From AI-curious to AI-capable, at scale

Designed and delivered a multi-market AI training program for a global pharma company, moving teams from AI-curious to AI-capable. Role-specific programs for Medical Affairs, Market Access, and field teams: practical exercises people applied the same day, not six months later. Starting from a single pilot, the program scaled across multiple European markets with culturally adapted content featuring local examples and exercises.

The challenge

A global pharma company had made the strategic decision to become AI-capable, but the gap between executive ambition and frontline reality was wide. Teams across Medical Affairs, Market Access, and field operations were curious about AI but uncertain about what it meant for their actual work. Generic training programs had failed to land. People sat through sessions, nodded, and went back to doing things the old way.

What we did

We designed a capability program built around roles, not technology. Instead of teaching "how AI works," we focused on "what AI changes about your specific job." Each program was tailored to the daily realities of the people in the room: Medical Affairs teams worked on literature review acceleration, Market Access teams on evidence synthesis, field teams on territory planning and HCP engagement.

Every session included exercises participants could apply immediately. Not case studies from other industries, but scenarios built from their own therapeutic areas, their own markets, their own data structures.

Scaling across markets

The pilot started in a single market. When results showed measurable behavior change, the program expanded across multiple European markets. But scaling didn't mean copy-pasting. Each market received culturally adapted content: local healthcare system context, local examples, exercises reflecting local ways of working. A program that works in Germany doesn't automatically work in Spain. We rebuilt each one from the ground up while maintaining the core methodology.

The result

Teams moved from AI-curious to AI-capable. The measure wasn't satisfaction scores, it was adoption: people integrating AI into their daily workflows weeks and months after the training, not just during it. The program became the company's standard approach to AI capability building across Europe.

Contact

Interested in building AI capability across your organization? Get in touch with Jason Hill (jason@vertical.vc).