Si bien el ecosistema de partners de Degreed está integrado por una amplia gama de innovadores, hay ocho que se distinguen por su forma de aplicar estrategias que priorizan las habilidades. Cada uno tuvo una labor destacada como patrocinador de Degreed LENS 2025. Lo más importante es que cada uno resolvió una dificultad urgente particular del personal.

Ya sea por sus perspectivas sobre el mercado laboral o por sus aportes en materia de infraestructura de aprendizaje, estos partners nos ayudan a transformar ideas en hechos concretos. En conjunto, representan el potencial de un ecosistema integrado que acelera los efectos, elimina las dificultades y genera resultados cuantificables para todos los clientes de Degreed.

Pearson: cómo preparar el aprendizaje para el futuro con información sobre el mercado

Pearson combina la eficacia de sus análisis del personal gracias a Faethm y las credenciales digitales de la mano de Credly. Junto con Degreed, estas herramientas ayudan a las empresas a poner en acción sus perspectivas para tomar medidas concretas: detectar las habilidades que harán falta a futuro, ofrecer programas de desarrollo profesional especializados y validar los resultados con métodos cuantificables.

En LENS, la mesa redonda matinal de ejecutivos de Pearson, la charla Cómo preparar al área de RR. HH. para el futuro: el efecto de la IA y de las nuevas tecnologías y otros debates demostraron cómo las empresas pueden adecuar el aprendizaje a los objetivos comerciales, prever las brechas de habilidades y salvarlas de antemano, convertir el desarrollo profesional del personal en una iniciativa de los ejecutivos, entre otras cosas. En todas y cada una de las conversaciones, Pearson dejó claro cómo nuestra colaboración beneficia a los directores del área de Talentos que quieren ampliar las estrategias centradas en resultados.

¿La conclusión? Relacionar datos predictivos con los programas de aprendizaje y los resultados verificados es un método claro para lograr la transformación de formas tangibles y demostrables. “Con el ecosistema de talentos, trabajamos de un montón de maneras diferentes e integramos muchísimos sistemas a lo largo de todo el proceso de adquisición de habilidades. Lo primero que le preguntamos a la empresa es qué planes tiene para el futuro y para los talentos que quiere”, explicó ante el público de LENS Melissa Matlins, jefa global de Soluciones de Personal de Pearson.

Workday: la posibilidad de adquirir habilidades con más inteligencia

La integración bidireccional de Workday a Habilidades+ de Degreed convierte datos estáticos sobre habilidades en un recurso dinámico. ¿Cómo? Ofreciendo una manera práctica de intercambiar, enriquecer y aprovechar datos sobre habilidades en distintos sistemas. Los perfiles de habilidades se actualizan automáticamente. El progreso del aprendizaje se refleja de forma directa en los sistemas del área de Talentos. Y los altos mandos de la empresa tienen un panorama más claro de las competencias del personal, sin tener que depender de informes inconexos.

Para los clientes compartidos, como Citi y BP, esta interoperabilidad acelera la movilidad de los talentos, permite planificar el personal con más inteligencia y menos trabajo manual y agiliza la gestión de los cambios. Para los equipos de RR. HH. y TI, la integración de Workday y Degreed termina con el problema de los datos fragmentados y reduce las tareas de mantenimiento manuales. Así, es posible tener una noción mucho más precisa de las habilidades en todos los sistemas de gestión de talentos.

La charla conjunta de LENS en el escenario principal, Cómo potenciar los resultados juntos, dirigida por Workday y SAP SuccessFactors, fue memorable. Los especialistas invitaron a los asistentes a centrarse en las habilidades más trascendentes, adoptar colaboraciones tecnológicas abiertas, experimentar y animarse a avanzar con la IA.

“Cualquiera sea el problema que intenten resolver, elaboren un plan, póngalo en práctica, registren las medidas —recomendó Michael Goldberg, líder principal de Promoción de Productos de Workday—. ¿Cuáles son los resultados? ¿Y los parámetros? ¿Cómo van a medir los efectos? (…) Dejen muy claro quién se hace cargo de cada cosa, cuáles son las responsabilidades de cada persona y quiénes son los que, en definitiva, toman las decisiones”.

Michael Goldberg, líder principal de Promoción de Productos de Workday (izquierda), Josh Gosliner, vicepresidente de Estrategias de Productos de SAP SuccessFactors (en el medio) y Ashley Gammie, vicepresidenta de Colaboraciones de Degreed (derecha), en el escenario principal de Degreed LENS 2025.

CredSpark: evaluaciones integradas para personalizar el aprendizaje

CredSpark lleva la cuantificación de las habilidades de la teoría a la práctica. Al integrar evaluaciones directamente en la plataforma de Degreed, permite que los equipos de Aprendizaje midan de forma continua la adquisición de habilidades, personalicen el aprendizaje en función del desempeño en tiempo real y generen datos que se vuelcan de inmediato en las herramientas de inteligencia empresarial y los sistemas de elaboración de informes.

Credspark llegó a LENS con un mensaje claro: a los directores empresariales que deben encargarse de demostrar la eficacia de los programas, la compañía les ofrece los datos que necesitan sobre el nivel de las habilidades para probar los efectos concretos y adecuar el aprendizaje a los objetivos comerciales. La charla de bienvenida de LENS a cargo de Credspark y los directores de Cuentas Clave de Degreed sirvió para subrayar este mensaje y empezar el congreso con mucho entusiasmo.

Lightcast: fundamentar la estrategia con datos del mercado laboral

Lightcast aporta información en tiempo real sobre el mercado laboral a las estrategias de personal. Mediante su integración a Degreed, ayuda a las empresas a dilucidar qué habilidades nuevas hay, cuáles son las más solicitadas y cómo se comparan las competencias internas con las necesidades dinámicas del sector.

En LENS, un interrogante en particular de Lightcast hizo eco: si casi la mitad de las habilidades que exige un sector están a punto de cambiar, ¿no sería conveniente saberlo?

Ethena: reinventar el cumplimiento de las normas con contenido atractivo

Ethena demuestra que las capacitaciones sobre normas no tienen por qué ser algo que solo se haga por obligación. Los contenidos de Ethena se basan en la ciencia conductual y están pensados para incentivar la participación entusiasta de los empleados. Por eso, ayudan a las empresas a generar cambios duraderos en el comportamiento, no solo a cumplir con las capacitaciones. 

El sistema de Ethena, que está totalmente integrado a Degreed, permite dictar fácilmente las capacitaciones obligatorias de un modo que se adapta a los objetivos de aprendizaje más amplios. 

En LENS, la directora de Personal de Ethena, Melanie Naranjo, se sumó a los directores de Ericsson y Truist en el panel El cambio potenciado por la IA y las habilidades: la reinvención del liderazgo. 

“El personal responde cuando los programas de aprendizaje son accesibles —comentó Naranjo—. Tienen que ser estimulantes, no algo que dé miedo”.

LearnUpon: vincular el aprendizaje formal al crecimiento

LearnUpon permite estructurar y ampliar el aprendizaje, en particular en sectores donde el cumplimiento de las normas, la certificación y la preparación para las auditorías no son factores negociables. Con la integración del LMS LearnUpon a Degreed, las empresas pueden gestionar las capacitaciones formales obligatorias y, al mismo tiempo, ofrecer programas de desarrollo profesional personalizados. 

Para los equipos de Aprendizaje, este método combinado reduce la carga administrativa y da la posibilidad de conocer mejor los objetivos de aprendizaje, tanto normativos como estratégicos. ¿El resultado? Un método más inteligente y equilibrado para abordar el cumplimiento de las normas, que favorece la rendición de cuentas y el crecimiento.

Learnexus: ampliar el aprendizaje con talentos bajo demanda

Learnexus les da a las empresas la oportunidad de contar con los expertos en aprendizaje que necesitan, sin las típicas demoras de los procesos de contratación ni limitaciones presupuestarias. Ya sea que se trate de diseñadores instruccionales, asesores de aprendizaje o coordinadores de proyectos, Learnexus pone a las empresas en contacto con talentos especialmente seleccionados cuando lo solicitan, de modo que las iniciativas más importantes no se retrasen por falta de recursos internos.

El mensaje de Learnexus en LENS fue contundente: cuando se necesita asistencia a gran escala, el acceso a talentos especializados no debería ser un obstáculo. Learnexus, la opción ideal para los directores de RR. HH. y Aprendizaje con escasez de personal o limitaciones presupuestarias, ofrece la posibilidad de acceder con rapidez a talentos especialmente seleccionados, lo cual acelera el lanzamiento de programas nuevos o iniciativas de transformación.

SPA: medir los avances con una mirada que prioriza las habilidades

SPA (Skill Professionals Association) ayuda a las empresas a desenvolverse con determinación y confianza en medio de los cambios en pos de una estrategia para priorizar las habilidades. Su flamante metodología de madurez para priorizar las habilidades les aporta a las empresas un método estructurado para medir las competencias, detectar las deficiencias y prepararse para lo que vendrá.

En LENS 2025, el taller para ejecutivos de SPA, Una nueva norma para el personal: cómo la certificación para empresas que priorizan las habilidades puede convertirse en resultados y en una ventaja competitiva, invitó a los asistentes a llevar adelante el cambio, en lugar de solo actuar en consecuencia, y presentó las habilidades como una ventaja competitiva.

La colaboración es un catalizador del cambio.

El mensaje de los patrocinadores de Degreed LENS fue claro:

La transformación del personal no es un hecho aislado. No se produce por una herramienta, un proveedor o una sola idea. Es parte de un ecosistema.

En LENS, estos ocho partners trabajaron codo a codo con Degreed para ayudar a las empresas de todo el mundo a convertir los talentos que tienen en los que necesitan. Es un orgullo colaborar con ellos y tenemos muchas ganas de ver lo que vendrá.

The post Por qué todo el mundo habla de estos 8 partners de Degreed appeared first on Degreed.

Participé en más de 100 sesiones de roadmap y hablé con directores de equipos de Aprendizaje en 28 ciudades.

Vaya donde vaya, surgen los mismos temas: los directores ejecutivos quieren preparar a la empresa para el futuro, los directores de Operaciones buscan automatizar tareas y los directores de Finanzas exigen que mejore la rentabilidad.

Todo el mundo está avanzando más rápido que nunca y, sin embargo, la presión es cada vez mayor.

El imperativo de transformar al personal

Hace cinco años, el Foro Económico Mundial calculó que para el 2030, el 50 % del personal necesitaría upskilling. Cinco años más tarde, agregamos un toque de IA generativa a la situación y esa cifra se acerca más al 60 %.

No soy científico de datos, pero hasta yo me doy cuenta de que hay que adquirir más habilidades y en la mitad del tiempo.

Los equipos de Aprendizaje de todo el mundo trabajan sin descanso. ¿Por qué? Hoy, las empresas no pueden contratar personal en función de las habilidades que necesitan. Faltan talentos. Por eso, deben ocuparse de adquirirlas. Y los directores de las empresas tienen miedo. Saben que con el personal actual (y las habilidades que tiene) no alcanza para prosperar a futuro.

Es el motivo por el que muchos directores del área de Aprendizaje afirman que la capacitación estratégica en IA es la principal prioridad para los directores ejecutivos. Y está bien que lo sea.

Las compañías de hoy necesitan personal que entienda las nuevas tecnologías y conozca a fondo los aspectos más básicos de la actividad empresarial. No necesitan personal que solo sepa de IA, sino que conozca la empresa y entienda cómo aplicar la IA a lo que hace.

Para esto existe Degreed. Con nosotros, es posible aprender lo que sea. Es posible disfrutar del aprendizaje corporativo. Creamos un sistema que promueve la participación y ayuda a las empresas a inculcar la curiosidad.

Qué auténtica vergüenza sería si, en este momento de cambio, no pudiéramos desentrañar cómo usar ese sistema para ayudar a nuestros colegas a concretar sus objetivos en este mundo dinámico.

La IA y su inmenso potencial

En Degreed, empezamos todos los días pensando en cómo ayudar a las empresas a lograr lo siguiente:

• reconocer necesidades;
• personalizar el desarrollo profesional; y
• medir el cambio.

Sabemos que debemos lograr que a las empresas les resulte más fácil coordinar lo que más les gusta hacer a sus empleados con los resultados que necesitan para mantener su competitividad a futuro.

Imagina qué pasaría si los equipos de Aprendizaje pudieran ofrecer contenido pertinente y de excelente calidad de forma gratuita. ¿Y si pudieran personalizarlo? No para un puesto, un rol ni un área, sino para un empleado en particular.

Piensa cómo sería todo si una empresa que prioriza el aprendizaje pudiera crear de cero su área de Aprendizaje y Desarrollo de acuerdo con el criterio de los directores de ese departamento.

Los sistemas de gestión del aprendizaje (LMS) sirven para cumplir con las normas. Los de gestión del mercado de talentos solamente ayudan al 5 % o 10 % de los empleados. 

Las empresas con visión de futuro necesitan más. A eso se dedica Degreed y es su objetivo constante.

Adaptar el personal a las necesidades

En los últimos 12 años, en Degreed indexamos casi 40 millones de objetos de contenido. Correlacionamos más de 250 000 habilidades.

Ayudamos a más de 10 millones de usuarios. Y notamos resultados concretos gracias a ello. En State Street, más del 70 % de los empleados aprenden con Degreed todos los meses. En Volkswagen, una estrategia para priorizar las habilidades en colaboración con Degreed ya permitió ahorrar EUR 2 millones.

Y ahora integramos la IA directamente en las actividades de aprendizaje. Hace poco anunciamos tres importantes productos:

Degreed Maestro Studio

Gracias a esta impresionante herramienta, tu empresa puede crear e implementar experiencias de aprendizaje personalizadas y con IA integrada, pensadas especialmente para tus necesidades particulares. Maestro ya se está usando para democratizar el coaching sobre liderazgo, simular situaciones a gran escala para capacitar a los vendedores y personalizar la adquisición y la evaluación de habilidades. Con Degreed Maestro Studio, puedes adaptar hasta el último detalle de cada interacción con la IA a las necesidades de tu empresa.

Degreed Open Library

Esta inmensa fuente de materiales de aprendizaje está a disposición de todos los clientes de Degreed sin costo adicional. Cuenta con 500 itinerarios gestionados en detalle sobre los temas más solicitados. Recurriendo a la IA y a nuestros propios expertos, seguiremos perfeccionando esta herramienta para que tu empresa siempre tenga acceso a contenido de aprendizaje pertinente y de calidad.

Degreed Maestro Services

Este paquete de servicios está pensado para que tu empresa pueda potenciar los efectos de la IA en el aprendizaje y, al mismo tiempo, recortar sus gastos. Con uno de los servicios, puedes elaborar itinerarios con ayuda de la IA y de los expertos de Degreed para contar con programas de aprendizaje estructurados y de gran utilidad. Otro de los servicios te permite diseñar, crear e implementar coaches de IA personalizados y simulaciones adaptadas a las prioridades particulares de tu empresa.

Este es el destino al que nos dirigimos:

• Más rapidez. Capacita al personal más rápido que nunca con Maestro, Open Library y mucho más.
• Menos costos. Cuida tu presupuesto con cientos de itinerarios de Open Library e implementaciones de IA.
• Resultados más trascendentes. Vincula el aprendizaje a los resultados comerciales. Haz un seguimiento de las habilidades. Demuestra el ROI.

Y ya que estamos hablando de contenido

Vale la pena repetirlo: la IA va a transformar la experiencia con los contenidos.

El mejor contenido es el que apela a las emociones. El que tiene en cuenta el ritmo del personal. El que mantiene el interés de los empleados.

Seguramente, de ahora en adelante las empresas tendrán cada vez más contenidos de calidad en su biblioteca.

¿Por qué? Porque van a contar con el presupuesto para costearlos. Lo que desaparecerá es el contenido mediocre.

Las empresas van a poder dejar de comprar bibliotecas generales, destinadas a todo el personal, que termina adoptando únicamente el 5 % de los empleados, solo por si alguien pide, por ejemplo, una capacitación en un idioma que no está incluido sobre cómo debe ser la presencia de un ejecutivo. Esto permitirá ahorrar. Y los equipos de Aprendizaje podrán usar esos recursos para invertir en experiencias nuevas y creadas de cero con IA. Materiales más atractivos y eficaces. 

Los empleados avanzarán con el contenido de aprendizaje y, cuando tengan una duda, podrán esclarecerla. Podrán interactuar con un mentor de IA. Podrán poner a prueba sus habilidades y desarrollarse plenamente como profesionales.

Una última reflexión

Hace quince años, me hice una pregunta simple: ¿cómo será la Quinta Avenida de Nueva York en el futuro?

Las tiendas no desaparecieron, sino que evolucionaron.

Al igual que las tiendas, el trabajo no va a desaparecer. Se va a transformar. Por eso, el personal también debe hacerlo.

Obtén más información.

No te pierdas nuestra serie de webinars Degreed en acción en siete entregas para ahondar aún más en nuestras innovaciones con la IA, entre otras cosas.

The post Más rapidez, menos costos, resultados más trascendentes: el aprendizaje en el mundo de la IA appeared first on Degreed.

“This concealment took a toll, creating a disconnect between who I was and who I felt I had to be,” said Stephen, Degreed Vice President of Global Professional Services. “When I finally embraced my identity, it was like stepping into the light after years in the shadows. This journey has taught me the importance of authenticity, and it’s a lesson I strive to impart to my daughters every day.

“Pride, for me, is about ensuring that my children see the value in being true to oneself.”

Working at an organization dedicated to the advancement of lifelong learning has some undeniable advantages. What’s one of the biggest? At Degreed, it’s a company culture that celebrates self-discovery and cherishes the life-affirming, life-changing positivity unleashed by personal growth. This ethos is baked into our products too; they’re intentionally designed to democratize learning so it’s easily accessible and inclusive.

At Degreed, these values become particularly salient in June during LGBTQ+ Pride Month. They give us reason to reflect and importantly provide us with the opportunity. 

As we reflect, we also recognize that big-picture challenges persist when only 45% of LGBT+ employees feel comfortable being out at work, according to a recent Deloitte survey across 13 countries including the United States. 

Join us as we share and celebrate perspectives on the meaning of Pride, what it means to be out at work, and what it means to be out at Degreed.

Hali Linn, Learning Strategy Consultant

The first time I came out at work, I scribbled down a nearly illegible identity on a sticky note at a work-sponsored Pride event where attendees were asked to participate in a survey. It was the first time I felt like I was being invited to claim my full self at work, and accepting that offer was a milestone for me.

I came to New York City drawn to the bold anonymity and adventurous spirit of this provocative place—qualities entirely disparate from the environment where I had grown up. On the streets of New York, no one has time to care what you’re wearing or how you identify, and many queer and questioning folks soon find, at worst, a swarm of busy indifference and, at best, a welcoming and vibrant queer community ready to embrace and love them.

My professional journey, however, did not quite align with the “out and proud” sentiment of the queer community that I cherished. Even in big cities, pockets of prejudice still exist, and I remained in the closet at company after company, sometimes due to hostile work cultures, and, if I’m being honest, sometimes because I wasn’t then ready to be fully out. (A reminder that not everyone is ready to “come out” in every space, and that’s okay!)

Pride events were a beacon of hope and acceptance before I was fully out at work; I witnessed other members of the LBGTQ+ community seamlessly integrate their personal and professional lives, claiming their identities with pride and confidence. If these queer elders and peers could be out, then so too could I!

I still wasn’t fully out at work, however, until I got to Degreed. Much like my arrival in New York, when I came to Degreed I felt welcomed, embraced, and included. I was not merely tolerated and passively celebrated during the month of June. On the contrary, I was invited to bring my whole self to every conversation. 

I’m not just a participant, but a leader, and I work for an organization that embraces my unique experience as an LGBTQ+ individual. Here, my identity is seen as an asset, enriching our workplace with diverse perspectives and fostering a culture of genuine inclusivity. At Degreed, I found the courage to be openly myself, knowing that I am valued for who I am every single day, and this has made a huge difference in my professional and personal life.

Pride, to me, means having the courage to take those first small steps toward self-acceptance and authenticity, even in environments where it feels challenging. Now I embrace the ability I have to be fully out, and I hope I can be a meaningful example to others. Pride means finding and building communities that support and celebrate who you are, inside the walls at work and outside of them as well. Most importantly, Pride is about recognizing and honoring the bravery it takes to live openly and authentically, at the workplace company and beyond!

Ryan Niehaus, Marketing Automation Manager

I have been with Degreed for almost four years. I live in Denver, Colorado, with my husband and rescue pup, Summit.

I came out as bisexual toward the end of 2016 and got married to the love of my life in 2022. My coming out story could not be any blander.

When I approached my friends and family about my sexuality, I was greeted with nothing but love, acceptance, and a “so what” attitude. Because not everyone shares that same experience, I have spent as much time as I can dedicate to educating myself about human rights-related issues and reading about other’s coming out experiences. I have developed a stronger personal appreciation for the importance of making Pride Month more inclusive and celebrating both the bland and anything-but-bland stories, struggles, and successes of the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement. 

All too often, the word “pride” is associated with notions of excessive love of oneself, vanity, or hubris. But that is not and has never been a foundation of Pride Month. Pride means living a life that is authentic to who I am—without shame, fear, or guilt. 

At work, it means I do not have to behave or act in a certain way because of the threat of being exposed, humiliated, belittled, or rejected. It means I am not ashamed to mention my husband when asked in a meeting what my plans are this upcoming weekend. It means I have the freedom to express my preferred pronouns on my company Slack profile. Lastly, it means I am not afraid of being held back from advancement opportunities because of the person I married. 

What many people don’t know is that we don’t just come out once at work. A constant conversation occurs when meeting new colleagues and introducing ourselves in meetings. And because of that, I am lucky to work for a company as open-minded as Degreed.

I am able to be my authentic self each and every day at work. This allows our Business Resource Group (OUT@Degreed) to spend our time educating, celebrating, and reflecting on the people who put their lives at risk to stand up and demand equality, instead of fighting stereotypes and bigotry internally. And for that, we’re lucky and proud to celebrate Pride Month with Degreed.

Stephen Elrod, Vice President of Global Professional Services

Pride holds a special place in my heart, not just as a celebration but as a profound expression of who I am as a queer dad to two amazing daughters. For me, Pride is about authenticity—showing up as my true self both at work and at home. This authenticity is not just a personal choice but a crucial part of the example I want to set for my children.

In a world that can sometimes feel daunting and unaccepting, I want my daughters to know that they can always be who they are without fear. By living authentically, I hope to show them that self-acceptance is not only possible but also empowering. I want them to understand that being true to oneself is not a privilege but a fundamental right.

At work, bringing my whole self means being open about my identity and experiences. It’s about creating an environment where diversity is not just accepted but celebrated. This authenticity fosters a culture of inclusivity, where everyone feels valued for who they are. When we bring our whole selves to work, we contribute to a healthier, more innovative, and more compassionate workplace. It encourages others to do the same, building a community where authenticity is the norm, not the exception.

At home, being my true self means showing my daughters that it’s okay to be different. It means sharing my journey with them, including the struggles and the triumphs. I want them to see that authenticity is a strength, not a weakness. By being open about who I am, I hope to give them the confidence to embrace their own identities, whatever they may be.

Pride is a reminder that being authentic at work and at home is essential for a healthy, balanced life. It’s about showing my children that it’s possible to be successful and happy without compromising who you are. This balance is vital as a parent because our children learn more from our actions than our words. When they see us living authentically, they learn to value honesty, courage, and self-love.

In conclusion, Pride is more than just a celebration; it’s a testament to the power of authenticity. As a queer dad, I embrace Pride as a time to reflect on my journey and reaffirm my commitment to living truthfully. We can create a world that is more accepting, more loving, and more true to every one of us.

The post Pride at Degreed: Reflecting on the Power of Authenticity appeared first on Degreed.

That timeless take is reflected in Degreed’s history, and perhaps even more so when we’ve got big news — like the $153 million in Series D funding we announced today, valuing the company at $1.4 billion. The investment will be used to fuel innovation and generate value for our clients by accelerating product development, enhancing data infrastructure, and continuing our global expansion as we pursue new, strategic acquisitions.

That’s not all, though. Dan Levin, former COO of Box, will succeed Chris McCarthy as CEO of Degreed. Chris is stepping back after almost eight years here to address a chronic back issue, but he’ll remain in a strategic advisory capacity and sit on the Degreed Board of Directors. It was a very difficult decision for Chris to make, and he was heavily involved in the months-long succession process to ensure this transition is smooth and successful. 

We’ve always worked to plant new seeds — for our own growth and our customers’ success — from our scrappy start nearly a decade ago, through every strategic evolution, and continuing today.

To understand where we’re going with this new resourcing and leadership, we always remember where we’ve been.

The Beginning: A Fresh Look at Learning

Degreed was created on a simple premise: Education is too important to stay the way it is.

Co-founders David Blake and Eric Sharp set out to jailbreak the college degree. “It should be our skills, irrespective of how or where we develop them, that should be what determines our opportunities, and I wanted to be part of the solution,” Blake said.

The Early Years: Culture and Momentum

McCarthy, who joined Degreed as COO in 2013 and succeeded Blake as CEO in 2018, frequently slept at the office and cold called learning leaders to get product feedback. “We’ve built something brick by brick,” he said.

At first, Degreed was a business-to-consumer (B2C) platform, satisfying consumer demand for a portal that connects people with lifelong learning from a wide range of aggregated sources. But there was more to come.

Evolution and Expansion  

A key product evolution came in 2015 with a shift from B2C to a predominantly business-to-business (B2B) strategy. The goal was to build something scalable, secure, and most importantly, impactful — an experience laser-focused on the needs of workers.

This led to new features that are still core to our product today: Pathways and Groups. The product we pioneered became known as a learning experience platform (LXP) — a reflection of our initial focus on integrating learning resources from a variety of systems and apps. As we added more sophisticated capabilities, we evolved into an intuitive workforce upskilling platform, broadening our customer base from learning leaders to talent, HR, and technology leaders, too. 

Our 2016 acquisition of Gibbon brought depth to our content curation and product design. And our 2018 acquisition of Pathgather made Degreed more social while adding admin functionality.

Today, Degreed has expanded to three core products: Learning Experience, Career Mobility, and Skill Analytics. We help business leaders understand the supply and demand for skills across their organizations and connect people’s skills to internal opportunities like projects, stretch assignments, and gig work, creating value for both the business and your people.

Explosive Growth: Funding, People, Customers 

Including today’s announcement, Degreed has received more than $335 million in total funding, enabling us to expand significantly.

More than 570 employees across 13 countries work at Degreed, and we expect to employ more than 600 people by the end of this year. Drawn to Degreed by its mission and culture, people like it here and tend to stick around. 

In 2019, we acquired Adepto to help our customers identify skills that are in demand and bridge skills gaps by intelligently matching internal and external workers to new work opportunities. In another important milestone, we partnered with LearnUpon in early 2020. Now our customers can easily access the LMS features they need along with our learning experience platform in a single investment. Since then, we’ve gained additional partners, such as TED and Pluralsight, among others.

Along the way, we’ve consistently expanded our customer base domestically and internationally. Today, we serve hundreds of the world’s most innovative organizations in over 27 countries. Owing to this success, our flagship virtual conference, the annual Degreed LENS Lite, last year drew more than 12,000 registered participants from more than 90 countries.

We’re Not Even Close to Being Done

Throughout our history, we’ve been highly intentional about how Degreed has developed as a company and as a product. This remains a top priority, said Kat Kennedy, President and Chief Experience Officer. She was employee No. 1, hired by the co-founders. 

“Thriving employees are eight times more likely to work for a company that they trust will provide them with career opportunities, even if their job changes or goes away,” Kat said. “And businesses that can quickly reallocate talent to the most critical strategic priorities are more than twice as likely to outperform their competitors on total returns to shareholders. That’s exactly what Degreed does, and it’s the picture we are working to make a reality at each of the organizations we are lucky to serve.”

The post The History of Degreed: Mission-Driven Momentum appeared first on Degreed.

While we wish you plenty of hot cocoa, holiday movies, and snowball (or dirtball if it’s dry where you are?) fights, there’s bound to be some downtime where this survival guide can be the antidote to your kids’ holiday boredom. As a companion to our April activity book, Everything’s Canceled!, A Holiday Survival Guide is here to fill the next few weeks with winter trivia, craft projects, brainteasers, and — most importantly — dad jokes. 

So what are you doing still reading this? Download your copy and get started (the Madlibs are extra spicy this year). From everyone at Degreed, we wish you safe, happy holidays and a Happy New Year. Thanks for riding this crazy wave called 2020 with us. 

The post Our Holiday Survival Guide: A Kid’s Winter Break Activity Book appeared first on Degreed.

We’ve come a long way. The business has quadrupled over the last two years and the number of people using our platform has tripled in the last year alone. We’ve built a more engaging platform, which helps our customers unlock new insights about the supply of skills within their companies. That’s why one-third of the Fortune 50 companies are using Degreed today to put their employees’ needs first.

The next step is helping our customers identify and respond to shifts in the skills that are in demand. So today, we’re pleased to announce that we have acquired Adepto to complete our vision and empower our customers to bridge the divide between the supply and demand for skills.

Where We’ve Been

Seven years ago, we realized that the HCM suites had forgotten about the end-user. Across the board, the existing platforms focused more on HR and administrative requirements than on the value delivered to employees.

So, we set out to build a different type of product — one that’s enterprise-class, meaning it’s scalable, secure, and most importantly, impactful — by being laser-focused on the needs of the employee.

Degreed is both platform- and content- agnostic, so you and your people can learn your way. It also includes a simple yet powerful toolkit that enables both users and administrators to personalize the experience based on everyone’s unique skill sets, interests, and ambitions. And by focusing on what the users really need, Degreed is able to generate a unique and valuable dataset on the learning and skills of your workforce.

The Demand to Our Supply

Listening to our clients, we consistently hear one thing loud and clear: they need more than inconsistent or inferred data sets from their HCM systems or yearly performance reviews. They want a system that not only promotes continuous user engagement, but also offers insight into how their people’s skills match with projects, career opportunities, and business priorities — and helps people bridge those gaps. This is where the acquisition of Adepto comes in.

Adepto enables organizations to build private Total Talent networks that intelligently match internal and external workers to open projects, gigs, and job opportunities that fit their abilities and career goals. It also provides business leaders with easy-to-use tools to track and access the skill sets of their entire pool of available talent, including current and past employees, as well as contractors, freelancers, consultants, and potential new hires.

Through the acquisition, Degreed will become the destination for business executives, team managers (as well as talent and HR leaders) to understand and manage the supply and demand for skills inside their organizations. Paired with Degreed’s award-winning Learning Experience Platform, Adepto’s technology will give our customers a talent marketplace to enable internal mobility along with the visibility and capabilities to respond to shifts in the demand for skills as they’re happening.

Adepto at a Glance:

• Offices in London, UK, Brisbane, Australia, and New York, USA
• 41 employees
• Leadership team includes Chris Milligan (Founder/CEO), Linda Davies (Financial Controller), Brenton Worley (CTO), Joel Luther (Head of Product), Vicky Holdsworth (VP, Marketing and Partnerships), Oli Meager (VP, Sales, and EMEA), Louise Anderson (VP, Solutions, and APAC), April Lea (Head of Delivery), and James Griffin (VP Customers)
• The company has grown by 150% per year for three consecutive years
• Clients include Atos, Capita, and Cisco, as well as public sector employers, such as the Queensland Government.

Where We’re Going

With our expanded set of resources and capabilities, we will combine Adepto’s technology and data with the core parts of Degreed. That will include:

1. Enhancing our core LXP features, such as Search, personalized recommendations, and on-the-job development opportunities.
2. Expanding our integration capabilities to include the broader HCM and work ecosystem.
3. Enriching our analytics, reporting, and decision-making functionalities.

The acquisition also expands Degreed’s ability to serve our global and multinational organizations with 40+ new product, professional services, and commercial teams on the ground in Europe and Australia.

Delivering the most comprehensive, user-first learning and skills platform remains our north star and we are proud to add Adepto on this journey.

To be clear, Degreed is still an open, integrated ecosystem. If our customers have content or data stored on a different platform, we will always allow users to access and utilize it.

Our partnership with Adepto is simply another critical step to demonstrate our dedication to ensuring no one becomes irrelevant due to lack of new skills, and that organizations have the ability and insights to support their growth.

If you have any questions or thoughts to share, we would love to speak to you and offer a variety of avenues to reach us. Read our press release, get in touch with your Degreed or Adepto contact or visit the Degreed blog.

The post Degreed Acquires Adepto appeared first on Degreed.

The Challenge: You’re Only As Strong As Your Biggest Skill Gaps

We know employees want guidance. In fact, in our most recent study, 61% of workers said they wanted help aligning learning efforts to their skills gaps. And for years, companies have tried to offer guidance and structure through competency models, systems that were thought to clearly define the knowledge, skills, and behaviors required for every individual role.

But while two-thirds of organizations utilize workforce competencies, only 33% of those organizations believe they are effective. With a workforce that changes this rapidly, a top-down approach will never be able to keep up.

Organizations need a structure that can help their people build skills at the rate of change we’re seeing across the workforce. By 2022, it is predicted that 133 million new roles will emerge within the workforce, largely focusing on the interaction between humans, machines, and algorithms.

From technological advancements to unique job titles, the new world of work is progressive and fluid. In a recent Gartner survey, 70% of respondents said they didn’t feel they had mastered the skills their current jobs demanded, and 80% said they lacked the skills they needed for both their current and future roles. On a larger scale, companies are struggling to keep up with new required skills such as technology design and system analysis.

Now we see a plethora of different tools trying to find an alternative for a competency model. HCM systems are trying to “infer” the skills required for an organization’s workforce from job applications or performance reviews, for example. There are new tools hitting the market constantly, claiming AI will do the job, and still we see clients spending significant resources on outsourcing this work to consultants and still the same struggle. The skills economy demands a creative tracking solution — one that isn’t from the top down.

Cisco is a good example of what this alternative skills structure looks like in a large yet dynamic company. They recognized that their competency model couldn’t keep up with their growth, resulting in disparate job titles throughout the organization, despite role similarities. So they created a simpler solution. First, Cisco categorized about 3,000 unique job titles by the skills they required. Then, they mapped those skills onto a more manageable group of 221 similar “role profiles” for all 75,000 of their people. The result is a simpler, more agile system that can grow with the modernization of work and their company. It also allows for a clearer for internal career mobility.

While Cisco had the resources, data, and business directive to simplify this complex and time-consuming mapping problem, many companies are facing the same problem without the resources to solve it. Luckily, these are the problems that Degreed was born to solve.

We know that skills are the foundational piece to a new system. We can link learning opportunities to skills, which can then link to roles. But let’s start with the basics: What is a skill, anyway? Well, most businesses and industries have their own lexicon, as do providers of skill library solutions, such as Korn Ferry, HRSG, and IBM Watson Talent Frameworks.

Before businesses can effectively address their skills gap, they need to identify it — which is difficult to determine if not everyone is speaking the same language around skills. The first step to addressing a skills gap is identifying which skills are functionally the same and compiling those together by a common name.

We’ve found that our individual users like adding skills in creative or unique terms, but these additions don’t tend to gain steam within the organization. Only 12% of all skills that are tagged in Degreed came from our taxonomy or a client administrator, which means 88% came directly from users in their preferred language. But it turns out that the standardized skill tags (the 12%) generate 80% of the “actions” we see — e.g. people following or actively seeking to develop them through individual learning plans and goals. Streamlining these crowdsourced skills into a common language creates a standardized structure. This then translates them into an actionable skills library around which administrators can use in crafting development plans. 

The Solution: It All Starts With Your People

So how can we help our clients simplify and standardize their existing skills? We’ve spent the better part of the last year working with some of our most innovative clients to create a fresh new approach. This approach still relies on standardization but draws on a different source for this guidance: your people.

Instead of following a top-down competency model, we want to allow the workforce to help shape the company skills taxonomy. This process can help surface evolving skills and allow businesses to study and understand their strengths and weaknesses. Then they can endorse certain skills and incorporate them into training tools to stay one step ahead of the curve.

Administrators can use this data, consolidate it, and build it back into their skills structure to ensure standardization. This generates a live, dynamic taxonomy that can build more responsive learning programs, guiding employees to help them identify and close their skills gaps.

That’s why we’re releasing an exciting new feature to help you get there. With Degreed’s latest release, there is now an intuitive and editable skill list in the Skills tab. While only in Beta initially, it will be released to our full audience in the next few months. This means that we now offer the guidance our users want with the flexibility to use the lexicon of your unique businesses.

For instance, say your company has a specific skill of “Engineering Excellence” that is commonly used and well-defined by the business. Now you can add “Engineering Excellence” to the system, track it, and endorse it. Administrators can either edit them right in their Skills Tab or download their existing skills list to easily edit or load new ones straight into the system, as seen below. 

The best part is that skills can also be associated with roles, Pathways, and Plans in the system, so users can actively build skills within the same platform they’re tracking their development. It can also help illuminate paths for internal career mobility based on shared skills.

The Benefit: Everyone’s Better Together

By decentralizing the initial control of skills and crowd-sourcing this data, we unlock the benefits of more relevant learning programs for the users and create more talent mobility paths across the organization. Together with your people, you can build a structure of standardized skills, a template that can enable employees to identify for themselves the skills they need to build for their futures. 

Don’t take our word for it, log into your accounts upon the release and explore the new functionality in your Skills tab. And we’re not stopping here, so stay tuned for more Skills I/O enhancements coming soon!

The post Product Insider: Building a Common Language for Skills appeared first on Degreed.

Now think about the customer experience with enterprise software – can you think of a time when you would say your experience was great?

At Degreed, we aspire to something far better than the typical enterprise software experience. We aspire to provide you with an experience that not only exceeds your expectations of what our software can do to transform the learning journey in your organization but also provide you with support and a partnership that is second to none. As Chris, our CEO, noted in his year-end summary, Degreed has made a considerable investment in our Client Experience team, all with the goal of creating a truly exceptional experience for our clients.

To deliver this exceptional experience, the first thing we focus on is getting the foundation right.

Hire the right team

There is a lot of work that needs to happen behind the scenes to ensure a seamless customer experience. This starts with ensuring that we hire individuals with a passion for service. That sounds basic enough but it is absolutely essential. For example, I personally interview every candidate for roles on the client experience team to ensure – without exception – my team is focused on service. For reference, we added 30 people to the team last year. We challenge ourselves to not only hire deep experience and expertise (our Engagement team has 10 years of L&D experience on average) but we actively work to hire from diverse backgrounds to constantly challenge our own status quo.

Create great training and processes

With the right people in place, we work hard to train our internal team not only on the Degreed solution but the learning ecosystem as a whole. We use Degreed, as you would expect, to power this learning and have developed pathways for on-boarding and growth. Our internal culture of learning ensures that the latest content and resources are organically shared across the team. Beyond training, we also invest time in ensuring that the handoff between implementation and customer success teams is seamless, that we have strong implementation methodologies augmented with best practice recommendations. These best practices aren’t hopes and dreams, they are tried and true – acquired from years of experience. We specifically designed our resources to allow our team to truly focus on each customer and creating a white-glove experience.

Standing up a disruptive learning technology solution in an enterprise environment can be surprisingly complex. Doing this well would set us apart from most enterprise technology implementations but that’s not what we would consider “a great experience” yet. It doesn’t fully realize our aspiration of exceptional.

Add value

So how do we deliver something more? It’s more than hiring the right service-minded individuals and putting them in a position to be successful with training and smart programs. We want more. And we deliver it. As an example of how we go further, we provide our customers with free services like customer marketing. This is a small dynamic team focused on supporting customers with their own internal marketing of learning to end users. This team provides customers with sample collateral, best practices, hands-on partnership, creative development and swag (everyone loves those socks!) to help our customers deliver high impact launch and change management. As another example, we provide free training including things like the latest insights and exposure to experts in the field so our clients to stay on top of evolving fields like content curation which helps our customers become experts.

Listen and act on feedback

We invest a considerable amount of time in listening to our customers and, most importantly, acting on that feedback to continuously improve our product and services. Twice a year, we facilitate a Client Experience Survey using the Net Promoter Score framework to ask both our L&D partners and end users whether they would recommend Degreed, our services, our product, and our Support.

For each implementation, we survey our L&D partners to ask what worked well and what we could improve upon. For each Support interaction, we ask how we did. But most importantly, we act on this feedback.

As an example, last year our customers told us they wanted better visibility to the Product Roadmap so they could plan right along with Degreed and the future of L&D. Our Product team listened, stepped up, and now not only do we have a customer facing roadmap available but we also host webinars and individuals sessions with customers to share this roadmap. And you guessed it – our clients noticed. In our survey results this year, customers said thank you.

Engage beyond the CX team

Surveys are important but exceptional requires even more. The broader Degreed team including Product, Engineering and Leadership teams actively engage with our customers to listen, learn and then act. Our Chief Product Officer is constantly on the road meeting with customers and listening to inform our roadmap and share our vision for the future of learning. We also facilitate regional user group meetings to get customers together to learn from one another. We facilitate product advisory board meetings and last year we hosted our first annual Client Summit with more than half of our customers attending in person to engage with and learn from one another.

The job is never done…

A moment of honesty. Do we always achieve our aspiration of delivering an exceptional experience? No. There is always more that we can do. In cases where we fall down and don’t deliver the experience we expect, we work hard to quickly course correct, look at root causes and act on feedback to ensure that we are constantly improving and learning from what didn’t work well. Without constant experimentation, without constant learning and growth, we can’t deliver the exceptional experience we aspire to provide.

I am proud to share that our focus on exceptional is working. We have heard, “You set the standard for software vendors” and “Oh, and the Degreed team? They. Are. Everything. The -only- vendor team I’ve ever partnered with that I feel truly cares and always has my back.” Yes, those are direct quotes, and we hear similar anecdotes often. Our customers also recommend us at a level that is consistent with the best in consumer shopping, technology, and travel experience. Our customers continue to partner with Degreed giving us customer retention numbers above 90% and even stronger growth with customers expanding their partnership.

There is always more to do and we will continue to challenge ourselves to go even further we are well on our way to exceptional.

The post 5 Ways to Create an Exceptional Customer Service Experience appeared first on Degreed.

We chose the mission of creating a better way to develop and communicate skills not because it was easy but because we believe everyone deserves earning and career potential, regardless of their formal credentials.

We’re pleased with our progress, but there’s clearly more to do. Which is why today, we are excited to announce we have combined forces with Pathgather.

The acquisition immediately increases our ability to deliver our industry-leading learning experience in technology and services, and more importantly, to help you build and measure the skills of both your employees and your organization.

A force to be reckoned with

Founded in 2012, Pathgather is a fast-growing and highly-respected innovator in learning experience platforms. The company, which is based in New York City, brings another 30 smart, creative and dedicated people onto our team starting today. That means we’ve now got the largest team in the industry – more than 230 people – dedicated exclusively to improving people’s learning experiences, and linking career growth to business priorities.

Together, we’re a force to be reckoned with. This acquisition brings together the two real innovators in learning experience platforms – our two organizations literally created this market. It also solidifies Degreed’s lead in the fast-growing learning experience platforms market, with a combined client base of more than 200 organizations, over 4 million licensed users, and nearly $100 million in funding.

“Pathgather has always been dedicated to our customers’ success, and this merger ensures that our users and clients will now enjoy an even better product and experience, with the same level of continued dedication,” said Eric Duffy, CEO of Pathgather. “Joining forces with Degreed plugs us into the biggest and most vibrant community of innovative learning and HR executives in the world. We’re excited to tap into Degreed’s experience, insights and resources.”

The future

This is an exciting time for Degreed; it’s been just four months since we raised $42 million in our Series C, and appointed our new CEO. More importantly, though, this is exciting news for our clients, partners, and users. Degreed has always been committed to innovation, ever since our start in 2012, and our creativity and drive have been a key attraction for many clients.

“This combination makes us the unequivocal leader in learning experience platforms,” said Chris McCarthy, CEO of Degreed. “Corporate learning budgets are shifting fast, and LXPs have emerged as the new operating system for employees’ training and development. Pathgather and Degreed defined this market. Now, together, we have the products, expertise, relationships and war chest we need to accelerate innovation, and dramatically accelerate our growth.”

With our expanded set of resources and capabilities, we are now planning to expand our functionality to further enhance both our clients’ and users’ experiences. To start, that will include:

• Sustaining our lead with the best-in-class learner experience
• Expanding access to more and better learning content
• Improving administration, content management, and reporting capabilities
• Accelerating our use of data science and machine learning
• Continued investment in our proprietary skill rating and certification technologies

Obviously, we’re really excited about this. But we’d love to hear your feedback and ideas. So if you have any questions or thoughts to share, we’ve got a variety of ways. Read our press release, get in touch with your Degreed or Pathgather contact person, visit the Pathgather blog, or email me directly at chris@degreed.com.

The future is certain. It’s volatile and ever-changing. It will require all of us, working together to solve these challenges head-on. Degreed and Pathgather are, together, reinforcing our commitment to making skill development accessible for everyone and we’re looking forward to the future with you.

The post Degreed Acquires Pathgather appeared first on Degreed.

First, though, a huge thank you. We are incredibly grateful not just to our investors, but to all of you – our employees, our clients, our partners, and our families and friends – for supporting us in this journey, for sharing our vision, and for helping Degreed to get this far. I am excited and humbled, then, to share the details of our this funding and what that means for our product, clients, and team.

Our strong history

In the spring of 2013, Degreed raised $1.8M in a Seed Round from top investors in the world of business, venture capital, and edtech, including Deborah Quazzo, Mark Cuban, Mike Levinthal, Chris Eyre, Larry Rosenberger, Kaplan, and Walt Winshall. Since then, we have raised $32M more in our Series A and Series B financings, which added Jump Capital, Signal Peak, GSV Acceleration and Rethink Education to our investor list.

Mark Cuban explained his excitement about Degreed nicely. “Degreed allows organizations to inventory their existing employees, train them, and track it all,” he said. “And, when employees do have external training or experience, have the company give them credit for it—I think that’s critical.”

This $42M Series C financing brings our total funding to $75M. It was co-led by Owl Ventures, a fund that invests in the world’s leading education technology companies, and Jump Capital. Founders Circle Capital, along with existing investors, GSV Acceleration Fund and Signal Peak Ventures, also participated.

Why? Because “this methodology evolves the traditional learning model to today’s social environment through increased interaction and engagement,” said Paola Mazzoleni, the Chief Human Resources Officer at Tenaris, one of our customers. “Employees have autonomy and accountability in defining and designing their development plan to reach their professional goals; they are investing in their future.”

Our experts

At the beginning of 2013, Degreed was a team of five people. Today, we are 150 strong and growing weekly. Each of our employees are driven by a respect for the company principles and the desire to provide our clients the best experience possible. And we’re all guided by 12 core  principles:

1. Balance
2. Moderately flat
3. Equality
4. Empathy
5. Flexibility
6. Dedication
7. Family
8. Excellence
9. Candor and coachability
10. Transparency
11. Learning
12. Mission-first

Focusing on these values allows each member of our organization to be intentional about our time. We believe operating this way has set the foundation for healthy tension, growth and most importantly, trust among teams.

As we continue to pursue our founders’ original vision, a portion of the proceeds from this funding will also be used to expand on Degreed’s newest product, Degreed Skill Certification – the world’s first system to both certify and rate any skill. To guide those efforts, Blake, Degreed’s co-founder, has taken on a new role as Executive Chairman. Blake and the Degreed board named Chris McCarthy, formerly Chief Operating Officer, as the company’s new CEO, to lead the continued growth of the company and its award-winning learning platform.

“Keeping people’s skills in sync with fast-changing markets is the biggest challenge of our time,” said Chris McCarthy, Degreed CEO. “That’s why Degreed exists. We believe there’s a better, smarter way to help everyone keep their skills sharp for whatever’s next, to measure their progress as they grow, and to communicate their readiness – both to current and future employers.”

Our future

Innovation has always been our focus, and throughout our history, that’s been a key attraction for many of our clients. And it’s working. Nine out of 10 clients agree they’re building more productive learning cultures, they’re adapting to shifting business needs faster, and they’re investing in L&D more efficiently.

“Our people are our competitive advantage and Degreed is further optimizing the way that we address current skills and development needs in the short term, and how that will translate to performance as part of our longer-term strategy,” said Sarice Plate, Senior Director of Global Talent Acquisition and Development at Xilinx, another one of our clients. “Our learners are no longer having to guess at what’s quality or what might benefit them.”

With this new war chest, we are planning to develop new features and functionality that will improve the client and user experience, including:

1. Best-in-class learner experience with AI-powered content curation – making Degreed the daily learning destination for all of our clients.
2. The ability to unlock the ultimate currency of learning (skills) across each enterprise, along with the ability to enable targeted and curated skill development – fueling career mobility for all.
3. Enabling an ecosystem of HCM technology and content partners, empowering our channel to build and expand business with Degreed and with our customers.

“We face the biggest challenges humanity has ever encountered,” our co-founder and Executive Chairman, David Blake, likes to say. “We need extraordinary experts to solve those challenges and make the unthinkable reality. Experts who can heal, discover, challenge, and advance.”

The future depends on our commitment to be our best selves and discover our own personal missions. To become experts—each of us. The challenges of the future won’t care how you became an expert, just that you did. And that you made a difference.”

Thank you for joining us on this rewarding journey. We look forward to what the future holds, for all of us.

The post Degreed Announces $42M Series C Financing appeared first on Degreed.