Sanofi’s chief digital officer was unimpressed with early generative AI tools pitched for internal use. The company avoided licensing an enterprise version of ChatGPT and did not broadly roll out Microsoft Copilot after a limited pilot. Instead, Sanofi created an internally developed, hosted generative AI companion called Concierge, launched in October 2024. Concierge is used by about 60,000 employees, roughly 80% of the workforce, with non-users concentrated in manufacturing roles. Concierge draws on vendor data from ServiceNow and Workday, internal policies and organizational charts, and connects external agentic systems with SAP. The focus has shifted toward agentic AI for workflow changes across IT, procurement, and sales, while resisting vendor-provided agent-to-agent interactions.
"We looked at it, and said, 'This is lame,'" says Frenehard. "This is just going to be a massive cost, but the value will be limited, compared to what you can do with a public ChatGPT. What difference is it, apart from your data is secured?""
"Instead, Frenehard said he took inspiration from the hospitality industry, where experts at the front desk know all the best restaurant recommendations and local travel tips. This led to the launch of an internally developed and hosted generative AI companion called Concierge, which debuted in October 2024 and is now used by 60,000 employees globally, about 80% of Sanofi's total workforce."
"Concierge has access to data from vendors including cloud-based software provider ServiceNow and business software giant Workday, Sanofi's own internal policies and organizational charts, and connects external, agentic systems between the drugmaker and German enterprise software vendor SAP."
"More recently, Frenehard's focus has been on deploying agentic AI to more dramatically change workflows across IT, procurement, and sales. And, for the most part, he's resisting the agentic capabilities that are being pitched by vendors. "I don't want to have Salesforce agents, speaking to ServiceNow agents, going to speak to SAP agents," explains Frenehard."
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