Report:

The Existential Crisis in L&D


A year ago, we set out to understand the future of learning and talent development. In the process, we interviewed hundreds of talent leaders, CEOs, CFOs, and team members from across the Fortune 1,000.


What we learned scared us immensely. Today, we're publishing our findings and opinions for the first time.


By Michael Ioffe, CEO, Arist

There is a meaningful chance that — within the next decade — talent development and L&D teams cease to exist.


With thousands of global professionals and millions of impacted lives annually, the World Health Organization is one of the largest and most recognized NGOs on the planet, and has many challenges and opportunities that come with.


The challenge

As misinformation reached epidemic-stage levels, WHO needed a way to create real behavior change for hard-to-reach populations. Particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, there were widespread misinformation epidemics. Even worse, it was tough to reach many of these populations due to limited phone and internet access.


The solution and implementation

Thankfully, the WHO found Arist just in time, and was able to deliver digital vaccines - or a series of actionable steps on evaluating misinformation - all entirely via WhatsApp. The WHO deployed to thousands of residents throughout Sub-Saharan Africa in just a few weeks and was even able to run a comprehensive study measuring just how impactful their work was.


The impact

For residents

Residents in Sub-Saharan Africa with misinformation epidemics were far more well equipped and knowledgeable against misinformation used against them. Residents saw 93% completion rates for the courses and 88% of the impact persisted 3 months after.


For the WHO team

The WHO team, by deploying all entirely via WhatsApp, was able to reach tens of thousands they previously could not and saved over 10,000 hours in the process.


For the world

Most impressively, the team estimated a 33% decrease in misinformation sharing across tens of thousands of people, showing an immediate and lasting impact on making the world a far safer and more prepared place.

33%

decrease in misinformation sharing

88%

measured sustained impact after 3 months

93%

course completion rates

Brent Bernier

AVP, Talent, MAPFRE

Our L&D team is remarkably slow, and it's caused immense frustration for us as a business unit. We try to rely on them as little as we possibly can.

Our L&D team is remarkably slow, and it's caused immense frustration for us as a business unit. We try to rely on them as little as we possibly can.

Explore

See more
client stories

How Baxter trained reps 7x faster — with clear performance lift

When Baxter needed to rapidly launch a new product, they found a simple solution: SMS-based enablement.

How BMO onboarded thousands while future-proofing the organization

What's the best way to rapidly prepare people for the future? Meeting them where they are.

How Cruise aligned every employee during rapid growth, entirely via Slack

As one of the world's fastest-growing companies, Cruise needed to shift behavior rapidly and effectively.

How Baxter trained reps 7x faster — with clear performance lift

When Baxter needed to rapidly launch a new product, they found a simple solution: SMS-based enablement.

How BMO onboarded thousands while future-proofing the organization

What's the best way to rapidly prepare people for the future? Meeting them where they are.

How Cruise aligned every employee during rapid growth, entirely via Slack

As one of the world's fastest-growing companies, Cruise needed to shift behavior rapidly and effectively.

How Baxter trained reps 7x faster — with clear performance lift

When Baxter needed to rapidly launch a new product, they found a simple solution: SMS-based enablement.

How BMO onboarded thousands while future-proofing the organization

What's the best way to rapidly prepare people for the future? Meeting them where they are.

How Cruise aligned every employee during rapid growth, entirely via Slack

As one of the world's fastest-growing companies, Cruise needed to shift behavior rapidly and effectively.

Common

questions

Is Arist an LMS or an LXP? Can I use it instead of my existing tools?

Arist has all of the functionality of an LMS and LXP, including course creation, hosting, assignment, learner management, and analytics. But it's an entirely new category.

The main difference between Arist and a traditional LMS is that Arist uses Stanford research to deliver interactive content via existing messaging tools like SMS, WhatsApp, and Microsoft Teams instead of traditional video courses and e-learning modules that don't get adoption.

By meeting learners where they are, Arist sees much higher completion, adoption, and satisfaction rates than courses delivered via an LMS (over 90%). Arist is also far more behaviorally effective.

Some of our clients use Arist alongside their existing LMS and LXP, and Arist can easily integrate with your existing learning ecosystem. Some of our clients replace their ecosystem with Arist — it's up to you.

My employees are hourly or don't get work devices. Can they use Arist?

Yes. Arist has industry-leading technology that enables employees to securely and compliantly learn on their personal device. This includes seamless opt-in and opt-out features, automatic phone number encryption, toll-free message delivery, and FLSA-compliant shift locking for hourly employees.


Arist also has built-in wage & hour compliance and shift scheduling integration, which lets hourly employees use their personal devices for learning in a compliant and secure way without incurring additional costs.


Arist works with carriers to ensure that all messages are toll-free.

Do certain age groups prefer Arist more than others?

No. Our research has found no meaningful difference in adoption or satisfaction rates by age group, with older learners enjoying Arist courses more by a few percentage points.

The core reason: nearly everyone uses texting or email to communicate with their friends, colleagues, and loved ones, making messages a comfortable medium for all.


The tools we already use — like Slack, Teams, SMS, and WhatsApp — have the lowest barrier to entry or adoption. Learning and comms become accessible in 1-click to everyone, versus 7 clicks in an LMS or portal.

Common

questions

Is Arist an LMS or an LXP? Can I use it instead of my existing tools?

Arist has all of the functionality of an LMS and LXP, including course creation, hosting, assignment, learner management, and analytics. But it's an entirely new category.

The main difference between Arist and a traditional LMS is that Arist uses Stanford research to deliver interactive content via existing messaging tools like SMS, WhatsApp, and Microsoft Teams instead of traditional video courses and e-learning modules that don't get adoption.

By meeting learners where they are, Arist sees much higher completion, adoption, and satisfaction rates than courses delivered via an LMS (over 90%). Arist is also far more behaviorally effective.

Some of our clients use Arist alongside their existing LMS and LXP, and Arist can easily integrate with your existing learning ecosystem. Some of our clients replace their ecosystem with Arist — it's up to you.

My employees are hourly or don't get work devices. Can they use Arist?

Yes. Arist has industry-leading technology that enables employees to securely and compliantly learn on their personal device. This includes seamless opt-in and opt-out features, automatic phone number encryption, toll-free message delivery, and FLSA-compliant shift locking for hourly employees.


Arist also has built-in wage & hour compliance and shift scheduling integration, which lets hourly employees use their personal devices for learning in a compliant and secure way without incurring additional costs.


Arist works with carriers to ensure that all messages are toll-free.

Do certain age groups prefer Arist more than others?

No. Our research has found no meaningful difference in adoption or satisfaction rates by age group, with older learners enjoying Arist courses more by a few percentage points.

The core reason: nearly everyone uses texting or email to communicate with their friends, colleagues, and loved ones, making messages a comfortable medium for all.


The tools we already use — like Slack, Teams, SMS, and WhatsApp — have the lowest barrier to entry or adoption. Learning and comms become accessible in 1-click to everyone, versus 7 clicks in an LMS or portal.

Common

questions

Is Arist an LMS or an LXP? Can I use it instead of my existing tools?

Arist has all of the functionality of an LMS and LXP, including course creation, hosting, assignment, learner management, and analytics. But it's an entirely new category.

The main difference between Arist and a traditional LMS is that Arist uses Stanford research to deliver interactive content via existing messaging tools like SMS, WhatsApp, and Microsoft Teams instead of traditional video courses and e-learning modules that don't get adoption.

By meeting learners where they are, Arist sees much higher completion, adoption, and satisfaction rates than courses delivered via an LMS (over 90%). Arist is also far more behaviorally effective.

Some of our clients use Arist alongside their existing LMS and LXP, and Arist can easily integrate with your existing learning ecosystem. Some of our clients replace their ecosystem with Arist — it's up to you.

My employees are hourly or don't get work devices. Can they use Arist?

Yes. Arist has industry-leading technology that enables employees to securely and compliantly learn on their personal device. This includes seamless opt-in and opt-out features, automatic phone number encryption, toll-free message delivery, and FLSA-compliant shift locking for hourly employees.


Arist also has built-in wage & hour compliance and shift scheduling integration, which lets hourly employees use their personal devices for learning in a compliant and secure way without incurring additional costs.


Arist works with carriers to ensure that all messages are toll-free.

Do certain age groups prefer Arist more than others?

No. Our research has found no meaningful difference in adoption or satisfaction rates by age group, with older learners enjoying Arist courses more by a few percentage points.

The core reason: nearly everyone uses texting or email to communicate with their friends, colleagues, and loved ones, making messages a comfortable medium for all.


The tools we already use — like Slack, Teams, SMS, and WhatsApp — have the lowest barrier to entry or adoption. Learning and comms become accessible in 1-click to everyone, versus 7 clicks in an LMS or portal.

Bring

real impact

to your people

We care about solving meaningful problems and being thought partners first and foremost. Arist is used and loved by the Fortune 500 — and we'd love to support your goals.


Curious to get a demo or free trial? We'd love to chat:

Build skills and shift behavior at scale, one message at a time.

(617) 468-7900

support@arist.co

2261 Market Street #4320
San Francisco, CA 94114

Subscribe to Arist Bites:

Built and designed by Arist team members across the United States.


Copyright 2024, All Rights Reserved.

Build skills and shift behavior at scale, one message at a time.

(617) 468-7900

support@arist.co

2261 Market Street #4320
San Francisco, CA 94114

Subscribe to Arist Bites:

Built and designed by Arist team members across the United States.


Copyright 2024, All Rights Reserved.

Build skills and shift behavior at scale, one message at a time.

(617) 468-7900

support@arist.co

2261 Market Street #4320
San Francisco, CA 94114

Subscribe to Arist Bites:

Built and designed by Arist team members across the United States.


Copyright 2024, All Rights Reserved.