Change can be tough, especially when it involves technology. (Just ask anyone who’s switched from Android to Apple or vice versa.)
Humans are creatures of habit—whether that means knowing exactly where a button is or settling into a workflow—and that’s why migrating learning management systems (LMS) can be a touchy topic for Customer Education teams. After spending time and resources implementing one LMS, onboarding their internal teams, and driving awareness with their customers, the mere thought of starting over may be enough to keep them up at night.
I’d be lying if I said this thought didn’t cross my mind when it came time to migrate Gainsight University from its previous LMS to Gainsight Customer Education (CE).
Here’s the thing: The migration opened the door to new opportunities and benefits—and that made the entire process worth its weight in gold.
Why We Made the Switch
In 2023, we acquired Northpass (now Gainsight CE), with the vision of creating a more unified and empowering learning experience for our customers. The migration wasn’t just about changing platforms; it was about enhancing how we deliver value and finding new ways to empower our teams and customers. So, following the acquisition, we set out to reimagine the foundation of self-service learning at Gainsight. Our goal? Align with Gainsight’s vision of integrating learning into every aspect of the customer journey and create a learning experience that evolves with our customers and teammates and help them all unlock greater value.
It took some time but it was a deliberate process and time well spent and now I am excited to officially announce our rollout of Gainsight University on its new platform—Gainsight CE.
Why I’m So Excited
Was Aladdin and Jasmine’s “A Whole New World” inspired by the migration of Gainsight University? No, but it could have been because the migration lets us step into an entirely new world that’ll benefit our customers and teams.
Let’s start with the benefits for our customers and learners…
Benefits to the Customer:
- A Connected Learning Experience: From in-product guides to on-demand training, everything our customers need to maximize product value is available in one place, whenever they need it. For example, by integrating our academy with Gainsight PX, we can deliver personalized in-product engagements that guide customers to our academy for personalized courses.
- Learning Based on Product Usage: We can now deliver more personalized learning experiences based on how customers are using Gainsight products. That means our customers aren’t just getting general, transactional training—they’re getting targeted content that helps them realize value quickly, no matter where they are in their Gainsight journey. For example, we can suggest a course to customers who are underutilizing key features or provide advanced training to those who are already proficient and want to become even bigger power users.
- Streamlined Navigation: Previously, getting to the course you needed meant navigating through a series of selections—choose your product, pick your role, then find your course. This process not only prolonged the training experience but also increased the risk of overlooking important courses. Now, with the new navigation in Gainsight CE, all courses are visible upfront on a single, seamless dashboard. There’s no need to click through multiple layers anymore. This streamlined approach means less time spent searching and more time learning.
Remember: The migration wasn’t just about moving content from one platform to another; it was about creating a learning experience that’s more personalized, engaging, and aligned with the way our customers engage with our products. If you’re switching LMSs, this should be your guiding light, too.
Now moving on to our internal teams…
Benefits to Our Team:
- Real-Time Insights and Action: By migrating to Gainsight CE, our entire post-sales tech stack can now work together to provide more advanced—and real-time—customer insights. The result? Our teams can be more proactive and deliver more value to customers. For example, we can leverage product usage information (from Gainsight PX) to trigger training recommendations or enrollments or use course completions to inform health scores (in Gainsight CS).
- Stronger Collaboration: By bringing our academy into the greater Gainsight universe, our Customer Success, Product, and Education teams can easily share insights and align on enablement and engagement strategies with our customers, better equipping them to ensure the learning journey is directly tied to product adoption and success.
So, what’s the moral of the story? Migrating to Gainsight CE reduces a ton of friction from the learning experience, equips our customers with the knowledge they need to succeed, and equips our post-sales teams with the data and insights they need to deliver value. It’s a win-win-win.
Reflecting on the Migration Process: 3 Lessons Learned
Like I said, I’ve been involved in my fair share of migrations—five to be exact—and each one has taught me something (or reinforced a previous learning).
Here are three of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over the years that you can apply to your next LMS migration, whether that’s Gainsight or not:
- Get everyone involved: While the Customer Education team (or whichever team is responsible for your academy) should own the migration process and strategy, don’t lose sight of the fact that customer education is a team sport. As a result, silos will undeniably be your biggest foe, so involve all major stakeholders from the start—think Product, Engineering, and Customer Success—to help you get ahead of potential challenges and iterate together.
- Communicate: Whatever level of communication you think you need for a successful LMS migration—double it. As the process goes on, maintain clear, consistent communication across all stakeholders with weekly updates, transparent roadmaps, alignment sessions, and open feedback loops to ensure every team knows what to expect, when, and why. Not only will this eliminate any ambiguity from the migration, but it’ll also give other teams a sense of ownership across teams.
- Flexibility is your BFF: No matter how airtight your migration plan is, change is inevitable. So, instead of forcing yourself to stick to a firm schedule, build buffer time into your schedule for unforeseen challenges, like teammate attrition or technical hiccups. You should also plan for significant testing if your migration involves significant new functionality.
I always remember a former boss telling me, “It’s not about what you’re leaving behind, but what you’re moving toward.” That perspective has stuck with me and rang true during Gainsight University’s migration to Gainsight CE.
It’s not just about changing learning platforms; it’s about embracing new opportunities that bring more value to our customers and teams, and keeps Gainsight ahead of the curve.
Cheers to learning, reflection, LMS migrations, and new opportunities that’ll unlock even more value for our customers and teams.
Want to learn more about Gainsight Customer Education or how you can migrate your academy? Reach out today to chat with an expert.
