Learning leaders are under constant pressure to do more with less. Resources are already stretched thin, and your team may be smaller than ever. Stakeholders have increasingly high expectations for performance. It can be hard to measure up without burning out.

But amidst the chaos, there’s some good news: Learning and development (L&D) is shifting in a new direction — one that helps you proactively analyze your organization’s current and future state, how you can get there and what you can do to secure buy-in and hit the ground running.

So, what’s the shift? It’s a learning tech advisory partnership. An advisory partner acts as a strategic lever to help you optimize costs, enhance learning outcomes and become an innovative, future-ready organization. Organizations that utilize an advisory partner have the potential to see a return of up to 10 times the investment.

Let’s take a deeper look at what an advisory partnership can do for you.

The Hidden Cost of Learning Tech Sprawl

Many learning leaders feel pressured to manage competing priorities and reduce costs within their tech environments (some of which are incredibly complex).

A large percentage of organizations still report having redundant platforms, most of which are also missing critical learner experience (LX) functionality. According to studies, some of the top challenges organizations face include:

• Over 60% of organizations still rely on learning management system (LMS) platforms as their primary learning technology, despite growing interest in more agile, artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled tools, according to APQC.
• Many organizations report that their learning systems lack integration with other key tools.
• 90% of talent development professionals struggle to measure the impact of training programs.
• 30% of overall L&D budget goes to learning tech tools and platforms.
• ~18% have AI governance.

Your advisory partner can help you navigate these challenges by identifying where your tech stack may be bloated with redundant tools and underutilized or incompatible platforms. They will also help you build a business case for why change needs to happen — and soon.

What Learning Tech Advisory Actually Does

An advisory accomplishes several things. It aligns business goals and learner needs with technology to enable (not hinder) transformative impact. It turns the complex into something simpler and more manageable. It also solves urgent problems and then shapes what’s ahead to turn today’s challenges into tomorrow’s capabilities.

Although the process may look different from partner to partner, here are some steps and deliverables you may want to look for when evaluating vendors. These examples are pulled from AllenComm’s Advisory.

• Preparation: Your partner should work with you to review needs, identify decision makers, agree on evaluation and prioritization criteria and more. This may be compiled in a deliverable such as a research plan.
• Data gathering: Your partner can help interview key decision makers and users, review data or processes that currently exist, research industry benchmarks and consolidate information in a preliminary findings report.
• Analysis: Data is important, but what you do with that data is critical to informing your next steps. During analysis, your partner should work with you to create a current and future state map that clearly defines gaps, evaluates your organizational readiness and identifies opportunities in an opportunity-analysis report.
• Recommendations: Here is where an advisory relationship truly shines. A partner that’s dedicated to your success will be with you even when it’s time to meet with stakeholders to present the findings and get buy-in. They can also refine a recommendations report with final actions that lead to your ideal future state.

While an advisory may sound great on paper, it can be more effective to learn from peers who have seen success using advisory services for their own L&D initiatives.

ROI in Action: Real-World Examples

Here are some firsthand examples of how specific industries benefit from an advisory relationship.

• Manufacturing industry: Many clients report efficiency gains from system adjustments, such as one business that saw a 30% increase in operational efficiency. Due to the nature of a manufacturing environment, this increase in efficiency means more work done per hour, at a higher quality and with fewer injuries, leading to valuable return on investment (ROI).
• Insurance industry: A common result of tech advisory in insurance, specifically tech consolidation, is reduced per-learner costs and improved gamification within the learner experience, heightening learner engagement. This can lead to better retention as well as better customer service.
• Government entities: Due to the large audience size of government entities, a tech advisory partner can help scale the central learning hub from 2,000 to 20,000 learners or more. Some organizations even serve over 400,000 learners!
• Associations: An advisory partner can either support or facilitate custom portal integrations, with some associations seeing over 118,000 certifications with state-specific compliance requirements.

Now let’s narrow it down to specific case studies from organizations that were able to illustrate measurable ROI after only a few months post-launch.

• A federal home loan mortgage corporation needed to expand the reach of financial education to serve underrepresented communities — and an audience of over 500,000. To create a personalized, impactful experience, AllenComm helped the client make informed decisions about how to simplify the user experience, implement a new LMS with custom integrations and more. The project saw a 25% increase in certifications and won multiple awards.
• A major airline needed to support cohort programs and collaboration, improve engagement and track progress to measure outcomes and prove ROI. They accomplished these goals (and saw new cost savings) by consolidating their tech platforms and gathering more meaningful analytics for long-term value. The program saw a training capacity increase of 521% over two years alone, with the total training time reduced by 21 days. They also saw a 19% productivity increase in addition to an increase in customer service scores.

Calculating ROI can sometimes seem daunting. It helps to set metrics early so you know your targets and what your stakeholders want to see to demonstrate success. For example, an actual AllenComm client consolidated their LMS and saw a three-year ROI of 6.6x.

The Benefits of Advisory

An advisory contributes to long-term value by introducing opportunities for scalability, adaptability and alignment with future L&D strategy. Especially during a time when leaders feel disempowered by the blockers of their tech ecosystems, an advisory can be the push that supports them in overcoming these constraints to finally cut redundant tech licensing, boost their learner experience functionality and fully optimize their system — without the overhead.

Learners also benefit from the enhanced approach to the learner experience, with greater personalization, gamification and mobile access. And everyone benefits from the data visibility an improved or consolidated tech stack can provide, along with the analytics and general streamlined use, which reduces frustrations and promotes productivity. Other benefits include cost savings, AI readiness, AI governance and innovation planning, which are three hot topics right now in the middle of today’s technological evolution.

Why It Works: Expertise and Objectivity

It’s impossible to be an expert on all things. That’s why leaders build their networks and centers of influence to grow their capabilities alongside other professionals. If you find yourself missing a seat at the table for tech conversations or feeling out of your depth and unsure of where to start, an advisory partner brings that expertise directly to you. A partner spends the time helping you to understand what needs to happen, why it needs to happen and how to take reasonable, actionable steps to begin making a change.

Advisory isn’t a luxury. It’s a multiplier that’s becoming more accessible than ever. A partner who wants to see you succeed and who will be honest with you about what needs to change provides a new perspective. An experienced advisor will also look at situations from a platform-agnostic standpoint, exploring what’s best for your situation regardless of the “trends” or what’s immediately familiar. Over time, you can even begin to fill your leadership tech gaps until you eventually become a confident tech expert yourself!

As Todd Miller, AllenComm’s chief technology officer, says, “In today’s learning landscape, the real value of a trusted advisor isn’t just in knowing the tools — it’s in knowing how to use them to drive measurable outcomes. Our role is to help clients see beyond the comfort zone of what’s familiar and guide them toward what’s possible. That means delivering practical, actionable recommendations that align with business goals, reduce waste and unlock the full potential of their learning tech ecosystem.”

Begin Your Own Advisory Journey

Learning tech advisory has a high return on investment and there’s no better time to start than today. Still not sure of your first step or if advisory is even right for you? Many advisors provide a free discovery session or pre-assessment with new partners. This is a great way to learn more about how an advisory can benefit you personally as well as connect with advisors to find the perfect match. Wherever your journey leads, let’s continue to further the evolution of L&D, build a community of empowered leaders and achieve that 10x ROI together.