Aptem is built by apprenticeship experts to help training providers deliver better outcomes at scale. Across onboarding, learner progress, personalisation, efficiency, compliance and business growth, the evidence from providers using Aptem is consistent: faster processes, better engagement and stronger results.

This article brings together customer data, Department for Education statistics and direct provider quotes across six areas of provision. Whether you are evaluating apprenticeship management software for the first time or looking to understand what switching to Aptem could mean for your organisation, the results speak for themselves.

Onboarding and enrolment

Aptem offers a fast, personalised, brand-distinct onboarding experience within secure and compliant guardrails.

• Compliant digital enrolment and eligibility checking removes the need to re-key data or manage physical paperwork.
• Configurable onboarding pathways enable you to give learners the content they need, when it makes sense.
• Integration with industry tools such as BKSB, Skills Forward and Century simplifies the process for learners, by removing the need for multiple logins.
• In-built cognitive assessment helps you meet funding obligations and identify where additional learning support will be required.
• Checkpoint and skills radar tools help to assess a learner’s skills at the start of their programme, ensuring accurate starting points are captured.

The results

• 77% reduction in time to onboard learners, for one of the UK’s largest training providers.
• 5 month decrease in time taken to grant learners access to online apprenticeship system for London South Bank University. Read the case study.

“LSBU has gone from learners having to wait up to five months to start using an online apprenticeship management system, to having it available on day one of their programme. That makes a huge impact on their engagement and progress.” – Sammy Shummo, Group Director of Apprenticeships, London South Bank University.

“Aptem has revolutionised our enrolment process. The platform is intuitive and easy to use, and the support from the Aptem team has given us real confidence.” – Robert Marshall-Slater, Head of Apprenticeships and Workforce Skills, City of Liverpool College.

“Our ‘lead to start’ conversion time has gone from 31 days to 9.4 days.” – Shahnee King, Head of Enrolment, tend (formerly Impact Futures) – Read the case study.

Learner experience and achievement

From the outset, Aptem gives learners a clear path to successful programme completion.

• An intuitive portal gives learners one place to manage every aspect of their apprenticeship journey, from completing eLearning, to measuring their skills, to communicating with their tutor.
• A user-friendly dashboard shows learners their progress at any time, helping them keep on top of their workload.
• A variety of learning formats, including SCORM assets, allows you to design a creative and engaging curriculum that isn’t limited by technology.
• The Aptem virtual assistant (AVA) gives learners a place to find informed answers about their programme or learning content whenever suits them.

The results

Pareto shares the impact Aptem has had for learners, by comparing a six-month period before and after implementing Aptem:

• 24 fewer ‘Out of Funding’ learners, protecting income.
• 17% increase in active learning, reflecting higher learner engagement.
• 20% increase in learner progress.
• 11% increase in ‘off-the-job’ training hours, showing learners embracing new learning opportunities.
• 13 fewer withdrawals.
• 16% increase in achievement rate.

“Having information such as geographical areas of cohorts, learner prior experience and qualifications, and other demographics, enables us to individualise our learner journeys at a very early stage. This improves our learners’ experience and increases likelihood of success and completion.” – Jacky Ellison, Head of Learning and Development, Resolve ASB.

“Aptem was my lifeline for more than 14 months, keeping me on track and organised during my apprenticeship. The platform was intuitive and well-structured and made it easy for me and my coach to manage everything – assignments, deadlines, and progress. It played a huge role in helping me stay focused and ultimately achieve a Distinction.” – Gerald Ngugi, Team Leader or Supervisor, Level 3 Learner – Future Talent Learning & ASOS.

“The Aptem platform is really clear and really concise. It’s very user friendly and the dashboard is very clear. It will show you how many modules are overdue or how far ahead you are. You log onto it and everything is in front of you.” – Matthew Cullis, Customer Service Level 3 learner, Lifetime Training & Marston’s.

“The functionality of the learning plan in Aptem is exceptional. The tools within Aptem are easy to use; each learning plan component can be designed to a high standard.” – Annie Graham, Apprenticeship Manager – Logistics UK.

Personalisation and inclusion

Aptem helps providers prioritise inclusion and offer a personalised learning experience for all.

• Our integrated cognitive assessment, Aptem Assess, supports early identification of additional learning needs at enrolment, meaning support and reasonable adjustments can be put in place from day one.
• Aptem’s sub-programmes make it easy to tailor learning plans according to Standard, cohort, employer group or individual learner.
• Tutors can easily add resources or modules to an individual learning plan to foster curiosity and provide additional support where needed.
• Our skills radar tool gives coaches, employers and learners a clear snapshot of learner starting points, enabling tailored plans and conversations from the outset, with continued use showing progression over time.
• Aptem can automatically summarise review conversations and actions from a transcript, freeing coaches to be fully present and focus on offering guidance, rather than notetaking.
• Aptem checkpoint boosts learner confidence and delivers instant insight into their Knowledge, Skills, and Behaviours (KSBs), by asking timely questions and realistic, work-based scenarios at key points in their learning programme.
• Accessible on desktop and mobile, with bite-sized content that fits around work, Aptem offers flexible, on-the-go learning that has proven valuable for apprentices on shift patterns such as care work.

The results

Aptem customers see greater achievement gains: across a three-year period, Aptem customers saw a 15.4% increase in learner achievement rate, compared to 1.6% among non-customers. – Department for Education data, apprenticeship achievements, CAGR 2020/21 to 2023/24.

“Creating programme variants is so easily managed through Aptem’s sub-programme functionality. Not only do we avoid having to create hundreds of separate programmes, we can also track individual success rates and the global success rate across each of the standards.” – Dom Wilkinson, Operational Partnership Manager, Lifetime Training – Read the case study.

“We’ve found the Aptem Assess functionality to be highly effective in identifying our learners’ support needs. The system provides a detailed and insightful breakdown of the support required, which has been incredibly valuable in tailoring our approach to each learner. It’s user-friendly and easy to navigate, making the process smooth and efficient. Overall, it’s a great system that significantly enhances our ability to support learners effectively.” – Kelly Medley, Director of Quality and Audit, Shoots Training.

“The Apprentice solution helps us to manage our learners and ensure they are all on track without a lot of administration, which means that we can keep the vital personal touch even as we grow.” – Craig Potter, Senior Partner, Davies Talent Solutions.

Efficiency and cost savings

Aptem offers unprecedented levels of efficiency savings across the apprenticeship journey, enabling scaling without increasing resource or sacrificing quality.

• Automated checkpoints are used to assess learners’ starting points and track their progress, ensuring personalised and effective learning experiences.
• The Aptem virtual assistant (AVA) answers learner queries, freeing up tutors to focus on high-quality educational tasks.
• Reviews are automatically summarised, providing actionable insights to enhance learning outcomes.
• The marking aid tool speeds up responses to submitted exercises while ensuring high-quality feedback is provided to learners.
• Guided processes capture all necessary requirements at the appropriate time, eliminating the need to re-enter data and streamlining administrative tasks.
• Automating processes such as breaks in learning or employment changes significantly reduces the burden on administrative teams.
• Aptem’s comprehensive feature set removes the need for additional tools, such as separate Learning Management Systems, ePortfolios, or ILR management systems, by integrating these functionalities.

The results

• Up to £200,000 saved per year in administration cost and time, London South Bank University.
• 30 minutes of admin time saved per review, reported by multiple training providers.
• 3 people doing the work of six in an admin team, for a large training provider.
• 50% of tutor time currently spent marking saved each week.
• 13,000+ messages sent to the Aptem virtual assistant in just 6 months.

“Aptem has been one of the key drivers behind Corndel’s growth, as it has increased our operational efficiencies and simplified many of our processes.” – Richard Bridge, Director of Learning Technology, Corndel – Read the case study.

“We chose to work with Aptem, after looking at several alternatives, as the entire learning journey is embedded into the platform. This saved us money as we could consolidate a number of existing systems in one. Additionally, the investment required demonstrated exceptional value for money and the level of customer service is refreshingly ‘on it’.” – James Taylor, Commercial Director, HTFT Partnership.

“The new reviews functionality saves a significant 15-30 minutes of admin time per review By adopting it, we’re giving Development Coaches time back so they can focus on what matters: helping learners and employers achieve.” – Becki Lee, Director of Quality, tend (formerly Impact Futures).

“Aptem is saving us an estimated £150,000 – £200,000 per year in administration cost and time.” – Sammy Shummo, Group Director of Apprenticeships, London South Bank University.

Compliance and reporting

The clever tools in Aptem have been designed by apprenticeship experts to take the pain out of complex industry processes, such as evidencing regulatory compliance or submitting funding requests. You can become more confident in your compliance and view the metrics that matter at the touch of a button.

• Tools like our RPL calculator and ILR submission functionality speed up the time taken to make accurate funding claims.
• Interactive dashboards surface a wide range of real-time insights, helping you monitor quality and make data-driven decisions about your provision.
• Detailed, auditable records can be easily produced when needed for inspection.
• Configurable trackers help you seamlessly manage complex processes like putting a learner on a break in learning.

The results

• From 1 month for a full-time employee to instantaneous: reduction in time to output management reports, for multiple training providers.
• From 1 month to seconds: reduction in time to submit ILR, for multiple training providers and universities.

“Our teams have moved from being data gatherers to data analysts. Now, we spend more time adding value for our clients instead of chasing spreadsheets.” – Amanda Kerr, Customer Success Director, tend (formerly Impact Futures).

“The embedded Dashboards in Aptem focusing on quality, Ofsted, compliance and funding are indispensable to us.” – Jacky Ellison, Head of Learning and Development, Resolve ASB.

“Aptem proved to be an invaluable asset during our recent DfE audit, providing a seamless experience from start to finish. Its intuitive layout facilitated smooth navigation for our auditor, while the integration of the ILR within Aptem significantly streamlined our processes. Accessing data and generating reports was a breeze, alleviating any unnecessary stress.” – Edd Belshaw, Group Apprenticeship Coordinator, WEC Group.

“Our recent Ofsted inspection praised the use of the system across apprenticeships and classroom-based learning for driving learner engagement.” – Ryan Palmer, CEO, Central YMCA – Read the case study.

Business resilience and strategy

Our strong partnerships and innovative technology play a crucial role in supporting providers to navigate the complex and ever-changing world of apprenticeships.

• Customers benefit from continual investment in the platform, with regular opportunities to feed into the direction of our roadmap.
• Aptem users can rest assured that the platform will always be updated to accommodate changing funding rules. This is guided by our expert Compliance Advisory Board, which features esteemed external experts and Aptem specialists.
• Regular networking opportunities offer Aptem customers frequent opportunities to discuss sector challenges and learn from each other.
• Providers can use the rich insight from their system to identify growth areas, enhance their programmes and shape their strategy according to real data.

The results

Aptem customers drive superior growth: Across three years, Aptem customers grew learner starts by 7.2%, compared to -0.2% in the rest of the market. – Department for Education data, apprenticeship starts, CAGR 2020/21-2023/24.

“Aptem’s track record has been exceptional in terms of keeping a pace with what’s going on in the education landscape and making sure that we’re able to offer our learners and our staff the best possible tools to be able to work with within the fund regulations and provide a level of education for our learners, particularly our apprenticeships.” – Ryan Palmer, CEO, Central YMCA.

“There is an excellent support and development team behind the tool who are a real pleasure to work with. The platform itself is constantly evolving and improving to meet the changing apprenticeship requirements and help us as a company improve our effectiveness and efficiency. Without Aptem we quite simply could not deliver the quality service that we do for our clients and learners.” – Richard Bridge, Director of Learning Technology, Corndel.

“We have been part of the Aptem success journey since the early days and have confidence in Aptem’s leadership and wider team to invest in the platform in ways that benefit us and our learners.” – Paul Wileman, CEO, B-Skill.

Aptem partnership

Aptem was created out of a need to manage the complexity of delivering compliant and successful apprenticeships at scale. Pioneered by the co-founder of a major UK training provider and developed by apprenticeship experts, a deep understanding and appreciation of the sector is built into everything we do.

• Our team of Implementation Consultants have experience working within apprenticeship providers, providing essential context and removing the language barrier that can sometimes exist between technology providers and their customers.
• Customers benefit from ongoing training and highly-responsive platform support, helping them quickly troubleshoot challenges and maximise the value of the platform.
• Continual investment in our roadmap means we consistently take advantage of the latest innovation and improve the platform in response to customer need.

The results

• 229 features released in just one year, demonstrating our commitment to innovation and improvement.
• 98% customer retention.
• 99.99% uptime, supporting dependable delivery at scale.
• 120,000 learners using Aptem.

“One of the reasons we decided to use Aptem Apprentice, outside of the solution and features itself, is the fact it is clear the team are apprenticeship experts. They talk our language and know our challenges, and that gives us the reassurance that this is the right product for us.” – Peter Sarner-Taylor, Head of Apprenticeships Funding and Data, University of West London.

“Aptem is constantly being updated and enhanced and this reinforces my confidence in the quality of the product. I highly recommend it.” – Rob Stonehouse, Apprenticeship Manager, CNet Training.

“The Aptem Team continues to work with us collaboratively on new innovations and shares our relentless desire to support our learners in delivering high quality training programmes.” – Carl Cornish, Chief Operating Officer, Lifetime Training.

“Aptem’s supportive partnership approach means we can make the most of the latest technology to support our learners.” – Craig Potter, Senior Partner, Davies Talent Solutions.

The results across this page come from providers of all shapes and sizes, from large national training providers to universities, colleges and employers, all using Aptem to deliver better outcomes for their learners. If you would like to see what Aptem could do for your provision, book your demo to see the platform in action.