Rethinking Your L&D Tech Stack
The last time you had a question at work, what did you do? Did you ask an LLM connected to your intranet? Go to YouTube or Google? Phone a friend? Whatever you did, I’d bet you didn’t go to your Learning Management System (LMS).
That’s a problem, especially when it’s often a significant line item in a learning and development budget. And it may be why, in our 2026 survey of learning professionals, only 47% expected the LMS to remain the backbone of their tech stack in three years.
The LMS may serve an important purpose, such as tracking and reporting for compliance, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should build your tech stack around it. There may be more cost-effective and efficient ways to design, deliver, and measure your training.
L&D’s greatest opportunity with its tech stack is to find ways to work better within systems that employees are already using. So if you’re rethinking your tech stack, factor in employee behavior: where they go to get answers, learn new things, or even practice skills.
But first, you need a clear picture of what your stack includes.
What’s really in your L&D tech stack
A tech stack is the collection of tools and systems your organization uses. But it also refers to how data flows (or doesn’t), and how employees use them.
When I talk about an L&D “tech stack,” I’m referring to the ecosystem across an organization where people share and apply knowledge.
This includes tools and systems for:
- Content management and delivery
The usual suspects: LMSs and Learning Experience Platforms (LXP) - Content creation
Things like eLearning authoring tools or AI video platforms - Practice and coaching
Roleplay, simulation, and coaching tools where people build skills and get real-time feedback - Third-party content and programs
You know, the massive subscription libraries or cohort-based learning platforms - Work systems
Everything from AI tools to survey and feedback platforms, intranets, shared workspaces, and videoconferencing
Learning shows up across all of these in an organization. That’s what makes the tech stack harder to think about: it’s how all of these systems work together. Mapping this ecosystem is only the first step. You need to know what you have, how people use it, and where they don’t. Where the systems are disconnected.
How to assess your tech stack
It might seem counterintuitive, but to assess your tech stack, I want you to go talk to anyone who can explain how knowledge transfer is happening on a daily basis. You need this context to answer the following questions about every tool and system in your stack:
- How is it being used?
Follow-ups: Why is it being used? How often? - How hard is it to use?
Follow-ups: How many steps does it take to get what you need? Where do people drop off? What workarounds have appeared? - What value are you driving from it?
Follow-ups: What does it cost to run? What problem is it solving? If you removed it, what would actually break?
You're evaluating the use, friction, and value. Three things that will help you make a data-informed decision.
Decide what stays, what changes, and what goes
You've done the assessment, and now it's time to make some tough calls. Here's how I think about it:
- Keep it if it's working.
- Repurpose it when it still has value, just not in the current use case.
- Remove it when the cost and complexity outweigh the benefits.
A few caveats.
First, it is rarely simple to remove an enterprise tool or system. It usually involves canceling a contract or giving notice, either of which may carry financial penalties. Plus there’s the change to manage. Before moving forward with a decision, speak to your procurement team and brainstorm any downstream impacts of removal: from migrating content to notifying teams and training them on new tools.
Second, if you’re considering replacing a tool (notice how I didn’t list that as an option), ask yourself whether you need a tool at all to accomplish your goal. If your LMS isn’t driving value, consider whether replacing it with a new LMS is going to solve that problem.
The tool is probably not the root cause.
What AI is revealing about your tech stack
Every day, I hear about a new AI tool (I only wish that was an exaggeration), and I work at an AI company. Meanwhile, your employees are already using AI at work.
The question for your tech stack is whether anything you add connects to how they already get answers.
L&D decision-makers are being overwhelmed with AI tools, many of which promise to solve problems we didn’t know we had. Teams are scrambling to work with procurement to vet them, either as replacements or additions to the stack.
The excitement makes sense, since formats like SCORM have constrained us for years. But before you add anything, ask how it connects to the systems your employees already use.
What to do with the capacity you create
AI can free up capacity, and so can repurposing or removing something from your tech stack. The question is what to do with that time or money. This is where most teams default to adding something new. Instead, focus on how you could take something you’ve already created and deliver it better. How can you reduce the friction between the employee and the learning experience?
You’re competing with AI for attention. So here’s what you’re going to do about it. Take one piece of content and make it as easy as possible for someone to access when they need it.
Here are five examples of how to do that:
The bottom line
Your employees are learning, with or without your L&D tech stack. Whatever decisions you make about tools or systems come down to two questions: can employees get what they need where they already work, and how will you know?
You can calculate the per-employee cost of an LMS license, but can you show that a course completion inside the platform led to behavioral change tied to business impact? That’s the harder question, and the more important one.
If you’re accountable for the L&D budget, you have to justify the investments you’re making. Be sure to connect those decisions to your strategy.
Amy Vidor, PhD, is the Learning and Development Evangelist at Synthesia, where she researches learning trends and helps organizations apply AI at scale. With 15 years of experience, she has advised companies, governments, and universities on skills.
Frequently asked questions
What is an L&D tech stack?
An L&D tech stack is the collection of tools and systems an organization uses to share and apply knowledge, along with how data flows between them and how employees use them. It includes systems for content management and delivery (like LMSs and LXPs), content creation, practice and coaching, third-party content, and everyday work tools like AI assistants, intranets, and shared workspaces.
What’s the difference between an LMS and an LXP?
A learning management system (LMS) is software for administering, delivering, and tracking training, such as assigning courses and reporting on completions. It’s traditionally been how workplace teams deliver and track eLearning, which is why many organizations still rely on it for compliance.
A learning experience platform (LXP) is focused on the learning experience itself, such as helping employees discover content and get personalized recommendations. Today, the lines between the two are blurring.
