Podcast | Does HR Need To Say No More? Shared Services And Being Bold – Emma Leonis
Author:
Gary
PUBLISHED ON:
April 7, 2021
June 26, 2023
PUBLISHED IN:
Podcast
If HR just said no a little more often, could they prioritise better? What if they shared the workload by collaborating with other departments? And how can they convince business leaders to take the journey with them?
Emma not only talked us through these key stakeholder questions, but explained where HR is now, where it’s headed and what it can do in the meantime. Including the role of HR shared services and the employee HR experience.
Emma Leonis is HR Transformation Executive Director at LACE Partners, helping companies transform their HR function, drive adoption and initiate change.
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Running order
1:40 > Is HR trying too hard to be everything to all people? 3:26 > How can other departments share the HR load? 5:37 > The current HR shared services model. 6:53 > Key drivers of the model’s disruption. 8:05 > How do you change the structure of HR? 10:07 > How this changes skill requirements in the people function. 11:41 > Lessons from other shared services. 13:51 > Contact your way and self-service approach: The push and pull balance. 16:46 > Lean and agile principles – application in the people function. 18:50 > How do you bring leaders on that journey? 20:49 > How people functions can better measure employee experiences. 23:00 > What is ‘people purpose’? 26:10 > Quickfire questions.
Five lessons learnt from this episode
Prioritising HR and sharing the workload with other departments
HR can let its desire to care for and help internal customers do the right thing become a case of getting into the weeds of something that somebody else is responsible for. That might prevent them doing other things to the best of their ability and prioritise the right tasks and projects. However, the pandemic forced a lot of teams to be more ruthless and the challenge will be in resisting old habits when normality resumes.
What might help is becoming a better partner to the rest of the business and understanding if they’re doing the things we’re expecting them to do. If not, why? When we’re asking them do things or collaborate on projects, we need to find the balance.
Emma also discussed ideas like gaining marketing help in attracting talent, given their skill set and understanding of the brand values or identity. There’s plenty we can learn from other departments and in this case, HR can understand branding principles and align better with company goals and values.
Experience is driving the disruption of the HR shared services model
It’s about considering how people want to contact you: where do they go when they have a query or issue? How can they find information for themselves? But it’s important not to forget the human in HR when you support people through a shared services model. Think about their capabilities and preferences, but keep the human touch in there as you automate and go digital.
Changing the structure of HR
It’s not really about roles and structures of the department but how you create networks and conversations across the business. That helps you drive a culture of listening and continuous improvement activity. It also breaks down the walls of those silos that you find HR pros, business partners and Chief Operating Executives working in. Business connectivity is the name of the game, especially as the traditional roles and setups evolve to automate more and more.
Similarly, a listening culture needs good listeners! People with emotional intelligence, and that’s one skill change that’s being driven in the people function. Employees need to feel like you get them, and that you demonstrate the integrity to do the right thing for them.
Striking the balance between push and pull in your content
You can push out loads of content, but it might not get traction. This isn’t the moment to mope, it’s the time to ask why because sometimes less really is more. Once you send out content, remember to collect feedback around how helpful it was and how easy it was to access. Sometimes you’ll have amazing resources that people can’t find, meaning you’re not pushing it out through a mechanism that works. By the same token, if you’re not asking questions then you won’t truly understand the pull.
Avoid the temptation to put something out there and move right onto the next thing. And even if you do collect the metrics, go deeper than the KPIs and ask questions around whether people liked it and how often it was used. This will paint a clearer picture of the why, not just how content is used.
How do you bring leaders on an HR journey?
With success stories. Which stories do you already have that will show value and can be easily shared with leaders? You have to help them understand what’s in it for themand these help! Creating advocates is another great way, you might find some lower down the chain who influence people further up. You might also win over somebody who’s resistant to change and if you can convince them, you’ll have a very strong player in your corner.
[00:00:00] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:00:00] Work is changing. The question is, are you? Welcome to 99 Problems But Work Ain’t One, the new podcast series from HowNow that will help you prepare for the fast changing world of work. I’m your host Nelson Sivalingam, and I’ll be talking to disruptive startups, contrarian thinkers, global leaders, and real game changers and asking them the burning questions about the challenges we face at work from scaling cultures and adopting technology.
[00:00:28] To improving wellbeing and building fast learning organisations that are prepared for the future of work. We get the insights, tactics, and actionable nuggets of knowledge to put to work. Hello, and welcome to the show. In this week’s episode, I’m joined by Emma Leonis, HR transformation guru at LACE Partners. Having recently published their future of HR shared services.
[00:00:51] Whitepaper. It was ideal timing for Emma to talk to us about HR today, where it’s heading and what it can do in the meantime. We [00:01:00] discuss a whole range of topics, how HR teams can say no more often and to prevent doing too much. How they can collaborate to bring others on their journey and how to prioritise the human in human resources when creating an incredible employee experience.
[00:01:15] And that’s just scratching the surface. Here’s my absolutely fascinating conversation with Emma. Um, I’m super excited to have this. We were just talking about it before we started recording. We only ever seem to speak on a webinar or a podcast, never had a normal coffee. So we’ll have to do that when the world goes back to any kind of normality.
[00:01:34] Emma Leonis: [00:01:34] We will! Probably multiple coffees to make up for the number of virtual sessions that we’ve had.
[00:01:39] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:01:39] Right. So let’s kick off with, I know, just over a year ago, I remember reading your HR on the offensive research piece. Um, and one of the things that stood out for me is you said, HR was trying too hard to be everything for kind of all people. What did you mean by that?
[00:01:58] Emma Leonis: [00:01:58] Yeah. Um, so I guess [00:02:00] just as a people function and, you know, HR and L&D professionals loving what we do about our jobs. We care about our customers. So our internal customers, employees, line managers, business leaders, and we want by nature to do the right thing. Um, which sometimes means that we do things perhaps that we shouldn’t be doing.
[00:02:18] I.E. we get into the weeds because we want to help, but actually it’s someone else’s responsibility to do that, but we see it as the right thing to support. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I guess it poses a challenge then when you think about, can we do everything to the right standard that we want to, and what are our priorities, um, and kind of when we were looking at that and then thinking about it with the HR directors as part of that research, I guess it wasn’t really the challenge of.
[00:02:43] We don’t know what we should be doing. It was how do we prioritise that? That was the challenge. It is. When do you say no? And how do you say no in a supportive way?
[00:02:52] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:02:52] And that was like just over a year ago. Do you think things are still the same today?
[00:02:56] Emma Leonis: [00:02:56] Yeah, well, it’s a really interesting question. Um, [00:03:00] I think the past year in particular, given the pandemic has probably actually forced us to prioritise and whether we’ve done that consciously or subconsciously, I think we had no choice, but to be a little bit more ruthless, um, and selective, perhaps as HR practitioners and as businesses as a whole.
[00:03:17] But I guess my one worry with that would be. Let’s not fall back into our old norms and our old behaviours when things get a little bit more stable in the future.
[00:03:26] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:03:26] And kind of one of the other things you talk about is kind of sharing that load with other departments and other departments stepping up and taking on some of the responsibilities.
[00:03:35] So you can kind of clear out the noise and HR can focus on what matters. In what ways do you think other departments could share that HR load.
[00:03:46] Emma Leonis: [00:03:46] Yeah. Um, really, really interesting one to think about. Um, and I remember I was sort of playing devil’s advocate with myself a little bit when we were writing that report and, and thinking about it. think one of the things I said was, you know, should operations, for [00:04:00] example, take over a lot of the admin that HR does today.
[00:04:03] So wherever possible, clearly we want to digitise and automate, but the other pieces that are pretty routine and transactional admin could ops to do it? If it’s about operational excellence, et cetera. Um, so that is an option. Um, I don’t necessarily think that’s the right model for everyone at all. Um, another thing would be what actually, you know, could we perhaps partner with, you know, the business better?
[00:04:26] The business, are they doing what we’re expecting them to do? Um, if they’re not, why is that? This isn’t a case of saying, well, you should be doing that. So I’m gonna lob this over the fence to you and giving things that way. Because that just won’t fly. Actually it will have the adverse reaction to that. Um, but it’s about, I guess, Finding the right balance when we’re asking the business to do things and maybe there’s something around marketing.
[00:04:48] Um, if we think about, um, attracting talents, you know, into the function as much as also the business as a whole, clearly HR has a big, big role to play in that from a talent attraction and an AVP [00:05:00] standpoint, but we’ve got marketeers in all of our businesses. That’s their day job to get the brand out there, get it, you know, when established, make it resonate.
[00:05:09] And then the customer lends to that. Could they perhaps play more of a support role with us in some of those things?
[00:05:14] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:05:14] I guess your more recent research into the kind of future of hatred shared services is an extension of this idea, or kind of eliminating those silos, dropping the walls and bringing more kind of collaboration across the business.
[00:05:30] And so to really kind of leverage those skills and capabilities that you all already might have in the organisation. So t to start off with, set the scene for me. What is the current HR shared services model, what does that currently look like?
[00:05:46] Emma Leonis: [00:05:46] Oh, it varies by organisation Nelson.
[00:05:48] There isn’t a one size fits all as you know. Um, but I guess kind of what really came through was that a lot of organisations have moved to ORIC. Um, so they do have a shared service model in some shape or [00:06:00] form. Be that, that they maybe have local admin teams in the business units or, or in the local markets.
[00:06:06] That are perhaps more of a virtual network. If I call it that, um, within shared services or other organisations have centralised a lot of activities. So there’s a formal one team of, of, of shared services. Sometimes that’s in one physical location or one or two, three hubs – the challenge now is actually, does it need to be.
[00:06:26] Given that we can all work remotely, that actually has opportunities for new talent. Um, and then I think, you know, what really came through as well was whilst organisations are exploring the use of digital, um, the, you know, new services that perhaps can come into shared services as well. Um, they also still need to make sure that they get the basics right.
[00:06:45] Yeah. It’s that age old dilemma of how do you balance more whilst doing the same thing really well, because you’ve only got so much capacity.
[00:06:53] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:06:53] And so that kind of leads us nicely to talking about what are the key drivers that are kind of [00:07:00] causing this model to change and be disruptive?
[00:07:03] Emma Leonis: [00:07:03] A number of them.
[00:07:04] Um, probably one of the biggest ones and we talk about it quite a lot and it is a bit of a buzz word, but it doesn’t mean it’s not important. It really is, it’s experience. Um, I know it’s something that you and I have talked about before. Um, and obviously thinking about what HowNow does, it’s all about, you know, how do you empower experience through, through learning?
[00:07:21] Um, so if you think about experience it’s well, you know, what is it, how do I want to contact someone to get an answer to my query or my issue, or just to basically do something for myself, um, and shared services, linking to tier zero tends to be the start of that journey. So definitely trends there around how do you optimise that channel strategy?
[00:07:41] What does contact your way mean? What does experience mean for you and how do you design an experience through your shared service model? That thinks about capabilities, thinks about emotion, intelligence of how you support individuals, that kind of human touch and balancing human with automation and digitisation.
[00:08:00] [00:08:00] As well, we’re seeing a lot more of that and not the getting the, the human, uh, in HR, so to speak.
[00:08:04] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:08:04] So break it down for me in terms of changing the structure of HR? We are we saying, are we splitting it in a way where we’ve gone? Kind of a HR person is sitting in every function and is kind of tailoring the requirements to that particular part of the business.
[00:08:22] I guess that’s what you tried to do with the kind of HR business partner, which is quite contentious. Some people like, but what does that actually look like in terms of a structure?
[00:08:31] Emma Leonis: [00:08:31] Yeah. So in quite a few organizations. They may have come from that legacy world. As you’ve said, having someone who is that point of contact in the business that may be doing a generalist work and some strategic work.
[00:08:45] And then all of the admin work was in, within shared services. But if you automate more and more and more, which organisations are doing, and it’s the right thing to do, um, with that balance of human, as I said, you then elevate the role that your legacy shared service, [00:09:00] kind of tier one/tier two resource can play are your advisors so they can take on more activities, new services, maybe like health and safety, for example, in some organisations, um, it could be that they’re even, you know, looking at owning the brand element of recruitment within shared services.
[00:09:18] I’ve seen that in some organisations. So, if they’re doing that equally, there’s the question of with your business partners, that role should continue to be strategic, but therefore fewer in number. How do you keep that business line of sight and connectivity? And I think that’s one of the challenges with.
[00:09:35] The model of HR and a lot of organizations at the moment is you’ve got business partners, you’ve got shared services and you’ve got COEs and they may not all be doing brilliant things individually, but because they are individual teams, there is a propensity that they work in silos and you lose that end to end line of sight of delivering the service to the customer and maintaining that business relationship.
[00:09:56] So for me, actually, it’s not about really the roles you have in the structure of them. [00:10:00] It’s how do you create the networks and the connections and conversations? Promote that listening and continuous improvement activity.
[00:10:07] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:10:07] How do you think this changes the skill requirements for people who are working within the people function?
[00:10:13] Um, you know, because if it’s changing their roles and responsibilities, how is it changing what a HR person should know or have in terms of skills?
[00:10:22] Emma Leonis: [00:10:22] Yeah. Um, and this is a really hard one for me to answer, because I know one of the things on your quickfire questions not to preempt it necessarily. It was what was the one skill and there isn’t just one.
[00:10:31] Um, we’ve talked a lot in the past about, um, thinking particularly about business partners or people consultants, as I’d like to perhaps now reframe that role to being much more data and insights savvy. That’s still a given in my opinion. Um, actually when you think about what really matters to the majority of people in the organisation, from an experience standpoint, it’s having someone who gets them, who will listen and will do the right thing.
[00:10:57] Um, so that I guess comes down to kind of [00:11:00] that emotional intelligence kind of, um, mindset that you might have or behavior that you might have. I think there’s also elements around integrity. So doing the right thing, but also saying no. More which comes back to your first question around, are we trying to be all things to all people?
[00:11:16] Um, and the integrity is a massive one for every part of the HR function, but particularly I think for business partners, to be able to say No and, and to do that with justification and curious thinking. Yeah, that’s a really interesting one too. You know, do you need process experts or actually, do you need more curious thinkers?
[00:11:34] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:11:34] It’s a skill that’s coming up a lot, right? It’s a fundamental skill for all parts of the business, to be curious. Interestingly with this kind of shared services model, what are the kind of lessons you can learn from other shared services like finance or marketing or customer service? Are there any lessons we can take from that?
[00:11:53] Emma Leonis: [00:11:53] Yeah, I definitely think so. Nelson, I think, um, particularly from marketing and customer service, um, and an operations [00:12:00] with marketing and customer services to start with for me, that’s, you know, that back to that brand piece, that’s so clear what a great experience looks like for them. Um, I remember speaking to an organisation.
[00:12:12] As part of the research and the shared services is paper and, and asking them, so what are your five brand pillars? And they told me, they told me what they were and I said, okay. So actually, does HR know about these? And, and are they translating them? Because they were really simple, but really powerful.
[00:12:28] And therefore, why would we not be thinking about starting to align. You know, the brand pillars in marketing and customer services, into other functions, um, you know, in HR, et cetera. And then operations operations are typically, um, in shared services, really good at that operational execution.
[00:12:48] Um, but again, operational execution should never be in my opinion, at the expense of doing the right thing. Um, the person who we’re supporting. So it’s about having that balance of brilliant basics, [00:13:00] um, and kind of measures that support that, but sometimes not worrying if you miss a KPI. Because if you’ve missed a KPI, but the outcome for the end user was even better than it could have possibly been if you’d
[00:13:11] had a green KPI actually, this the right thing to do so don’t deem yourself too much in that regard.
[00:13:19] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:13:19] I definitely see that even from what we do. I mean, it seems simple to say there’s a lot, we can learn from each other, but the idea of, you know, when you’re deploying a new bit of software into an organisation.
[00:13:31] You probably have a product marketing person, depending on the type of business you are. Who’s got great expertise on how to drive adoption and engagement and very rarely are they involved as a part of that implementation process, really kind of tapping into, again, those kind of collective skills and knowledge that you might have in the organisation.
[00:13:50] Another one, at HowNow, that we can definitely relate to is one of the points you make. And you mentioned this earlier is that whole [00:14:00] idea of contact your way and the kind of social service approach is becoming even more popular, um, within HR. How do you strike the right balance between the kind of push and pull approach
[00:14:12] Emma Leonis: [00:14:12]
[00:14:13] Yeah. Yeah. And I think that is a tough one to strike a balance on, um, because you could be pushing loads of content out there, but it’s just not getting traction. And therefore the question is why, um, and I think for me, it’s actually starting to ask that question. Well, why and listen to what people are saying.
[00:14:33] So in striking that balance, sometimes less is more. So try something, get feedback on it, like with the content that you might be pushing out in the learning space for an example, and actually have people rate that. One, how easy was it to access? Two, how relevant was it for you?
[00:14:49] You know, if you’ve got any suggestions for the future, as an example, um, the same with other content you might have. I tend to find that when I work with organisations, they have so much content and it’s not [00:15:00] that the content’s the issue, sometimes it’s just, I couldn’t find it. So you’re pushing it out there, but you’re not pushing out through a mechanism that works for someone.
[00:15:09] So that pull needs to be there, but you don’t know the pull unless you ask the questions to enable you to understand what it is someone wants. And I think that’s back to that curious and questioning mindset that we need more of, I think, in the function and not just assume.
[00:15:23] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:15:23] This might be unfair and a leading question, but you know, there are hypotheses around, this is the reason why issues like this go on for so long in terms of content.
[00:15:32] That’s not widely use, is typically because no one’s measuring the kind of effect of it. And you know, the data is completely missing. So, you know, out of sight, out of mind, I don’t know out there, I couldn’t tell you. Do you find that as a case or what are the other reasons for ending up in a situation like that?
[00:15:50] Emma Leonis: [00:15:50] I think that’s a big one. Um, because I think it’s one of those things where we do something, we put it out there. We’ll move on to the next piece and out of sight, out of mind sometimes. Um, it’s probably [00:16:00] not because we don’t want to ask the question, how effective was it, but another priority has come up and there’s only so many hours in the day.
[00:16:07] Um, and you know, in the report. I asked one of those questions. I said, so how do you measure the effectiveness of what you do? And a lot of the time it was KPIs around throughput times, contact resolution and CSAP or NPS, um, from an experience side, which is all very well and good, but go deeper than that.
[00:16:29] Just ask the basic question of, did you like it thumbs up, thumbs down, um, you know, look at the volumes. How often was it used? When was it last updated? Um, Yeah, I think the measurement is a big piece and not having the time to do it. Um, we can’t make excuses though.
[00:16:46] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:16:46] And why don’t you think, you know, I can see there’s a growing conversation around applying lean and agile principles to the way you do things within the people function yet.
[00:16:56] you know, typically we still see organisations [00:17:00] who. You might talk about lean and our job, but actually it’s still the big bang. Let’s roll this out. You know, where is that gap? And what’s kind of fueling that gap between where we are of these principles. And we’re probably applying it effectively in other parts of the business, but what’s stopping us from applying it within the people function.
[00:17:17] Emma Leonis: [00:17:17] [00:17:18] I think some of that mindset, I really do think it is. Um, now HR, and again, this is me generalising and not everyone will agree with me, but I do think there are elements of HR. The practitioners can tend to revert to their comfort zone of process compliance and by its nature that doesn’t encourage, you know, creative thinking.
[00:17:39] So there’s something around the mindset and therefore the people that we have in HR and that, you know, the backgrounds they come from and how open they are to that kind of thing. Um, I also think sometimes we have inertia. It’s like, it’s not that we don’t want to do small things, but we just think, Oh, if I do that, what if it fails?
[00:17:58] If I chunk this thing up and I say there’s five [00:18:00] parts to it, and I’m going to do one by one versus wait till the end to do the big bang thing. If part, one fails with my stakeholder group, the culture and our organisation is a blame culture. So. That might not work. And again, it’s a generaliaation, but I do think there’s something in that.
[00:18:13] And again, it comes back to the behaviour of being bold sometimes to not be afraid to do something, or don’t even ask for permission, just do it by stealth. If it’s a small, incremental piece. Do it by stealth. The likelihood is that it’ll probably get good feedback if it doesn’t, you can manage it as long as it’s not something that’s really going to cause problems like no one gets paid, then I think there’s something in there.
[00:18:37] But to me, it’s the mindset, piece, mindset behaviours. And therefore that comes down to the right people in the teams and where we’ve got them from.
[00:18:44] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:18:44] I’m really going off schedule here, Emma. So apologies, but I’m interested to find out how do you bring your kind of senior stakeholders on that journey? Right. Like, um, incredible people leaders who really want to change the way they do things, incredible [00:19:00] ideas.
[00:19:00] Um, but they need to convince the powers above and bring them on this journey. You know, what, what have you seen obviously, as a part of. Your day to day is working in kind of HR transformation, digital transformation, best ways of bringing new senior stakeholders on the journey with you.
[00:19:18] Emma Leonis: [00:19:18] Yeah, I think it’s a couple of things that spring to mind.
[00:19:20] Um, one of the first ones is we’ve probably already got some really great success stories. That we have and that we could share. We just might not know about them. So go and find those success stories and really kind of be bold and, and communicate those outs. I think also then there’s something around, um, helping people, particularly on the business side, kind of understand what’s in it for them.
[00:19:45] Why things are really, really important to change. Um, and again, telling that story, which is, this is what I need to do. This is why you’re not asking to change everything all in one go. Sometimes that’s going to mean having a tough conversation. Um, if you can [00:20:00] find people in that business leadership group, or maybe even two or three levels down within the organization beneath them that are change advocates.
[00:20:08] Use them to help promote what you want to do and maybe pilot something just in that particular small group to get you that success story, to then help with the more senior conversation. Again, that senior leader might not even know that you’ve done it and it was a success. And it’s like, Oh my gosh, brilliant.
[00:20:24] Let’s do more of that. Tell me more about it. Or on the flip side of that. Sometimes if you can win over someone who is extremely resistant to change. They can then become your biggest advocates, but that’s the harder move to make and probably takes a bolder leader than some of the other suggestions that I’ve asked.
[00:20:43] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:20:43] Ask for forgiveness, not permission. That’s what you’re saying.
[00:20:49] One of the other interesting data points you add, which is fascinating, which was while 76% had operational measures in place. Only 48% were collecting data [00:21:00] on the employee experience, which says a lot. Right wich says a lot about what’s happening because if you’re not measuring it, you’re not managing it.
[00:21:07] Um, so what can, um, I guess the people functions do to be better at measuring the employee experience?
[00:21:17] Emma Leonis: [00:21:17] Yeah, I think for me, what was quite interesting was when I dealt into sort of what people were doing to get feedback whilst a lot of organisations perhaps may have not had the formal measures, hence that 48%.
[00:21:33] Statistic, you know, around calculating NPS, for example, a lot of them had mechanisms in place as feedback loops to get feedback. So it’s sometimes the anecdotal data that can be as powerful as a thumbs up thumbs down, or a one star to five star rating on content. Or, um, you might have that as an overall question.
[00:21:55] How helpful was I today with, with your query? Because a one or a [00:22:00] five, they tell you a good or you’re bad, but it’s the why. So that anecdotal data, those conversations, they are probably the most powerful. Um, so use the networks that you might have, you might have. Um, an experience forum that you could set up this, you know, a handful of individuals from different parts of the business that are just passionate about changing things and then doing the right thing, get them together, ask them to become your, your voice on the ground.
[00:22:24] You’ll have business partners who will be playing that role, make sure they share that feedback in the HR leadership team meetings, meetings with their shared service teams and counterparts. Bring that feedback back to the business to say, I’ve heard this is this correlating with what you’re expecting. So for me, that was quite important actually.
[00:22:42] And, and a bit of a revelation that we have actually a lot of information there. It’s just combining volume data, um, operational measures, the formal experience measures with that anecdotal information to get that end to end view of what’s working and what’s not,.
[00:22:58] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:22:58] yeah, completely agree. [00:23:00] One of the things I wanted to touch on was I love at LACE Partners.
[00:23:03] You, you talk about people purpose and, and so you know, what is people purpose really?
[00:23:12] Emma Leonis: [00:23:12] Big, big question.
[00:23:19] I mean, that, that it means different things to different people. It, it really, really does. Um, I mean when I was thinking about this, I guess at the end of the day, it’s what does it look like and feel like to work in your organisation? You know, we go to work because we want to feel fulfilled by what we’re doing.
[00:23:36] And we want to know that we’re giving value, which through what we’re doing, and everybody has different ways as to what that means for them. No one person is the same. So that purpose piece, um, comes down to, I think, an element of, you know, what are your values as well. So if you’re saying that you are authentic, that you’re open, that you care and care is one of our values at LACE. That sounds sort of fluffy.
[00:23:59] Um, [00:24:00] in some respects it is, but it’s really integral because it means. We listen to people, that we act on what you said, that we want to do the right thing. Um, and integrity for us is part of that care element, um, and defining people purpose is kind of easy. You know, you could just come up with, with anything that sort of sounds sensible, but living it.
[00:24:21] And really delivering it, I think is more of the challenge. Like walking the walk, talking the talk, so to speak. Um, so it’s less about kind of, what is people purpose for me? I think it is. How do you deliver that people purpose, which goes back to that, listening, the acting, that engaging piece.
[00:24:37] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:24:37] Have you come across organisations that you’ve worked at or examples where you think, you know, they’ve really come up with great people purpose and really executed it well.
[00:24:46] Do you have examples of what that, what good looks like.
[00:24:50] Emma Leonis: [00:24:50] Yeah, like, um, I can’t give you kind of precise example because it, I can’t think of it specifically top of my head in terms of the quote, but I’ve worked with a number of pharmaceutical [00:25:00] organisations, for example, um, the same as healthcare providers.
[00:25:04] Now, they, what they do is all about making people healthier, improving people’s lives. Um, and that is such a clear purpose as a business that then it’s so translatable back into the organisations like we want to make the way that you work really powerful and engaging, be the best that you can be so that we can help our people that we serve.
[00:25:25] So customers, you know, in the care homes or, or be that, that you’re working again to create, you know, drugs for people. That we can then make that better for them. Um, so they tend to be really, really strong in that and have very clear employee value propositions. That aren’t just about how this is a branding kind of effort, because there is an element of that sometimes I think, and it’s important because your value proposition should be linked to your brand, but it’s more than just that.
[00:25:49] It’s about what can you get from working here? What can you expect? And then what do we expect from you? And what’s that exchange, I guess if those values together.
[00:25:57] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:25:57] Yeah, I think it’s a good way of [00:26:00] almost giving the people function, focus, and, and it helps them probably come up with the North star metrics that they should be looking at delivering that value prop.
[00:26:08] Yeah, definitely see that. All right. Now we go to, my favorite part where I’m going to fire some questions at you relatively quickly, and you’re going to give me answers, relatively quickly. And so, as I mentioned earlier, um, let’s start with what’s the most important skill a HR manager needs.
[00:26:29] Emma Leonis: [00:26:29] Can I have more than one because I can’t possibly just choose one.
[00:26:34] Um, so I would say integrity because that’s for every role in HR. Um, and I would also probably say curious thinker, so I’ll be a bit different to the norm. I’m not going to say data insights, that kind of stuff. To me, that’s a given. curious thinker and an innovator and integrity.
[00:26:51] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:26:51] You’ve obviously got a lot of experience in seeing through HR and transformation projects.
[00:26:57] Um, what are the top reasons [00:27:00] why these transformation projects fail?
[00:27:03] Emma Leonis: [00:27:03] I think you hit the nail on the head earlier, actually Nelson with one or two of your questions, which was about that business engagement. So, you know, HR sometimes thinks. This is what we need to do. This is why, and just full steam ahead roll, you know, railroads and, and goes through that process.
[00:27:18] But you’ve got to keep checking back with the business because you’re ultimately trying to do something to help with outcomes they’re looking to achieve. Business engagement is one, I’d say also employee engagement linked to that too. So the leadership piece and then the lower levels in the organisation and trying to do too much.
[00:27:34] So yeah, that big bang element versus incremental change.
[00:27:38] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:27:38] Just getting off schedule again, do you find in some of these transformative projects, they might even get the senior stakeholders engaged, but you often don’t get, um, the end users that involved. Do you find that in your experience as well?
[00:27:53] Emma Leonis: [00:27:53] Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I’m seeing more and more now a recognition that there needs to be that, you know, proper voice [00:28:00] of the customer input into the design of an HR transformation program. Um, which I guess she could kind of frame as experience set design and transformation which is brilliant to see, but it’s all very well again, doing that in design.
[00:28:13] For me, it’s about constantly going back to those groups that you’ve formed to input design and stress testing, as you go through, you know, again, back to that kind of point of don’t wait till the very end to make sure it’s right. Let’s use this agile iterative approach and those groups that we had keep going back to them, use them post, go live as part of continuous improvement.
[00:28:33] And so definitely seeing more recognition of that, which is really powerful to see.
[00:28:39] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:28:39] I work in the people function. I’m listening to this podcast. Tell me one tactic. I can apply tomorrow when I go in and to improve the employee experience at my company.
[00:28:53] Emma Leonis: [00:28:53] Ooh, let’s a quick fire question. I feel like I should give you a quick fire answer. Um, probably goes back to that curiosity point, [00:29:00] which is actually, I’ve got two, one is to ask, why are we doing something? Do we have a clear outcome we’re looking to achieve for someone asked for it and what are we trying to do?
[00:29:11] And then also the second one would be to listen. So just to stop and actually listen, go and speak to someone you’ve not spoken to you before. Might just be you just decide to put a random catch-up in with someone, ask them, then just listen to them, ask them a simple question and just listen to that.
[00:29:28] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:29:28] Yeah. It’s one of our values. Emma. We have two ears and one mouth for a reason. It’s to listen more than we speak. So then what’s one HR trend that you really think is going to blow up over the kind of next year or two.
[00:29:42] Emma Leonis: [00:29:42] Yeah, I think, um, and given, I’m talking to you, some people might say I’m a little bit biased here, but I definitely think there’s something in the learning and talent space for sure.
[00:29:52] Um, that there’s two lenses of it. To me. There’s, we’ve talked quite a lot about the need for new skills. In, in businesses, [00:30:00] digital being one of those, but there’s loads of different new skills that we’re going to need in the next year, as much as the next five years from now. So it’s, you know, where do you get those skills from and, and how do you develop them?
[00:30:10] Um, I think, you know, Gartner in the 2021 HR party survey, I think said that. Maybe 70% of HR professionals said for them that actually enhancing critical skills and competencies was a big priority this year. So that definitely, for me, is part of that talent and development piece, which leads on to the learning element of that, which is you can’t keep buying talent from everywhere.
[00:30:31] Because there’s only a finite skills pool from which to source talent. So I think, yes, last year, a lot of organizations had to move their onboarding, their learning, their development to digital because of the pandemic, but we’re going to have to focus much more, I think, on what is the right learning strategy?
[00:30:49] What are the right ways of delivering that? Um, from a digital standpoint, what does that mean in terms of how we curate content, how we continuously improve it? So I really think in that learning space, [00:31:00] we’ll probably see. More and more over the next year or so,
[00:31:06] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:31:06] It’s great to see. I mean, especially I think COVID has expedited the conversation where we’re making skills, the currency that kind of fuels the entire employee experience. And how can you use this currency in different ways for different touch points in the employee experience. And I think that that is a conversation for another day and we can probably spend an hour just on that.
[00:31:26] And in terms of. You know, how can HR team show that they care about people? You know, it’s not just about the HR admin and compliance. And this varies from early stage companies who are just getting their first HR person to sort out the admin stuff to larger companies. You might still just be using them from kind of predominantly admin tasks.
[00:31:50] How can HR teams show they really care about people?
[00:31:54] Emma Leonis: [00:31:54] I think again, it goes back to just that listening and that empathy. So, you know, if you are there and [00:32:00] you’re responding over email or on the phone or on chat, whatever channel it might be to someone who has a need, be it a simple need of, out of, I want to roll over some holiday.
[00:32:09] How do I do that? Because then you. Um, or better, more complex needs such as I’m a line manager and I’m dealing with a really, really stressful situation right now. I’ve got a wellbeing issue in my team and it, you know, it’s potentially quite a serious one. I need, I need help just being, you know, being empathetic listening.
[00:32:27] And, but also I think then acting on that in the right way. Um, and otherwise show how they care again. I think it’s so with the acting piece, thinking about what really is important. What are people saying? Um, you know, are you living the values that you were espousing? Um, and if you’re not, how can you perhaps do more in that space?
[00:32:50] Um, and also celebrating those successes? That’s part of showing that you care. I mean, even within the own HR function, because there’s an element of, do we show our own [00:33:00] teams that we value them enough as much as also showing the business that we value the business and employees in our overall organisations.
[00:33:08] So again, sharing those successes, saying thank you, the small things that we would normally do with any team, but there’s elements of that thing for me, I think we can do more of within the function itself.
[00:33:21] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:33:21] The book you recommend the most to people leaders and why?
[00:33:31] Emma Leonis: [00:33:31] I was really hoping you wouldn’t ask me this question because I feel like I should have some super high brow answer to this.
[00:33:33] Um, you know, that kind of reading XYZ by ABC. Um, I do, you know, I do read Harvard Business Review that kind of stuff. You know, some of the articles in there, um, I guess. I know, I read a couple of books, um, recently they’re fiction ones. Um, and like, you know, this is completely not in the HR space, but if you just read some of those books, it just makes you think and you think, Oh my Lord, I’m reading a murder mystery.
[00:33:57] Hey, what if I just ask why [00:34:00] more. And you know, when you’ve played Cluedo in this, um, which goes back to that curiosity point. Um, but no, on a serious note, I have just bought a book called, um, people not paperclips. Um, I can’t remember the author, unfortunately, as it is upstairs, not in front of me. Um, but it’s about employee experience and about organisational design.
[00:34:17] Um, it’s relatively short. It’s come highly recommended by a couple of different colleagues of mine. And I like the X and then like continuous improvement and sort of thinking about that. So maybe try that one.
[00:34:31] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:34:31] We’ll add a link in the show notes. And what do you say when someone asks you what’s your job?
[00:34:39] Emma Leonis: [00:34:39] Oh, um, really good question. So I don’t know, it’s not, I’m a management consultant because that’s really boring and really drawing, um, That I work with, you know, HR leaders to make their people experience better for their organisations. Um, [00:35:00] and part of that for me, as part of my job is I do project delivery and I love doing that with clients and being hands-on.
[00:35:08] But I also love just talking about what’s going on and, and kind of that challenge question. Like we are now, Nelson, you know, all the things we’ve talked about now. So I wouldn’t say I’m an academic or anything like that. Because I’m definitely not, I’m not a researcher, but I, yeah, in my job, I’m a bit of a curious thinker, a challenger, asking provocative questions.
[00:35:31] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:35:31] Last one for you. Emma is one skill you’d like to develop more?
[00:35:40] Emma Leonis: [00:35:40] well on a personal note. Um, Saying no more, however ironic is that given what we’ve just, um, but that’s because I’m so passionate about, about what I do and, and, and what we do at LACE and my job and everything. Um, but definitely say no more, um, personal skills. In [00:36:00] general. Um, Oh, I would love to get back into writing my music that I used to do lots and lots of.
[00:36:07] So this is a really personal thing. Um, so yeah, so I play violin and piano. I haven’t played my piano for a very long time. It’s at my parents, I haven’t played it properly for 13 odd years. Um, but I used to just love sitting and composing effectively film score. So not classical, I don’t know, not a defined genre, just what comes into your head and kind of going with the flow of that.
[00:36:29] Um, so that would be a skill I would love to pick back up again and develop more.
[00:36:33] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:36:33] Hey, next podcast we could try with you playing music in the background.
[00:36:39] Emma Leonis: [00:36:39] I could play music in response to questions when you say so what do we do? The tone of the music is the answer.
[00:36:45] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:36:45] Emma, it’s been an absolute pleasure.
[00:36:47] Thank you very much for taking the time out and coming on the show and always enjoy our conversations and until the next recording with both of us on, uh, you know, catch up soon.
[00:36:56] Emma Leonis: [00:36:56] Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Nelson, great to speak to you.
[00:37:00] [00:37:00] Nelson Sivalingam: [00:37:00] And there you have it. Thanks for checking out my conversation with Emma.
[00:37:03] If you want to know more about LACE Partners and the work they do, plus their future of HR shared services white paper, then check out the links in the show notes. And of course we love feedback at HowNow. So if you’ve got any feedback or even questions, or you just want to say hello, then do get in touch via our social channels.
[00:37:22] Where you will find those in the show notes as well. We hope you’ve enjoyed the episode. Please do think about subscribing, sharing, leaving us a review or telling a friend. It goes a long way in helping us and the show grow. Thanks and see you next time.
Every enterprise learning platform now claims AI, but few build it into how skills, content and coaching work. HowNow leads this list of the top AI enterprise learning software, with a skills graph, adaptive pathways and an AI coach in one platform.
Docebo suits large organisations training customers and partners alongside employees. Absorb LMS fits teams that want AI agents grounded in their own approved content.
1. HowNow
HowNow is an AI-native learning platform that brings courses, coaching, communities and career paths into one place. It replaces the traditional LMS and personalises learning to each person's skills.
The difference starts with skills. HowNow's skills graph reads skills from real work, not a self-assessment form nobody fills in. There's no six-month taxonomy project to run first.
AI runs through every feature. Guru, the AI coach, answers questions from your own content, runs role-plays and builds dashboards on request. HowNow Plus adds 50,000+ skills-mapped resources, and it plugs into ChatGPT, Copilot and Claude so your AI tools draw on trusted content.
Key Features
AI pathway builder: Personalised learning paths built from skills gaps, role context, and business goals. Automatically.
Adaptive learning: Every learner gets a personalised path based on their role, skills, and progress. 1:1 learning at scale.
AI curation: The right content found, tagged, and organised from your internal sources and external libraries. Surfaced automatically.
Learning communities: Peer expertise made visible, structured, and searchable. Your best knowledge captured and available to everyone.
Skills graph: Every skill and every gap visible. The intelligence that connects performance gaps to the learning that will close them.
Career paths: Every employee sees their skills, their gaps, and where they can grow. Real paths that drive engagement without mandating it.
AI Performance coaching: Answers, practice, feedback, and proactive coaching, delivered where your people already work. Connected to real work signals.
Trusted content: Expert knowledge your AI can actually use. Every recommendation grounded in real expertise, not generic results.
Unified Search: Pulls any course, document, or expert answer from one search box across your tools.
In-flow delivery: Serves learning inside Slack, Teams and the browser, where people already work.
Pricing
HowNow doesn't publish a price list. Pricing is quoted per organisation after a demo, and there's an ROI calculator on the pricing page if you want to model the investment first.
Essentials - £60/user/year, Centralised learning with built-in compliance
Pro - £80/user/year, Personalised learning for every role, powered by AI, with zero admin
Plus - +£45/user/year, Curated learning from top providers, ready to use, skills-mapped, included in one subscription
Rating
G2: 4.5/5
2. Docebo
Docebo is an enterprise learning platform used by 3,500+ organisations, including PwC. Its strength is training employees, customers and partners from one system. In 2026 it bought 365Talents for skills intelligence and announced AgentHub. Our Docebo alternatives guide and Docebo vs Cornerstone comparison go deeper.
Key Features
Harmony AI: Gives learners a 24/7 tutor and conversational search across the courses they can access
AgentHub: Runs no-code AI agents on scheduled workflows such as compliance triage, launching autumn 2026
Skills Intelligence: Detects skills and gaps across the workforce, powered by the 365Talents acquisition
Skills-based internal mobility: Employees are matched to roles, projects and opportunities on verified skills rather than job titles or CVs
Pricing
Docebo doesn't publish prices. Its Elevate and Enterprise tiers are custom-quoted and billed on active users. It's aimed at organisations training 250+ learners, with a one-year minimum.
Rating
G2: 4.3/5
3. Absorb LMS
Absorb LMS is used by 3,500+ organisations, including Sony, Samsung and Toyota. It covers employee training, compliance and customer education from one system.
In May 2026, it launched Absorb Aura, a set of AI agents for learners and admins. Aura is grounded in each customer's approved content and isolated by tenant, which helps when IT asks where training data goes.
Key Features
Absorb Aura: Deploys AI agents for learners and admins, grounded in your approved content and isolated by tenant
Aura Create: Builds and updates courses through conversation instead of a blank authoring screen
Absorb Skills: Maps learning to 12,000+ job skills and 200+ competencies, for Amplify Max subscribers
AI recommendations and search ranking: The learner dashboard suggests courses based on each person's data and interests
Pricing
Absorb doesn't publish pricing.
Rating
G2: 4.6/5
4. 360Learning
360Learning is a collaborative learning platform used by 2,500+ organisations, including Cisco and Michelin. Subject-matter experts build courses directly, with L&D keeping quality control.
Its AI Companion, launched in October 2025, gives learners personalised search and recommendations on every plan. AI coaching and role-play are on the roadmap but not live yet.
Key Features
Collaborative authoring: Lets experts across the business co-author courses, included on every plan
AI Content Builder: Generates courses and questions from your existing source material
AI Companion: Gives learners personalised search, recommendations and real-time help
Agentic automation: An AI agent handles catalogue clean-up, reporting and instant course translations, with conversational BI for asking data questions in plain language.
Pricing
360Learning publishes its Team plan at $8 per user per month for up to 100 users, billed monthly with a 30-day free trial. Business and Enterprise plans are custom-quoted.
Rating
G2: 4.6/5
5. Disprz
Disprz is an AI-native learning and skilling platform used by 500+ enterprises, including Amazon, EY and PUMA. It combines an LMS, LXP and skills engine, built mobile-first for frontline workforces.
Its Atomic Skills Model maps granular skills and proficiency levels to each role, then builds pathways and career plans from the gaps. Turo, its agentic content builder, speeds up course creation on usage-based credits.
Key Features
Atomic Skills Model: Maps granular skills and proficiency levels to every job role
AI pathways: Builds personalised learning journeys, career paths and development plans from skill gaps
Turo: Uses agentic AI to build learning content at scale, charged on usage credits
Blended learning delivery: Runs instructor-led, virtual, microlearning and on-the-job training from one LMS, with automated workflows, approvals and certification tracking
Pricing
Disprz publishes an entry price. Essentials starts at $2 per learner per month, while Enterprise, which adds skills, career paths and AI content, is custom-quoted.
Rating
G2: 4.4/5
6. Cornerstone OnDemand
Cornerstone is one of the biggest names in enterprise learning, used by around 7,000 organisations in 186 countries. Its suite covers learning, performance, recruiting and succession, assembled through acquisitions over many years.
In May 2026 it launched Cornerstone Workforce AI, which combines workforce and labour-market data to target learning. The breadth suits HR-led global programmes, though reviewers often find the platform heavy to run.
Key Features
Workforce AI: Combines workforce and labour-market data to target learning and surface hidden talent
People Graph: Pulls signals from HRIS, ATS, CRM and project tools to build skill profiles
Readiness Agents: Runs agentic AI for workforce tasks, with links into Slack, Teams and Copilot
Personalised recommendations: The platform learns what each person knows, what they're working on, and where they're heading
Pricing
Cornerstone doesn't publish pricing.
Rating
G2: 4.1/5
7. Degreed
Degreed is a learning and skills platform with 10 million activated users in 160+ countries. It brings content from thousands of providers into one experience, with customers including HSBC and Ericsson.
Its AI coach, Maestro, works in text and voice and runs role-plays with structured feedback. Capgemini used Degreed to train 150,000 employees in 10 weeks. We've also written about Degreed alternatives.
Key Features
Maestro: Coaches people by text or voice, runs role-plays and curates pathways
Skill Review: Assesses proficiency through adaptive, behaviour-based questions developed with psychometricians
Degreed Academies: Runs cohort-based programmes for longer, structured development
Maestro Studio: L&D teams build and launch custom AI coaches, roleplays, quizzes, surveys and forms in minutes
Pricing
Degreed doesn't publish prices.
Rating
G2: 4.3/5
8. Thrive Learning
Thrive is a UK-built L&D platform used by 500+ organisations and 5 million people in 60+ countries. It combines learning, mentoring, communities and internal comms, with customers including Volvo and British Airways.
Its AI agent, Kiki, comes included at no extra cost and covers coaching, content creation, analytics and admin. Mentoring is built in too, which saves buying a separate tool. Our Thrive alternatives guide goes further.
Key Features
Kiki AI agent: Works in five modes, Coach, Creator, Analyst, Admin and Assistant, at no extra cost
Mentoring: Matches mentors and mentees, sets goals and tracks impact
Skills and pathways: Maps skills to roles, finds gaps and builds pathways to close them
Pricing
Thrive publishes pricing through an online calculator, with no form or sales call needed. Larger tiers still go through a demo.
Rating
G2: 4.5/5
9. Skillsoft Percipio
Skillsoft Percipio is an AI-driven skills platform backed by one of the largest content libraries in corporate learning, with 325,000+ learning assets. Skillsoft says 60% of the Fortune 1000 use it.
Its AI role-play tool, CAISY, lets people rehearse difficult conversations and get scored feedback in Practice mode. Percipio suits organisations that value library breadth over bespoke, skills-mapped learning.
Key Features
CAISY: Lets people rehearse conversations with AI in Practice, Role Model and Guiding modes
AI Coach: Turns development needs into coaching goals, aligned to ICF standards
Skill Benchmarks: Assesses skills to show gaps across teams
AI content creation: L&D teams build custom courses, simulations and assessments in minutes, then update them as priorities shift
Pricing
Skillsoft's self-serve figures sit on its pricing page.
Individual: $25 per month, or $269 per year, with a 45-day free trial
Teams: $20 per seat per month billed annually, up to 300 seats, with a 30-day free trial
Enterprise: custom pricing above 300 seats
Rating
G2: 4.1/5
10. LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning offers 24,000+ expert-led courses, backed by skills insights from LinkedIn's network of more than 1 billion members. Customers include LEGO and Siemens.
Its AI coach answers questions from LinkedIn Learning courses and links to the source course, so people can check what they're told. Many teams run it inside another platform, for example through HowNow’s LinkedIn Learning integration.
Key Features
AI-powered coaching: Answers questions using LinkedIn Learning courses, with a link to the source course
AI role play: Lets people practise workplace conversations by voice or text, on Enterprise and Premium plans
Skills insights: Draws on LinkedIn's member data to show trending and in-demand skills
AI-assisted content curation: AI-powered search helps admins and learners find the right content quickly, instead of browsing thousands of courses
Pricing
Teams: $379.88 per licence per year, for 2 to 20 licences, with a one-month free trial
Enterprise and Career Hub: no published price, contact sales
Rating
G2: 4.4/5
Looking for the top AI enterprise learning software?
Your three-year LMS contract is up for renewal, and the engagement numbers are hard to defend. Every vendor on your shortlist says it has AI. For some, that means a coach that knows your business. For others, it means a button that writes quiz questions.
Most buying mistakes happen in the gap between those two. So we compared 10 platforms on what the AI actually does, how each handles skills, cost, and G2 reviews.
Why listen to us?
We build HowNow for L&D teams who have outgrown a traditional LMS. We see which AI features change how people learn, and which only shine in a demo.
Hotelplan mapped 300+ job roles to skills in one month, reached 99% activation and saw 78% of employees feel confident in their role skills. Infinity Works hit 97% activation within four months.
Trainline halved the time its people spend on compliance training, and Operatix ramped new starters 33% faster. Radius upskilled 3,000 managers, and FitFlop took positive sentiment on access to L&D from 0 to 69%.
So we judge AI platforms the way our customers do: does the AI get people to the right learning faster, and can L&D prove it? See more on our customer stories page.
What is AI enterprise learning software?
AI enterprise learning software is a corporate learning platform that uses AI to personalise, deliver and measure employee development. It maps learning to each person's role and skills, recommends next steps and coaches people as they work.
Why is AI enterprise learning software important?
People actually engage: Generic catalogues get ignored. When learning maps to role-specific skills, people open it because it helps with this week's work.
L&D spends less time on admin: Manual assignment, completion chasing and hand-built reports eat hours every week. AI handles recommendations, nudges and dashboards instead.
Skills become visible: Most organisations can't say what their workforce can do today. Skills-aware AI builds that picture, which is why skills-first learning is becoming the default.
Compliance is easier to prove: Automated assignment, tracking and renewals keep audit evidence in one place, so nobody stitches spreadsheets at midnight.
Learning connects to business results: Leaders want proof that training moved performance. Joined-up learning, skills and performance data provides it.
Selection criteria: how we evaluated
Every vendor now calls itself AI-powered, so we looked past the labels. We scored each platform on five criteria.
AI depth: We checked whether AI runs through the whole platform or sits in one corner, and what data feeds it. AI trained on real work signals beats a chatbot added to a course catalogue.
Skills approach: Looked at how each platform builds its picture of employee skills. Skills read from real work stay current, while self-reported forms go stale the week they're filled in.
Content: We weighed the size, quality and skills-mapping of both internal and off-the-shelf content. A huge library means little if people can't find what closes their gaps.
AI governance: Asked where your data goes, whether AI answers are grounded in approved content, and how much control admins have. This matters most for regulated teams.
Pricing and proof: We rated how open each vendor is about pricing, read what G2 reviewers say, and looked for named customers showing real results.
No platform wins on every criterion. The right choice depends on which of these matters most to your team today.
How to choose
Start with the problem, not the feature list. If you're a mid-to-large enterprise that wants learning, skills, coaching, and content in one AI-native platform, HowNow is built for that. If you train customers and partners at real scale, Docebo or Absorb are worth a look.
If expert-led content matters most, 360Learning has a transparent entry price. Frontline-heavy organisations should shortlist Disprz, while global enterprises wanting recruiting and succession in one suite will lean towards Cornerstone. Skillsoft Percipio and LinkedIn Learning suit teams that mainly need library breadth.
Whatever you choose, ask each vendor to show the AI working on your own content.
Choose AI that changes how your people learn
Every platform here uses AI in some form. The real question is whether it knows your people's skills, works from your content and proves results.
HowNow was built for exactly that. Hotelplan hit 99% activation, Trainline halved compliance training time, and TomTom reached 100% onboarding completion. Each came from one platform joining learning, skills, coaching, and reporting.
Ready to see it working on your own content? Book a demo and see HowNow in action.
FAQs
What's the difference between AI enterprise learning software and a traditional LMS?
A traditional LMS hosts courses and tracks completions. AI enterprise learning software personalises learning to each person's role and skills, recommends what to do next and coaches people in the flow of work.
How do I know if an AI learning platform is trustworthy?
Check whether the AI grounds its answers in your approved content and whether your data stays within your tenant. Ask who controls what the AI can see. Then test it live on your own documents during the demo.
How much does AI enterprise learning software cost?
It varies widely. 360Learning's Team plan starts at $8 per user per month, and Disprz Essentials at $2 per learner per month. HowNow, Docebo, Absorb, Cornerstone and Degreed quote pricing based on your size and needs.
Can AI enterprise learning software handle compliance training?
Yes. The strongest platforms automate assignment by role, track renewals and keep audit trails in one place. With HowNow's compliance training tools, you can assign, track and prove completion without rebuilding spreadsheets before every audit.
The best learning experience platform is the one your people actually open, because it shows them learning that fits their role. HowNow leads this list for mid-to-large organisations that want LMS, LXP, skills and content in one AI-native platform, with skills read from real work. 360Learning is the pick if you want subject-matter experts building your courses. Degreed suits large enterprises with a mature skills strategy and the budget to match.
The 10 best learning experience platforms
No.
Platform
Best for
Pricing
G2 rating
1
HowNow
Mid-to-large enterprises wanting learning tied to real skills
Demo-led, ROI calculator on pricing page
4.5/5
2
360Learning
SME-led, collaborative course creation
From $8/user/month
4.6/5
3
Degreed
Enterprise skills strategy and assessment
Custom quoted
4.3/5
4
Docebo
Large, multi-audience enterprise training
Custom quoted
4.3/5
5
Cornerstone OnDemand
Global enterprises wanting learning and talent in one suite
Custom quoted
4.1/5
6
Thrive Learning
UK organisations wanting built-in AI, mentoring and communities
$34,000 for 100 learners
4.5/5
7
Absorb LMS
Structured training with AI grounded in your own content
Custom quoted
4.6/5
8
LearnUpon
Training employees, customers and partners from one login
Quoted, from 100 users
4.5/5
9
Kallidus
UK organisations with heavy compliance needs
Custom quoted
4.4/5
10
TalentLMS
Small teams that want to launch quickly
Free plan, paid from $119/month
4.6/5
1. HowNow
HowNow is an AI-native learning platform that brings courses, coaching, communities and career paths into one place. We built it for organisations of 250 to 5,000 people that have outgrown a traditional LMS.
The difference starts with skills. Our skills graph reads skills from real work, not from a form nobody fills in, so content stays relevant as roles change. Guru, our AI coach, runs through the whole platform, answering questions, running role-plays and building dashboards when you ask.
HowNow Plus adds a curated, skills-mapped content library that your people and your AI tools can both draw on. And because onboarding, compliance, leadership development and careers all run on one platform, your reporting stays joined up.
Key Features
AI pathway builder: Personalised learning paths built from skills gaps, role context, and business goals. Automatically.
Adaptive learning: Every learner gets a personalised path based on their role, skills, and progress. 1:1 learning at scale.
AI curation: The right content found, tagged, and organised from your internal sources and external libraries. Surfaced automatically.
Learning communities: Peer expertise made visible, structured, and searchable. Your best knowledge captured and available to everyone.
Skills graph: Every skill and every gap visible. The intelligence that connects performance gaps to the learning that will close them.
Career paths: Every employee sees their skills, their gaps, and where they can grow. Real paths that drive engagement without mandating it.
AI Performance coaching: Answers, practice, feedback, and proactive coaching, delivered where your people already work. Connected to real work signals.
Trusted content: Expert knowledge your AI can actually use. Every recommendation grounded in real expertise, not generic results.
Unified Search: Pulls any course, document or expert answer from one search box across your tools.
In-flow delivery: Serves learning inside Slack, Teams and the browser, where people already work.
Pricing
Essentials - £60/user/year, Centralised learning with built-in compliance
Pro - £80/user/year, Personalised learning for every role, powered by AI, with zero admin
Plus - +£45/user/year, Curated learning from top providers, ready to use, skills-mapped, included in one subscription
Rating
G2: 4.5/5.
2. 360Learning
360Learning is a collaborative learning platform built on one idea: the people who know the subject should create the training. Its AI Content Builder helps subject-matter experts turn what they know into courses, while L&D keeps final approval.
More than 2,500 customers use it, including Cisco, Duolingo and Michelin. If you're weighing it up, our guide to 360Learning alternatives compares it with the wider market.
Key Features
AI Content Builder: Helps subject-matter experts build courses quickly, with L&D oversight before anything goes live
Learning Needs: Lets employees request training topics and upvote each other's requests, so content follows real demand
Skills library: Starts you with 20,000 standard skills, plus a free SkillsGPT to help shape your own framework
Academies: Runs dedicated learning spaces for different teams and communities
Pricing
Team: $8 per user per month. Business and Enterprise plans are custom-quoted.
Rating
G2: 4.6/5.
3. Degreed
Degreed is one of the original learning experience platforms, built for large enterprises that want to connect learning to a skills strategy. It pulls content from internal and external sources into one searchable home.
The company reports 10 million activated users across 160+ countries, and Capgemini used it to train 150,000 employees in ten weeks.
Key Features
Skill Review: Assesses skill levels through an adaptive questionnaire of behavioural questions, developed with psychometricians
Four rating sources: Combines Skill Review, manager, peer and self-ratings into one skill profile
Maestro: Coaches people by text and voice, with AI role-plays scored against custom rubrics
Academies: Builds structured programmes for specific teams or capabilities
Pricing
Degreed doesn't publish prices.
Rating
G2: 4.3/5.
4. Docebo
Docebo is an enterprise learning platform that now describes itself as an AI workforce readiness platform. It suits large organisations training employees, customers and partners from one system.
More than 3,900 customers use it, with over 30 million users across 70+ countries.
Key Features
AI assistant: Helps learners find answers and helps admins create course content faster
Content Marketplace: Gives access to over 30,000 courses and professional certifications
MCP server: Lets admins run Docebo tasks from Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini, generally available since July 2026
Extended enterprise: Runs separate, branded learning for customers and partners alongside employee training
Pricing
Docebo's pricing page lists two tiers, Elevate and Enterprise, both quoted by sales.
Rating
G2: 4.3/5.
5. Cornerstone OnDemand
Cornerstone is a legacy giant in enterprise learning and talent, and it relaunched its platform as Cornerstone Workforce AI in May 2026. Its learning experience platform, formerly EdCast, is one part of a much wider talent suite.
About 7,000 organisations use Cornerstone across 180+ countries. The suite has grown through acquisitions, including Saba, SumTotal, EdCast and SkyHive, which brings breadth but also complexity.
Key Features
Skills Engine: Draws on a taxonomy of 55,000+ skills, powered by labour-market data from SkyHive
Content Subscriptions: Offers Silver, Gold and , Gold and Platinum in 10+ languages
Readiness agents: Uses AI agents to map roles, skills and future workforce needs
Compliance management: Tracks certifications and audit evidence across global teams
Pricing
Cornerstone doesn't publish pricing.
Rating
G2: 4.1/5.
6. Thrive Learning
Thrive is a UK-built platform that brings learning, communities, mentoring and internal knowledge together. It now positions itself as an AI-powered LMS, but its social feed and mentoring give it a strong LXP feel.
More than 500 organisations use Thrive across 60+ countries, including Specsavers, Volvo and British Airways.
Key Features
Kiki AI: Works in five modes, including Coach, Analyst and Content Creator, at no extra cost
Skill pathways: Maps skills to roles and builds pathways that close each person's gaps
Mentoring: Matches mentors and mentees, included at no extra cost
Content library: Includes 1,000+ ready-made resources, with 2,500+ more in the separate Thrive Content product
Pricing
Price starts at $34000 per 1-100 learners, $48263 from 501-600 learners onwards
Rating
G2: 4.5/5.
7. Absorb LMS
Absorb is an LMS with strong LXP features, used by 3,500+ organisations including Sony, Samsung and Toyota. In May 2026 it launched Aura, a set of AI agents grounded in each customer's own approved content.
Forrester named Absorb a Leader in its Q4 2025 Wave for learning management systems and experience platforms.
Key Features
Absorb Aura: Runs AI agents for learners, course creation and admin tasks, grounded in your own content
Absorb Skills: Maps learning to 200+ competencies and 12,000+ skills
Absorb Amplify: Adds a library of 20,000+ pre-built courses
Absorb Infuse: Embeds learning inside the other tools your people use
Pricing
Absorb doesn't publish pricing. Its pricing form asks for your learner count.
Rating
G2: 4.6/5.
8. LearnUpon
LearnUpon relaunched in July 2026 as an agentic learning platform. Its biggest strength is running separate, branded portals for employees, customers and partners from one admin login.
More than 1,700 organisations use it, and its support team is available around the clock. It's a strong pick when external training matters as much as internal learning.
Key Features
Portals: Creates unique, branded learning environments for each audience from one place
LearnUpon IQ: Acts as an AI coordinator that connects every part of the platform
Create+: Builds courses with AI, which LearnUpon says is up to 90% faster
Learning Journeys: Sequences courses with prerequisites, timed release and certifications
Pricing
LearnUpon doesn't publish prices.
Rating
G2: 4.5/5.
9. Kallidus
Kallidus is a UK-based learning and performance provider with more than 1,000 customers and 2 million users. Its Learn LMS is built for compliance-heavy organisations, with AI recommendations and skills tools in the higher tiers.
It's more LMS than pure LXP, but it earns a place here for UK teams that need strong compliance alongside a modern learner experience.
Key Features
Learn LMS: Manages courses, compliance and instructor-led training in one system
Power BI reporting: Embeds Power BI natively for detailed reporting
Off-the-shelf content: Includes 250+ ready-made courses
Kallidus Intelligence: Adds AI to help L&D teams focus on impact rather than activity
Pricing
Kallidus doesn't publish prices.
Rating
G2: 4.4/5.
10. TalentLMS
TalentLMS is a cloud LMS for small and mid-sized teams that want training live quickly. More than 70,000 teams use it.
It's one of the few platforms here with a free plan and fully published pricing. If budget is tight, it's an easy place to start.
Key Features
TalentCraft: Generates courses with AI, with credits that vary by plan
Gamification: Adds points, badges and leaderboards on every plan
Learning Playground: Gives your team a space to practise and build confidence
TalentLibrary: Offers 1,000+ ready-made courses as a paid add-on
Pricing
Free for up to 5 users
Core: $119/month (up to 40 users)
Grow: $229/month (up to 70)
Pro: $449/month (up to 100)
Rating
G2: 4.6/5.
Why teams are looking for a new learning experience platform
Your three-year LMS contract is up for renewal. The engagement survey put development in the bottom three. And logins still only spike in compliance week.
If any of that sounds familiar, you're probably not short of content. You're short of a platform that knows your people well enough to show them what matters.
A learning experience platform is built to solve exactly this. It personalises learning around each person's role and skills, and it reaches them in the tools they already use. We compared 10 LXPs on skills, AI, pricing and verified G2 ratings, so you can build your shortlist faster.
Why listen to us?
We build HowNow, an AI-native learning platform, and we spend every day helping L&D teams at 250 to 5,000-person companies fix engagement. We've seen what gets people logging in, and what only looks good in a demo.
The proof comes from our customers. TomTom reached 90% learner activation and 100% onboarding completion after launching its TomTom Academy on HowNow. Hotelplan mapped more than 300 job roles to skills in a single month, and 78% of its people now feel confident in their role skills.
Trainline cut compliance training time by 50% with in-house content. Infinity Works passed 97% activation within four months. At AND Digital, 75% of employees use HowNow every working day.
A learning experience platform (LXP) is software that personalises learning for each employee. It pulls courses, internal knowledge and third-party content into one place, then recommends what fits each person's role, skills and goals.
A traditional learning management system (LMS) works the other way round. L&D assigns courses, tracks completions and reports on compliance. It's built for administrators first.
Today the line between the two is blurry. Most leading platforms now combine LMS control with LXP personalisation, so the better question is how well a platform understands your people. Our LXP vs LMS guide goes deeper on the difference.
Aspect
LMS
LXP
Built for
Administrators
Learners
Content
Courses assigned by L&D
Courses, internal knowledge and third-party content
Personalisation
The same training for everyone in a group
Recommendations by role, skills and goals
Success measure
Completions
Skills built and ongoing engagement
Why a learning experience platform matters
People come back: Generic content gets ignored. When learning maps to each person's role and skill gaps, what shows up in their feed is worth opening.
You can see your skills: Instead of guessing what your workforce can do, you get a live view of where skills are strong and where the gaps are.
Admin shrinks: Automated pathways, smart recommendations and built-in reporting let a small L&D team run learning for thousands of people.
Compliance stops being a chase: You can assign, track and prove compliance training in one place, without stitching audit trails together from spreadsheets.
Impact becomes provable: When learning, skills and performance data live together, you can show the board what changed, not just what got completed.
How to choose the right learning experience platform
Start with the problem you're trying to fix. If people aren't engaging, you need personalisation built on real skills data, and HowNow is built for that. If your experts hold knowledge that never gets written down, 360Learning's collaborative model fits.
For large enterprises with mature skills programmes, Degreed and Cornerstone cover the most ground. Docebo, Absorb and LearnUpon suit teams that train customers and partners alongside employees.
If you're a UK organisation focused on compliance, Kallidus and Thrive know that market well. And for small teams on a budget, TalentLMS is the quickest way to get started.
Whichever platforms make your shortlist, ask each vendor the same question: how does your platform know what skills my people have? The answer tells you how good every recommendation will be.
Find the learning experience platform your people will actually use
Most learning experience platforms promise personalisation. Far fewer can explain where their skills data comes from, or prove that people keep coming back after launch.
HowNow reads skills from real work and puts AI coaching into the tools your people already use. It also gives you one view of learning, skills and performance. TomTom, Hotelplan and Trainline chose it for those reasons, and their results show their people keep using it.
If you're heading into a renewal or rethinking your learning stack, book a demo and see HowNow in action.
FAQs
What is the difference between an LMS and an LXP?
An LMS is built for administrators to assign courses, track completions and report on compliance. An LXP is built for learners, recommending content based on each person's role, skills and goals. Most modern platforms, including HowNow, now combine both.
What is the best learning experience platform?
It depends on your size and goals. HowNow is the strongest pick for organisations of 250 to 5,000 people that want skills-based personalisation and AI coaching in one platform. 360Learning suits SME-led content creation, and Degreed suits large enterprise skills programmes.
How much does a learning experience platform cost?
HowNow quotes per organisation after a demo, based on your headcount and needs. Degreed, Docebo and Cornerstone also price by quote, 360Learning starts at $8 per user per month, and TalentLMS has a free plan.
Can an LXP replace an LMS?
Yes, if it includes LMS essentials like course assignment, compliance tracking and reporting. Platforms like HowNow combine LXP personalisation with those admin tools, so you can run onboarding, compliance and upskilling in one place instead of two.
What features should a learning experience platform have?
Look for skills mapping, personalised pathways, AI search and coaching, content curation, social learning and integrations with Slack, Teams and your HRIS. Most importantly, check how the platform builds its skills data.
Most online training software for employees promises personalisation and delivers a catalogue nobody opens. We compared 10 platforms on AI depth, skills relevance, engagement, reporting, pricing and G2 ratings. Below you'll find a quick comparison, honest reviews with pros and cons, and a simple way to choose. HowNow comes out on top for skills-based, personalised learning that people actually come back to.
Quick summary
Most online training software for employees promises personalisation and delivers a catalogue nobody opens. We compared 10 platforms on AI depth, skills relevance, engagement, reporting, pricing and G2 ratings. Below you'll find a quick comparison, honest reviews with pros and cons, and a simple way to choose. HowNow comes out on top for skills-based, personalised learning that people actually come back to.
10 best online training software for employees
Platform
Best for
Starting price
G2 rating
HowNow
Mid-to-large enterprises with knowledge workers and high-skilled teams
Begins at £60/user/year
4.5/5
360Learning
Collaborative course creation by subject-matter experts
$8/user/month (Team plan)
4.6/5
Docebo
Training employees, customers and partners in one platform
Custom (demo-led, typically 250+ learners)
4.3/5
LearnUpon
Training employees and external audiences with strong support
Custom (employee plans from 100 users)
4.5/5
TalentLMS
Small teams that want to start free
Free; paid from $119/month (billed yearly)
4.6/5
iSpring LMS
Paying only for active learners
$6.91/active user/month (100 users)
4.6/5
Absorb
Compliance and partner training with strong reporting
Custom
4.6/5
Thrive
Social, engaging learning with published pricing
$34,000 for 100 learners
4.5/5
Kallidus
UK organisations with heavy compliance needs
Custom
4.4/5
Cornerstone OnDemand
Global enterprises wanting a full talent suite
Custom
4.1/5
1. HowNow
HowNow is an AI-native learning platform that brings learning, coaching, communities and careers into one place. It works out what each person needs to learn, then builds a path around those gaps.
Most training platforms start with content and hope people find what's relevant. Our AI Skill Graph reads real work activity and infers the skills people actually demonstrate. It draws on a skills framework covering more than 30,000 job roles, so you won't spend months building a taxonomy before launch.
Our AI coach, Guru, answers questions from your own content and runs role-play practice with instant feedback. And because the platform covers everything from onboarding and compliance to upskilling and leadership development, you're not stitching four tools together. L&D teams can also ask Guru about their data and turn the answer into a dashboard to share with leadership.
The results show up in activation, not just completion. When Infinity Works rolled out HowNow, 97% of their team was using it within four months.
Key Features
AI pathway builder: Personalised learning paths built from skills gaps, role context, and business goals. Automatically.
Adaptive learning: Every learner gets a personalised path based on their role, skills, and progress. 1:1 learning at scale.
AI curation: The right content found, tagged, and organised from your internal sources and external libraries. Surfaced automatically.
Learning communities: Peer expertise made visible, structured, and searchable. Your best knowledge captured and available to everyone.
Skills graph: Every skill and every gap visible. The intelligence that connects performance gaps to the learning that will close them.
Career paths: Every employee sees their skills, their gaps, and where they can grow. Real paths that drive engagement without mandating it.
AI Performance coaching: Answers, practice, feedback, and proactive coaching — delivered where your people already work. Connected to real work signals.
Trusted content: Expert knowledge your AI can actually use. Every recommendation grounded in real expertise, not generic results.
Unified Search: Pulls any course, document or expert answer from one search box across your tools.
In-flow delivery: Serves learning inside Slack, Teams and the browser, where people already work.
Pricing
Essentials - £60/user/year, Centralised learning with built-in compliance
Pro - £80/user/year, Personalised learning for every role, powered by AI, with zero admin
Plus - +£45/user/year, Curated learning from top providers, ready to use, skills-mapped, included in one subscription
Rating
G2: 4.5/5.
2. 360Learning
360Learning is built around collaborative learning. Subject-matter experts write and update courses themselves, and L&D reviews and approves them before they go live.
Its AI Content Builder turns existing documents into structured courses and generates quizzes in more than 10 question formats. It suits companies that want to turn internal know-how into training quickly. Our 360Learning alternatives guide compares it with similar tools.
Key features
Collaborative authoring: Experts co-author courses, with comments and L&D approval workflows
AI Content Builder: Turns documents or prompts into courses and quizzes
AI translation and grading: Translates courses and scores open-text answers automatically
80+ integrations: It includes Workday, Slack, BambooHR, and HRIS tools.
Pricing
The Team plan runs $8/user/month for up to 100 users. Business and Enterprise plans are custom-quoted.
Rating
G2: 4.6/5.
3. Docebo
Docebo is an enterprise learning platform that trains employees, customers and partners from one system. Its extended enterprise setup gives each audience a separately branded portal with its own admin rights.
Docebo's AI turns prompts, PDFs, and documents into structured courses with knowledge checks, and tags content automatically. You can also add third-party libraries such as Go1 and OpenSesame. It's powerful, but reviewers regularly mention a steep setup curve. Our Docebo alternatives guide covers lighter options.
Key features
AI course creation: Builds courses from prompts and documents, with translation into 46 languages
Content marketplace: Access to third-party libraries including Go1 and OpenSesame
Extended enterprise: Separately branded portals for customers, partners, and resellers
Skills Intelligence: It infers employee skills from roles and projects.
Pricing
Docebo doesn't publish prices.
Rating
G2: 4.3/5.
4. LearnUpon
LearnUpon is a cloud LMS that trains employees, customers and association members from one account. More than 1,700 organisations use it, and its Portals feature gives each audience its own branded learning space.
It now calls itself an agentic learning platform. AI agents help build and update content, surface capability gaps and take routine admin off your plate. Every plan includes an implementation consultant and 24/7 support. Our LearnUpon alternatives guide compares it with similar tools.
Key features
Learning Journeys: Role-based training paths that personalise learning at scale
Create+: AI course authoring that builds modules up to 90% faster
Portals: Separate branded learning spaces for employees, customers and partners
LearnUpon IQ: AI agents that automate content updates and flag skills gaps
Pricing
LearnUpon doesn't publish prices. Employee training plans start at 100 users.
Rating
G2: 4.5/5.
5. TalentLMS
TalentLMS is a cloud LMS known for being quick to set up and simple to use. It's a popular choice for small and mid-sized businesses running onboarding, compliance or partner training.
Its TalentCraft AI generates course pages, quizzes and flashcards from a prompt, and translates content into 15 languages. The free plan lets you test it properly before spending anything. The trade-off is depth, as reporting and customisation are lighter than enterprise tools.
Key features
Free plan: Train up to 5 users across 10 courses at no cost
TalentCraft AI: Generates course content, quizzes and translations from prompts
Learning paths: Structured training sequences for guided progression
Certification tracking: Automates assignment, completion, and renewal reminders.
Pricing
Free for up to 5 users
Core: $119/month (up to 40 users)
Grow: $229/month (up to 70)
Pro: $449/month (up to 100)
Rating
G2: 4.6/5.
6. iSpring LMS
iSpring LMS, formerly iSpring Learn, is a simple corporate LMS with pay-per-active-user pricing. You can register as many people as you like and only pay for those who log in during the month.
It pairs closely with iSpring Suite, a PowerPoint-based authoring tool, so teams can turn existing slides into interactive courses. The mobile app supports offline learning and syncs progress once people reconnect. This helps field and frontline teams with patchy signal.
Key Features
Pay-per-active-user: Only pay for learners who actually log in
Offline mobile learning: Download courses and complete them without internet
iSpring Suite integration: Turn PowerPoint slides into interactive courses and simulations
Personalized learning tracks and development plans: Admins combine courses and assessments into chaptered tracks, with optional locked completion order.
Pricing
Business, 100 users: $6.91 per user/month, billed at $8,286 per year
Business, 300 users: $4.46 per user/month, billed at $16,050 per year
Business, 500 users: $3.97 per user/month, billed at $23,790 per year
Enterprise: Custom pricing through sales
Rating
G2: 4.6/5.
7. Absorb
Absorb, formerly Absorb LMS, is a corporate learning platform used by more than 3,500 companies. It's strong on compliance, onboarding and training for customers and partners.
In 2026 it launched Absorb Aura, a set of AI agents. They help learners find answers, build courses from documents and take routine work off admins. Reporting is a real strength, with scheduled reports and an optional analytics add-on.
Key Features
Absorb Aura: AI agents for learner questions, course creation and admin support
Multi-portal branding: Separately branded portals for different audiences
Advanced reporting: Configurable, scheduled reports plus the Absorb Analyze add-on
Scalable architecture: Handles growing learner populations without performance drops
Pricing
Absorb doesn't publish pricing.
Rating
G2: 4.6/5.
8. Thrive
Thrive is a UK-based learning platform used by more than 500 organisations, including British Airways, Burger King and Specsavers. Its social, feed-style interface feels closer to a consumer app than a traditional LMS.
Its AI agent, Kiki, creates courses, quizzes and interactive modules from a prompt or an uploaded file. Mentoring with automatic matching comes as standard.
Key Features
Kiki AI agent: Creates courses, quizzes and interactive content from prompts or files
Mentoring: Built-in mentoring with automatic mentor and mentee matching
Off-the-shelf content: A 2,500+ resource library, plus six separate sector suites
Spaces: Provide community learning areas for collaboration and peer discussion.
Pricing
Price starts at $34000 per 1-100 learners, $48263 from 501-600 learners onwards
Rating
G2: 4.5/5.
9. Kallidus
Kallidus is a UK learning and performance company whose Learn LMS is popular in regulated sectors. It suits organisations that need compliance training to stay audit-ready without much fuss.
Its AI layer, Kallidus Intelligence, generates skills frameworks, tags content with skills and helps people set objectives. Kallidus also sells performance management and 250+ off-the-shelf courses, so learning and performance can be managed together.
Key features
Compliance tracking: Automated reminders, certifications and audit-ready records
Kallidus Intelligence: AI-generated skills frameworks and skills tagging for content
Performance management: Objectives and reviews connected to learning
Automated admin: Training is auto-assigned by group and category, with scheduled reminders and role-based permissions.
Pricing
Kallidus doesn't publish prices.
Rating
G2: 4.4/5.
10. Cornerstone OnDemand
Cornerstone OnDemand goes well past training. Learning, performance, succession, recruiting and skills all come in one suite, assembled largely through acquisitions such as Saba, EdCast and SumTotal.
In May 2026 it relaunched the platform as Cornerstone Workforce AI, with a skills engine and AI agents. It's sized for large, global organisations with dedicated admin teams.
Key Features
Full talent suite: Learning, performance, succession, recruiting and core HR
Skills engine: A skills library of 55,000+ skills, powered by its SkyHive acquisition
Global compliance: Compliance and certification management across multiple regions
Talent suite integration: Connects learning to performance, recruiting, and workforce planning
Pricing
Cornerstone doesn't publish pricing.
Rating
G2: 4.1/5.
Most training software promises personalisation but delivers a course catalogue
Most L&D teams know the pattern. You launch a new platform, logins spike in compliance week, and then everything goes quiet. According to LinkedIn's 2025 Workplace Learning Report, 88% of organisations worry about retention, and learning is their top retention strategy.
So a platform nobody opens is a business problem, not just an awkward dashboard. Completion rates look fine, but ask a manager whether the training changed anything and you'll get a shrug.
Why listen to us?
We built HowNow because we kept seeing the same thing at organisation after organisation. They'd buy a learning platform, load it up, and watch engagement drop off. So we built a platform around skills instead of catalogues, and our customers' results show the difference.
TomTom reached 90% activation across 3,500 people and 100% onboarding completion. Orbus cut a two-day training process down to 2.5 hours. At AND Digital, 75% of employees use HowNow every working day.
We also talk to L&D leaders every week who are replacing a platform that didn't work out. So we know the questions worth asking.
What is online training software for employees?
Online training software lets you deliver learning content digitally, and at its simplest it's just a course library with a login. The more advanced platforms map training to skills, so each person sees content that's relevant to their role.
You'll see it sold under a few labels. A learning management system (LMS) focuses on assigning and tracking courses. A learning experience platform (LXP) focuses on discovery and personalisation.
Why is online training software important?
Skills needs are changing faster than most organisations can keep up. In a 2025 Gartner survey, 48% of HR leaders said demand for new skills is evolving faster than their talent structures can support. Good training software helps you respond without doubling the size of your L&D team.
Onboarding is faster and more consistent. Every new starter gets the same baseline, wherever they join.
You can track compliance properly. Assign mandatory training, set deadlines, and pull an audit trail in seconds.
You can see where the skills gaps are. Good software shows you where the gaps are across your organisation, not just who finished a course.
You can train more people without growing your L&D team. The platform assigns courses, sends reminders, and pulls reports for you, so your L&D team doesn't have to do it manually.
Learning reaches people where they work. The best platforms deliver training inside Slack, Teams or the browser, so nobody has to remember another login.
Selection criteria: how we evaluated
We scored each platform on six things that matter most to L&D teams at organisations of 250 to 5,000 people.
AI depth: Does AI adapt learning to each person, or just recommend popular courses?
Skills relevance: Can the platform connect training to the skills each role needs?
Engagement: Will people use it, including inside the tools they already work in?
Admin and reporting: How much manual work does it remove, and can you prove impact?
Pricing transparency: Is pricing published, and how does it scale as you grow?
User ratings: We checked G2 ratings and common review themes in September 2026.
How to choose
Start with the problem you most need to solve. If it's making training relevant to each person's role, HowNow and Sana Learn both personalise learning around skills rather than just delivering courses.
If you need to train employees, customers, and partners from one system, Docebo and Absorb both offer separately branded portals. Cornerstone makes sense if you want learning, performance and recruiting in one enterprise suite.
For smaller teams watching their budget, TalentLMS has a free plan and iSpring LMS only charges for people who log in. If compliance is the main driver, Kallidus keeps it simple.
Whatever you shortlist, run a trial with real employees, not just the L&D team. Features and pricing matter, but your team won't use a platform that doesn't feel relevant to them.
If you want one that maps learning to skills from day one, book a HowNow demo and bring that manager who shrugged.
FAQs
How much does online training software cost?
Costs vary widely. Tools with published pricing, like iSpring, run roughly $4 to $7 per user per month, while most enterprise platforms use custom quotes. HowNow prices through a demo based on your team's size and needs.
Do i need an LMS or an LXP?
An LMS is where you store and assign courses. An LXP puts learners in control and recommends content based on their role and skills. Most modern platforms, including HowNow and Sana Learn, now do both.
Can online training software replace in-person training?
It covers most needs, including onboarding, compliance, product knowledge and skills development. It's less effective for hands-on skills or sensitive conversations that need a facilitator in the room. So most organisations end up using a blended approach.
How long does online training software take to implement?
It depends on the platform, your integrations and how much content you're moving. Simpler tools can be running within weeks, while enterprise suites often take months. Hotelplan mapped 300+ job roles on HowNow in one month.
Can online training software integrate with our existing tools?
Most platforms connect with HRIS, single sign-on and communication tools. HowNow syncs with your HRIS to enrol people automatically and delivers learning in Slack, Teams and Chrome.
IT skills have a short shelf life. The right LMS maps technical skills automatically, plugs into the tools your engineers already use, and makes compliance straightforward to prove.
We compared 10 platforms on what matters most to IT companies: skills tracking, AI capabilities, integrations, compliance, and pricing transparency. HowNow came out on top for AI-driven skills mapping, followed by 360Learning, Docebo and others.
10 best learning management systems for IT companies
No.
Tool
G2 Rating
Best For
Pricing
1
HowNow
4.5/5
AI-driven skills mapping and personalised learning
Begins at £60/user/year
2
360Learning
4.6/5
Peer-led collaborative technical training
From $8/user/mo
3
Docebo
4.3/5
Enterprise IT with large content needs
Custom
4
LearnUpon
4.5/5
Multi-portal training for employees and customers
Custom
5
Thrive
4.5/5
Engagement-driven learning with published pricing
$34000 per 1-100 learners
6
Cornerstone
4.1/5
Large enterprise compliance and content
Custom
7
TalentLMS
4.6/5
Small IT teams, fast and affordable
From $119/mo
8
Absorb LMS
4.6/5
Scalable platform for growing teams
Custom
9
Degreed
4.3/5
Enterprise-scale skills intelligence
Custom
10
Litmos
4.3/5
Global teams, fast deployment
Custom
1. HowNow
HowNow is an AI-native learning platform that connects what your people learn to the skills they need. For IT companies, that matters because the skills your team needs change with every framework update, cloud migration, or security patch.
The Skills Graph maps every employee to skills and proficiency levels using job-market data across 30,000+ job roles. You don't need to build a taxonomy from scratch or ask engineers to self-report. The AI handles the mapping, and managers refine it with Focus Skills and peer endorsements.
Guru is HowNow's AI coaching agent. It teaches, quizzes, and runs scenario-based practice sessions, all grounded in your company's own knowledge. It cites its sources, so your technical team can verify every answer. In environments where accuracy matters, that's not optional.
HowNow Plus adds 10,000+ curated learning resources mapped to skills. You get relevant technical content on day one without building a single course. Publishers include Packt, iHasco, and McKinsey.
Hotelplan mapped 300+ job roles in one month and hit 99% activation within three months. Operatix reduced ramp time for new hires by 33%. And Infinity Works, a UK IT consultancy, hit 97% activation within four months.
Key features
AI pathway builder: Personalised learning paths built from skills gaps, role context, and business goals. Automatically.
Adaptive learning: Every learner gets a personalised path based on their role, skills, and progress. 1:1 learning at scale.
AI curation: The right content found, tagged, and organised from your internal sources and external libraries. Surfaced automatically.
Learning communities: Peer expertise made visible, structured, and searchable. Your best knowledge captured and available to everyone.
Skills graph: Every skill and every gap visible. The intelligence that connects performance gaps to the learning that will close them.
Career paths: Every employee sees their skills, their gaps, and where they can grow. Real paths that drive engagement without mandating it.
AI Performance coaching: Answers, practice, feedback, and proactive coaching — delivered where your people already work. Connected to real work signals.
Trusted content: Expert knowledge your AI can actually use. Every recommendation grounded in real expertise, not generic results.
Unified Search: Pulls any course, document or expert answer from one search box across your tools.
In-flow delivery: Serves learning inside Slack, Teams and the browser, where people already work.
Pricing
Essentials - £60/user/year, Centralised learning with built-in compliance
Pro - £80/user/year, Personalised learning for every role, powered by AI, with zero admin
Plus - +£45/user/year, Curated learning from top providers, ready to use, skills-mapped, included in one subscription
G2 rating
4.5 out of 5.
2. 360Learning
360Learning is a collaborative learning platform where your subject-matter experts create the training, with L&D overseeing quality. For IT companies, that model works well. Technical knowledge lives in your engineers' heads, and 360Learning gives them AI authoring tools to turn it into courses quickly.
The platform supports 80+ integrations, including Workday, Slack, and BambooHR. The Team plan covers up to 100 users and comes with a 30-day free trial, which makes it easier to test with a small group first.
Key features
AI Content Builder: Helps experts create courses quickly with L&D oversight and quality controls.
Collaborative authoring: Lets multiple contributors build and review courses together.
80+ integrations: Connects to Workday, Slack, BambooHR, and other HRIS tools.
Compliance management: Automates assignments, tracks completions, and generates audit-ready reports.
Reaction-based feedback: Surfaces content gaps through learner responses so you can fix them fast.
Team: $8 per user per month. Business and Enterprise plans are custom-quoted.
G2 rating
4.6 out of 5.
3. Docebo
Docebo is an enterprise learning platform with a 30,000+ course marketplace and an AI layer called Harmony. For large IT organisations, that catalogue saves your team from building courses from scratch.
AgentHub lets you build no-code AI agents for compliance triage and skill gap scouting. Skills Intelligence, powered by 365Talents, can infer skills from roles, projects, and learning activity. It's a paid add-on, which means it's not included in the base price.
Key features
Harmony AI: Provides tutoring, copilot features, and personalised content recommendations.
Content Marketplace: Offers 30,000+ courses from third-party providers.
AgentHub: Builds no-code AI agents for compliance, onboarding, and admin tasks.
Skills Intelligence: Infers employee skills from roles and projects.
Extended Enterprise: Supports multi-audience training for employees, partners, and customers.
Pricing
Custom pricing based on active users.
G2 rating
4.3 out of 5.
4. LearnUpon
LearnUpon is a multi-portal LMS built for organisations that need to train employees, customers, and partners from one platform. For IT companies running customer education alongside internal upskilling, that flexibility is a real advantage.
The platform supports SCORM and xAPI content, automated enrolments, and SSO. LearnUpon's strength is simplicity. You can get a portal live quickly without heavy IT involvement.
Key features
Multi-portal architecture: Lets you run separate training environments for employees, customers, and partners from one account.
Automated enrolments: Triggers learning paths based on role, team, or custom rules.
SCORM and xAPI support: Lets you import existing technical courses without rebuilding them.
Salesforce and HubSpot integrations: Connects learning data to your CRM for customer education tracking.
24/7 support: Comes with a dedicated customer success team for every account.
Pricing
Custom pricingbased on user count. Minimum 100 users for employee training, 300 for customer education.
G2 rating
4.5 out of 5.
5. Thrive
Thrive is an AI-powered LMS and LXP focused on engagement-driven learning. Thrive's AI agent, Kiki, handles coaching, content creation, and analytics in one tool. Skill Pathways map learning to skills with clear progression routes, and Spaces provide community areas for peer collaboration.
Key features
Kiki AI agent: Covers coaching, content creation, and learning analytics in one tool.
Skill Pathways: Maps learning to skills with visible progression routes.
Spaces: Provides community learning areas for collaboration and peer discussion.
Topics: Offers 2,500+ curated learning resources from external publishers.
Published pricing: Lets procurement teams build a business case without a sales call.
Pricing
Price starts at $34000 per 1-100 learners, $48263 from 501-600 learners onwards
G2 rating
4.5 out of 5.
6. Cornerstone OnDemand
Cornerstone is one of the largest enterprise learning platforms, trusted by 7,000+ organisations across 180+ countries.
Workforce AI, launched in 2026, adds a skills engine covering 45,000+ skills. Cornerstone suits enterprises with dedicated rollout teams and the patience for a longer implementation cycle. It has been assembled through several acquisitions, and the interface reflects that history.
Key features
Workforce AI: Covers 45,000+ skills with recommendations and career pathing tools.
Compliance management: Includes deep tracking, audit tools, and regulatory reporting.
Talent suite integration: Connects learning to performance, recruiting, and workforce planning.
Global scale: Supports 7,000+ organisations and 50 languages.
Pricing
Custom pricing. No public rates. Quotes are based on organisation size and selected modules.
G2 rating
4.1 out of 5.
7. TalentLMS
TalentLMS is a lightweight, affordable LMS serving 70,000+ teams. It's one of the few platforms on this list with a free plan, and small IT teams can get running in a day.
The trade-off is depth. TalentLMS doesn't offer AI skills mapping, adaptive learning paths, or advanced analytics. It handles basic course delivery, quizzes, and certification tracking well, which is enough for small teams with straightforward training needs.
Key features
Quick setup: Gets you live in a day without dedicated IT resources.
Course builder: Supports drag-and-drop multimedia, quizzes, and surveys.
Integrations: Connects to Slack, Zoom, Salesforce, and 200+ apps via Zapier.
Certification tracking: Automates assignment, completion, and renewal reminders.
Pros
Affordable and fast to deploy for small IT teams.
Free plan lets you test with real users before committing budget.
Clean interface with minimal training needed for admins or learners.
Cons
No AI skills mapping, adaptive learning, or intelligent recommendations.
Limited for mid-market or enterprise IT companies that need depth.
Reporting stays basic compared to platforms like Absorb, Docebo, or HowNow.
Pricing
Free for up to 5 users
Core: $119/month (up to 40 users)
Grow: $229/month (up to 70)
Pro: $449/month (up to 100)
G2 rating
4.6 out of 5.
8. Absorb LMS
Absorb serves 3,700+ companies and millions of learners. The platform is built for organisations that are still growing and need admin tools and reporting that scale with them.
Intelligent Assist surfaces relevant content through AI recommendations. Custom reporting lets admins build compliance and skills dashboards. Absorb Infuse lets you embed learning directly into your existing tools, which is a strong fit for IT teams that live inside internal portals.
Key features
Intelligent Assist: Surfaces relevant content with AI-powered recommendations.
Custom reporting: Lets admins build compliance and skills dashboards to their specs.
Scalable architecture: Handles growing learner populations without performance drops.
Absorb Infuse: Embeds learning into your existing apps and internal portals.
Integrations: Connects to HRIS, CRM, and collaboration tools out of the box.
Pricing
Custom pricing. Contact sales for a quote.
G2 rating
4.6 out of 5.
9. Degreed
Degreed is a skills intelligence platform with 10 million+ activated users across 160+ countries. The focus is on skills development rather than traditional course delivery.
For large IT organisations, Degreed offers Skill Review assessments, career mobility tools, and an AI agent called Maestro. The platform pulls content from internal and external sources into one experience. You need a rich content ecosystem to get the most out of it.
Key features
Skill Review: Assesses and tracks skill levels with structured peer and manager ratings.
Maestro AI: Personalises learning paths based on individual goals and skill gaps.
Content aggregation: Pulls internal wikis, external courses, and articles into one feed.
Career mobility: Maps current skills to internal roles and progression opportunities.
Partnerships: Covers 30+ content providers, including Coursera, Udemy, and LinkedIn Learning.
Pricing
Custom pricing.
G2 rating
4.3 out of 5.
10. Litmos
Litmos is a cloud-based LMS serving 11,000+ organisations across 150 countries. The platform is built for fast deployment, which suits IT companies with global teams that need to get training live quickly.
The platform handles course delivery and compliance tracking well, but it doesn't include AI skills mapping or adaptive learning paths.
Key features
Fast deployment: Gets training live across global teams in days, not months.
Three-tier structure: Lets you scale feature depth as you grow.
Built-in content library: Sits alongside your custom courses for a blended approach.
Compliance tracking: Automates assignment, tracking, and reporting.
Pricing
All three tiers are custom-quoted.
G2 rating
4.3 out of 5.
Why IT companies need a purpose-fit LMS
Technical skills change faster than you can build courses for them. Cloud platforms release updates weekly. Security frameworks evolve with every new threat. A platform that mapped your team's skills six months ago is already out of date if it relies on manual input.
Integrations decide adoption. If the LMS doesn't plug into Slack, Teams, Jira, or your HRIS, nobody will open it. Your engineers spend their day in code editors and project boards. The learning platform needs to meet them there.
Developer onboarding sets the tone. New engineers need to ramp on your tech stack, codebase, and internal processes in weeks, not months. A purpose-fit LMS delivers structured onboarding paths mapped to role-specific skills, so new hires know exactly what to learn and in what order.
Why listen to us
HowNow is an AI-native learning platform built for companies where skills move fast. We work with IT and tech organisations every day, from consultancies to product companies to global enterprises.
Here's what they've achieved with HowNow:
Infinity Works, a UK-based IT consultancy, hit 97% learner activation within four months.
Trainline cut compliance training time by 50% after switching to HowNow.
TomTom reached 90%+ engagement and saw a 7–10% increase in internal mobility.
AND Digital achieved 75% daily platform use and 95% workforce engagement with their AI Ignition programme.
Hotelplan mapped 300+ job roles in one month and hit 99% activation within three months.
We build for this problem. We also reviewed every platform on this list. When another tool fits your situation better, we'll say so.
What to look for in an LMS for IT companies
Not every LMS is built for technical teams. Here's what to prioritise.
Skills tracking: Can it map and track technical skills automatically? Or does it only log course completions? IT companies need a platform that understands cloud certifications, programming languages, and security frameworks at the role level.
AI features: Does the platform use AI for personalisation, content recommendations, or skills mapping? Surface-level AI won't cut it. Look for a platform where AI runs through coaching, content creation, and analytics.
Integrations: Does it plug into the tools your engineers already use? Slack, Teams, Jira, your HRIS. If people have to leave their workflow to learn, they won't.
Compliance automation: Can it automate certification tracking, renewal reminders, and audit evidence? SOC 2, ISO 27001, and GDPR compliance require ongoing proof, not a one-off tick box.
Pricing transparency: Can you build a business case without sitting through a sales call first? Check whether skills intelligence, AI features, and content are included or sold as paid add-ons.
How to choose the right LMS for your it company
Start with what you're tracking. If you need to map cloud certifications, programming languages, and security frameworks to each role, you need AI-driven skills mapping. Not every platform here does that.
Think about integrations. Your engineers live in Slack, Teams, and Jira. If the LMS doesn't connect to those tools, adoption will stall from day one.
Factor in your compliance burden. SOC 2, ISO 27001, and GDPR all need ongoing evidence. Pick a platform that automates tracking and reminders rather than relying on spreadsheets.
Consider your team size. A team of 30 has different needs from one of 3,000. TalentLMS fits small IT teams on a budget. Cornerstone and Docebo make more sense at enterprise scale. HowNow covers mid-to-large organisations where skills mapping and AI coaching matter most.
Check what's included in the price. Skills intelligence, AI coaching, and content libraries are often sold as paid add-ons. Those costs add up at renewal, so get the full picture before you sign.
Your IT team deserves a learning platform that keeps pace
Technical skills don't wait. New frameworks ship, security threats evolve, and cloud platforms push updates faster than any course catalogue can track. Your learning platform needs to move at the same speed.
That's why we built HowNow around a Skills Graph that maps skills from real work, not self-assessment forms. Guru coaches your team with answers grounded in your own documentation and cites its sources.
IT companies like Infinity Works, Trainline, and TomTom already use HowNow to connect learning to the skills their teams need. Infinity Works hit 97% activation in four months. Trainline halved compliance training time. TomTom saw 90%+ engagement and a measurable increase in internal mobility.
If you want to see how the Skills Graph and Guru work with your team's data, book a demo.
FAQs
What's the best lms for IT companies?
HowNow is the strongest option for AI-driven skills mapping tied to job-market data. 360Learning suits teams that want peer-led technical training. Docebo fits large enterprises with broad content needs.
Do IT companies need AI features in an lms?
AI skills mapping and personalised learning paths save significant time when technical skills change fast. Without them, your L&D team manually updates taxonomies. That doesn't scale.
How much does an LMS for IT companies cost?
LMS pricing varies by vendor. HowNow is quoted per organisation, starting from £60/user/year. Self-serve options include TalentLMS ($119/month), 360Learning ($8/user/month), and Skillsoft Percipio ($20/seat/month).
Can an LMS track technical certifications?
Most platforms on this list track certifications and send renewal reminders. HowNow, Cornerstone, and Litmos offer the deepest compliance automation, including audit evidence and automated assignment.
What's the difference between an LMS and an LXP?
An LMS delivers and tracks structured courses. An LXP aggregates content from multiple sources and lets learners explore. HowNow combines both with AI-driven skills intelligence.
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