Automotive shop teams complete significantly more training with Axonify compared to legacy systems
How Today’s Class shifted gears with innovative auto shop team training
Automotive training provider ignited technician upskilling and business performance for its customers with the help of Axonify’s AI-powered learning platform
500%
increase in training engagement
13M+
questions answered
Continuous knowledge retention through daily, targeted training
11,000
users onboarded
Scalable solution supporting independent shops and large enterprises
Keeping pace with rapid technological change
When it comes to modern vehicle repairs, the days of “popping the hood” and taking a look are definitely in the rearview mirror. From hybrid and fully electric vehicles to next-generation safety and entertainment systems, today’s automobiles are often more computer than car.
While these advancements in automotive technology are improving safety and performance, they are also creating new challenges for automotive service and repair shops. As technology continues to advance and the demand for trained technicians increases, these businesses are struggling to retain their staff and keep them trained on the latest technologies.
For Today’s Class, delivering the right training at the right time on the latest automotive technology is at the heart of its business mission. The Birmingham, Alabama-based company provides training content and services to help auto shops develop and support their technicians, service advisors and managers.
David Boyes, President at Today’s Class, said the pace of vehicle technology is accelerating while the available workforce is shrinking. Fewer people are choosing automotive repair as a career, while a record number of technicians are retiring. According to the Journal of Consumer Research, the industry will need over one million new technicians to service the number of vehicles on U.S. roadways.
“Fewer people are entering the industry, lots of experienced people are retiring, and the number of physical locations is shrinking” said Boyes. “With vehicle technology advancing and the workforce shrinking, automotive service and repair shops will be required to train more efficiently over time.”
Not addressing these challenges poses several risks to auto shop owners. Top among them, according to Boyes: as the demand for complex repairs increases, vehicle owners are choosing dealership service centers over independent auto shops.
A light bulb moment
Today’s Class develops extensive training material for auto shops and needed a platform for customers to effectively deliver that training to their workers. Boyes set out to find a Learning Management System (LMS) uniquely suited to this task.
“What we heard repeatedly is, ‘We know our people need training. We don’t know what they need training on. We don’t have time for training, and we have no data to inform what we’re doing,’” said Boyes. “This is a big complex problem, and we needed advanced tools to help.”
The new LMS needed to be mobile-first for the technicians, who often didn’t have access to desktop computers, and include deep analytics to help auto shop owners stay ahead of the curve. Boyes was looking at a few solutions and once a colleague recommended Axonify and he saw what it could do, the choice became obvious.
“A light bulb went off. I probably spent an hour on the Axonify website exploring features and functions thinking, ‘This is exactly what our industry is looking for in terms of efficiency, data analytics and mobile-friendliness,’” he shared.
Leveraging the partnership with Axonify, Today’s Class developed the training content and provided support for its auto shop end users to effectively employ the new solution.
Accelerating skill-building for every employee through targeted microlearning
Staying ahead of rapidly evolving vehicle technology advancements is challenging for independent auto shops. Today’s Class helps these businesses compete in a constantly changing environment by giving technicians access to on-demand training that accelerates their performance and efficiency.
Powered by Axonify, Today’s Class gives shop employees a way to continuously learn, retain knowledge and apply it in real-world situations— all without disrupting their workflow. This is done through a microlearning approach that delivers content in short, focused and engaging bites that workers can consume in a few minutes a day via their phones. Auto shops can effectively train their employees without impacting productivity.
Today’s Class is also helping auto shops adapt to generational divides that impact the approach to working and learning beyond the technical challenges of repairing modern vehicles.
Boyes explained that experienced technicians are often resistant to new training methods due to their considerable experience while younger technicians need structured learning to gain confidence. Axonify helps bridge this gap using adaptive learning to personalize each employee’s experience. When each employee logs in, the algorithm will serve up the most important thing they need to learn that day.
Driving engagement through friendly competition and gamification
Auto service and repair is a close-knit industry, and Boyes said many shop owners know each other. It’s also a competitive field and Axonify’s gamification system is one of the features their customers use the most.
“It could be individual employees competing with each other or having shops compete against each other,” said Boyes. It tends to be a competitive audience, so the gamification features make a big impact.”
Gamification is more than just bragging rights. Some auto shops allow employees to earn points in the Today’s Class system in exchange for rewards. Boyes said rewards range from new tools to company swag and even time off.
Unlocking insights and improving outcomes with actionable analytics
One advantage of the solution is instant access to critical data and analytics. Boyes sees these metrics as the solution’s superpower because it helps the company and its customers understand gaps to deliver the right training.
“Our audience does not always have the time to dig into reporting dashboards. The data is there, but they also have many other priorities to attend to. We coach them on how to use that data and we’ve also created extensions to give them different options for receiving data reports,” Boyes said.
One of those options is sending reports through text messages. Shop owners receive a report via SMS messaging every Monday morning with information on what their employees trained on, how many points were earned and graduation data.
Jump-starting training engagement and shop productivity
The impact of Axonify’s rollout is clear. Boyes said the company witnessed this first hand during a six month pilot with a large automotive service franchise. Today’s Class rolled out the new Axonify powered solution in 40 of the organization’s 400+ locations and saw a jaw-dropping increase in engagement.
“Over that time, the roughly 400 non-piloting stores remained on the org’s legacy LMS and completed about 3,000 modules over a 6 month period. Meanwhile, the 40 stores using Today’s Class and Axonify’s innovative learning approach completed 18,000 modules,” Boyes said. “I think the most powerful advantage is that the barrier to training is gone. Whether it’s training or important updates, we’re getting information directly to their teams in ways that just weren’t possible before.”
About Today’s Class
Today’s Class provides advanced training and content solutions tailored to the evolving needs of automotive service and repair businesses. As vehicle technology becomes increasingly complex and the workforce shrinks, traditional training methods are no longer effective. Today’s Class delivers targeted, data-driven learning experiences that help technicians and service teams stay ahead of industry changes and enhance their skills efficiently.