Every vendor claims to be an expert in continual learning – CHROs must find the real experts who have scaled their own Learning and Development programs

As analysts, we attend vendor events throughout the year. If there’s one thing that’s creeping out to the front of lengthy slide decks, it’s continual learning. Vendors from the IT services giants to the Big 4 consultancies are giddily telling us how they’ve perfected a culture for continual learning, and now they’re ready to help their clients do the same. As this space develops, savvy executives will be looking for providers which have shown their expertise and ability to scale L&D capabilities internally – and use those lessons to drive real change in their businesses.

In a challenging labor market, enterprise leaders must work to harness internal talent – a challenge the provider community have been wrestling with for decades

It’s fair to say the labor market right now is problematic for many enterprises. Almost all HFS studies reference talent shortages or quality problems that are causing major issues for both enterprises and providers. From the cloud to artificial intelligence (AI) and from Salesforce to ServiceNow, supply simply isn’t meeting demand. Let’s take the recent explosion in a particular role—a UX designer—which has become an increasingly common posting on recruitment sites.

A report from hired.com, Mind the Gap: A Report on the UK’s Technology Skills Landscape, recorded a 289% increase in requests for UX designer interviews. The report commented, “Market appetite for these skills is far outstripping supply today.” However, recruiting externally comes with a price tag. In an article in Harvard Business Review (HBR), an HR consultant commented that for some of his customers, it is “six times less expensive to build technical skills internally than it is to go hire them from the job market.” So, the call to action to enterprises is simple: they must foster a culture of continual training and learning. In practice, that is much more complicated than it is in theory unless the business model of the firm you work with is to develop internal talent to deliver services—which is where executives can see some real innovation taking place.

IBM, Infosys, and Wipro have all deployed innovative L&D programs – with important lessons enterprises can benefit from

Let’s take a look at some of the biggest service provider’s out there, and how they’re transforming learning and development in their businesses – lessons they are in position to pass on to clients.

• IBM, which has such an extensive heritage in the space that market dynamics have forced it to continually evolve services and solutions, and with that, the talent on the hook to deliver them. While the firm has a plethora of internal services and solutions it’s using internally and externally, the one most aligned to this topic is its use of badges to incentivize learning. The firm has partnered with Coursera to bring verifiable qualifications to staff and clients alike, which, according to a recent meeting with IBM, is making a real difference. As many of you who are connected to IBM employees on LinkedIn know, those who earn badges can update their profiles with their new qualifications, which helps gamify and incentivize learning further.

• Infosys is another firm that has set out its stall as a major investor in people. According to Infosys, the firm’s Wingspan platform sees 10,000 professionals sign on to participate in training every day—a notable chunk of the firm’s 255,000 global team members. The firm segments courses by their prevalence and demand, so new skills in AI are pushed toward professionals to help fill the skills gap internally and in the broader market. This isn’t the only example of Infosys’ commitment to reskilling professionals. Several years ago, the firm famously embarked on a business-wide training activity to refresh design thinking skills to help build a common approach and vocabulary across teams.

• Wipro, too, has developed a platform to support continual learning. The firm leverages Udemy for Business to ensure expert-led tutorials and training content are accessible to IT professionals anytime and anywhere, supporting the firm’s broader focus on training and development and building a culture where professionals have the time, resources, and incentives to continue learning

The Bottom Line: For executives looking to build a culture of continual learning in their business, the answer is likely to be with their service provider partner – where investment in talent is rapidly becoming the biggest point of differentiation

All these firms, and many others in the space, have demonstrated how it’s possible to build the resources to fuel learning and development activities and then use the right incentives and processes to build a culture that fosters continual learning. As these firms have demonstrated, the process is long and complex—where finding the right approach to suit the culture of the business is as important as building an intuitive suite of learning resources. But what’s clear is that the lifeblood of the service provider community is developing professionals internally to deliver services to clients—so who better to work with to ensure you have the right environment in your organization?