Article: BeNext, a cohort-based digital learning platform for the HR Community, now offers courses in both English and Spanish

At a time when the world has experienced one of the most disruptive times of our century, the Human Resources community has been at the forefront of this human crisis. BeNext was launched in June 2020 to address the development needs of the HR function and accelerate its transformation.

BeNext is a proprietary cohort-based digital learning platform that offers five-week journeys that combine live and asynchronous experience for a closed peer group. BeNext offers real-time, active skill development with practical insights and assignments and has certified over 4,000 professionals from 32 countries.

From July 2021 the BeNext platform will be available in both English and Spanish. “Our first year since we launched has been a tremendous eye opener on how community, development and transformation is so interconnected,” shares Prakash Shahi, Product Head, BeNext. “We now want to offer the BeNext experience to HR leaders in Spanish speaking countries.”

The BeNext journey makes learning bi-directional, keeping both participants and expert instructors accountable. Further, the focus of the experience is not passive content but active, hands-on and practical outcomes and, finally, the community of participants in the cohort bond and create long lasting relationships that makes the learning journey social, diverse and fun. This is what has made BeNext successful in its first year of operations and ready to capture a larger share of the market by offering multilingual programs.

What makes BeNext courses stand out is their mixture of live and asynchronous experience, along with the community-driven cohort structure. Talking about the design journey, Kristin Strunk, Director Talent & Employee Experience, Harley Davidson (US) "The BeNext Experience has allowed me to learn from global thought leaders. The platform and design of the programs make learning convenient and valuable. The programs have forced me to re-evaluate how I think about work and have helped me make changes within my team. I really enjoy participating in the online community and the reflection we do as part of the program. I feel like when I complete a program, I have something tangible to take back to my organization and implement."

The community-driven 5-week structure of the programs makes the learner really focus on impact to the business and outcomes. “After the BeNext program, we experimented with a new reporting schedule for distributed teams; that experiment has helped our organization reduce 34% complaints. What we learnt in the course was to focus on mindset and values before moving to shift processes and tools.” shares Amit Verma, SEA Head Security, Varun Beverages (India).

Dinath Kim, Real Estate Marketplace, Zillennium (Cambodia) shares “The BeNext course helped me drive change within my team and drive new values and principles. Overall, the program helped me to be open-minded and be more resilient in dealing with challenges.”

BeNext’s Prakash Shahi adds “Our objective is to make this platform impactful for all participants. That is why it is so important to keep the experience diverse, inclusive and community-driven. For us, it is critical to provide access for any professional seeking solutions to problems that really matter to them and to their business.”

In consideration of the estimated 20% of the world population living with some form of disability, BeNext is extending it’s inclusion efforts by incorporating an accessibility widget for participants with diverse learning requirements. Commenting on the BeNext Platform’s accessibility widget, Sana Samad, a visually-impaired HR executive for ONGC (India) shared the following statement: “The platform is accessible for people with special needs and it has taken into account various disabilities such as dyslexia, print disability and physical disability. Visually-impaired people use screen reading software or magnifiers, so the solution is compatible with both softwares.”

Now in its second year of growth, BeNext continues its commitment to providing impactful, community-based learning for HR leaders tackling the increasing challenges of managing talent with new courses. These include ‘HR Business Partner: Driving Talent Impact in Hybrid’ ‘Building a Culture of Empathy for Productivity, Innovation and Resilience’ and ‘Digital Transformation & Leading Change.’

In September, BeNext launched Spanish-language cohorts versions of all programs to cater to the global Spanish-speaking HR market. This latest development will allow BeNext to engage more learners from around the world and make the programs accessible and more inclusive.