Over the past year, I’ve been thinking a lot about the field of Customer Education. As I launched the CELab (Customer Education Lab) podcast with Dave Derington, and authored my book, Customer Education: Why Smart Companies Profit by Making Customers Smarter, I kept coming back to a central question: What does it take for someone to become successful in the field of Customer Education?

Are you wondering where our industry is headed?

We reached out to the leaders of CEdMA to find out what's in store for you and your teams this year.  Below are Customer Education trends, best practices, and predictions for 2019, direct from the CEdMA Executive Council and Board . 

Companies are always looking for ways to increase productivity, efficiency, and performance. Most turn to new technology to accomplish that, however the way you introduce the technology to the organization can have a big impact on its success. There's a lot of pressure to find the 'right' technology and integrate it in a timely manner to the organization. Done incorrectly, it can be disastrous for those who use it and the organization as a whole.

Customer success (CS) and customer experience (CX) are big buzz words today. According to the American Marketing Association, the majority of companies say improving the customer experience is one of their top priorities. This has led to an explosion of CS and CX teams. How does customer education (CE) fit into the new landscape? Can CE increase CX by itself or does it need to align with CS teams to have a greater impact?

We are pleased to announce submissions for the 2019 CEdMA Impact Award are now open!

If you are not yet thinking about how training can have a measurable impact on business results, you need to start now. Our executives want to move the needle on software sales and renewals. If you cannot show the value of your training organization using metrics tied to business success, you are in danger of becoming extinct.

As learning leaders, the time has come for us to reimagine our strategy and reposition ourselves within our organizations. In order to do this, we must first join our colleagues in becoming data driven. Nothing speaks louder than a well-qualified, meaningful metric. A recent study conducted by LEO Learning, a UK based Learning consulting firm, surveyed nearly 700 organizations asking L&D teams to weigh in on measuring learning impact and if their executives pressure them for this type of analysis.