Case study
Industry
Technology
Company HQ
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Number of Employees
225+ employees
Office Locations
3 countries
SMART Technology Solutions Goes from Ailing Enterprise to Talent Leader with WideRanging Online Learning
Udemy driving business outcomes
Case study details
Founded in 2007, SMART Technology Solutions had humble beginnings making enterprise-standard technology and consulting solutions more accessible to a wide range of companies. In fact, a major part of the company’s ethos is treating everyone — from clients to suppliers — as family, something that’s held it in good stead through times of significant change and a challenging business environment.
But facing bankruptcy, the company needed to restructure its operations. This meant rationalizing its workforce and transforming its training program in a way that better supported its team member development ambitions. That’s when it discovered Udemy Business, enabling SMART to offer wideranging Learning and Development (L&D) courses that redressed the balance between technical and soft skills, help retain its best talent, and achieve triple-digit growth in just a few years.
Putting learning at the heart of the workplace
Driven by a goal to help diverse businesses achieve their objectives through the latest technology and expertise, SMART Technology Solutions works closely with its clients to deliver tailored solutions that help boost growth. And with 80% of the company’s original clients still on its books, its strategy has served the company well.
At the heart of this success is SMART’s approach to L&D investment. The company prides itself on fostering highly-motivated individuals committed to customer service and benefiting from an employer that truly cares about their wellbeing.
But as Albara Bahjatt, Co-Founder & CEO at SMART Technology Solutions, explains, even the best laid plans can suffer temporary setbacks: “We’ve been crazy about L&D from day one,” says Albara. “In the early days, we spent a lot on L&D compared to other startups. Back then, training courses were generally only available on DVD, which was very expensive — anything up to $300 a time. We grew very fast but became overloaded with business. The fact our people were so busy meant our L&D and certifications all but stopped.”
In addition, the company soon found itself a victim of unshackled growth and close to bankruptcy. To survive, Albara and his business partner overhauled SMART’s business model, identifying the company’s best talent to help rationalize and transform its operations. It’s at this point the company also realized the need for a broad collection of L&D courses available on demand, giving its people the freedom to learn what they want and drive their own career progression.
Co-Founder & CEO
Highly accessible L&D that’s helped usher triple-digit growth
“While discussing how to get the company back on track, we needed a way to identify our most committed team members to help drive the business — that’s when we came up with our ‘Path to Success’ program,” says Albara. “By getting people to take a personality test, an English language exam, and three Udemy courses, our objective was to reignite a passion for learning in the company.”
With its Path to Success program a resounding success — having identified a team of key people and setting L&D expectations going forward — SMART looked for an online learning vendor that could match its requirements. “We looked at a wide range of providers, including LinkedIn Learning, but it was clear from the off that Udemy Business felt like a partner,” says Albara. “Udemy business worked with us on our needs and considered our budget. What’s more, the diverse courses offered by the platform reassured us that our people could always find what they need.”
Enterprise-level learning without the complexity
Benefiting from the platform’s wide-ranging course content and the ability to create individual Learning Paths for each team member, SMART has removed the barriers to creating highly accessible L&D content. It means the company can now assign particular courses based on career goals or role-specific requirements.
“Creating and managing content can be difficult for smaller companies, and learning shouldn’t be something you have to think about — it should be instinctive,” says Albara. “Udemy Business is a great tool that offers a huge diversity of courses and helps build skillsets.”
Fostering a learning culture — one hour at a time
SMART has also boosted the number of learning hours its people do each week, with some super users racking up 15 hours on average. And it’s this learning culture that Albara believes is partly responsible for the company’s significant recent success: “SMART has achieved triple-digit growth for the past three years — Udemy Business has helped ignite this,” says Albara. “Our people are now in the mindset that if they don’t know something, they’ll search for it in Udemy Business. It’s like muscle memory.”
Albara and his team also aren’t in the business of telling their people what to learn. Rather, they believe that whatever their people learn — whether that’s a language skill or even a cookery course — will make them more rounded individuals. “Udemy Business gives us a decent 50/50 mix of technical and soft skills courses,” says Albara. “It’s made us more efficient and productive, and means we can better understand our customers — they’re a lot more satisfied.”
Shifting the balance between technical and soft skills ensures SMART can offer a more varied learning experience. What’s more, the company sends a weekly report to its team members, highlighting the top learners to help foster healthy competition and a learning culture.
“We use Udemy Business as a team member benefit — we even mention it in our job adverts and give access to our customers,” says Albara. “Our team member attrition has reduced significantly. Even some of those that leave the company recommend SMART to their new employer.”
Co-Founder & CEO
From zero to hero: Using data to continuously improve
Having turned round the company’s fortunes from indebted enterprise to a triple-digit success story, Albara is keen to continuously develop SMART’s L&D culture. It’s why the company’s management now holds quarterly catchups with each team member, using Udemy Business dashboard metrics to ensure they’re on the right track or identify any changes that can be made to improve career development. The company even awards gifts to high-performing learners, acknowledging their efforts and encouraging continual development.
Moreover, SMART has been so successful in creating a learning culture across its organization that it’s now a Udemy Business partner and reseller, helping other companies create an engrained L&D strategy to foster growth and self-driven career progression.
With more than 140% profit growth, Albara is confident the company will go from strength to strength, supported along the way by Udemy Business. And with 5,700 course enrolments and 9,200 learner hours under the company’s belt, he has some advice for anyone looking to adopt the platform: “Udemy Business is a great tool, but it relies on the right people and culture already being in place from the off,” explains Albara. “The platform has met our expectations. We have a great Udemy account manager — that forms a big part of the overall experience.”
Co-Founder & CEO