Carnegie Learning Reduces Support Tickets by 35% and Centralizes Communication with Spekit

# of Employees

880

Industry

Education

Website

The problem

For over 25 years, Carnegie Learning, Inc. has been at the forefront of K-12 educational technology, curriculum development, and professional learning solutions. It dedicates its efforts to empowering teachers, nurturing lifelong learners, and helping educators teach the “why” behind the “what.”

Embedded deeply in Carnegie Learning’s philosophy is the belief that "learning is more than just memorizing or even performing well on tests—it involves deep conceptual understanding that supports ongoing growth and continued development."

However, making the world a better place through education is no easy task. As the company grew over the years, the team faced significant challenges in enablement, onboarding, and training because the original “Wild West” approach to managing information through Google Drive and a proprietary LMS wasn’t built to scale with them.

Enter, Deanne and Lucas.

Deanne Stookey, Salesforce Solution Architect at Carnegie Learning, identified that before Spekit, 40% of all internal support tickets were help requests from sales reps. These tickets were often related to locating information, understanding how to perform specific tasks, or simple user error — indicating a broader issue.

Lucas Villalpando, the Sales Operations Manager who had joined Carnegie Learning to organize and improve their enablement and training content, saw opportunities to create efficiencies for sales reps to work faster and smarter.

Existing reps echoed this sentiment as they struggled with decentralized content. Vital documents were scattered across Google Drive, often buried in folders created by various employees more than a decade ago.

This web of disconnected knowledge meant sales reps and support teams spent excessive amounts of time trying to find the right answers and navigating through outdated and inconsistent files and folder structures. Their existing tools led to hard-to-find and difficult-to-update information, resulting in inefficient training processes that were misaligned with the company’s values and commitment to growth and development.

Recognizing these challenges, the team was compelled to strategically rethink their approach.

Then, they met Spekit.

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The solution

Armed with the knowledge of needing to streamline their internal training and support systems, Carnegie Learning turned to Spekit. Spearheaded by Lucas and Deanne, Spekit’s implementation marked a pivotal shift in how knowledge and enablement were handled within the organization.

Deanne had seen the benefits of Spekit first-hand in a previous role and knew it was exactly what Carnegie Learning needed. She remarked on the ease of use with Spekit compared to traditional LMS systems, sharing, “It’s so much easier to update information in Spekit than it is in an LMS!”

“It’s so much easier to update information in Spekit than it is in an LMS!”

Prior to Spekit, content updates involved a cumbersome process of emailing changes, announcing updates in team meetings, and hosting numerous office hours for training. But now, real-time updates are pushed out to the entire sales organization through Spekit, ensuring that everyone has the latest information at their fingertips.

Lucas, who had struggled to find a long-term solution in organizing 10+ years of content at Carnegie Learning, found Spekit’s approach transformative. He shared, “I had worked at my last job for 9 years, and I wish we had something like Spekit...Having this would have made life so much easier.”

“I had worked at my last job for 9 years, and I wish we had something like Spekit...having this would have made life so much easier.”

Lucas quickly transformed their internal processes by organizing their content into embedded Speks—bite-sized, contextually relevant pieces of information within the tools, like Salesforce, where reps are already living.

This integration dramatically reduced the time spent digging through folders and allowed for the direct application of knowledge in the flow of work. In short, Lucas became the hero who turned their chaos into order.

This centralization not only enhanced the accessibility and accuracy of information but also supported the seamless management of documentation and process updates for the sales team and beyond.

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The results

Implementing Spekit at Carnegie Learning has significantly transformed how the sales organization manages and shares knowledge and critical information. Because Spekit surfaces learning seamlessly into the flow of work, it has, "transformed the day-to-day sales rep experience by making training, enablement, and daily operations more intuitive and self-service," said Lucas.

"Spekit has transformed the day-to-day sales rep experience by making training, enablement, and daily operations more intuitive and self-service."

Deanne Stookey, Salesforce Solution Architect, encapsulated the impact, stating, "You have helped train us in how to communicate better with our staff."

"You have helped train us in how to communicate better with our staff."

The tangible results of this are evident across several key areas:

Dramatic Reduction in Support Tickets: Previously, a staggering 40% of all internal support tickets were related to user help requests. With Spekit, this has been reduced to just 5%. This decrease demonstrates that sales reps find the information they need independently and highlights a 35% reduction in overall internal support tickets.

Enhanced Self-Service Capability: The shift towards self-service has been profound. While one-on-one onboarding and regular office hours still serve an important role, the need for these interactions has decreased as team members increasingly rely on Spekit to find answers and train themselves. This shift has freed up time for the team to focus on higher-value tasks.

Cultural Shift in Information Seeking: The team creatively encouraged self-enablement by introducing the internal hashtag #CheckItInSpekit. This hashtag illustrates a cultural shift within Carnegie Learning that encourages employees to take a more independent and proactive approach to problem-solving.

Streamlined Onboarding and Training: New hires and existing employees alike benefit from more streamlined onboarding and training processes. Spekit’s contextual and personalized learning experiences have made it easier for users to adapt to and embrace their roles quickly, effectively reducing ramp-up times.

As Spekit continues to integrate into the daily fabric of Carnegie Learning’s operations, it’s clear that it has been a transformative force for good. Enhancing how sales reps access and leverage knowledge and content makes learning an effortless, enjoyable part of everyday work.

This alignment with Carnegie Learning’s commitment to nurturing lifelong learners and empowering educators has optimized operational efficiencies and reinforced the company’s belief in ongoing growth and development.

In other words, it’s been a collaboration that supports the company’s core values and allows them to focus on what they do best: empowering “students who grow, classrooms that thrive, and teachers who succeed — today, tomorrow, and always.”

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