Lab Essentials

About this episode

This webinar explores how customer education teams can use industry data to improve onboarding, product adoption, retention, and overall business impact. Drawing on survey findings from Sedma, CloudShare, and customer interviews, the discussion highlights the growing complexity of education tech stacks, the shift toward hybrid business models, the rising importance of virtual labs, and the role of AI and personalization in shaping the future of training.

Transcript of the video

Jeremy Davis: Hello everyone welcome to our webinar on turning data into action with key findings and strategies for better customer education results. We will get started shortly while more people join. Let us know in the chat where you are joining from. I am in Tel Aviv Israel and it is great to see people joining from all over including Austin Portugal and Budapest. We will begin in one minute.

Annie Reiss: I see a few familiar names here welcome back everyone.

Jeremy Davis: Great to see returning attendees. Mike from Sedma is joining from southern Spain enjoying German Riesling. We are excited to get started. We like to begin with a fun poll question. Is the five second rule allowed or is it gross. My view is it depends. For my kids it is fine for me less so.

Dirk Braune: I was not familiar with the five second rule but I would give it more than five seconds.

Jeremy Davis: The five second rule means if food falls on the floor you have five seconds to pick it up before deciding whether to keep it. Most of our audience says it is fine. Now let us begin. Today we will discuss key findings for better customer education results based on three data sources Sedma survey results CloudShare industry data from over two hundred professionals and direct customer insights. I would like to introduce Annie who leads marketing at CloudShare with extensive experience in customer education and virtual labs.

Dirk Braune: Welcome from my side. I am the head of Kardex Academy. We focus on automated warehouse solutions. My background is in customer and partner education across technology companies. Sedma is a customer education management association with around one hundred companies sharing best practices and insights including surveys like the one we will discuss today.

Annie Reiss: We recently released an ebook on the voice of customer education. This webinar is valuable because it brings real industry data not always covered by analysts. It helps organizations benchmark and understand best practices.

Jeremy Davis: Let us start with why customer education matters.

Dirk Braune: There is growing demand for training certification and learning programs. Education teams serve multiple audiences including customers partners and internal teams. Customers remain the primary focus. Training is increasingly monetized especially for customers while partner sales training is often free to support revenue growth.

Jeremy Davis: Annie where are organizations focusing their efforts.

Annie Reiss: Customer education has evolved into a strategic business driver. It supports onboarding adoption satisfaction and retention. Training is no longer just about product knowledge but about creating successful customer experiences. Satisfaction leads to retention and long term business impact.

Jeremy Davis: Let us ask the audience about their priorities.

Jeremy Davis: The results show product adoption is the top priority followed by retention and onboarding.

Dirk Braune: Organizations balance multiple objectives including sales enablement support reduction partner enablement and product adoption. However success is often measured mainly by revenue and profit because they are easier to track even though broader impact exists.

Jeremy Davis: How should success be measured.

Dirk Braune: Leadership cares about business impact such as partner enablement and skill development. Training can increase product revenue improve support efficiency boost satisfaction and drive renewals. For example trained customers can generate significantly more revenue and have higher renewal rates.

Jeremy Davis: What about business models.

Dirk Braune: Education organizations typically evolve from cost centers to cost recovery models to profit centers or hybrid models. The choice depends on company strategy. Hybrid models are becoming more common because organizations balance free training for growth with paid training for revenue.

Jeremy Davis: Our audience shows a strong preference for hybrid models.

Dirk Braune: That aligns with industry trends. Companies invest in training for growth while monetizing mature programs.

Annie Reiss: Most training programs generate revenue but the key question is whether training is treated as a strategic driver. Success should also be measured through long term impact such as retention and satisfaction not just immediate revenue.

Jeremy Davis: What challenges do organizations face.

Annie Reiss: Major challenges include system integration aligning business metrics lack of hands on tools and scheduling across time zones. Managing multiple technologies and ensuring data consistency is increasingly complex.

Jeremy Davis: Content creation is another challenge.

Dirk Braune: Content development takes time but has improved significantly. Developing one day of training now requires fewer days than before due to better tools agile methods and AI. Organizations must balance scalable self paced content with instructor led training costs.

Jeremy Davis: What tools are involved.

Dirk Braune: Training ecosystems are complex. Core systems include LMS virtual classrooms content development tools certification systems analytics and virtual labs. Integration between these systems is critical.

Annie Reiss: A composable tech stack allows flexibility and control. Systems must work together to support training delivery and business goals.

Jeremy Davis: Let us discuss virtual labs.

Jeremy Davis: Over half of the audience is already using virtual labs.

Annie Reiss: Virtual labs are becoming mainstream. They enhance engagement and complement virtual classrooms. Hands on learning is essential for effective training.

Jeremy Davis: Virtual labs improve engagement streamline delivery and support product adoption. They also provide analytics to optimize learning experiences.

Annie Reiss: Self paced learning continues to grow. AI will help personalize learning manage time zones and accelerate content creation. It will also act as a virtual assistant guiding learners.

Dirk Braune: Personalization is the future. AI can adapt content dynamically based on learner needs improving efficiency and outcomes.

Jeremy Davis: Thank you everyone for joining. If you are interested in learning more about virtual labs or joining Sedma please reach out. Have a great day.

Dirk Braune: Thank you it was a pleasure.

Annie Reiss: Thank you.