The Challenge

With seven corporate acquisitions over the past two years and four distinct business lines, Zywave needed a reliable, external learning platform that could scale quickly to meet their expansion goals. After trying two other LMS vendors and a homegrown WordPress system, Zywave realized these solutions couldn’t meet all of their needs.

The Solution

Zywave selected Skilljar to launch a new and improved Zywave University with 500 courses in August of 2020. The objective was to get a platform up and running that was customizable and integrated with other systems -- such as Webex and Salesforce -- to help them reach their goal of 10% increased platform utilization over the previous year.

The Results

Zywave saw an impressive ROI - including a 51% increase in users, a 71% increase in course registrations, and a nearly 200% increase in users who accessed training and then completed an action with one of their solutions. Zywave continues to iterate with learning paths and other Skilljar features in order to meet their ambitious goals for growth and utilization.

I wasn’t happy with other learning management systems we used. I found them to be outdated and lacking in customization and integration capabilities resulting in a poor user experience -- and standing up my own platform was an administrative nightmare. We were able to get Skilljar up and running in less than four months -- which was the best decision ever.

— Eryn Baudo, Instructional Designer, Zywave

Customer

As a leading provider of technology solutions to insurance brokers, Zywave's all-in-one platform of robust data and content empowers their partners to make smarter business decisions across the entire customer lifecycle.

Industry

Insurtech

Employees

850+

Headquarters

Milwaukee, WI

Top Metrics

  • 51% increase in users 
  • 71% increase in course registrations 
  • Nearly 200% increase in product usage as a result of partner training

Customer Website

www.zywave.com

Customer Education Platform

Zywave University
Powered by Skilljar

Challenge

Zywave knew partner education was key to the success of their insurance technology business. Training partners (insurance professionals) coming to Zywave through company acquisitions on how to use their solution required a best-in-class training platform. With many use cases to solve for — from hosting external training for different business lines to onboarding new companies quickly — they needed an LMS that was flexible and willing to find ways to work with them, rather than present obstacles at every turn.

Goals:
With four distinct lines of business and seven acquisitions in two years,  Zywave’s key goals are to:

  • Drive at least 10% growth in the utilization of their platform
  • Bring a new partner through implementation of their software in 90 days
  • Increase usage of Zywave solutions through partner training

Solution

After three insufficient attempts with other systems, Zywave relaunched Zywave University, powered by Skilljar. This easy-to-use platform is accessible through Single Sign-On (SSO) and maximizes learning opportunities by leveraging multiple course types, which can be filtered by job role, specific products, or different workflows.

The team at Zywave trains insurance professionals on how to use their solutions so they can grow their businesses and provide better service to their clients.

Zywave University powered by Skilljar

With a wide variety of courses including live training as well as on-demand resources, Zywave University teaches partners the skills they need to get the most out of their Zywave solutions.

 

A closer look:

Zywave’s first iteration in August 2020 used Skilljar’s catalog pages to help partners find the information they needed based on their roles. An update in February 2021 solved for new users from acquired companies who didn’t have the credentials needed for SSO by adding an “Additional Solutions” tab within Zywave University to offer courses specific to a certain partner that are open and visible to the public.

When we first launched Zywave University, we did a couple of demos with our partners to show them how it worked – and we got really awesome feedback. People loved it.
— Eryn Baudo, Instructional Designer

In September of 2021, Zywave launched another update with enhanced menu options including a dropdown, updates to the calendar page, and added additional solutions including AppCues, to the platform. They also created a “Getting Started” series that specifically targets partners who are new to their solutions.

The ability to segment our users and provision training using groups has been game-changing. It allows our learners to only see the training options available for the solutions they purchased.
— Eryn Baudo, Instructional Designer 

Results:

When other learning management systems fell short, Skilljar delivered. In their first year using Skilljar, Zywave saw:

  • A 51% increase in the number of users (2021 YTD* vs. 2020)
  • A 71% increase in course registrations (2021 YTD* vs. 2020)
  • More than double the number of videos completed (Q1 – Q3 2021 vs. Q1 – Q3 2020)
  • A nearly 200% increase in the number of users of Zywave University who completed an action with one of their solutions (as a result of enhanced features added to the platform in September 2021)
  • An 11% increase month-over-month in live webinar registrations and 9% increase in on-demand webinar registration

    *YTD through October, 2021

Additionally, Zywave implemented 16 courses using SCORM built-in course authoring technology at the beginning of 2021 and have already seen 464 successful completions of those courses through October 2021.

I really learned to appreciate Skilljar’s capabilities having worked with a few other vendors. I can’t say enough about the customization, we are able to build ‘big design ideas’ out on our own — it’s been so easy, so nice. And the fact that we were able to tailor it to be ‘on brand’ was also huge for us.
Eryn Baudo, Instructional Designer

If you are a Skilljar customer and have a success story to share, email us at stories@skilljar.com.
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