L&D as a service
The test of a service is what happens in the week nobody calls.
Buying a library is a purchase. Booking a facilitator is a purchase. A service is the thing that keeps going when nobody is asking it to. This page is about what runs on its own here, and what still does not.
What the term means
L&D as a service, defined.
Software as a service replaced buying a program outright with subscribing to one that keeps improving. L&D as a service does the same to talent development. Instead of buying a library once or booking a facilitator for a Tuesday, a company subscribes to a function that keeps going: sessions already on the calendar, a leadership program with the next cohort date published, and a library that grows from what subscribers ask for.
Continuous is the word doing the work. Development that happens once a year is an event, and events are what companies run when nobody owns the function. Something that comes round on a schedule, with practice on real work in between, is a different thing, and it is the only version that changes how somebody behaves in November.
Why this costs the same at two hundred people as at ten thousand →
How Thrive fits
What runs without being asked.
Every live topic comes round on a monthly rhythm and the dates are published before you pay anything, which is the part you can check further down this page rather than take on trust. The next public cohort of the leadership program has a date on the site next to its seat price. The library grows from requests, so telling ARIA the topic you need is how the catalog gets set, not a suggestion box.
Underneath that, the agents carry what a coordinator would have. Morgan sets the organization up. Coach Taylor enrolls somebody when they ask, and answers between sessions at whatever hour the question happens. None of it waits for anybody at your company to have a free afternoon.
Who arrives at this page
- Companies where development gets organized from scratch every time, and therefore mostly does not.
- Finance leads who would rather carry one predictable line than a run of facilitator day rates and per-seat renewals arriving separately.
- Companies hiring fast enough that a one-time training event is out of date by the next wave of new supervisors.
The same function is also searched for as Fractional L&D and Outsourced L&D. Different argument, same product.
The cadence
What keeps running.
A service is defined by its defaults, not by what it will do if you call. These are the defaults.
Every topic comes round
Sixteen live workshop topics, each on a monthly rhythm, two hours, twenty-five seats, at 3:00 PM Eastern on Microsoft Teams. Somebody who misses one in October catches it in November without anybody arranging anything.
The next cohort has a date
Not "cohorts run quarterly". A date on the site with the seat price beside it, read from the same file the enrollment page reads. If it is not scheduled, the page says so rather than implying otherwise.
The library grows from requests
One hundred thirty-six courses today, across four libraries. New titles are prioritized by what companies on the platform ask for, which is why the catalog looks like the problems companies of this size actually have rather than a content calendar.
Starting takes an hour, not a quarter
Morgan sets the organization up from a list of your people. There is no implementation phase to schedule, no configuration workshop, and nobody on your side who has to be trained on a system before anybody can learn anything.
The price does not move when you use it
One flat band per organization per month, every employee included. A quarter with four workshops and a quarter with none cost the same, which is the only shape that does not quietly penalize the quarter you finally get organized.
Where the word service is still ahead of the product
Two things, and they are worth knowing before you buy. Monthly billing is a single charge for one month: there is no auto-renewing subscription yet, so a monthly plan is renewed rather than continued. And scheduled reminders are on the roadmap rather than in the product, so Coach Taylor answers when somebody asks and does not go looking for the manager who has not booked. Both are on the list. Neither is in the product today and neither is described here as though it were.
Coming up
Real dates. Real seats.
Program cohorts
Live workshops
Reading the calendar.
Workshop seats are included for every employee at every band, with no per-seat charge. Cohort program seats are priced per participant. Start the platform or .
Who teaches
Held the job. Not studied it.
Content is the easy part to buy. A dozen vendors will sell you a library this afternoon. What none of them sells is the person who has already done the job, live, for two hours, watching your people practice it.
Every Thrive session is led by someone who has done the work they are teaching: run a shift, carried a quota, managed a team through a change, sat across from the person who needed the hard conversation. They bring the real version of the problem into the room, and the practice is done on your people’s actual work, not on a case study.
Sessions are small enough that a facilitator can watch each person practice and coach the delivery. Between sessions, Coach Taylor keeps the thread going.
- Session size
- 25 max
- Length
- 2 hours
- Format
- Live
- Where
- Teams
The price
One flat price for the whole organization.
The band is set by how many people you employ, and that is the only thing it sets. Nothing is metered, nothing is held back for a higher band, and adding people inside your band costs nothing. Cohort programs are the one line priced per participant, because a facilitator and a fixed group size are a real constraint.
| Organization size | Monthly | Annual | Per person, per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compliance LibraryAny size, no card | Free | Free | Nothing, at any size. |
| Thrive Platformup to 100 employees | $399 | $3,990 | $3.99 at 100 people, and less every time you hire inside the band. |
| Thrive Platform101-500 employees | $799 | $7,990 | $1.60 at 500 people, and less every time you hire inside the band. |
| Thrive Platform501-2,500 employees | $1,499 | $14,990 | $0.60 at 2,500 people, and less every time you hire inside the band. |
| Above 2,500 employees | Set with you, not looked up. Usually with private cohorts of your own. | ||
This table has no column for what is included, because the answer does not change by band: live workshops, all one hundred thirty-six courses across four libraries with fifty-six of those free in the compliance library, Coach Taylor for every learner, Morgan for setup, and the reporting. Annual billing is ten months charged for twelve months of access. A monthly plan is one month, charged once; nothing renews on its own yet.
Talk to ARIA
Ask what you would ask us.
ARIA works the way a good first call works. She asks who is involved and what should change, recommends the closest starting point, quotes the real price, and hands you to a person when you want one.
Start with one of these
Prefer a person? Say so in the conversation and the team follows up, or use the contact page.
Questions
Questions about l&d as a service.
What is L&D as a service?
Talent development delivered continuously on a subscription rather than bought as courses or booked by the day: a published schedule of live sessions, a leadership program with public cohorts, a growing course library, and the administration carried by agents. The test is whether anything happens in a week when nobody at your company asks for it.
How is that different from a learning platform subscription?
A platform subscription gives you software and content, and the function stays with whoever at your company has time. L&D as a service gives you the people who deliver it live, the coaching between sessions, and the reporting, with the software underneath rather than in front. If nobody at your company is developing anybody, a platform subscription changes nothing.
What is the commitment?
Monthly is a single charge for one month, renewed rather than automatically continued, because the auto-renewing subscription is not built yet. Annual is priced with two months free. Both are on the pricing page, and neither carries an implementation fee.
How quickly does it start?
Under an hour. Morgan runs onboarding from a list of your people, the compliance library is available immediately, and the next live sessions are already on the schedule rather than waiting to be arranged.