In this morning’s COGNITION keynote, I announced and presented on the Customer Learning Economy: a growing, thriving, broad marketplace dedicated to customers, partners and professionals, an ecosystem of products and services estimated to be worth $127B. This is such an exciting time to be in the business of learning, and I’m energized by the ways in which Thought Industries is continuously pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.
The customer has to be at the center of your universe. The survival of your business hinges on their behavior, from whether they renew or churn, to whether they renew their subscription, refer your product to a friend, or become a drain on your support teams. The Customer Learning Economy focuses on the impact of the educated customer; it represents an evolution that first began with Customer Relationship Management (CRM), then expanded to post-sales with Customer Success Management (CSM), and has now evolved into the next dimension of customer-centricity.
We know from our own research that Customer, Partner and Professional Learning is delivering a staggering ROI as measured in net revenue gains, reduced support costs and customer churn, and in increased customer loyalty and engagement that, among other things, drives additional sales. Our new approach to customer learning reaches far beyond training, to encompass market education, lead generation, thought leadership, support deflection, conversion and trial optimization, professional improvement, certification and much more.
To support this customer-centric strategy, we’ve come to realize that a specific suite of technology is needed to meet the educational needs of the customer. We need to meet them wherever learning happens, on any device, on any screen, in any context. The simple fact is that these needs far exceed what is available in a traditional LMS.
The business impact for organizations investing in the educated customer is endless and undeniable:
- Products and services are becoming increasingly complex to learn and master,
- Customers now have way more sophisticated expectations of education and training experiences,
- Competitors are bringing the heat in every area of business, which means driving customers to value quickly is non-negotiable, and
- Users’ product and service expectations and outcomes are exceptionally high.
There has been a movement of learning technology specialization for over a decade, with a steady increase of organizations with an audience of external learners transitioning to these systems each year.
“For learning organizations, the trade-offs are clear. While a one-size-fits-all LMS may seem appealing in terms of its potential to adapt to various requirements, finding a perfect fit with an LMS that is designed for your specific needs offers undeniable business value.”
John Leh, CEO & Lead Analyst of Talented Learning
A one-size-fits-all LMS is going to struggle to maintain a roadmap that truly meets the needs of the customer education use case.
This is particularly true as organizations grow, scale, and begin to have global business needs with complex use cases (think: e-commerce, packaging, integrations, licensing, localization, etc.)
At Thought industries, we see a world wherein learning will come in so many different formats; from getting a simple question answered, to a blended learning program for a professional certification. These products can be packaged, sold, and resold with any currency, in any region, in any language. Not only that, but the Customer Learning Cloud (CLC), our solution in this marketplace, will be integrated with every adjacent technology you use, so that the view of your customer at every stage of the lifecycle is at your fingertips. And the best part is, this will all be done without an LMS (or any defined destination), but available everywhere, anytime.
Consider the sheer amount of devices, software applications, and products you encounter in the course of work. If you want to learn how to use these products, and even better, learn how to use them to achieve great business outcomes, you need to dedicate time to getting up to speed. Sometimes you may just want to execute a small task that can be answered with a simple sentence, while other times you need to review data, watch a video, understand a framework, download a job aid, or get feedback from an expert. All of these should be accessible right there in the flow of work. Think about learning in any format, on any screen… from a mobile device, to your laptop, to a screen in an excavator. This is where the future lies in the model of learning everywhere. Now, especially following my COGNITION session, I am deeply excited for the innovation that will come from those dedicated customer education professionals in the market, pushing the boundaries, sharing best practices, analyzing data and demanding more from companies like us. There is a bright future ahead as the Customer Learning Economy matures and drives system openness and connectivity across the greater ecosystem of third-party platforms, applications, content objects and services.
