Validating and Proving Skills ROI – LMS Showcase Recap

LMS Technology Showcase Recap

Recently, Seertech participated in Training Industry's LMS Tech Showcase. In under an hour, Seertech's Chief Strategy Officer, Scott Mahoney, walked through how to transform a vague "skills strategy" into something measurable, actionable, and ROI-driven.

The session focused on Seertech's integrated skills framework and how it helps learning teams connect skills development to business value. Because in today's dynamic workforce, just saying you "have a skills strategy" isn't enough — it has to work.

👇 Watch the full demo or scroll down for the key takeaways.

A New Framework for Skills ROI

Scott introduced Seertech's five-pillar Learning Effectiveness Index, a strategic framework for aligning learning with performance:

1. Learning Access & Engagement
2. Learning Performance Outcomes
3. Workforce Capability & Readiness (today's focus)
4. Operational Efficiency
5. Business Impact

The third pillar — capability and readiness — centers on validating that employees have the skills needed to perform, and being able to prove it with data. That's where Seertech's approach comes in.

Turning Skills Into Value: The Tools

To bridge the gap between skills demand and supply, you need more than a course catalog. You need a dynamic system that can pattern-match talent to roles, validate skills, and adapt in real time. Seertech's skills framework enables exactly that.

Here's how:

✔️ AI-Driven Skills Ingestion

Aggregate and normalize skills from multiple sources (e.g., LinkedIn, Workday, SFIA) into a single, usable taxonomy without the mess of duplication or misalignment.

✔️ Custom & Durable Skills Support

Support both technical and "durable" (human or power) skills, with the ability to categorize and align them to roles, functions, and tasks.

✔️ Endorsed, Validated & Inferred Skills

Go beyond self-reporting. Seertech supports SME validations, system-inferred performance skills (e.g., via GitHub check-ins), and operational data for audit-grade accuracy.

✔️ Skills Portfolios & Job Role Views

Each learner sees their personalized skills profile, including required proficiencies, current progress, and tailored course recommendations to close gaps.

✔️ Manager Tools & Personal Development Plans (PDPs)

Managers can assess team skills, set goals, review behavioral indicators, and build action plans — including auto-generated training paths based on job needs.

✔️ OJT & Technical Skills Coverage

Seertech's on-the-job training (OJT) tools help ensure operational readiness, linking skills to SOPs, certification status, and even machine access (e.g., no cert = no access).

✔️ Organizational Skills Mapping

Track workforce capabilities, spot gaps, and prioritize investment. Visual dashboards support scenario planning and long-term skills forecasting across departments or geographies.

From Model to Metrics: Showing the ROI

The final section of the tour focused on proof — how to show that your skills investment is paying off.

Scott shared a real-world ROI model from a customer who implemented Seertech's framework across several critical roles:

• 12-month build phase to define and ingest roles, skills, and tools
• 2.5-year payoff point, with increasing returns as the system matured
• 7x ROI over a 60-month period, driven by measurable business gains

Key metrics used to demonstrate ROI included:

• Retention improvement
• Internal mobility velocity
• Hiring cost reduction
• Productivity gains
• Organizational agility

Retention gains were the most significant contributor to not just keeping people, but upskilling them, increasing motivation, and accelerating skill acquisition over time.

Final Takeaways

This product tour offered a clear path forward for L&D teams that want to do more than just talk about skills. With Seertech's skills framework, you can measure, manage, and maximize your investment while aligning with the needs of your workforce and your business.

Here's what we learned:

💡 Most skills models aren't built to scale but yours can be

💡 Pattern-matching people to roles requires systemization and AI

💡 Validating skills requires data, not just trust

💡 Operational visibility turns skills into strategic assets

💡 ROI is real, if you build for it

As Scott said:

"Learning is the one lever you can consistently pull to improve business performance. But only if you connect skills development to actual business needs."

👉 Want to see how Seertech's skills strategy can power ROI for your workforce?