Workflow Learning Client Success Stories

APPLY Synergies assists companies in embedding learning into everyday workflows supporting performance at every moment of need. This “workflow learning” approach enhances time-to-skill, mastery, retention, productivity, and risk reduction all while reducing work stoppage.
The real-world impact across organizations is remarkable:
- 1Amplifying Productivity
- 2Enabling & Sustaining Effective Job Performance
- 3Accelerating Growth
- 4Adapting at the Speed of Change
- 5Reducing Operational Risk
By providing the right type of information to the employees at their moment of need, organizations have decreased time to effective performance, spurred growth, enhanced customer experiences, shortened onboarding, and built more adaptive cultures. Real-world examples showcase these tangible benefits across sectors like technology, manufacturing, healthcare, and financial services. We dive deeper into transformational results next.
Quickly Getting New Hires Up To Speed
A leading consulting firm integrated Digital Coaches into daily workflows, offering real-time support that accelerated new consultants’ ability to contribute and increased profits. By reducing non-billable hours and the need for external support, the firm became more efficient. This blended approach boosted up-skilling, cutting the time for new hires to reach full productivity from 18 months to just 9 months within the first year.
High turnover illuminated the critical need to address rapid competency development. Consultants often left at 18 months due to the lengthy onboarding ramp-up. By combining a shortened in-person training with just-in-time guidance from a Digital Coach, our client saw consultant time-to-competency drop to 5 months by year two.
Beyond big retention gains, consultant productivity, quality, and client satisfaction also improved substantially. The introduction of Digital Coaches during formal learning meant that less oversight was needed when consultants started engaging clients. This accelerated faster mastery which contributed to improved quality and productivity targets.
With expanded capabilities to handle more client volume independently, consultants now serve more accounts at once. The consulting firm continues refining its competency acceleration model by linking Digital Coaches to individual skill gaps. The personalized learning pathways show massive promise for further productivity gains alongside higher staff retention.
Keeping Job Performance Strong
In the dynamic world of quick food service, work stoppage resulting from knowledge gaps squanders precious time and money. Long-form, costly, in-person training programs failed to fully prepare front line employees for real-world, in store demands. By implementing on-the-job Digital Coaches, training time was cut in half providing tailored, just-in-time guidance which allowed employees to get just what they needed to perform and back to servicing customers.
With an estimated savings of $1,730 per employee, over $22 million across 300 locations, chainwide benefits topped $67 million. Customers benefited from more consistent quality. This resulted in improved customer satisfaction, reduced turnover, and expanded market share. The franchise was able to keep on track with their new store growth targets through more efficient onboarding and staff support.
Fueling Workforce Growth Journey
Auditors at a leading governmental oversight organization struggled to retain, and remain current, on the vast procedures and standards needed to audit federal agencies. By leveraging Digital Coaches for in-the-moment support, more than 96% of auditors indicated total confidence in conducting background research and documenting interviews, up from 82% in 2020. By promoting skill growth in real work settings, our solutions drove higher engagement, confidence, and advancement.
A powerful yet often overlooked impact is how workflow learning solutions motivate employees to become more self-reliant and own their own professional development. With expanded access to specialized skills development in their daily tasks, auditors feel more empowered and engaged.
The ability to quickly reskill using Digital Coaches makes employees more open to new assignments. By linking learning directly to advancement, both individuals and the organization progress faster.
Reskilling At The Speed Of Change
When COVID-19 caused unprecedented workload shifts, a multi-line insurance company faced skyrocketing disability claims while routine insurance inquiries declined. After prior change initiatives failed, the organization upskilled hundreds of existing employees virtually through a Digital Coach to handle the surge.
Enabling new hires to onboard quickly, while keeping seasoned talent satisfied and productive, the insurer’s new agility and reliance on workflow learning was the key to successful pivoting at this critical time. Competitors struggled mightily amid rigid systems. By embracing workforce flexibility, the insurance company emerged stronger with an enthusiastic, future-ready team. Analysts applauded the transformation.
A key benefit of the workflow learning approach is its scalability. Due to the success of this solution for the front-line agents, the insurance organization has expanded the program across divisions. This enables large-scale change adaptation across thousands of employees. The Digital Coach also makes updating skills easier in the long-term by consolidating resources and embedding reinforcement into normalized systems. Learning in the flow of work is now the way that training is designed and delivered at this organization.
Driving Operational Risk Out
A leading aerospace manufacturer struggled with aging subject matter experts and increasing shop floor complexity. Technicians constantly searched for answers, averaging over 3 minutes to find needed information. Arming employees with Digital Coaches minimizes mistakes and drives efficiencies, reducing safety risks and waste.
Implementing a shop floor Digital Coach delivered real-time guidance during complex assembly tasks. Now, high-risk deviations are avoided through just-in-time support—23 seconds on average for an employee to find the answer in a Digital Coach. Efficiency has improved by 3%, unplanned downtime fell by 8%, onboarding time decreased by 30%, and asset utilization rose by 12%. Our client established a model smart factory, leveraging workers enabled by workflow learning to reduce errors and boost productivity.
Final Takeaways
This cross-industry sampling provides a glimpse into the transformative impact of APPLY Synergies’ workflow learning/5 Moments of Need solutions. While many organizations focus solely on formal training, we enable our clients to embed performance support directly into the workflow to drive productivity, efficiency, and reduce risk.
To stay competitive amid constant change, leading companies are adopting tools like Digital Coaches to optimize employee and operational performance.
Contact our experts to evaluate potential efficiency gains, cost savings, and productivity increases for your organizational strategy.