Unlocking learning beyond the corporate LMS
Sana的总裁Jon Lexa如何看待学习和知识管理的未来
众所周知，学习技术会带来巨大的承诺，尤其是在bwin足球平台方面. But has it ever really delivered?
I sat down with Sana’s President Jon Lexa for a wide-ranging discussion. 我们讨论了学习管理系统(LMS)的演变和局限性。, its relationship to knowledge management, and why the true power of AI lies at the intersection of the two.
A fragmented industry. The evolution of workplace learning.
Rita: Learning is a multi-billion dollar industry, yet L&D still feels underserved. Why do you think this is the case?
Long-story short: to understand how L&D has become a multi-billion dollar industry, 你需要考虑宏观经济转型对中层管理的影响. It happened out of necessity.
I trace the story as far back as the post-war, Eisenhower-era USA. At that time, 组织雇佣层层中层管理人员来协调下级员工的生产. 这些新增加的中层劳动力需要支持来提供他们的新工作. So companies invested in upskilling workers, helping them to rise up the ranks.
Take IBM, for example: back then, a middle-aged employee might have spent more than four years in fully paid, IBM-provided training. 这种学习方法虽然很昂贵，但并没有仔细审查投资回报. Overall economic optimism remained strong, so analysis wasn’t deemed necessary.
Fast forward to the 80 and 90s. 这几十年来，经济衰退和扩张的过山车正如火如荼地进行着. 新兴的中层管理阶层正在为自己在管理层的地位而斗争. Companies were cutting costs by rapidly off-shoring manufacturing. Tech entrepreneurs were becoming a powerful force. 在学习上的投资变成了事后的想法——这是公司无法放弃的. At the same time, L&D was finding it harder and harder to measure impact.
学习并没有跟上其他技术变革的步伐，因为如果没有明确的投资回报，行业不会冒险投资突破性的技术. 这使得该行业的预算分配非常庞大，而且没有明确的差异化技术来创造价值. The result? 学习供应商营销团队围绕相同的底层技术展开新的活动. “尝试适应性学习”，“购买LXP”，“现在集成以实现工作流程中的学习”!’ L&D团队处于一个支离破碎、无结构的学习环境中，没有工具来证明学习的真正价值.
Today, we know that investing in an employee’s learning is incredibly important. We also know that employers have to solve broader challenges, 比如在分布式团队中工作，管理心理健康和员工健康. 他们必须在比以往更大的规模上做到这一点，使用更多种类的工具和框架. With so many different needs and end users, it’s no wonder the L&D landscape has become unstructured and fragmented.
Learning vs knowledge. An unresolved tension.
Rita: Learning might not be getting enough attention, but knowledge management has been in the spotlight for years now. 学习管理和知识管理在工作场所有什么区别?
The knowledge management market is 7x larger than the learning management market. Skipping the practical reasons behind why for now, let’s start with semantics.
Learning implies a difficult and time-consuming process. This is not just from the learner’s perspective of developing skills, but also from the educator’s perspective of developing a curriculum. Fine-tuning assessments, standardizing scoring, setting dates for a course, and so on – this takes time. Learning is an action, it’s something I do. It starts at some point and ends at another. 日期暗示了一种结构，这种结构每次建立起来都需要投资.
In stark contrast, knowledge exists whether I do something about it or not. Whether it’s in someone’s head, or in a system, it sits somewhere. I don’t have to work too hard to access that knowledge. 我可以问别人一个问题，我可以搜索，我可以随时查阅知识. In comparison with learning, the barrier to entry is extremely low.
Companies invest differently in the two. For example, 通过购买两个独立的系统:知识管理系统(KMS)和学习管理系统(LMS). Each has their own APIs, architecture, buyers, end users, and features. The irony is that two vastly different investments have very similar end goals, giving employees the information assets they need to get the job done.
如果我们从结果的角度来看待它——我们如何以最有效的方式获得员工工作所需的信息——那么对我来说，为什么学习和知识的管理方式如此不同就没有意义了. 这些平台类别(LMS和KMS)无法为彼此的用例提供服务. Knowledge management tools aren’t able to drive learning in a structured way. 学习管理工具不能提供对易于组织和发现的知识资产的快速访问. This is the gap and the innovation opportunity we see today. To bridge knowledge management and learning management and create something entirely new.
Part guru, part guide. AI as the ultimate enabler.
丽塔:知识和学习管理系统的创新究竟将如何弥合差距? What does the experience look like?
At Sana, we believe AI and great user experience can bridge that gap.
Say I’m a D&I manager at a fast-growing company. 我想开设一门关于在高层领导中增加性别多样性的课程. I’m an expert in this particular topic, but I’m inexperienced in activating that knowledge, in turning it into effective learning material. In this scenario, Sana can support me in several ways. I can select a course template with an engaging and effective structure. 然后我可以让Sana根据我写的内容生成准确的选择题和相关的摘要. I can even ask Sana to write some paragraphs for me if I get stuck, translate the course into another language, and convert it to a live workshop format. This saves me so much time and potential stress. And it saves my L&D team countless production hours too.
Now imagine I assign this course to the relevant managers. A few weeks later, one of them has a question about inclusivity best practice. Instead of asking me, they can go straight to Sana. In their own words, they can type what they want to know, and Sana will give them the exact answer—in natural language. It can even search through the transcript of the D&I workshop we held and recorded. 这比他们在知识管理系统中搜索自己要快得多，也准确得多.
That said, we recognize that teams use different tools. And that company knowledge lives all over the place — in Slack messages, Drive files, Notion docs, etc. We want to work with that, not against it. 因此，如果你将Sana AI与公司的应用程序集成，一切都可以搜索.
And this is what we mean when we talk about the power of AI. Sana is part guru, part guide — an omnipresent partner to help unlock knowledge, and in turn, encourage learning.
It isn’t just about tech. Culture matters too.
Rita: You’re painting a picture of an incredible decentralized learning culture. 但是，许多组织仍然以自上而下的方式提供学习和知识. Course creation, training content—so much isn’t shared. How does this affect company-wide perceptions of learning?
Great question. In top-down-only learning cultures, 提供培训的人可能不是对这个话题最感兴趣的人. We’ve all been in the room when this happens; it’s demotivating. 最坏的情况是，它会让人觉得学习对企业的成功并不重要. Because if it were, the experiences would be more engaging, right?
When companies only rely on top-down learning, 他们错过了一个重要的机会:让他们的热情和忠诚的专家分享他们的最佳实践. When we empower Subject Matter Experts to lead training, L&D moves to a more strategic role. Active learning becomes the norm，员工可以找到问题的解决方案，而无需等待其他人的许可.
丽塔:这种分散的结构会如何影响公司对学习技术的选择?
It puts the user experience front and center. 如果你想让那么多员工分享知识并进行培训, the tech needs to be super easy to use. Period.
The future. Knowledge unlocked.
Rita: So where does this leave the corporate LMS?
In uncharted territory. When there’s no tension between learning and knowledge management, companies will have a tech stack that acts as their company’s brain. 把它想象成一个不断扩大的真理来源，因为你的员工不断增加并从中发现更多.
And the best part is that it’s all happening in one place. All the learning programs and structured training are still there. But they have a life beyond the one time someone completes them.
我喜欢用另一种方式来描述它:我们希望学习成为一种日常的活跃体验，而不是传统的每月活跃体验. We want companies learning and sharing knowledge, every day, so that they can solve the world’s most important problems, faster. 这些知识今天已经存在于我们的头脑中，在我们的笔记中，在演示文稿中，在手册中. 我们只是还没有弄清楚如何有效地捕捉和分享它，让每个人都能从中受益. Think what Google did for the internet’s knowledge. That’s what we aim to do for every company in the world.
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