Case study
Industry
Recruitment
Company HQ
London, United Kingdom
Number of Employees
3,200
Robert Walters GroupLeverages IT Skills to Stay Competitive and Drive Career Development
Udemy driving business outcomes
Case study details
Started from a single office in London in 1985, the Robert Walters Group has grown into a global recruitment consultancy offering outsourced and managed services — across diverse sectors — in more than 30 countries. As a company built on human relationships and career expertise, it prides itself on developing its people and maintaining competitive services driven by the latest technology.
However, major IT system transformations were happening across several lines of business — including a company-wide shift to the cloud. The Group turned to Udemy Business’ online learning and development (L&D) courses to help its IT staff keep their skills cutting-edge and quickly deliver key systems, all while developing upward career paths.
Managing digital transformation using in-house expertise
With its operations spread across multiple locations in more than 30 countries, Robert Walters’ lines of business are truly global, as are its IT team, which boasts an impressive multinational team of engineers.
But as Ismaeel Ameen, Head of Data Engineering, Development and Data Management at the Group, explains, introducing lots of new technology and processes into a business without the right skills in place is a significant challenge and cost risk. “The company was transitioning many of its key internal systems — such as HR, CRM, and ERP — to bespoke solutions in the cloud, helping us become more agile,” says Ismaeel. “But bringing people up to speed on new technology without the right focused learning and proven support in place can slow transformation and stifle career development.”
As the business looked increasingly to cloud development to deliver the new technologies it needed, Ismaeel also sought to consolidate the team’s existing L&D program into a single platform, making it easier to maintain and keep a record of DevOps skills in various certifications — such as AWS, Docker, and Kubernetes.
With Agile development already firmly embedded in its processes, the Group’s IT team required an online L&D solution that could deliver key IT skills training and certification preparation — assessable 24/7 — to ensure consistency across its remote staff.
Head of Data Engineering, Development and Data Management
A scalable online solution that delivered L&D at speed
As an existing Udemy marketplace customer accessing course materials on an ad-hoc basis, Ismaeel & team put LinkedIn Learning through its paces before choosing Udemy Business.
“Many of my team were already coming to me with requests to complete Udemy L&D courses,” says Ismaeel. “But with a strict budget, we used to heavily rely on internal knowledge transfer. With Udemy Business, our people now feel empowered to drive their own learning at a pace that suits them. It produces far better results.”
The company also benefits from Udemy Learning Paths, which helps it tailor L&D programs not just to the needs of the company but towards individuals’ specific career aspirations — including soft skills, considered essential for upward mobility.
Keeping skills relevant in a competitive environment
By upskilling existing talent with Udemy Business, the Group’s IT team has made significant improvements in efficiencies and realized cost savings of 30% — even giving the company the freedom to recruit based on future potential rather than existing skills.
For example, one of the company’s goals was to move from batch processing to event processing across the IT infrastructure. Using specific courses on the Udemy platform, the IT team has successfully onboarded and upskilled several new hires, all in record time.
“To stay at the leading edge of IT innovation, your team needs to regularly reinvent its skillset,” says Ismaeel. “With Udemy Business, I can give my team the space to learn and take the initiative. It means we can produce higher quality work more quickly.”
Accessibility driving adoption
Since implementing the Udemy Business platform, adoption has been consistently high. In fact, 75% regularly engage with learning content, well above average for Udemy users. And while most companies could put this down to remote working during the pandemic, Ismaeel believes the reason is more nuanced.
“The beauty of Udemy Business courses is the fact they’re split into clear sections,” says Ismaeel. “It means we don’t need to cover knowledge we already have and can even search for specific terms. It’s a real time-saver.”
A long-term partnership
It’s not just employees who are reaping the benefits. Unlike when the company was using Udemy courses ad-hoc, the Robert Walters Group now has access to regular checkins with its dedicated Udemy Business Customer Success Manager (CSM), who offers advice and best practices to drive higher adoption based on the latest data. The CSM even helps explore additional value the Group can get from the platform.
“Udemy’s level of service has exceeded our expectations — allowing us to adapt to a constantly changing landscape quickly,” says Ismaeel. “My advice for people thinking about Udemy Business? Treat it like a partnership, and don’t be afraid to get support.”
Head of Data Engineering, Development and Data Management
Maintaining momentum across the group for further gains
The Group’s IT team’s ability to quickly upskill on cutting-edge new technology and advance their careers on their own terms hasn’t gone unnoticed — with several lines of business now interested in adopting the platform.
Looking to the future, Ismaeel is keen to maintain L&D momentum across the business. “Unlike other solutions, Udemy Business’ price point means you don’t need high-level internal approval and can instead use your own budget,” says Ismaeel. “The speed at which we got started is very much in line with our Agile philosophy. And despite COVID-19 disruption, we still managed to deliver several major projects on time.
Head of Data Engineering, Development and Data Management
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