LinkedIn Learning has been one of the most fascinating success stories in HR Technology. It all started in 2015 when LinkedIn acquired Lynda.com, a pioneering provider of high-quality video learning designed for creative professionals.
I was familiar with Lynda.com prior to the acquisition, and when they were acquired by LinkedIn, I had to wonder, “What does a recruiting and social networking company know about training?” LinkedIn, as a fast-moving and customer-focused company, learned quickly. Not only did Lynda.com get fully integrated into the LinkedIn platform (it took a few years), but the company built out a product team to focus on new topics, more advanced video experiences, quizzes, assessments, and more.
Many of us in the L&D tech industry consider ourselves “privileged” to know so much about this complex field. LinkedIn quickly taught me, and over the years I met product managers and content leaders who were passionate, open-minded, and ambitious. As a result, while LinkedIn entered the
LinkedIn Learning, now in its eighth year, has established itself as one of the market’s most important content providers. LinkedIn now has 18,000 courses in 20+ languages, 16,000 corporate clients, hundreds of salespeople (who are now integrated into the sales team for other LinkedIn talent products), and generates billions of dollars in revenue. In fact, I’ve never met a company that does not use LinkedIn Learning for its employees.
The Corporate Learning Market Has Changed
LinkedIn Learning concentrated on content for the first nearly decade of its existence. This includes adding more titles, increasing the level of collaboration and testing, and enriching courses with more topics, experts, and hands-on experiences. LinkedIn now provides simulations, evaluations, and various forms of hands-on training in software engineering, data science, cloud engineering, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence (AI). While this is a highly competitive market, LinkedIn has a sizable market share and the advantage of leveraging its close integration with Microsoft and a large network of LinkedIn Recruiter customers.
However, as most of you are aware, the future of corporate learning does not lie in “more content.” It’s “more pertinent.” As our new research shows, this entails providing employees (and organizations) with the necessary tools.
As a result, HR Tech vendors are now focusing on more integrated solutions, such as Capability Academies, Talent Marketplace platforms, and improved tools for skills inference and what we call Talent Intelligence. Where does LinkedIn fit into all of this? Surprise, surprise: they’re launching a slew of new products to tap into this new market. Yes, LinkedIn Learning is evolving into an enterprise learning and career platform, rather than just a massive content library.
So to meet this need, HR Tech vendors are now focused on more integrated solutions: Capability Academies, Talent Marketplace platforms, and better tools for skills inference and what we call Talent Intelligence. Where does LinkedIn play in all this? Well surprise surprise: they’re launching a series of products to reach this new market. Yes, LinkedIn Learning is becoming an enterprise learning and career platform, not just a massive library of content.
