to offer a better experience to our customers”.
Attensi AI has provided itsu with the ability to create training content at speed, in-house, as and when they need to. They’re no longer reliant on any other company to set up their shops internationally and are launching successfully, saving months in the process.
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