These days, AI (artificial intelligence) could easily be substituted for “Marcia” in that famous quote from 1970s TV show The Brady Bunch. But while AI continues to dominate the headlines and undoubtedly can help Learning and Development (L&D) professionals create more content faster, it isn’t necessarily the be-all, end-all solution for all training development, design, and delivery.
And interestingly enough, the biggest technology challenges many of today’s L&D professionals face aren’t necessarily related to the technical aspects of using AI to develop training—or even related to AI at all. Some common L&D tech challenges today include data access and analysis, training delivery logistics, measurement of learning effectiveness, and adapting to continuous technological advancements and constantly changing industry landscapes.
We tapped several winners of our 2026 Training MVP Awards—which recognize excellence in employee training and development—in a variety of industries (finance, retail, transportation, real estate, construction, and healthcare) to find out their biggest technology pain points, changes they plan to make to their tech stack, what’s on their tech wish lists, and some of their tech best practices.
TECH CHALLENGES
Transportation company Hertz’s biggest tech challenge today revolves around data—including access to and connection and analysis of data beyond completions. “Data is siloed and hard, if not sometimes impossible, to access,” explains Strategic Learning Manager Aubrey Allmond. “Once you do get access, it is equally as hard to get it connected to other data sources to gather any meaningful information. Then we need to understand the data, which often is surprisingly easier than the first two.”
Outside of mandatory safety and compliance training, Allmond says Hertz also struggles as an organization to make learning a daily or weekly routine.
LPT Realty’s challenges include coordinating live and asynchronous training for a fully distributed, decentralized real estate agent community across the U.S. and Canada—spanning multiple time zones at scale.
LPT Realty Chief Strategy Officer Matt Levy, VP of Corporate Operations Implementation Shaina Moats, and Regional Director/Managing Broker Amanda Hannon Driscoll also point to the speed of change in the real estate industry, particularly around AI and emerging products. “This means content has a shorter shelf life than ever, so staying current in our L&D content is a constant creative and logistical priority.”
Last but not least, the team notes, is the challenge of “continuously building out reporting and measurement capabilities to develop an even richer picture of how training programs drive agent performance and business results.”
When it comes to technology enablement and adoption, a key challenge for the Talent Management, Quality, and Training team at health/ medical company Johns Hopkins Medicine: Patient Access is ensuring adequate training, onboarding, and knowledge transfer when new learning and development technologies are implemented. “The issue is often less about the technology itself and more about the limited time, training resources, and structured support needed to help teams and stakeholders fully understand and leverage system functionality,” the team says.
On the content side, frequent changes to systems, workflows, and policies make content creation and maintenance increasingly complex. “Without tools that enable accelerated development, it is difficult to keep content timely, scalable, and aligned with operational needs,” the team explains.
Measuring learning effectiveness also remains challenging due to fragmented data across systems. “Manual data aggregation from platforms limits the ability to consistently evaluate outcomes, track trends, and clearly connect learning initiatives to business impact,” the team says. “We are discussing tools such as Power BI as potential solutions.”
CCA Global University VP Nicole Harding at retail cooperative CCA Global Partners says it can be frustrating to have to use multiple platforms to get things done, and staying aware of useful tools can feel like a full-time job. Plus, “getting accurate evaluation measures is not easy when sharing content on multiple platforms across more than 1,000 locations,” she adds.
One of financial company First Horizon Corporation’s biggest challenges is training instructional designers (IDs) to be talent and learning experience consultants. “With AI replacing base ID work, we need our IDs to be more consultative and leverage AI in their daily routines,” notes Lisa Pruitt, VP/ Talent Development manager. “This requires a different skill set. We also are figuring out how to leverage AI prompts and personas and knowledge management in our suite of designs tools and moving away from static job aids.”
Pruitt says another challenge is getting people to complete discretionary developmental training in the face of constant change and too much online/ on-demand training.
TECH STACK CHANGES
So what are these companies doing to meet their tech challenges? Not surprisingly, several of them are looking to AI-driven solutions.
In addition to implementing a new Human Resources Information System (HRIS), First Horizon is adding AI tools, AI knowledge management, and rapid design tools, Pruitt says. “We are looking at integration and replacing some external content with internal AI personas, knowledge management, and AI flows, moving from on-demand systems training to more digital adoption and AI help.”
Harding says CCA Global Partners is making heavy bets in AI role-play and coaching. Hertz plans to purchase a new AI-based developer tool for its instructional design and project management teams.
Johns Hopkins Medicine: Patient Access isn’t looking to replace its current L&D technology stack, but the team is actively exploring enhancements to its existing one. Areas of interest include microlearning platforms and AI-enabled tools that reduce development time, improve scalability, and complement current systems.
The LPT Realty team notes that its core L&D tech stack is not changing—and that is by design. “LPT Connect, our proprietary internal platform, is sophisticated and purpose-built. Under the vision of our founder and CEO Robert Palmer, we invested early in building the right infrastructure. That foundation gives us the stability to focus our energy where evolution is prominent: content and delivery. Both are changing constantly. We’re always adapting to meet agents where they are, whether that’s an in-person session, live and on-demand video, or written content they can move through at their own pace,” say Levy, Moats, and Hannon Driscoll. “On the delivery side, we’re continuously expanding how we show up, both virtually and in real life, by incorporating more video, more hands-on exercises and workshops, and more formats that address the multidimensionality of how people engage with material today.”
TECH WISH LIST
Presented with the idyllic dream of an unlimited training budget, visions of augmented reality and simulation development tools, AI chatbots, digital adoption platforms, and analytics tools danced in these L&D professionals’ heads.
Topping Johns Hopkins Medicine: Patient Access’ tech wish list is advanced AI-enabled learning support, including a more robust AI chatbot capable of providing role-specific, workflow-based guidance. The team also would invest in “tools that significantly reduce development time while improving content quality, enabling faster response to change and more efficient delivery of microlearning.” For practice-driven learning environments, the team would look for interactive simulations such as plug-and-play mock calls, workflow practice tools, and self-scoring exercises that allow learners to practice repeatedly with minimal manual trainer involvement.
CCA Global Partners’ Harding likewise would invest in augmented reality for some of the company’s scenario-based training. Ditto for construction company Limbach Holdings, Inc., which would “love to use more simulation development tools that immerse learners in real-world scenarios,” Training Program Manager Kate Mistry says. “We’d also 100 percent invest in a chatbot that could support on-the-job learning. Our greatest challenge is ensuring the coaching we provide gets applied, and this would be a way to support that application. I’d also focus on my team’s development tools.” Mistry adds that she would “love help with the administrative yet strategic calculations and brainstorming to identify ROI for the training we do.”
First Horizon’s Pruitt would focus on “everything AI, including AI tools such as Synthesia for rapid development.” She also would look into an affordable enterprise version of a digital adoption platform rather than one that is licensed.
While tempted to focus on the shiny tech objects, Hertz’s Allmond says they first would devote more budget to adding more people in admin, analyst, and field trainer roles. “Even with AI products, we need people to perform the work,” he says.
LPT Realty seeks technology that more richly quantifies how training translates to stronger production and surfaces that data in a compelling, highly personalized way for each agent. “We believe that kind of visibility would drive deeper engagement, not just within our own programs but across the board,” say Levy, Moats, and Hannon Driscoll.
The organization also has a renewed focus on identifying new agents and accelerating their path to production. “Technology is central to finding them, reaching them, and teaching them,” the team says, “and the ability to do that more precisely and at greater scale is something we’re building toward.”
BEST PRACTICES
- Johns Hopkins Medicine: Patient Access: Understand that successful learning technology adoption depends less on the tool itself and more on how intentionally it is implemented, supported, and aligned with the learner’s experience. A strong rollout requires clear communication, thoughtful integration into existing workflows, and ongoing reinforcement so the technology is used consistently and effectively.
- First Horizon Corporation: Leverage learner experience platform (LXP) tools such as communities, projects/ gigs, internal AI chat/knowledge management, badges, certifications, and AI flows to create the 3E development impact (education, experience, and exposure). Create an influencer community to increase engagement in optional training and fold it into your career marketplace.
- CCA Global Partners: Use AI-generated role-plays and coaching to provide training on a larger scale.
- Hertz: Utilize application programming interface (API) connectors with single sign-on (SSO) for learning content and learning management system (LMS) connectivity. This frees L&D staff from having to oversee the time-consuming manual task of managing logins and passwords for employees to access the LMS or connect to learning content.
- LPT Realty: Recognize that while technology is a powerful accelerant, it cannot replace the human element. People may identify and disengage from content that feels too automated, impersonal, or superficial. The most effective learning experiences are the ones that use technology to deliver at scale and tactile elements to deepen engagement and retention at the individual level. The real skill is knowing when to let technology do the heavy lifting and when to pull back and lead with the human touch.
IS AI DRIVING PERFORMANCE IMPACT?
In 2026, the focus is no longer on whether to use artificial intelligence (AI) in learning and development (L&D) but on whether it’s making a difference, according to the Future of L&D 2026 report from Access Learning, part of The Access Group. Rather than simply layering AI onto existing structures, the report explains, organizations now are embedding the technology directly into workflows to improve outcomes. But as organizations move from adoption to application, the report notes that a harder question is emerging: Is AI being used to drive real performance impact or simply to produce more content, faster?
While AI initially was introduced to speed things up rather than solve a clearly defined performance problem, the connection to real work, both in training and application, has become less impactful, the report posits. “Organizations that are struggling tend to be treating AI adoption as a technology project,” Tom McDowell, founder and principal consultant at Evolve, notes in the report. “Without a clear performance problem to anchor the technology, AI becomes a solution searching for a question—and that’s where you see the pattern of generating more content nobody needs, slightly faster than before.”
Looking forward, the report concludes, progress will need to depend on a more focused and practical approach. “This starts with a stronger emphasis on performance—working more closely with the business to identify where performance needs to improve, and ensuring learning is aligned to those outcomes.”
The report points to a growing consensus that the role of L&D is moving away from content creation, and toward enabling performance directly, supporting people in the flow of work, rather than delivering learning as a separate activity. “That means the value of L&D lies in understanding individual performance in the context of the wider organization,” the report states. “It needs to work across functions to identify where change is needed, and ensure people are equipped not just for today’s demands, but for the roles they move into over time. This requires L&D to take on a more consultative role within organizations, working closely with stakeholders to diagnose challenges, identify the right interventions, and ensure learning is aligned to real business needs.”
To read the full Future of L&D report, visit: https://www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/digital-learning/resources/the-future-of-ld-report-2026/