iFood uses AWS training to expedite internal innovation

A prominent food delivery player in Latin America, iFood has been standing out as a data-driven company for years. Using AWS services, which allow Artificial Intelligence (AI) to be employed as a key element of its expansion, the company decided to invest in technical training for its internal team, accelerating innovation initiatives with a direct impact on improving customer experience.

iFood is a leading player in the Latin American food delivery market. With millions of monthly orders and thousands of restaurants across Brazil, the company leads the food delivery business in the country. iFood counts on AWS to meet this volume and provide support for its large data volume processing demand.

In 2018, iFood also decided to invest in artificial intelligence (AI) to provide a more assertive service to restaurants and consumers. In 2019, it launched its Artificial Intelligence Academy, focusing on machine learning research and development, deep learning, logistics efficiency and other departments related to the company's data structure. This was all devised with the aim of meeting its need to expand and to successfully compete in the market,while improving its workforce.

In 2020, iFood acquired Hekima, an artificial intelligence (AI), data science, and big data company to boost the skills needed for its data-driven business strategy. More than 100 exclusive Hekima professionals joined the company as a result of the deal.

The next step was to work together with AWS Training and Certification to develop training that met the specificities of each department. “We started pre-selecting those who would be trained and, with regard to AWS, we made a joint effort to develop training that would bring the iFood contexts that were specific to our reality,” he says, recalling that the choice for AWS Training and Certification was natural, since much of iFood’s infrastructure is now concentrated in the company.

With a new approach defined, the training sessions held throughout 2021 focused on the most advanced courses in the areas of development, architecture, and security. “We chose this because we have a few initiatives in progress and we decided to only include people who would take advantage of the live course,” she says.

iFood trained six new groups throughout the year under this new model, resulting in a total of 90 employees trained in courses such as Security Engineering on AWS; Advanced Architecting on AWS; Advanced Developing on AWS (two groups) and Architecting on AWS. Alves explains that the training primarily served professionals who were assigned to the projects, which increased their effectiveness.

“A major difference was the contact of teachers and instructors with us before training. This is important because the teacher is not taken by surprise and brings our needs and struggles to the training,” says the executive. In this dynamic, the preparation of each training includes the questions raised by the collaborators in the presentation of each project to be carried out, always guaranteeing inputs so that those taking the classes can develop more and more.

So much so that AWS training is an important part of the Black Belt program, created to recognize internal “black belts”, and furthermore, of the employees' Individual Development Plan (IDP). According to Alves, training adds value to these programs, attracting and retaining professionals who want to work in iFood’s IT department.

For Alves, the new approach given to training with the support of AWS Training and Certification was a success. So much so that the department has been receiving positive feedback from participants. “Participant feedback improved after selecting who should be undergo training”, he reveals.

In terms of iFood projects, the executive emphasizes that the use of cloud resources has gained assertiveness, which is reflected as company savings.. “Professionals know how to use it, without going overboard or using extra resources,” he says.

An example is security, where AWS Security Specialty training is considered fundamental to the development of the Cyber Security education program for specialists. “Results were seen in teams, especially CloudSec, immediately after the end of the course, with several ideas put into practice,” he says, stressing that the partnership with AWS Training & Certification has been an essential part of the plan to train the entire iFood workforce, which today has more than 2.3 thousand people.

With the results obtained so far, the People Development department has already started planning future training programs. “There will be more classes next year. With a company as dynamic as this, the demands change with each cycle and we have tried to maintain future training mapped out and in mind,” he says. Thus, the department is expected to maintain the methodology of working with advanced courses and others with a specific focus on the people selected to be the black belts in iFood next year. “The idea is to have six more groups in the first semester and to double that to 12 in the second semester,” she reveals.