For a growing software company, it is not enough to make the product scalable. Customers, employees, and partners must also be able to quickly understand and successfully use the product.
Therefore, more and more software companies are investing in customer education: a structured approach that teaches users how to derive more value from software through online training, learning paths, product demos, documentation, and certification.
Well-known software companies have been working with digital academies and self-service training for some time. For example, Mendix offers various learning paths and certifications through the Mendix Academy, while Exact combines online training with, among other things, virtual classroom sessions.
For growing SaaS and software companies, such an academy can be much more than just a collection of courses. It can become an important part of customer onboarding, product adoption, customer success, partner enablement, and internal onboarding.
In this article, we discuss where an online academy can create value and how to determine whether the investment is worthwhile for your software company.
What is customer education?
Customer education is the structured training of customers and users so that they can use a product independently and effectively.
In software, customer education can consist of:
online product training;
onboarding programmes;
short how-to modules;
learning paths per user role;
interactive product demos;
webinars;
certifications;
knowledge bases;
videos;
in-app explanations;
training for partners and resellers.
E-learning is therefore an important part of customer education, but not the only means.
The core question is not: how many courses can we create?
The better question is:
What knowledge do users need to derive value from our product more quickly?
Why is customer education important for growing software companies?
When a software company grows, the need for explanations usually grows as well.
More customers means more onboarding. More functionalities mean more questions. International expansion means new languages, time zones, and markets. And more partners and employees mean that product knowledge needs to be transferred more frequently.
When all that knowledge transfer remains dependent on consultants, trainers, or customer success staff, training can become a bottleneck.
A well-structured online academy makes part of that knowledge transfer scalable.
That can contribute to:
faster customer onboarding;
better product adoption;
fewer repetitive support questions;
more consistent product knowledge;
scalable partner training;
faster onboarding of employees;
international growth;
measurable learning outcomes;
certification of users or partners.
Research into customer education in 2026 also shows that organisations are increasingly linking this to business results such as product usage, customer retention and return on the training programme, rather than solely looking at the number of courses taken.
1. Customer education makes growth more scalable
Software companies can often scale technically relatively quickly.
The software runs in the cloud, new accounts can be created automatically and new customers can sometimes gain access within minutes.
The human support around it scales less easily.
When every new customer first requires multiple personal training sessions, the required training capacity grows almost in line with the number of customers.
A digital academy can reduce some of this dependency.
A basic training course only needs to be developed well once and can then be followed by hundreds or thousands of users.
Thus, scalability does not mean that human support disappears. The available time can be used where it adds the most value: complex implementations, strategic advice, exceptional situations and personal guidance.
From trainer-led to blended customer education
For many software companies, fully self-service learning is not the best solution.
A combination often works better:
E-learning for basic knowledge and standard processes
Knowledge base for specific questions and reference
In-app guidance for assistance during use
Webinars for new releases and in-depth knowledge
Personal guidance for complex implementations
This allows a company to grow without making every form of product knowledge completely dependent on available trainers.
2. Faster onboarding and a shorter time-to-value
For SaaS companies, the period immediately after purchase is important.
A customer has purchased the product but still needs to learn how to actually use it.
The quicker someone understands the key workflows and achieves results independently, the sooner the product delivers value.
This is often referred to as time-to-value.
Customer education can shorten that period by offering users a logical learning path immediately after purchase.
For example, think of:
account and basic settings;
key functionalities;
first practical workflow;
role-specific in-depth knowledge;
advanced functionalities;
certification or follow-up course.
This way, a customer does not have to figure out where to start on their own.
3. Less pressure on support and customer success
Many support questions arise not because the software technically does not work, but because users do not exactly know how a function is intended.
When the same questions keep coming in, it can be a signal that important knowledge should be offered earlier in the customer journey.
An academy can play a preventive role in this.
Suppose the support department regularly receives questions about:
setting up user rights;
importing data;
reports;
integrations;
common configuration errors.
Then these topics can become part of onboarding or a specific learning path.
The aim is not simply to replace support.
An academy works best as part of a broader knowledge ecosystem in which training, documentation, and support complement each other.
Use support data as input for your academy
Support tickets are also a valuable source for new training content.
For example, regularly look at:
the most frequently asked questions;
processes where users make mistakes;
new functionalities that require a lot of explanation;
topics with long resolution times;
questions that are repeatedly asked by different customers.
This way, customer education does not become a static library, but a programme that is continuously improved based on actual user behaviour.
4. Consistent explanation of the product
In live training, the quality also depends on the trainer.
One trainer explains a function in more detail than the other. Questions from the group can change the focus of a session. And with new releases, there can be some time between the product change and the adjustment of training materials.
With digital training, core information can be managed centrally.
This makes it easier to:
give the same explanation to every user;
check content before it is published;
implement changes centrally;
replace outdated modules;
offer training by version or user role.
Especially with software that changes regularly, a modular structure is important.
A two-hour course that forms a single whole is difficult to maintain. Ten separate modules are usually much easier to update individually.
5. An academy supports international growth
Expanding internationally makes traditional product training significantly more complex.
Customers are in different time zones, speak different languages, and have different working hours.
With asynchronous online training, a user can learn when it suits them best.
That does not mean that one English-language course is automatically sufficient for an international audience.
When it comes to internationalisation, attention must also be paid to:
translation and localisation;
regional product differences;
local laws and regulations;
examples and terminology;
subtitling;
accessibility;
local support and partner structures.
AI can help in 2026 to produce, for example, initial versions of translations, subtitles, and content variants. Human quality control remains important, especially for technical, legal, or product-specific information.
6. Product training for partners and resellers
For software companies that work with implementation partners, consultants, or resellers, training is often even more important.
These partners represent the product to customers.
When their knowledge varies greatly, the customer experience can also vary significantly.
A partner academy can therefore be used for:
basic training;
implementation methodologies;
sales knowledge;
technical training;
release updates;
exams;
certification.
This allows an organization to not only document what knowledge is available but also which partners or employees have actually completed certain training.
7. An academy as part of the sales process
The original idea that e-learning can be a complete replacement for a trial version is, in many cases, too limited.
In 2026, the digital buyer journey is much broader.
Potential customers can, for example, get acquainted with software before purchase via:
interactive product demos;
videos;
webinars;
documentation;
sandbox environments;
free learning paths;
product tours;
trial accounts.
Training can play an interesting role in this.
A short introductory course can help a prospect understand:
what problem the product solves;
what important workflows look like;
what options are available;
how much knowledge is needed to use the product.
An academy does not necessarily replace a trial. Both can actually complement each other.
A prospect can, for example, first view an interactive demo, then take a short training course, and afterwards start a trial or Proof of Concept with more context.
8. Faster onboarding of new employees
The same product training developed for customers can often be partially used for new employees.
This is particularly interesting for roles such as:
customer success;
sales;
support;
consultancy;
implementation;
marketing;
partner management.
New colleagues can independently learn the basics of the product during their first days.
After that, personal onboarding can focus on internal processes, exceptions, culture, and practical situations.
This prevents experienced colleagues from having to give the same product introduction to every new employee again.
9. Certification makes knowledge demonstrable
For more complex software, certification can add value.
A certification programme clarifies what knowledge or skills are expected from a user, employee, or partner.
For example, think of levels such as:
Foundation;
Professional;
Advanced;
Administrator;
Consultant;
Developer.
Mendix combines its Academy, for example, with learning paths and a formal certification programme.
Certification can be particularly interesting when partners carry out implementations independently or when certain tasks must only be performed by sufficiently trained users.
However, a certificate only has value when the underlying assessment actually measures whether someone has the required knowledge or skills.
10. Building an academy alone is not enough
A common mistake is thinking that publishing a series of courses automatically leads to better-trained customers.
That does not happen automatically.
Users need to know:
which training is intended for them;
when they should take it;
why the training is relevant;
what the logical next step is.
That is why a learning path often works better than a large course catalogue.
An administrator, for example, needs different knowledge than an end user. A new customer has different questions than someone who has been using the product for three years.
So structure the academy around roles, goals, and moments in the customer journey.
How do you measure the return on customer education?
The number of completed trainings is useful, but says little about the actual business value.
For software companies, it is more interesting to link learning data to operational KPIs.
For example, think of:
time-to-value;
activation of key functionalities;
product adoption;
number of support tickets;
onboarding duration;
customer satisfaction;
extensions;
partner certifications;
time that customer success spends on standard explanations.
The interesting question is, for example, not only:
“How many customers have completed the onboarding training?”
but:
“Do customers who complete the onboarding training achieve their first successful result in the product faster?”
This makes e-learning a measurable part of customer success rather than a separate training project.
When does a software company have a good business case for e-learning?
An academy is not automatically profitable for every software company.
The business case becomes stronger when several of the situations below are recognisable:
the same product training is often given;
the number of customers is growing;
users require relatively a lot of support;
onboarding takes a long time;
customers are located in different countries or time zones;
the company works with partners or resellers;
new employees need to build a lot of product knowledge;
product knowledge varies greatly between trainers or teams;
software changes regularly;
certification is desirable;
customer success spends a lot of time on repetitive explanations.
The more often knowledge needs to be transferred again, the greater the potential benefit of a scalable digital learning environment.
What does e-learning cost and when does it pay for itself?
The old assumption that a course, for example, needs to be given “five or six times a year” before e-learning becomes profitable is too simplistic.
The business case depends on many more factors.
For example, calculate:
Current training costs
time of trainers;
preparation;
travel time;
location costs;
planning and administration;
time of participants;
customer success capacity.
Costs of digital training
learning design;
scripts;
video and interactive content;
LMS or academy platform;
translation;
maintenance;
analytics.
Potential returns
fewer recurring training hours;
lower support load;
shorter onboarding;
higher training capacity;
faster international rollout;
paid certification or training;
more productive use by customers and employees.
An academy thus becomes not just a cost item assessed solely on the training budget, but a part of a broader business case around customer success and scalability.
AI and customer education in 2026
AI is also changing the way software training is developed and delivered.
AI can, for example, support in:
structuring source material;
first versions of scripts;
translations;
subtitling;
practice questions;
content variants;
search functions within knowledge bases;
personalised recommendations;
conversational support.
That does not mean that an AI assistant automatically replaces a good academy.
For important processes, an organisation still wants to have control over what is presented as correct product information.
Therefore, it is becoming increasingly important to maintain one reliable knowledge base that can be used for training, documentation, and AI support.
Developing e-learning for software
Maxcademy helps software companies convert product knowledge into scalable digital training.
In doing so, we do not only look at the production of individual courses, but at the place of learning within the entire customer journey.
Together we can determine, among other things:
which knowledge belongs in e-learning;
which content fits better in the knowledge base;
which user roles need their own learning path;
which components need to be certified;
how existing classroom training can be digitised;
how training can be built modularly and maintainably;
how learning outcomes can be linked to business goals.
The substantive product knowledge comes from your experts. We help to structure that knowledge and translate it into an effective digital learning experience.
Frequently asked questions about customer education for software companies
What is a customer academy?
A customer academy is a digital learning environment where customers can follow training, learning paths, videos, exams, and other product-related learning resources. The goal is to help users use the product faster and better.
What is the difference between customer education and a knowledge base?
A knowledge base primarily helps users find a specific answer to a question. Customer education builds knowledge in a structured way. Therefore, both forms complement each other.
Can an academy reduce support tickets?
It can, especially when recurring support questions arise from a lack of product knowledge. The greatest opportunity lies with questions that are predictable and can be addressed preventively in onboarding or training.
Does a SaaS company need an LMS?
Not always. It depends on the desired functionality. If you want to manage progress, learning paths, exams, certificates, or different target groups, an LMS or customer education platform can be valuable.
Can product training be used for both customers and employees?
Yes. The core knowledge about a product can often be reused for different target groups. For each target group, different examples, exercises, context, and learning objectives are usually needed.
What is product adoption?
Product adoption describes the extent to which users actually learn to use a software product and incorporate important functionalities into their daily work. Training can support product adoption by teaching users which features are relevant and how to apply them.
Can AI replace product training?
AI can answer many product questions directly and can support training, but structured education remains relevant when users need to build a coherent process, certain skills, or demonstrable knowledge. In practice, an academy, documentation, and AI assistant can actually reinforce each other.