AND Digital has announced a significant partnership with learning platform HowNow, resulting in a 50 percent reduction in learning content curation time and an 80 percent decrease in onboarding administration. This collaboration is part of the consultancy’s broader initiative to accelerate skills development across its workforce, which numbers around 800 employees in the UK, The Netherlands, and the USA. Engaged in early 2023, HowNow was brought on board to centralize learning resources and facilitate a quicker path to competence for new hires, 80 percent of whom are client-facing consultants.
Three years into this partnership, AND Digital reports notable operational impacts directly linked to the adoption of the HowNow platform. By integrating LinkedIn Learning, the firm claims to have streamlined its learning and development processes, aligning educational content more closely with business objectives. This integration has led to a marked reduction in the time required for learning and subject matter expert curation, enabling the creation of specialized learning pathways with less manual oversight.
In a notable shift, the traditional week-long onboarding process has been transformed into a single structured learning event supported by digital pathways. AND Digital states that this redesign has slashed the time dedicated to learning and development during onboarding by 80 percent, thereby accelerating the integration of new hires into the company.
Tara Ryan-Tedford, Learning and Development Lead at AND Digital, highlighted the pivotal role of HowNow in this transition. “HowNow has been the linchpin of this transition. By housing structured onboarding pathways and post-induction support in one accessible place, we’ve been able to move toward a self-serve, on-demand resource model. As an L&D team, this has also reduced our induction admin by 80%,” she said.
With the launch of a pathway centered on AI Enablement, AND Digital has observed that 75 percent of its employees now access HowNow on a daily basis. The company interprets this as a sign of sustained engagement rather than a passive adoption of the platform.
Ryan-Tedford characterized this level of usage as a “huge testament to the value it’s delivering.” She emphasized the importance of agility in their partner selection, stating, “We wanted an agile partner and HowNow definitely ticks that box. The platform is purpose-built to support skills-driven learning and we really like that it enables people to create and contribute their own content. We have lots of technical experts so enabling them to share their knowledge with colleagues is part of our future-proofing strategy.”
Nelson Sivalingam, Co-founder and CEO at HowNow, expressed enthusiasm for the partnership, stating, “The AND Digital team is committed to building consultant capability and future-ready skills, and we’re delighted to be supporting such a fantastic organization. Our skills-first partnership is driving faster expansion and diversification of AND Digital’s consulting services and we’re thrilled to be supporting them on this critical journey.”
This partnership is indicative of a broader trend toward skills-first learning models within professional services, where the emphasis is shifting from merely providing content access to demonstrating tangible operational impacts. For consultancies that rely heavily on technical expertise and AI capabilities, metrics such as speed to competence and internal knowledge sharing are becoming critical performance indicators.
In related news, the ETIH Innovation Awards 2026 are now open, recognizing educational technology organizations that deliver measurable impact across K–12, higher education, and lifelong learning. The awards accept submissions from the UK, the Americas, and internationally, with evaluations based on concrete evidence of outcomes and real-world application.
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