If you’ve felt the gap between event hype and what teams actually deploy, you’re not alone. A new Learning Guild study of over 550 professionals maps real-world adoption across 43 technologies. This report included what’s mainstream, what’s rising, and why teams move or stall.
The bottom line is that learner impact drives adoption; budgets, time, and buy-in block it.
In this blog post, we will summarize key findings and discuss how learning organizations can leverage the information to create impact within their teams.
According to the report, organizations adopt new learning tech primarily when it improves the learner’s experience and performance:
Operational motivations matter, but trail the top three:
Motivations based on perception or mandates rate lower:
Across respondents, the most common barriers were consistent and fixable:
The study sorts tools into four adoption tiers: Mainstream (80%+), Common (50 to 80%), Selective (20 to 50%), and Niche (<20%). This helps leaders see what’s truly embedded versus experimental. “Tried-and-true” technologies dominate the mainstream: LMSs, SCORM-based eLearning, and live polling/quizzing remain near-universal because they reliably solve everyday problems.
Meanwhile, several late bloomers have surged in the last five years, notably generative AI for content development, screen readers, accessibility solutions, and microlearning. Looking ahead, at least 20% of teams plan to adopt AI-enabled approaches, such as adaptive learning systems and automated content curation. The authors also compare practitioner and provider views: both cite budget, time, and leadership buy-in as top blockers, but L&D practitioners more often flag privacy/security, whereas providers feel stronger pressure to prove ROI. The survey ran Feb–Mar 2025 with 502 L&D pros and 54 providers, focusing on what organizations actually use over a duration rather than aspirations.
In light of these patterns, learning organizations can move from “tools first” to outcomes first. Mapping your critical workflows to the adoption tiers, and doubling down on foundations with your learning management system, relying on rapid orchestration and reporting, and elevating existing SCORM with richer interactivity, can help you move the needle substantially to drive performance. Further, have you truly explored how AI can integrate into your workflows?
This is where ELB Learning can help.
We help you create learning experiences that enable transformation at every level. When AI adds real leverage, we implement it responsibly: governed prompts, privacy-safe data flows, and measurable gains in speed, relevance, and scale. Just as important, we address the human system that includes stakeholder alignment, change readiness, and proof of impact. This ensures that new technology isn’t just installed, but also adopted, improves decision-making, and earns continued investment.
We align tech to business impact. Bring us your priority workflow and KPI; we’ll architect the fastest path from “used” to “useful” and prove it in a focused pilot. With ELB Learning, adoption becomes a capability, not a project.
Learning Strategy L&D Consulting