Introduction

As part of the global standardization of its HR processes, Airbus undertook a major digital transformation involving numerous SaaS applications, including Workday, and several user populations with diverse needs.

To facilitate the adoption of these tools and reduce reliance on traditional support mechanisms, Airbus deployed Knowmore's Digital Adoption Platform (DAP), including the solution K-NOW. The objective: to support employees directly within their applications through contextual, interactive, and personalized assistance.

The context

Airbus operates in a particularly complex digital environment:

• Over 130 HR platforms deployed.
• Presence in 46 countries.
• Approximately 200 legal entities.
• Highly diverse user profiles: operators, administrative staff, managers, and HR managers.

The group's strategy aimed to harmonize HR processes globally while taking into account local regulatory and cultural specificities.

In parallel, employees daily use between 7 and 9 different applications, often based on regularly updated SaaS technologies.

Challenges / Stakes

Before deploying the Digital Adoption Platform, Airbus faced several challenges:

Supporting users beyond initial training

Pre-production training was insufficient to ensure sustainable adoption of new tools and processes.

Reducing pressure on support teams

User support relied on several mechanisms:

• Traditional training.
• Documentation.
• Personalized support.
• A help center receiving approximately 100,000 calls per year.

Facilitating the use of complex applications

SaaS solutions often offer limited customization options. Airbus was therefore looking for a way to support users directly within applications without modifying existing systems.

Providing an experience tailored to different profiles

The needs of a manager conducting an annual review differ significantly from those of an employee making a one-off HR request. The support needed to be contextualized and relevant.

The implemented solution

Airbus deployed Knowmore's Digital Adoption Platform, leveraging several complementary components and approaches:

K-NOW: Integrated contextual assistance

K-NOW provides support directly within business applications through:

• Interactive step-by-step guides.
• Contextual help bubbles.
• Rich content (videos, text, images, call-to-action buttons).
• Links to documentation, training resources, or conversational assistants.

Users are guided in real-time through their tasks without leaving the application.

A targeted approach focusing on priority processes.

The initial deployment focused on the ten most critical and frequently used HR functionalities.

Among the supported use cases:

• Annual performance review campaigns.
• HR administrative processes.
• Processes requiring multiple steps or approvals.

Simplified deployment.

The solution is distributed as a browser extension, enabling rapid deployment to user workstations without modifying existing applications.

Continuous improvement based on user feedback and K-VALUE

Airbus directly collects employee feedback via:

• Satisfaction ratings.
• Comments.
• Integrated surveys.
• HR application adoption KPIs

This information allows for continuous adjustment of the guidance paths and content offered.

Results

Over a four-year period, Airbus observed significant results:

Reduced support requests

• Monthly support calls reduced by approximately 11,000 to 3,500.

Sustained guide adoption

• Approximately 5,000 monthly guidance sessions maintained over time, demonstrating the solution's continued usefulness.

Widespread adoption among employees

• Nearly 50,000 new employees supported over four years.

Reduced support tickets

• Decrease of approximately 70% of support tickets related to the processes concerned.

Expanded scope of use

Initially deployed for HR processes, the platform was gradually extended to other company functions, including:

• IT.
• Procurement.
• Other business processes.
• Over 25 applications supported by K-NOW

Key benefits

For employees

• Assistance available when needed.
• Reduced errors and hesitations.
• Increased autonomy in business applications.
• Improved user experience.

For support teams

• Significant reduction in support requests.
• Reduced operational workload.
• Focus on higher-value requests.

For Airbus

• Accelerated adoption of HR applications.
• More efficient global process standardization.
• Visibility into user behavior through integrated analytics.
• Solid foundation for integrating AI-enhanced assistance tools.

Outlook

Airbus is currently continuing its digital support strategy by also exploring with Knowmore the integration of artificial intelligence, conversational assistants, and contextual guidance.

The goal is to offer increasingly personalized assistance, capable of automatically recommending the most relevant content based on each employee's profile, context, and usage patterns.

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