Enterprise learning is moving beyond static training catalogs as companies look for ways to build leadership, sales and technical capabilities at scale. NovoEd has received 14 medals in the 2026 Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards for talent-development programs delivered with 3M, Abbott, Kohler and The HOW Institute for Society, putting AI-powered learning and measurable workforce development in the spotlight.

Corporate learning platforms are being asked to solve a larger problem than employee training: how to help organizations continuously develop the skills they need as markets, technologies and job roles change.

NovoEd’s latest recognition reflects that shift. The enterprise talent-development technology provider says it and four corporate partners—3M, Abbott, Kohler and The HOW Institute for Society—received a combined 14 medals in the 2026 Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards.

The awards span leadership development, learning technology, sales performance, corporate culture, talent management and the use of AI in leadership development.

Unlike a single product award, the recognition covers specific programs implemented with enterprise customers. That distinction matters because the value of learning technology increasingly depends on whether organizations can connect training to measurable business outcomes.

With 3M, NovoEd’s programs received five awards, including a Silver for Best Learning Measurement and Bronze awards for corporate culture transformation, learning technology implementation, sales training and performance, and sales talent management.

Abbott’s programs received four awards, including Silver recognition for leadership development and learning technology implementation, as well as Bronze awards for learning supporting a change-transformation strategy and the use of AI for leadership development.

Kohler received two Silver awards for leadership development and innovative leadership development. The HOW Institute for Society received a Gold for leadership development and Silver awards for senior manager development and innovative leadership development.

The range of categories illustrates where enterprise learning technology is expanding.

Learning management systems historically focused on distributing courses and tracking completion. Modern talent-development platforms are increasingly expected to support cohort-based learning, mentoring, practice, leadership development, skills building and measurement.

That evolution is partly driven by the changing economics of workforce development.

Companies can no longer assume that skills acquired early in an employee’s career will remain sufficient for the next several years. AI, automation and changing business models are compressing the time between learning a capability and needing to learn another.

The result is a shift from learning as an event to learning as an ongoing workforce capability.

NovoEd describes its platform as AI-powered and designed to help L&D teams deliver learning, mentoring and practice at enterprise scale. The company says its programs help organizations prepare employees for current and future business requirements.

The AI component is particularly relevant to the Abbott recognition, which included Best Use of AI for Leadership Development.

AI in corporate learning can take several forms. It can personalize content recommendations, summarize learner activity, support practice and simulations, generate feedback or help managers identify development opportunities. But enterprise buyers are increasingly looking beyond novelty and asking whether those capabilities improve participation, skill acquisition or business performance.

That is reflected in the Brandon Hall evaluation criteria.

According to the organization, submissions were assessed on alignment with business needs, program design and delivery, adoption, integration, user experience, innovation, effectiveness, impact and measurable benefits.

The criteria point to a larger challenge for the HR technology market: demonstrating that learning software actually changes workforce outcomes.

That challenge is shared across the enterprise talent ecosystem. Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle, LinkedIn Learning and Cornerstone all operate in overlapping areas of learning, skills and talent management, while specialist providers compete around leadership development, learning experience and employee growth.

The competitive landscape is consequently moving away from basic content delivery.

For an enterprise buyer, the important question is increasingly whether a platform can connect learning with the rest of the talent lifecycle. If an organization identifies a leadership gap, for example, it needs to be able to connect that gap to learning programs, mentoring, employee skills and eventually performance or succession planning.

AI could make those connections easier, but only if the underlying workforce data is reliable.

This is where learning platforms are increasingly converging with skills intelligence and workforce analytics. The learning system is no longer simply a destination where employees complete courses. It can become one component of a broader system for understanding what capabilities an organization has, which skills it needs and how employees can develop them.

The 14 Brandon Hall awards do not independently establish that NovoEd’s platform is superior to competing products. They do, however, provide evidence of the breadth of enterprise use cases being associated with modern learning technology.

The programs span sales organizations, leadership pipelines, culture initiatives and change transformation—areas where training is expected to support broader business objectives.

For HR and L&D leaders, that is likely to be the more important takeaway.

The future of enterprise learning technology will be determined less by the size of a content library and more by whether platforms can help organizations build capabilities that matter to the business.

As AI changes the skills employees need, that distinction will become increasingly important.

Market Landscape

Enterprise learning technology is becoming part of a broader skills and workforce-management architecture.

Learning management systems remain important for compliance and course administration, but organizations are increasingly adding learning experience platforms, skills intelligence, mentoring, coaching and AI-enabled development tools.

Major HCM vendors such as Workday, SAP and Oracle are integrating learning and talent capabilities into broader employee platforms, while specialists such as NovoEd and other learning providers compete on engagement, cohort learning, practice and development outcomes.

AI is becoming a particularly important differentiator. The most useful enterprise applications are likely to involve personalized learning paths, AI-assisted practice, development recommendations and workforce skills analysis.

The market challenge is measurement. Enterprises want evidence that learning investments influence productivity, leadership readiness, retention, sales performance or other business outcomes.

That explains why categories such as learning measurement, change transformation and sales performance are becoming as important as the underlying learning technology.

Top Insights

• NovoEd and four enterprise partners earned 14 Brandon Hall awards, highlighting the growing role of learning platforms in leadership, sales, culture and workforce transformation.
• AI is entering leadership development, with Abbott receiving recognition for applying AI within a leadership-development program rather than using it solely for content creation.
• Learning measurement is becoming central to L&D strategy, as enterprises increasingly demand evidence connecting employee development programs with measurable business outcomes.
• Enterprise learning platforms are expanding beyond course delivery, incorporating mentoring, practice, leadership development, skills intelligence and AI-enabled personalization.
• HR technology buyers increasingly want integrated talent ecosystems, connecting learning investments with workforce skills, succession planning, employee performance and broader organizational strategy.

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