Vinay Pradhan is a seasoned leader with a demonstrated history of working in the e-learning industry. As the Country Head of India & South Asia at Udemy, a leading destination for learning and teaching online, he leads the regional teams to build Udemy’s enterprise business, focusing on expanding the company’s regional investment and partnerships.

Before joining Udemy, Vinay was the Country Manager of India at Skillsoft. He’s skilled in sales, operations management, business development and marketing strategy. In a career spanning 30 years, he has worked with companies like Dun & Bradstreet, Bharti Group, Essar Group and NIS Sparta. In an exclusive conversation with People Matters, Vinay highlights the critical learning trends and focus areas for L&D leaders as they embrace the future of work, the role of learning technologies and more. 

As organisations redesign their L&D frameworks to become built for disruption, what are the top three things that L&D leaders or HR professionals must prioritise to lead in the future of work?

Perhaps the biggest trend or opportunity we’re seeing globally right now is companies finding a way to truly bring learning to life and embed it within their virtual and hybrid work culture. At Udemy, we’ve honed in on a few distinct trends, namely:

• The need for varied learning modalities–multi-work learning–how do you layer learning experiences on top of the various ways we are working? 
• A shift to skills-based learning vs content acquired
• Virtual validation markers (like badges) that enable employees to hone digital leadership capabilities and earn badges for future-focused technical and power skills

What key focus areas must L&D and HR leaders prioritise in strengthening their learning culture? 

We recognize that people acquire knowledge differently, so at Udemy, our engagement with learners is increasingly personalized to help them meet their personal and professional goals. Similarly, organizations need to support employees with a personalized, remote and scalable workplace learning model so they can continue to upskill and reskill throughout their careers. The learning leaders and HR professionals we’ve spoken with say they’re continuing to focus on reskilling and upskilling efforts, acknowledging the need to invest and scale with their current workforce as hiring freezes continue to be put in place.

How has Udemy aligned its learning interventions to keep pace with new-age trends and technologies? 

Udemy is innovating new learning methods and pathways to enhance every step of learners’ career journeys. Our corporate solution, Udemy Business, offers a variety of learning methods, including on-demand learning through our marketplace-driven curated course content, cohort-based learning for leadership development, and immersive learning through labs, workspaces and assessments. 

How do you see the role of learning technologies growing in the future? 

Embracing a culture that uses learning as a key lever used to be a “nice to have”; now it’s become a business imperative. A recent Deloitte survey found that organizations fostering cultures of learning were 92% more likely to develop novel products and services, saw a 50% increase in employee retention rates, and noticed a 17% increase in profitability. To address skills gaps, now more than ever, Udemy empowers and enables organizations to build cultures of learning at work. Looking ahead, we’ll leverage sophisticated AI and machine learning models to help personalize these learning experiences.

What parting words of advice would you give our community on empowering a future-ready workforce?

The demands of the future workforce are changing daily, so it’s important to leverage a tool that’s constantly pushing out new content to meet those growing needs. Udemy’s learning platform is powered by the industry’s most dynamic and agile content engine, ensuring a steady stream of fresh and diverse content in local languages available to learners within a few clicks. Ongoing training initiatives that help employees grow and positively contribute to their future success can greatly impact their personal and professional growth.