How Imperial Brands Reduced Pathway Curation Time by 83%

Imperial Brands is no stranger to complex operations. Managing a diverse workforce across multiple global markets means they place a high value on the growth and development of their people. But the process of curating learning pathways for employees wasn’t always smooth. Long hours, heavy workloads, and inconsistent output were making it difficult for the learning and development (L&D) team to scale effectively. That’s when we stepped in to lend a hand.

The challenge

Before working with us, Imperial Brands was grappling with a curation process that was as exhausting as it was inefficient.

• Time-consuming: each learning pathway took a staggering 3 hours to complete. With multiple subject matter experts (SMEs) involved in the process, they were left manually searching, reviewing, and piecing together content, often left reinventing the wheel with every new pathway.
• Strain on resources: having SMEs and Learning Technologists spend so much time curating content meant pulling them away from their core tasks, slowing progress across the board. It was a classic case of too many cooks in the kitchen.
• Inconsistent quality: because each SME approached the task from a different area of expertise, the pathways themselves were often inconsistently leaning towards one topic area rather than a broader interpretation of the entire skill, and maintaining a standardised quality became a constant uphill battle.

"The other part of my job is project management, stakeholder management, all of that stuff. I wouldn't have been able to take on those parts of my role if I didn't have Filtered because I probably would have spent all of my last six months just consolidating resources." - 

Laura Dinklage – Project Manager / Learning Technologist – Imperial Brands

It was clear they needed a way to free up time, streamline the process, and ensure quality across the board without burning out their experts.

The solution

Enter our AI-driven content curation platform. It didn’t just automate the process — it brought much-needed relief to the team at Imperial Brands. By putting our tech to work, they were able to dramatically speed up the entire process while ensuring everything stayed on track.

Some of the highlights of how we turned things around:

• One person, one process: Instead of several SMEs duplicating efforts, a single individual could now consolidate the relevant content into a cohesive learning pathway. This alone was a game changer, cutting down on redundancies and making the process much more efficient.
• Speeding up pathway creation: What used to take 3 hours now takes just 30 minutes. Yes, really — just half an hour. 
• SMEs refocused: Rather than being bogged down by hours of content curation, SMEs could now focus on what they do best: fine-tuning and reviewing content. They simply removed what wasn’t relevant instead of starting from scratch every time.

"We had heaps of unusable pathways because they have been created from the perspective of just one SME. But, that SME might have not been the SME for that whole skill. They've curated from their niche perspective rather than from a full scale perspective. Filtered has solved this problem for us" 

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Laura Dinklage – Project Manager / Learning Technologist – Imperial Brands

The impact

The transformation has been significant and, most importantly, practical. Here’s how things look now for Imperial Brands:

1. Massive time savings: Reducing pathway curation from 3 hours to 30 minutes means Imperial Brands is now turning out high-quality learning content 6x faster. It’s hard to overstate the impact of that kind of efficiency. (83% faster curation!)
2. Resource efficiency: The process now requires far fewer people. One person curates, SMEs review. Simple. The need for heavy SME involvement was slashed, freeing up their time to focus on more strategic tasks that really continue to move the needle.
3. Boost in productivity: Since making the switch, they’ve created 220 learning pathways — a huge leap from what was possible before. With this increased capacity, they’re able to keep up with the ever-growing demand for tailored learning experiences.
4. Reclaiming time for strategy: Laura, a key member of Imperial Brands’ learning team, is now able to spend more time on project and stakeholder management—the things that truly matter in driving organisational success. She's no longer stuck managing every step of the curation process, and that shift is making waves.
5. Smarter content discovery: The search and browse functionality has become an essential part of the process. It’s allowed the team to easily supplement their pathways with additional assets, ensuring that each pathway remains relevant and engaging for learners.

"They would have had to bring in two or three additional people to create all of those pathways. So I would rather say it's not just the time spent but the resources and money that would have gone towards it if we wouldn't have had Filtered and I would say at least a head count of two would have been added to achieve the same result." 

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Laura Dinklage – Project Manager / Learning Technologist – Imperial Brands

Looking ahead

Imperial Brands is continuing to unlock the full potential of the platform, and they’re already planning new initiatives. The team is exploring even more ways to use the platform to further enhance their content curation processes, and with new pathways being created faster than ever, the future looks bright.

Conclusion

By partnering with us, Imperial Brands has reshaped their entire approach to pathway curation. The process is now faster, more efficient, and less demanding on their resources. With over 220 learning pathways created in record time, the team has been able to refocus on what really matters: delivering meaningful learning experiences at scale.

This transformation isn’t just about saving time or reducing workload — it’s about empowering the team to do more, with less effort, and creating pathways that are truly impactful in executing their learning strategy. Imperial Brands now has a system in place that works for them, not against them, and that’s exactly the kind of result we’re proud to deliver.

"The quality was significantly lower in the past, and the process was more time-consuming. Curators were spending a considerable amount of time trying to identify the right individual to curate, then granting them administrative rights to create content independently within the LXP rather than focusing time on the curation itself."" 

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Laura Dinklage – Project Manager / Learning Technologist – Imperial Brands

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