In today’s evolving workplace, learning no longer stops at the organisational boundary. Businesses are responsible for the development of not only their employees but also external contributors: contractors, partners, franchisees, volunteers, and clients. This shift toward extended enterprise learning demands a robust LMS for external audiences that can scale, segment, and deliver training to a wide variety of audiences without losing consistency or quality.
The Birch Learning Platform is purpose-built for this new era of learning. Whether you’re onboarding internal staff, ensuring external contractors meet compliance requirements, or training clients and partners on product usage, Birch gives you the tools to manage it all from one intuitive, flexible, and powerful system. It removes the unnecessary expense and duplication of managing two separate LMS platforms, saving time, money, and administrative effort.
Why Extended Enterprise Training Matters More Than Ever
The benefits of training beyond your internal team are substantial:
- Compliance and Risk Mitigation: Ensure that contractors and vendors meet your safety and legal standards.
- Customer Enablement: Help clients succeed with your products or services through self-service learning.
- Brand Consistency: Align franchisees, partners, and third-party providers with your values and practices.
- Efficiency and Cost Savings: Deliver training once and reuse it across audiences, reducing duplication.
- Competitive Advantage: Educated customers and partners are more likely to stay loyal and drive business results.
Despite these benefits, many organisations still struggle to deliver training effectively to external groups. The common barriers? Disconnected systems, poor visibility, manual processes, and lack of control.
Birch breaks down these barriers.
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Secure, Streamlined Access for All Learners
One of the greatest challenges in extended enterprise learning is managing access. Birch allows you to provide the right content to the right people, with the right level of visibility.
- Separate learning experiences: Create distinct training streams for employees, contractors, clients, and partners – all within one system.
- User permissions and role-based access: Assign different levels of access based on role, location, organisation, or business unit.
- Open enrolment or invitation-only: Choose from flexible registration options, including bulk uploads, SSO (Single Sign-On), or self-enrolment links.
- Data protection and security: Ensure that each group only accesses what they are entitled to, protecting sensitive information.
Example: A hospital uses Birch to train both internal nursing staff and external agency nurses. Employees log in through corporate credentials, while agency staff access a streamlined compliance-only portal for induction and infection control training.
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Tailored Learning Paths for Different Audiences
Not all learners need the same content. Birch makes it easy to personalise the learning experience with Goals and Streams, allowing you to:
- Segment learners into distinct groups with Birch Communities, allowing you to deliver customised learning experiences and permissions to internal teams, contractors, or clients.
- Design custom learning journeys by job role, company, region, or client.
- Group learning into progressive stages for skill development.
- Use pre-requisites and completion rules to guide progression.
This ensures that each learner receives training that is relevant to their responsibilities and goals.
Example: An aviation organisation uses Birch to deliver technical training for internal maintenance engineers, onboarding for airport contractors, and safety modules for airline partners. Each audience receives a tailored pathway managed centrally in Birch.
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Track, Report, and Prove Training Impact
Visibility is critical, especially when training is distributed across internal and external audiences. Birch includes powerful analytics tools to:
- Monitor completion rates across all groups.
- Generate detailed reports filtered by role, group, location, or individual.
- Export data to meet audit requirements or performance reviews.
- Track certifications, CPD hours, and on-the-job assessments.
With Birch, managers and administrators can stay on top of compliance, performance, and engagement without manual intervention.
Example: An aged care provider uses Birch to monitor essential training for employees, certification records for external catering vendors, and manual handling compliance for allied health contractors. Audit-ready reports are available for regulators at a moment’s notice.
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Deliver Blended Learning Across Environments
Modern learning isn’t one-size-fits-all. Birch enables a blended approach that supports:
- Online learning: Courses, videos, interactive modules, and quizzes.
- In-person training: Track face-to-face workshops and classroom sessions.
- Virtual sessions: Integrate with Zoom, Teams, or Webex for real-time delivery.
- On-the-job assessments: Observe and evaluate skills in the workplace.
This flexibility allows you to deliver engaging, effective training regardless of where or how people work.
Example: A retail chain uses Birch to deliver self-paced customer service training to casual staff, virtual onboarding for franchisees, and in-person product training events for brand reps – all tracked in one central system.
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Central Resource Management and Communication
Training isn’t just about courses – it’s about equipping people with tools, updates, and resources. Birch includes:
- Announcements panel: Communicate real-time updates to select users or entire audiences.
- Document libraries: Share policies, forms, handbooks, and job aids.
- Embedded resources: Attach guides, videos, and templates to specific courses or assessments.
This ensures that external and internal users are aligned, informed, and supported.
Example: A mining company uses Birch to share updated safety bulletins with subcontractors, post site-specific checklists in the learning portal, and notify teams of emergency procedure updates through targeted announcements.
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Automate Certification and Compliance
Birch simplifies compliance by automating the certification process:
- Automatically issue digital certificates on completion.
- Set expiry dates and reminders for recertification.
- Maintain audit-ready records accessible by managers.
- Create escalation workflows for overdue training.
This reduces the risk of non-compliance and improves visibility for business leaders.
Example: A energy infrastructure company uses Birch to manage site inductions, high-risk work licenses, and annual refreshers for rotating subcontractors. Certificates expire automatically and access is revoked if compliance isn’t maintained.
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Branded, Scalable, Professional Learning Experiences
First impressions matter, especially when you’re training customers or partners. Birch lets you present a professional, branded learning environment:
- Use custom branding and terminology.
- Localise content for different regions or clients.
- Provide a seamless user experience across devices.
- Scale to thousands of learners without losing control.
Example: A hospital trains clinicians, visiting specialists, and cleaning contractors via a branded Birch portal that maintains professional presentation and custom navigation, tailored to each audience.
Birch Makes Extended Enterprise Training Easy
Managing training for employees, contractors, clients, and partners doesn’t have to mean juggling multiple platforms. With Birch, you get a single, secure, and powerful solution that helps you:
- Deliver targeted, relevant training to every audience
- Track and report learning outcomes across the board
- Reduce risk, increase consistency, and improve performance
- Communicate updates and share resources effortlessly
Whether you’re scaling a national workforce, rolling out compliance to external vendors, or building a client education hub, Birch gives you everything you need to succeed.
Ready to Simplify and Scale Your Learning?
The right platform makes all the difference. Discover how Birch can transform the way you train employees, contractors, and clients—seamlessly and at scale.
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