Leveling up skills to gain velocity

Acxiom is a complex business. Its work encompasses everything from selling data to clients, to enhancing data, to implementing full blown marketing stacks and ecosystems.

To be successful, Michael Taylor, Acxiom Chief of Staff, Products & Engineering, says “teams are always planning and always innovating and developing. It doesn’t stop.” Because of this, Acxiom needed a skills strategy that would allow them to move as quickly as the companies they serve.

For example, as more and more of its clients wanted to do business in the cloud, Acxiom knew it had to transform in order to give customers the highest-quality service. With multiple cloud options, this wasn’t a simple challenge to solve. “We knew we needed a tool. We needed a set of tools. We needed a platform,” says Mike.

Acxiom implemented a program called Level-up, where it gives associates allocated time throughout the quarter to build skills—whether they want to knock out a certification, or just improve their Pluralsight Skill IQ in a particular area. Dedicated time to build skills on Pluralsight has been a game-changer.

During Level-up, team members participate in hackathons. In fact, 70% of the projects from the last three Level-up hackathons have been put into production use—which is a huge metric for Acxiom and represents much of its innovation.

“We're in a particular point in the industry where new technologies are sprouting like crazy. And so, identifying the ones that not only stick and are relevant, but ultimately solve the problems for our clients are what's key,” says John Riewerts, Acxiom Senior Director of Engineering.

Acxiom also found that they can speed up by slowing down. Leadership makes a point to take time as a group to realign, recalibrate and focus on the skills that matter most to their business and to clients. Doing this is how they’ve seen gains in velocity, opening up opportunities to bring on new clients who need the skills Acxiom can now provide.