Boticário Group Uses AWS Training to Increase Employee Engagement and Overhaul Digital Strategy

Recognizing the urgency and importance of embracing state-of-the-art technology in the retail industry, beauty company Boticário Group, or Grupo Boticário in Portuguese, wanted to invigorate its digital transformation. Rather than outsource its IT requirements to technological experts to support its successful venture into ecommerce, Boticário Group sought to bring more of its technology in house, which would involve training its own employees to develop and operate solutions.

Boticário Group had been using Amazon Web Services (AWS) since 2013, when the company recognized that consolidating digital operations would be critical to its ability to customize solutions and grow quickly with agility. Scalability was also an important consideration in using AWS because the company needed to adjust to sales peaks at holidays such as Mother’s Day and Christmas. To develop Boticário Group’s in-house IT capabilities, the company went through its technology arm, gb.tech, to launch a number of training initiatives. To do so, it used AWS Training and Certification—which helps organizations build and validate skills so that they can get more out of the cloud—to support the company’s digital strategy. In just 1 year the company’s program grew to attract 13 percent more employees to attend a training.

Founded in 1977 as a small prescription drugstore, Boticário Group has grown to feature 350 million products a year with nearly 4,000 stores in its home country of Brazil and a presence in 15 other countries. Its factories, distribution centers, brick-and-mortar retail stores, and online operations together add complexity to a multinational corporate strategy that feeds multiple brands through eight distribution channels. Training its employees in the use of AWS solutions is crucial for a company trying to internalize more technology processes and figure out how to use AWS to optimize hosting.

After internally discussing the best way to train its employees, Boticário Group discovered the comprehensive set of AWS Training and Certification courses and certifications. The company initiated training in several groups, starting with the infrastructure and security teams. Training then extended to the rest of the company. For example, Boticário Group offered classes in foundational understanding of the cloud so that every employee could understand how to optimize the company’s use of AWS resources. Gradually, Boticário Group transitioned from using partners to operate its solutions to relying on its own operations to systematize technology, manage employees, and develop code for digital solutions.

Boticário Group expanded the inclusivity of its training through a Brazilian government program known as Desenvolve, which means “develop” in Portuguese. The Desenvolve program, which focuses on training initiatives for people without access to technology, contributes to Boticário Group’s investment in reducing the gender and race gaps in applicants for technology jobs. The development of a diverse, knowledgeable employee base feeds Boticário Group’s ongoing drive for digital transformation and has accelerated onboarding to its cloud migration. “The company has been undergoing a large-scale transformation for a couple of years,” says Sidarta Aguiar de Oliveira, infrastructure and cloud director at Boticário Group. “By upgrading our team’s technology skills, we have come a long way in improving our relationship with customers.”

Since Boticário Group instituted its company-wide training programs, gb.tech grew by over four times from 200 people in 2019 to more than 850 by August 2021. The company plans to continue to expand gb.tech to more than 1,000 people, which would match the number of employees directly involved in production. Because the impact of the 2020 training program was so significant, the company repeated its training cycle in 2021. The number of trainings offered more than doubled from 2020 to 2021. Employees attended classes in various subjects, from foundational understanding of the cloud to hands-on skills. In addition to the creation of a wide-scale professional base with the ability to work in the cloud, Boticário Group has noticed an increase in employee engagement. “We are preparing our employees for what’s coming,” Oliveira says. “We want to use the cloud in its totality, and the skills we’re teaching [through AWS Training] are fundamental for that.”  

Boticário Group plans to continue to expand its training program in 2022. “The programs we have developed using AWS have addressed our needs,” Oliveira says. “We’re continuing to develop a variety of programs and increase the number of participants in technology training. The knowledge we’re acquiring using AWS Training will help us get to where we want to go.”