Surfing the AI Wave

The world is becoming increasingly complex, challenging traditional economic models and the chemical industry. Yet, Air Liquide continues to innovate heavily to maintain its competitive edge. With a strong engineering culture and facilities positioned close to its customers, the company has turned Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence into major pillars of its future. As part of the CHEManager-Series about Digitalization Strategies of renowned companies from the Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals business, Baladji Soussilane, Group Chief Digital & Information Officer at Air Liquide, discussed with Stefan Guertzgen the profound disruption facing the industry, the group's "fast-follower" approach in Digital Innovation, and why strong industrial processes and solid data foundations are the ultimate key to unlocking the true value of AI. 

What importance does digitalization have for the future direction and competitiveness of Air Liquide?

Baladji Soussilane: We operate in a world that is increasingly complex and volatile, where many traditional economic models—including those in the chemical sector—are being deeply challenged. The true strength of our business at Air Liquide is that we continue to innovate very strongly to respond to these challenges; we use technology to be able to do more and do it better.

By looking at our value chain and where technology and AI can improve and potentially disrupt the way we deliver products and services to our customers, we see our digital structure as the driving force behind the Group's performance and transformation. We contribute to boost value creation, deliver strong performance, and support the Group’s sustainability ambitions, such as minimizing our carbon intensity. In particular, the latter is key for us, because we truly believe that Technology and AI can make a difference for the future of our society. I am personally happy and proud to see how much Air Liquide as a group keeps purpose at the center of our initiatives.

You mentioned AI being at the center of innovation. Where exactly do you position Artificial Intelligence within your strategy today?

B. Soussilane: At Air Liquide, our vision is that AI, like any major technology, must solve real business problems across the entire value chain. The true value of AI is maximized only when your underlying processes are well-defined. Luckily, we operate in a highly process-driven environment: AI implementation is thereby facilitated by our deep mastery of industrial processes. 

Our overarching AI vision rests on three main pillars. The first is maturity in data. We launched a massive data initiative more than ten years ago, entirely driven by business strategy, which today supports our operational dashboards and our central Data Portal. The second pillar is the deployment of our application landscape and the alignment of business processes, which gives us a clearer vision of AI's business potential. Soon, we will be implementing agentic AI to make different AI systems collaborate smoothly alongside our business processes, deliberately avoiding uncoordinated "mushrooming" of tech solutions. Finally, the third pillar is disruptive AI. Because we start from our value chain, we are exploring solutions that will fundamentally disrupt the business. It is a bit too early to share details, but we see immense potential.

Also, our tech-savvy culture is a true asset for the adoption of AI at all levels of the organization. Our approach relies on empowering our people, encouraging them to experiment and define how AI best contributes to the fulfillment of their specific missions. This is why all 65,000 of our employees have access to Gemini, Google's suite of generative AI tools, integrated into our Digital Workplace. Because we strongly believe that value lies in actual adoption, we are actively supporting our teams through a network of 800 internal AI champions who collaborate, create customized tools, and share best practices across the company. 

And, of course, all of this is done within a strong ethical framework, supporting our values: the development, deployment and use of AI systems within the Group is governed by an AI charter, which specifies the ethical principles behind it. This is how we build a sustainable and responsible AI ecosystem.

Given the rapid pace of digital innovation, what is Air Liquide’s philosophy regarding technological partnerships versus internal development?

B. Soussilane: Historically, Air Liquide's DNA has been built on mastering the entire value chain end-to-end. But the reality is that the digital and AI landscape is moving so fast that trying to master everything internally from end to end is no longer feasible; we realized we need to find the right balance. In digital, our approach is to be "fast-followers". We actively monitor and rapidly adopt the best solutions on the market so we can move incredibly fast and deliver tangible value. To achieve this, we rely on solid technological partners and software companies, including the major hyper-scalers. We establish mutually beneficial partnerships to get the best available technology, using an open approach that combines our internal expertise with top-tier external solutions like Google Workspace, SAP, and ServiceNow.

In essence, we maintain a strict focus on the real business needs and expectations of our customers, rather than adopting technology just for technology's sake. 

In which specific business areas or processes do you see the biggest potential for digital disruption?

B. Soussilane: First, we see immense potential for disruption inside IT itself. The very nature of our professions—development, system monitoring, cybersecurity, application maintenance, and hotline support—is currently being completely transformed by technology. Beyond IT, we see massive potential in business shared services, particularly for high-volume, transactional processes. All support functions are on the verge of total transformation. We have to face this reality: these professions are going to be totally disrupted. 

As I see it, either we drown, or we learn to surf. We can either try to over-regulate and lose productivity to those who are catching the wave, or we can face it head-on and actively empower our people and support them in this change. At Air Liquide, we clearly pursue the latter option.

Where do you stand in terms of implementing this digital strategy, and what are the critical success factors moving forward?

B. Soussilane: The most critical factor for success is maintaining our focus: setting clear objectives and delivering on them without distraction - of course, working hand in hand with the business, in order to maintain a strong connection to the reality of our operations.

We have made significant strides over the past two years, driven by a solid technological foundation and strong digital skills built over the years. We have undertaken numerous projects relating to organization, operating model and governance, which clarify and strengthen our role towards operations. We now have a solid global organization combining local business proximity and worldwide platforms. We are actively simplifying and converging our application landscape, and continuously adapting our "zero-trust" cybersecurity policies.

Ultimately, we have an incredible advantage: Air Liquide is a highly stable and resilient company that performs to the highest standards. The Group’s stability provides the perfect foundation to capture the full potential of AI and secure our digital future.