Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC)
2026 Regional Winner | Skills Transformation
Industry
Healthcare
Company HQ
Durham, North Carolina, USA
Number of Employees
~7,000
Office Locations
North Carolina
How Blue Cross NC built an integrated learning ecosystem with Udemy
Business outcomes
2,140
Udemy users in the Chief Operating Office
862
Role plays completed in Line Leader Experience
265
Enrollments in Leading Beyond program
Challenge
Transforming a health insurance workforce for the future
Blue Cross NC faced a period of fundamental reinvention as the organization evolved from a traditional health insurance model toward broader health care solutions. The company needed to respond to margin pressure, industry disruption, and rising expectations for talent, leadership, and organizational effectiveness.
Leaders recognized that workforce readiness required more than participation-based training. The organization needed to build leadership judgment, data literacy, AI readiness, cloud capability, and role-specific technical skills — all aligned to enterprise transformation and business continuity.
“We couldn’t align learning to business strategy without a scalable, on-demand platform,” said Jennifer Williams, AVP, Talent and Leadership Development. “Without a platform like Udemy, we had no way to deliver consistent, skill-based learning across diverse teams and departments.”
Blue Cross NC set out to build an integrated learning ecosystem that would connect learning directly to business outcomes.
“We couldn’t align learning to business strategy without a scalable, on-demand platform. Without a platform like Udemy, we had no way to deliver consistent, skill-based learning across diverse teams and departments.”
Solution
An integrated learning ecosystem anchored by Udemy
Blue Cross NC built an ecosystem around three integrated dimensions: intelligently curated content, engaging learning experiences, and measurement against strategic goals. The ecosystem aligns platforms including Udemy, Workday Learning, Career Hub, iMocha, Qualtrics, and Microsoft Teams to the skills, behaviors, and outcomes the organization is building across the workforce.
Udemy Business serves as a strategic, scalable component of the ecosystem, delivering consistent, skill-based, on-demand learning across teams. Udemy Pro provides on-demand access to AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Snowflake, role-based learning paths, labs, exam review courses, and full practice exams for cloud and technical upskilling.
“Udemy is a critical enabler in our ecosystem because it expands access to scalable, on-demand, role-based learning,” Williams said. “It complements our instructor-led training, internal programs, coaching, and custom learning pathways.”
For leadership development, Blue Cross NC launched the Line Leader Experience and Leading Beyond programs to strengthen human-centered leadership, decision-making, accountability, communication, and change leadership. The Line Leader Experience included master classes, role plays, application activities, and structured reflection moments designed to move learning from awareness to application.
For data and analytics capability, the organization designed the Data and Analytics Ops Model Training Program, combining custom learning journeys, technical competencies, domain knowledge, consulting skills, data storytelling, assessments, learning labs, and capstones. Udemy Business licenses provided on-demand learning alongside instructor-led training and adaptive pre-assessments and post-assessments.
“Udemy is a critical enabler in our ecosystem because it expands access to scalable, on-demand, role-based learning. It complements our instructor-led training, internal programs, coaching, and custom learning pathways.”
Results
More than 2,100 learners and cost-effective cloud upskilling
The integrated learning ecosystem delivered measurable impact across leadership, data, and technical capability. The Chief Operating Office grew from 1,420 Udemy users at go-live to 2,140 users by January to March 2026. In the same period, the number of colleagues enrolled on a course since activation increased from 928 to 1,901, and the number who watched a lecture since activation increased from 776 to 1,763.
The Line Leader Experience generated 862 role plays completed and more than 76 hours of practice since February 2026. Leading Beyond generated 265 enrollments and 268 learning hours. Participant feedback demonstrated applied behavior change, including more timely decision-making, greater awareness of data needs, stronger use of Copilot, and a more disciplined approach to critical thinking before problem solving.
“With Udemy, we’ve built a learning ecosystem that moves employees from awareness to application,” Williams said.
The cloud training model provided Udemy Pro on-demand access for learners, while blended solutions produced significant cost savings compared with instructor-led-only approaches. Technology skills accounted for the largest share of learning time, ranging from 79% to 87%.
“With Udemy, we’ve built a learning ecosystem that moves employees from awareness to application.”
Looking Ahead
Deepening the ecosystem
Blue Cross NC continues to advance Vision 2030 by deepening its integrated learning ecosystem. The organization plans to expand role-based learning pathways across additional functions, scale cloud certification programs, and strengthen the connection between learning data and workforce planning, succession, and performance outcomes.
“Using Udemy as our foundation, we’re building a workforce that’s ready to deliver on Vision 2030,” Williams said.
The organization will continue to align learning strategy to business strategy, positioning learning as a core driver of enterprise transformation, workforce readiness, and business continuity.
“Using Udemy as our foundation, we’re building a workforce that’s ready to deliver on Vision 2030.”
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