(00:02) Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to another Nacho Tuesday! Today, I have Brand here from Knowledge Anywhere. Without further ado, we’d love it if you could introduce your company and tell us what you do over there. (00:12) Hello, everyone, and thank you, Andy, for having me and Knowledge Anywhere here today. Knowledge Anywhere was founded in 1998. Our founder came from a large corporation and was frequently flying across the country for in-person training. At the time, he had small children and decided there had to be a better way. In the early days of the internet, he thought, “Let’s put this online and see how it goes.” Now, 25 years later, we’ve been fortunate to support many world-class organizations and meaningful opportunities over the years. I’m very happy to be part of this organization and all the great things we do to support our customers. (00:31) Awesome! Retaining knowledge is a big issue, especially for larger companies as they grow. What strategies would you recommend for retaining and organizing knowledge, particularly during high-growth stages? (00:38) I think it starts with building blocks. Positive outcomes always begin with a solid foundational plan. To use an analogy, in order to reach your destination, you first need to plan your route—where to stop for gas, refreshments, and so forth. The same applies to organizational knowledge transfer and retention. First, you need to know your audience, then establish what your business challenges are and what you're seeking to solve. Understand the root causes for failure or underperformance. Once you know these things, you can build a curriculum strategy that addresses where knowledge gaps may be contributing to challenges or missed opportunities. (01:34) It’s also important to understand what your KPIs are. For example, are you looking to increase sales or reduce customer service complaints? Once you’ve established your key metrics, you need an effective way to measure and report on them. If you’re looking to increase revenue, you might measure the impact of a sales curriculum and compare it against success rates. For instance, does a higher completion rate correlate with increased sales growth, higher assessment scores, or other metrics gathered through your training initiatives? (02:05) It’s also essential to remember that training is an evergreen process. It’s not a one-time event. It’s something that builds over time. (02:17) Definitely. How does Knowledge Anywhere help organizations tackle this problem? (02:22) We work with a wide range of customers, each with their own unique challenges. We often start by understanding their objectives and the problems they’re trying to solve. We set benchmarks and goals, then show them how our platform can gather data to track progress toward those goals. It’s about knowing where you’re starting, where you want to go, and everything in between, which becomes part of executing the plan. (02:54) What are some common challenges you see organizations face when trying to leverage LMS data for strategic decision-making? (03:00) It’s similar to what I mentioned earlier—understanding… (04:27) I think understanding business objectives is number one. If they don't understand their objectives, it's like throwing spaghetti at the wall—not paying attention to the data. Using a "set it and forget it" approach, where required training is put on the platform and then ignored, can lead to almost certain failure. Finally, not taking action is another issue. If you're not monitoring your training initiatives and making adjustments to adapt to changing circumstances, your program likely won’t be successful. If you don’t take the time to assess the effectiveness of your training against your business objectives, you’re unlikely to drive positive change or make progress toward your goals. (05:01) It's common for us to see companies with good or decent plans for implementing a learning platform and curriculum, but it’s less common to see organizations that have the stamina to maintain their training programs. My advice would be to put as much effort into the ongoing maintenance of your curriculum as you do into simply getting it established. (05:35) Yeah, it sounds like many people take a “set it and forget it” approach—just checking the box and leaving it at that. (05:40) Exactly, that can be a common issue. (05:45) So, how can organizations ensure their data is actionable? Do you have tips on how to structure that data to make it meaningful and actionable? (05:51) When I think about it, an LMS is part of an organization’s overall ecosystem of data. You’ll have learning data, but you'll also have sales metrics, customer support metrics, marketing metrics, and so forth. It’s about correlating these different data points to determine cause and effect. For example, is the product knowledge training you're delivering leading to fewer calls to customer support because customers are better informed? Or is your customer success team better equipped to solve problems because of the training? Gathering and connecting these data points is key to understanding whether your investment in training is yielding the outcomes you want to see. It also gives you a full picture of your business’s ecosystem. (06:44) For instance, if I deliver training that replicates the best performers in a role and share that with others, I can drive overall growth or positive impact in key areas of the business. (07:22) So, you're measuring top performers as an indicator of success for your learning programs. What other LMS metrics indicate an organization’s success with its Learning Management programs? (07:30) There are several metrics you can look at. Think of it like a pyramid, with the most basic metrics at the bottom and more specific ones at the top. At the base, you have participation: out of 100 people, are all 100 participating in required training? What are the completion rates? Are they completing their activities on time, or are they lapsing? Are they returning for ongoing training or recertifications? At the top, I focus on engagement. There’s a spectrum—on one end, people are participating just because they’re required to; on the other, they care, find value in the training, and see a positive impact on their job. (08:04) Indicators of engagement could include how much time they spend interacting with learning activities, whether they share their achievements on LinkedIn, or if they’re involved in any gamification, where they’re striving to reach benchmarks compared to others in similar roles. These are a few key LMS metrics that provide valuable insights. Some businesses have unique data points they want to gather, and our system allows for customizable fields that provide additional reporting opportunities, like tying information to specific regions, job roles, or skill sets. (08:41) Very interesting. You mentioned participation as a key factor. What motivational strategies do you recommend to get people excited about learning and actively participating? You mentioned gamification earlier, which gives people that rewarding feeling of achieving levels. Do you have other tips or tricks? (08:54) Yes, certifications and certificates are one way. People still like to have that virtual diploma to show they’ve achieved a milestone, especially for larger programs, not just mandatory training initiatives. We also use a badging system, which ties into gamification. There are level-up achievements, so people are motivated to complete training and earn those badges, which they can add to their email signature or display elsewhere. (09:14) Another important factor is how you market your training. If it’s just a top-down mandate—“This is mandatory, go do it”—the willingness won’t be there. But if you promote it as something that will help employees achieve company goals, which in turn can benefit them personally, for example through bonuses, it’s more appealing. Some companies also use point systems, where completing training earns points that can be cashed in for rewards. The approach depends on your audience—whether you're talking about employees or customers—but finding ways to motivate participation is key, rather than just demanding it. (09:49) Yeah, nobody likes to be told what to do. You end up with resistance that way. (09:54) Exactly. (09:58) So, how can LMS data help personalize learning experiences, and what impact does that have on business outcomes when you can tailor training to individuals? (10:05) I like this question because there are several layers to it. First, from an administrative perspective, you can personalize learners’ experiences by understanding who they are. Create learning paths specific to their job roles, skill sets, and your objectives for them. Avoid overwhelming them with unnecessary or irrelevant training content—that will just turn them off. You can also survey your audience to gather their opinions on the training. Are you hitting the mark, or do they need something different? Having that feedback loop is essential. (10:44) Another important aspect is continuously adapting to changing circumstances, which ties back to maintaining your curriculum over time. From a platform perspective, AI has become a buzzword, and we use intelligent recommendations. For example, people who take courses similar to yours may also take these courses, so we expose you to things you might not have known about. We can also provide interventions based on course performance. If you do poorly on a specific area of an assessment, we can direct you to targeted training rather than having you retake the entire course. (11:14) Finally, aligning skills to training activities is crucial. Someone can mark the skills they have and the ones they want to develop, and based on that gap, we can recommend courses. Breaking training into micro-courses is also key—no one wants to sit through hour-long sessions. They want quick, 10-minute "knowledge nuggets." (16:44) And that they can easily consume and move on from. And the last thing I would add to this is, with technology, there are a lot of opportunities to enable personalization, but I would say be cautious about relying too much on it. The real world has a lot of variables that algorithms can’t always account for. You don’t want to run the risk of alienating a user by creating distrust in what they're being provided or recommended. So, I think it takes a careful combination of both human-curated and system-assisted pieces. (17:22) Yeah, that’s a good point. Sometimes people want to rely too much on automation, and it lacks that personal touch if you depend on it too much. So, it sounds like a lot of people need to: 1) keep up to date, 2) figure out the motivation factors that get people to actually want to engage, 3) provide nugget-sized tasks so they can learn piece by piece instead of in bulk, and 4) personalize as much as possible to ensure people feel the training meets their needs and gives them the skills they want, rather than being forced to take some general test because their boss told them to. (18:23) Exactly. If I could interject one more thing—personalization is also achieved through empowering your learners. Help them drive their learning journey rather than having it be organization-driven. You can provide the required content and make it accessible, but let them explore and find the learning that suits their needs at the moment. For example, if you need to replace a sink fixture, you’re likely to go to YouTube or Google to find a solution. The same applies in corporate training—people are busy and need to find solutions to their problems quickly. Treat it as much as a job assistance tool as it is a knowledge transfer tool. (18:59) How important is executive participation? Nobody likes being told to do something they don’t see their peers or, more importantly, their bosses doing too. (19:33) Exactly. If leadership doesn’t support it, it’s hard to expect that everyone below them will be motivated. It comes back to leading by example. Those in charge should not only help explain why certain initiatives are important and what they’re meant to achieve but also practice what they preach. Everyone, even those at the top, can learn something new. So, leadership should engage with the training as well. (20:10) That’s a great point, and it ties back to the “set it and forget it” mentality that causes so many programs to fail. Having everyone in the organization actively involved and using the system encourages others to do the same. (20:41) Can you share any examples of organizations that have successfully aligned their LMS data with their business goals and achieved measurable ROI? (21:14) Sure. We have a well-known customer in the automotive industry. They target individuals responsible for automotive service, and part of their learning platform is geared towards high school students who might want to pursue a career in automotive service. This program is important because there’s a shortage of qualified labor in this industry. Over the past six years, participation has steadily grown among high school students. But the real measure of success isn’t just participation—it’s conversion. We've seen about a 50% annual increase in students being hired by the company after completing the program. It’s one of our biggest success stories. (22:27) That’s an impressive success story. So, what else should viewers know about your company, and why should they choose Knowledge Anywhere today? (23:05) Well, we’ve been around since 1998—over 25 years in the corporate learning industry. We’ve helped countless companies, both large and small, and we know how to support organizations of any size. We take pride in finding tailor-made solutions for our clients. While we license an industry-leading LMS platform, we also offer services like custom courseware development, off-the-shelf courseware, and consulting. Most of our customers have been with us for eight years or more, which speaks to the value we provide. (24:33) That ties back to what you said earlier about personalization—not using a cookie-cutter approach because each organization has different needs, and even within those organizations, individuals need personalized training. It sounds like you have a strong track record of success. What’s next for Knowledge Anywhere over the next five years? (25:02) First and foremost, we want to maintain the culture and values that have kept us successful for over 25 years. We’ll continue to put our customers first and provide value in everything we do. At the same time, we’ll keep innovating. We release new features and learning techniques several times a month, and we’re keeping an eye on emerging technologies like AI. But we’re taking a cautious approach—we want to ensure that any new tech we adopt truly adds value and doesn’t distract from the core principles of knowledge transfer. We want our solutions to remain human-centered. (26:48) I like that people-first approach, focusing on knowledge as something individuals seek to accomplish themselves. There’s only so much automation you can add. I also like how you're approaching AI as an enhancement tool rather than a replacement tool, which is how many successful organizations are implementing it. (27:14) Exactly. It comes down to personalizing knowledge and training for people. It’s important that it’s personalized, and we make sure to take that approach. (27:51) So, where can people learn more about Knowledge Anywhere and your services? (27:51) You can visit us at knowledgeanywhere.com or find us on LinkedIn. We’d love to talk to anyone interested in corporate learning. (28:19) Awesome! They're not just anywhere—they're at knowledgeanywhere.com. Everyone, please check out Knowledge Anywhere. You can also find them in the NachoNacho B2B SaaS Marketplace. Brent, it's been great having you on today. Thanks again! (28:51) Thanks, Andy, I appreciate it!