I’ve written quite a bit on AI and its impact on the employee experience, but one area that I have talked less about is the learning side of the equation. There have been so many advances in recruiting technology and other areas, but learning has lagged behind a bit. Until now, that is. At this year’s Docebo Inspire user conference in Toronto, artificial intelligence was one of the key conversations for the leaders at the innovative learning technology company.

Docebo has been around for several years, and while they still hold innovation as their rallying cry, the firm got its start as a simple cloud LMS. Within a few years of rapid growth, the company opened up Coach and Share, its social learning capabilities (some of the first in the industry). Then Perform came after that as a way to connect learning, performance, and skills. That development hasn’t slowed down, and the news from the latest release includes some exciting announcements:

AI-Powered Deep Search

  • Docebo’s AI deeply analyzes learning content of any nature, understanding and categorizing keywords to exponentially improve learning content discoverability.

Auto-Tagging

  • AI analyzes all learning content, identifying keywords and creating tags automatically, making it easier to uncover content that is relevant to learner interests and their professional development.

Invite-To-Watch

  • Invite-to-Watch elevates the social learning experience by automatically generating a list of learners who have engaged with similar content, allowing users to easily share content with those who will value it most.

Continuing the Trend of Learning + Performance

I recently shared about the increasingly deep connections between learning and performance. At Docebo Inspire I talked with leaders from a variety of organizations in banking, retail, and food service, and each pointed out that they need these connections to prove the value of training and to show that learning is having an actual impact.

Last year at the event I talked with the team about the new Perform product and my vision for how it could help employees and employers see the gap between current skills and the needed skills for the role. Docebo is making strides in that direction, demonstrating the value of connecting skills, learning opportunities, and individual development plans.

One conversation in the analyst session about future capabilities of Docebo left most of the audience stunned: the firm plans to be able to differentiate between content that is merely popular and content that is effective in an upcoming release. To this point nobody’s been able to do this well in the learning technology context, but this could change the conversation from “we need to align learning with business needs” to “we can see exactly which learning content and activities align with the business and which do not, and then act accordingly.”

AI is the Centerpiece

Unlike some of the companies that are trying to bolt AI on as an added feature, Docebo sees this as a core component that guides the rest of the system development into the future. The evolution slide shared below was shown to all customers as an example of how AI is becoming a key centerpiece for how the technology works.

evolution of learning at work artificial intelligence

Source: Docebo Inspire 2018 User Conference

The AI piece in Docebo’s roadmap is evolutionary, but it’s also revolutionary. As one of the experts in the industry for how AI is working and supporting the employee experience, this excites me on so many levels. Very well done to Docebo at this year’s event and good luck with the big plans in the coming year!