HR leaders in 2026 are caught between two urgent priorities: filling open roles fast and building internal capability for the future. The pressure to hire externally has never been higher — but so has the cost of getting upskilling wrong. Organizations are spending more on learning and development than ever, yet most still can’t measure its impact, personalize it at scale, or connect it to the skills their business actually needs next.
In this webinar, we unpack what the data says about upskilling in 2026, based on Software Advice’s 2026 LMS & HR Software Trends survey of 1,000 HR professionals. We’ll cover the AI advantage in learning management, the most common gaps holding programs back, and a practical step-by-step framework for data-driven skills assessment and LMS evaluation — the tools and approaches that separate organizations that upskill effectively from those that don’t.
In this session, we’ll explore:
- Why hiring has overtaken upskilling as HR’s #1 challenge — with 47% citing each as a top priority — and a data-backed framework for deciding when to hire vs. upskill
- How AI in LMS is driving 24% better personalization and a 30% reduction in training-to-business mismatch — and which features are available in most platforms today but switched off by default
- Why 61% of organizations determine upskilling priorities based on manager gut feel rather than data — and the four most common consequences of skipping a proper skills assessment
- A step-by-step skills audit framework grounded in the data: how to use performance data (77%), employee assessments (68%), and future business goals (45%) to identify your real skill gaps
- Why only 28% of organizations use succession planning as a retention strategy — and a practical 3-step approach to building your leadership pipeline before a gap appears
- What to look for when evaluating LMS software: four key questions on integrations, AI maturity, ROI tracking, and total cost of ownership.
- How to measure upskilling ROI: the leading and lagging indicators that connect learning activity to business outcomes
Meet the Presenter
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Ines Bahr
Ines Bahr is an Associate Principal Analyst with nearly 10 years of experience specializing in HR strategy, learning & development technology, and workforce trends. She leads research-driven HR content and translates large-scale survey data into actionable insights for HR leaders and executives. Ines is the primary public speaker for HR research, regularly hosting webinars on workforce strategy, HR technology, and people trends. Her insights are grounded in more than 30 global research studies and are based directly on what HR leaders report in Software Advice surveys.
SHRM certification has approved this webinar for 1 PDC toward SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP recertification. A program code will be provided at the end of the webinar.