Learning Analytics ROI: How One Life Sciences Team Proved L&D Impact

What does it take to show that training has real business impact, especially when most executives are sceptical?

At the Learning Leadership Conference in Orlando, a session led by Sandie Jotrina Dela Cruz,  AI & Learning Operations Leader at Edwards Lifesciences, explored how learning analytics were used to influence executive stakeholders, prove ROI, and scale a VR training pilot for external physicians.

For L&D leaders under pressure to justify budgets and demonstrate value, this session offered a clear, practical example of how learning data can be turned into business insight.

The session came against a backdrop of growing urgency in the L&D sector. Organisations are investing heavily in training, yet still struggle to show measurable results. You don’t to read for long to see L&D leaders needed to demonstrate ROI and are talking at conferences and impact. But what is impact and what is happening within the sector?

Recent research highlights the gap between spend and impact:

• Over $390 billion is spent globally each year on corporate training (McKinsey & Company)
• Only 10% of L&D programmes show a clear link to business impact (McKinsey & Company)
• Just 4% of organisations measure L&D ROI, and only 8% measure business impact (Bersin by Deloitte / Forbes Business Council)
• 94% of organisations track basic learning metrics but stop short of measuring impact (Bersin by Deloitte)
• Companies with strong learning cultures see 218% higher income per employee (ATD)
• Organisations that invest heavily in training report 24% higher profit margins (ATD)
• 94% of employees say they would stay longer at a company that invests in learning (LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report)
• Companies with strong learning cultures see 57% higher employee retention (Gallup)
• 44% of core job skills are expected to change between 2023 and 2027 (World Economic Forum)
• Only 29% of employees feel satisfied with career development opportunities (Gartner)
• Online learning improves knowledge retention by 25-60%, compared to 8-10% for classroom training (IBM Research)
• Online learning delivers a $30 return for every $1 invested, driven by productivity gains (IBM Research)
• 68% of organisations report measurable productivity or performance gains from upskilling initiatives (PwC)

This session offered one concrete example of how an organisation turned that challenge into an opportunity. Sandie looked, not only at ROI, impact and data but provided an insight into their own roadmap and journey into how they turned learning insights into business impact.

The Challenge: High Spend, Low Impact Perception

The session opened with a hard truth. Despite global training investments topping $390 billion, only 10 percent of programmes show clear business impact, according to McKinsey.

This disconnect is more than a measurement gap. It is a credibility issue for L&D.

The team’s journey began with a direct question from leadership: Does our training drive business results?

That question set everything in motion and this is challenge that many within L&D will face regardless of the size of the team or organisation.

A Disconnected Learning Ecosystem

Years of company acquisitions had left them with multiple LMS platforms and little central oversight. Each platform came with its own data structures, making meaningful analysis difficult. When IT proposed removing their LRS, the learning team resisted, arguing that without it, they could not connect learning activity to performance outcomes.

This is a situation that is common and isn’t just about LMS, companies that are working with multiple organisations are often left with legacy systems and difficult data sets that are difficult to merge and manage. This might be a situation you have experienced?

It was not just a technical conversation. It was strategic. Keeping the LRS became the first win in a broader push to link training to business priorities.

The Mindset Shift: From Charts to Stories

Early attempts to demonstrate learning impact relied heavily on dashboards such as completion rates, pie charts, and bar graphs. But those failed to resonate with executives.

The turning point came when a manager asked a simple question: “What’s the story?”

That question reshaped how the team approached learning data. Rather than focusing on visualisation, they focused on narrative clarity. They built a single-slide story that answered three things:

• What happened?
• Why does it matter?
• What should we do next?

This became their internal framework for communicating impact.

Scott Hewitt noted that too many L&D teams deliver what they think is important rather than what the organisation truly values. “If you collect data without speaking to the C-suite first, you risk producing reports that are valuable to no one,” he said. “You have to understand the strategic objectives first, not assume you already know them.”

Proving Value Through a High-Stakes Pilot

The team chose a bold pilot: Virtual Reality (VR) training for physicians. It was complex, costly, and unfamiliar to many stakeholders. With a limited $25,000 budget, they developed a small VR training module and invited ten key opinion leader doctors to use it.

The outcome was immediate. Within two weeks, product adoption increased at participating hospitals. By correlating VR training completion with the rate of device usage, the team demonstrated a clear business effect.

That success was enough to earn buy-in and funding for the next phase.

Mapping Learning to Business KPIs

A key takeaway from the session was the team’s method for linking training data to performance and business results. They followed a simple chain:

This shift reframed how learning was viewed internally. Instead of reporting completions, the team reported contributions to sales, adoption, and efficiency.

Overcoming Barriers to Buy-In

The team faced several barriers:

• Data silos across departments
• Limited awareness of modern learning technologies
• Misalignment between L&D and the business

They tackled these challenges by:

• • Reading shareholder transcripts to understand business priorities
  • Using tools like ChatGPT to brainstorm potential learning-KPI connections
  • Organising hands-on demos to show executives what was possible
  • Building relationships with sales, HR, and finance to create shared accountability

Scott Hewitt emphasised the need for credibility through action. “If L&D wants more credibility, it has to understand the business properly. That means getting out, talking to people, and understanding real problems. Complaining about not having access to data or a seat at the table misses the point. You have to engage first and stop assuming you already know the answers.”

One particularly effective move was inviting stakeholders to try out multiple VR vendors in short, timed sessions. This helped break down misconceptions and made the technology real.

Scaling the Model: From VR to Ecosystem

After the pilot, the team expanded the model. They launched simulation-based training, integrated data sources across departments using Snowflake, and hired a data analyst fluent in SQL and Python to support automation.

This marked a shift in the role of L&D. They moved from content delivery to becoming a strategic contributor.

Scott Hewitt added, “There is a mindset issue in L&D around entitlement to data. We often assume we have a right to access everything, without recognising the governance, security, or commercial constraints. Understanding the business helps you understand why certain data may not be available, and in many cases, you might not even need it. The starting point should always be the problem you’re trying to solve.”

Rethinking Vanity Metrics

The speaker pushed back on the idea that metrics like completions or scores are meaningless.

In their view, every data point has strategic value when it is part of a bigger picture. Completion data alone may not tell a story, but when connected to behavioural change and business results, it becomes a crucial signal.

Scott Hewitt agreed. “All data has value. The idea of vanity metrics is often used as an excuse to dismiss data before it has even been analysed. What matters is how data is collected, used, and applied. Too often, data is written off before anyone has taken the time to understand what it might reveal.”

Building a 90-Day Plan

The session ended with a practical challenge. Build your own 90-day roadmap.

1. Choose one programme to measure such as onboarding, sales training, or compliance
2. Identify the relevant KPI
3. Run a small pilot and track learning and performance outcomes
4. Build a single-slide narrative showing the link
5. Share it with business stakeholders and refine the process

The speaker emphasised the value of acting quickly. Deliver fast. Learn fast. Fail fast. If you wait too long, you lose momentum.

What This Means for L&D Leaders

You do not need a perfect data stack or large-scale strategy to begin demonstrating value. What this session made clear is that progress starts with a mindset shift, moving from reporting activity to telling a business story.

Scott Hewitt reflected, “We often rush to collect and automate everything, but if we don’t start by asking the right questions, we’re solving for data, not for people. The starting point should always be the problem you’re trying to solve.”

For L&D leaders, this session was a practical demonstration of how aligning learning strategy with business needs creates stronger partnerships, clearer outcomes, and long-term credibility.

The tools can be simple. Even a spreadsheet or a small VR pilot can help connect learning to performance.

The real challenge is to ask what the business cares about and then show how learning helps move the needle.

That is the work of modern learning analytics.

FAQs

Why do most L&D programmes struggle to show business impact?

Many L&D teams collect data without first understanding what the business actually values. Without linking learning to key business goals, metrics like completions or scores seem irrelevant. Impact requires aligning training outcomes with what the organisation really cares about.

What helped the life sciences team prove ROI?

They ran a VR training pilot and linked course completion data to real business results, like faster product adoption. By showing how learning improved performance and revenue, they gained executive support and funding for future training.

Are completion rates useless as learning data?

No. Completion rates only seem useless when they are viewed in isolation. If you connect them to behaviour changes, performance outcomes, or revenue impact, they become powerful evidence of value. All data has potential when used well.

What should L&D leaders do before collecting data?

Start by talking to business leaders to understand their goals. Don’t assume you already know what matters. When you know the problem you are solving, you can collect only the data you need and use it to show real value.