The landscape of learning and development (L&D) is increasingly focused on upskilling and providing growth opportunities for employees. LinkedIn Learning’s 2024 Workplace Learning Report found that “helping employees develop their careers” has jumped from ninth place in 2023 as a critical focus area to fourth place in 2024. Upskilling employees is now the second-most critical focus area, just behind “aligning learning programs to business goals.” With this renewed focus on skilling, it’s vital to properly support the L&D goals of organizations.
Managed learning service (MLS) partners are widely recognized for their comprehensive, end-to-end solutions that support learning initiatives over extended periods across an entire enterprise. Organizations leverage an MLS provider’s expertise, processes, and operational scale to manage and deploy complex learning efficiently. The unrealized value of an MLS partner extends beyond enterprise-wide solutions. Their experiences across a wide range of clients mean they are in a great position to solve immediate learning needs that set an organization up to meet long-term skilling goals.
An MLS partner offers expertise, infrastructure, relationships, and capabilities that can be rapidly deployed to address any learning challenge spanning years, months, or only a few weeks. This flexibility ensures that your organization can meet its learning and skilling needs efficiently and effectively, regardless of the project’s scope.
5 Ways MLS Partnerships Drive Strategic Value
L&D teams are often resourced based upon business-as-usual training needs. However, internal teams may lack the necessary capacity when global, large-scale learning programs are required to address pressing business performance issues. This is where strategic partnerships with MLS providers can be transformative.
MLS partners bring the additional resources and expertise needed to complement your internal L&D team, enabling them to deliver over 100% of their regular capacity. Whether your organization needs to rapidly upskill a global workforce, respond to an urgent compliance requirement, or deploy a complex learning technology solution, an MLS partner can accelerate the design, development, and deployment of high-quality learning programs. This ensures your people receive the training they need to drive business success without overburdening your internal team or disrupting ongoing operations.
MLS partnerships provide support in five main areas:
- Strategy: MLS partnerships bring vital strategic depth to organizational learning initiatives. By connecting business objectives with learning outcomes, these partnerships help pave clear paths through complex talent development decisions. This strategic foundation ensures that learning initiatives address immediate needs and position organizations to tackle future workforce challenges confidently.
- Content: At the heart of successful learning programs lies exceptional content that resonates with learners. MLS partnerships excel in orchestrating the full spectrum of content needs—from creation and curation to optimization across diverse learning modalities. This holistic approach ensures that learning materials meet rigorous standards and deliver compelling experiences that drive meaningful skill development and employee engagement.
- Operational Excellence: The quest for operational efficiency in L&D demands both expertise and practical know-how. With the right MLS partnerships, organizations can create streamlined learning operations that maximize impact while optimizing resources. This helps establish robust methodologies and best practices that transform learning organizations into high-performing teams.
- Technology: Navigating today’s complex learning technology landscape requires informed decision-making and strategic insight. MLS partnerships serve as expert guides through this digital maze, offering comprehensive assessments of existing systems and identifying areas of improvement so that technology ecosystems can evolve to meet current and future needs.
- Measurement and Impact: A key component of MLS partnerships is their focus on transforming learning data into actionable insights through analytics and reporting. This data-driven approach enables organizations to measure learning effectiveness, make informed decisions about program improvements, and demonstrate the tangible value of their learning initiatives.
A true MLS partnership transcends traditional vendor relationships by providing comprehensive, expert-level consultancy across your entire L&D value stream. This strategic alliance enables organizations to transform their L&D function from a support service into a powerful driver of business success.
An MLS Partnership Success Story in the Financial Sector
When the global pandemic hit in 2020, many organizations scrambled to adapt their training programs to remote work. However, for First Direct (FD), a division of HSBC, this challenge became an opportunity to completely reimagine their employee onboarding experience.
Prior to 2020, HSBC’s onboarding followed a traditional one-size-fits-all approach: new employees learned together at the same pace through instructor-led training (ILT) sessions. While this system worked, FD and the HSBC UK Learning team recognized that employees learn differently, and greater flexibility could enhance the organization’s effectiveness.
The legacy onboarding program, while comprehensive, had limitations. Content jumped between topics, making it difficult for learners to engage at their own pace and forcing heavy reliance on instructor expertise. HSBC wanted to create a system that would:
- Allow employees to control their learning pace
- Increase engagement through learner autonomy
- Better reflect real-life customer scenarios
- Provide point-of-need access to learning resources
- Free up instructors for valuable one-on-one coaching
The MLS Solution
With HSBC working with GP Strategies as an MLS partner, the two companies developed “youfirst”—a revolutionary four-phase learning journey designed for the hybrid workforce. The program strategy, content, and deployment were all reimagined to be delivered through Degreed, a platform chosen for its user-friendly interface and robust capabilities. This technology enabled FD to create customized learning pathways while monitoring individual learner progress.
This modernized approach replaced the traditional classroom-heavy format with a diverse mix of learning modalities, including:
- On-demand videos
- Interactive learning aids
- Digital articles
- Knowledge assessments
- Case studies
- Micro-learning modules
- An online community platform
- Three targeted instructor-led sessions
The Results
The transformation from traditional to digital-first learning yielded remarkable results:
- 33% reduction in training delivery time
- 76% reduction in instructor-led modules
- 317% increase in one-to-one coaching availability
- 27% decrease in employee attrition
- 23% improvement in learner readiness
The key to success was not merely digitizing existing content but fundamentally reimagining how learning could be delivered. By empowering employees to take control of their learning journey, HSBC created a more engaged, confident, and skilled workforce.
Driving Future Success Through Strategic MLS Partnerships
Organizations now face unprecedented challenges in upskilling and reskilling their workforce to meet emerging needs. MLS partners bring invaluable cross-industry experience and comprehensive expertise—from strategic innovation to rapid deployment—making them ideal partners in this critical journey.
Whether your organization needs to implement an enterprise-wide skilling program, transform your learning operations, or quickly deploy targeted learning interventions, an MLS partnership can provide the expertise, resources, and proven methodologies needed to drive success. The future of work demands agile, responsive learning solutions—and the right MLS partner can help you navigate this transformation with confidence.
Are you ready to explore how an MLS partnership can transform your learning operations? Get in touch with our experts to discuss your organization’s unique challenges and discover tailored solutions that drive measurable results.
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