Brompton, a British business known the world over for its folding bikes, has partnered with Docebo on the new Brompton Academy, a digital learning platform helping it to keep up with the huge demand for its products and its growing international presence.

Brompton is an iconic brand with a mission: to change the way that people move within cities. It’s a huge goal, but their famous folding bikes can make a serious difference in tackling climate change and help people globally become healthier and happier.

Its products have reached global popularity, sold by over 1,500 dealers in 48 countries, speaking 11 languages. In 2019, Brompton reported an 18% increase in sales and produced over 3,000 more bikes than in 2018.

Keeping up with the extraordinary popularity of its product is a challenge. Educating a growing workforce on how to best build, sell, and maintain Brompton’s bikes plays a key role in ensuring that its teams are not overwhelmed and that its customers receive the best possible experience when they interact with Brompton – whether it’s for sales, advice, or maintenance. 

But with a growing workforce and salesforce around the globe, delivering great training in person has become physically and financially unviable. 

"A big push factor was when we worked out that we have 1500 dealers, and if I were to visit everyone, I could only give less than 40 minutes of training before having to move on to the next one. Once you factor in costs, flying, hotels, etc., it’s physically and financially unviable to deliver physical training. We now have six hours of training content, so it would be impossible to fill that into a 40-minute meeting," says Christopher Smith, eLearning Management at Brompton.

When you’re trying to change the world, you need rapid and impactful innovation to overcome barriers to growth.

To make sure everyone could benefit from learning, no matter where they were located, Brompton partnered with Docebo to establish the Brompton Academy, an entirely digital platform for training its staff and salesforce.

Smith added, "The Brompton Academy is central to our growth. Firstly, we’re fortunate to be in a position where we struggle to keep up with demand, and if you can educate your workforce, then it will lead to more output.

"Using the Docebo platform is helping us to drive sales and reduce touch points between sellers and our customer service team. If you can educate your dealer network, then they can generate more sales and impact the bottom line."

Using features like Virtual Coach and by delivering content by video, Brompton and Docebo are helping Brompton Academy users to find new courses that can help them to continue developing and delivers content in the way they most value it.

"What’s great is that with an LMS, the user can learn when they want to. It doesn’t ask people to travel or sacrifice a day out of the shop. It’s less intrusive and ultimately reduces customer costs," explained Smith.

The new service has achieved a 95% satisfaction rating with learners across Brompton’s workforce, and Christopher Smith is looking forward to the future of learning technologies by working with Docebo.

Smith went on, "The Virtual Coach with recommended courses is valuable, and Docebo’s investment in artificial intelligence (AI) will be invaluable as we grow. We can lean on Docebo to embrace the latest AI technology, and we get to piggyback on the best of it. If not, Brompton would have to invest in it."

By launching the Brompton Academy, the company has also stayed true to its sustainable mission for mobility.

Products that help people to be more sustainable have never been in more demand, with a study by IBM earlier this year proving that over 70% of consumers were more than willing to pay a premium for brands that helped them to live a more sustainable lifestyle. But, in the same study, IBM found that an abrupt loss in faith in the same brands can mean consumers quickly change their shopping habits.

By moving its training resources to Docebo, Brompton has dramatically reduced unnecessary flights, making sure that it keeps it carbon footprint low.

Smith concluded, "We don’t want to be using an army of cars and jumping on planes to meet our sellers and train them. Using Docebo for the Brompton Academy, we’ve reduced costs and impact from flying, driving, and using hotels."

The new Brompton Academy is playing a crucial role in Brompton’s mission to change the world, one folding bike at a time.