The landscape of corporate learning and development is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence. A recent Open eLMS discussion explored how established EdTech players are redefining their core identities, the surprising agility of small businesses in the AI talent war, and the critical need for structured AI implementation in organisations of all sizes. The conversation, featuring Open eLMS's Emil Reisser-Weston, delved into the strategic shifts and underlying challenges facing the sector, offering valuable insights for L&D managers, HR directors, and business leaders evaluating training solutions.
The Redefinition of Learning Companies in an AI-Driven World
The landscape of corporate learning and development is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence. A recent Open eLMS discussion explored how established EdTech players are redefining their core identities, the surprising agility of small businesses in the AI talent war, and the critical need for structured AI implementation in organisations of all sizes. The conversation, featuring Open eLMS's Emil Reisser-Weston, delved into the strategic shifts and underlying challenges facing the sector.
Key Takeaways from the Discussion:
- Identity Shift: Major EdTech companies are moving beyond the traditional "learning company" label, embracing broader concepts like "workforce enablement" and integrating AI and skills intelligence platforms to address the evolving needs of modern businesses.
- AI Monetisation Challenges: The path to monetising advanced AI tools, particularly agents, remains unclear for some large players, with significant revenue projections still years away. This raises questions about current value assessment and the true ROI for early adopters.
- SMB Agility: Small and medium-sized businesses are demonstrating remarkable agility and achieving measurable return on investment (ROI) by upskilling existing staff with targeted, role-specific AI training, proving that effective AI adoption isn't just for enterprise giants.
- The Structure Gap: A pervasive challenge for organisations of all sizes is the lack of a robust internal structure or "operating system" to effectively roll out, manage, and measure AI initiatives. This often leads to potential waste, inefficiency, and a struggle to demonstrate tangible benefits.
- Training Investment: Employee AI training is now the most common planned AI investment, yet many companies struggle to effectively measure the performance and impact of their deployed AI agents, highlighting a critical gap between investment and accountability.
- Rebranding vs. Reinvention: The re-labelling of established learning platforms as "workforce enablement systems" may reflect a strategic move to overcome existing product limitations or to re-package comprehensive learning management system (LMS) capabilities under a new, market-driven term, rather than a truly novel offering.
EdTech Giants Realign: Beyond the Learning Management System
The discussion opened by highlighting significant strategic shifts from two prominent names in the EdTech space: Decabo and Learning Pool. Decabo, a company that has significantly expanded its enterprise footprint, now sees large enterprise customers as the majority of its recurring revenue. Having acquired a French skills intelligence platform, it is bundling learning and skills to win contracts, particularly in government and healthcare. However, Open eLMS's Emil Reisser-Weston noted a striking detail: Decabo informed investors that meaningful revenue from its AI agent products isn't expected until the latter half of 2027.
Reisser-Weston questioned whether this long lead time reflects confidence in a future market or a sector still grappling with how to value and monetise AI. He suggested that large companies might find it challenging to maintain agility in a market where technology is evolving at a pace akin to a "tech stack reinventing itself every three months." This rapid change necessitates a flexible approach, a principle Open eLMS has long championed with its partnership model, avoiding long, restrictive contracts that can stifle innovation and adaptability for clients, ensuring they always have access to the latest advancements.
Learning Pool, another established provider, announced its official rebrand to "Confirm," launching what it calls a "workforce enablement system." The rationale is that learning, engagement, performance, and compliance are interconnected and should not reside in separate systems. Reisser-Weston drew parallels to the earlier "learning experience platform" (LXP) trend, suggesting that this rebranding might be a way to address limitations in existing learning management systems rather than introducing a fundamentally new category. He argued that a truly comprehensive LMS, like the Open eLMS LMS, already offers extensive capabilities for skills analysis, personnel management, learning creation, and overall learning management, negating the need for a new label to describe these integrated functions. Open eLMS has been providing a one-supplier solution for learning and development since 2003, ensuring all these critical functions are seamlessly integrated from the start.
Small Businesses: The Unsung Heroes of the AI Talent War
New research from General Assembly, discussed in the podcast, revealed that small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are making significant strides in AI adoption. These companies are investing heavily in AI skills and, crucially, are already seeing a tangible return on their AI investments. Their strategy primarily involves upskilling existing employees with role-specific training, rather than relying on expensive external hires or consultants. This approach, Reisser-Weston observed, highlights the agility inherent in smaller organisations and their ability to quickly adapt to new technologies.
Despite their success, even these leading SMBs often allocate more of their AI budget to tools than to training the people who will use them. Reisser-Weston cautioned against this imbalance, stressing that companies, regardless of size, are wasting substantial funds on AI implementation due to a lack of structured development. He explained that many organisations are developing AI projects in silos, without integrating them into a broader infrastructure that allows for widespread deployment and increased productivity – a common pain point for L&D managers.
His solution is a robust "operating system" for AI development – a structured process that governs how AI initiatives are conceived, developed, and rolled out across an organisation. Open eLMS, for instance, employs an internal system that ensures every prompt is automatically trained and validated, drastically reducing token usage and enabling cost-effective AI deployment. This structured approach, he argued, is essential for large businesses to overcome their inherent hurdles and for all companies to maximise their AI spend, driving real ROI and improving employee performance.
The Paradox of AI Training: High Investment, Low Measurement
A report from Liferay underscored another critical point for corporate training: investment in employee AI training is now the single most common planned AI investment for the year ahead, even surpassing investment in the AI agents themselves. This indicates a clear recognition of the human element in successful AI adoption. However, the report also found a significant paradox: while over half of companies are running AI agents in some form, three-quarters cannot effectively measure whether these agents are actually working.
Reisser-Weston reiterated that this inability to measure effectiveness directly links back to the lack of a proper structure or "operating system." He emphasised that AI itself is exceptionally good at data analysis. By having a well-defined operating system, organisations can automatically track key metrics – from employee output and marketing material effectiveness to overall return on investment – which would otherwise be tedious and time-consuming to calculate manually. Such a system not only provides clear metrics for effective AI deployment but also enables continuous improvement of quality, helping L&D leaders demonstrate the true value of their initiatives.
He acknowledged that for larger companies, whose foundational structures are often deeply historical, weaving in new AI frameworks can be complex. If the existing structure is already unsound, simply adding AI agents without addressing underlying systemic issues will not yield the desired results. The key, therefore, lies in establishing a foundational process and an operating system that can integrate and measure AI effectively, transforming potential chaos into tangible, measurable outcomes and ensuring compliance and performance improvements.
The Path Forward: Agility, Structure, and Smart Investment
The discussions consistently circled back to a central theme: the EdTech sector is at a pivotal moment. While large players grapple with redefining their identities and monetising nascent AI capabilities, smaller, more agile businesses are demonstrating how to achieve real ROI from AI by focusing on people and process. The overarching message is clear: successful navigation of this new landscape requires more than just adopting new tools; it demands a strategic approach to structure, training, and measurement.
Organisations must move beyond siloed AI projects and invest in comprehensive operating systems that enable efficient development, deployment, and, crucially, the measurement of AI initiatives. This ensures that every investment in AI, whether in tools or training, contributes directly to improved performance and a clear return on investment, addressing the core goals of L&D and HR professionals.
Empower Your Workforce with Open eLMS
Are you ready to embrace the future of corporate learning with an agile, AI-powered solution? Open eLMS offers a comprehensive, one-supplier solution designed to meet the evolving demands of modern L&D. Our cloud-based Open eLMS LMS provides everything from complete personnel management and skills monitoring to custom reporting with Power BI integration, ensuring you have the structure and insights needed for effective training and compliance.
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Discover how Open eLMS can help your organisation navigate the complexities of AI in L&D, drive measurable ROI, and empower your workforce for the future. As an established leader in EdTech since 2003, we are your trusted partner in transforming workplace learning. Visit https://www.openelms.com to learn more and explore the best corporate LMS solution for your business.