Academy Program Matrix

Building a scalable and effective Academy program requires more than just great content - it demands a structured approach to leadership, operations, stakeholder relations, and continuous development.

The Academy Program Matrix is a comprehensive framework designed to ensure that every element of your education initiative aligns with business objectives, drives user impact, and evolves as your company grows.

The matrix includes seven core functions that work together to design, operationalize, and scale your Academy as a strategic asset.

SaaS businesses invest in their products with roadmaps, updates, and optimizations - education should be treated the same way.

Why it Matters

Education isn’t just about teaching skills - it’s about transforming behavior, driving business impact, and creating lasting value for customers, partners, and employees. Your Academy should function as a strategic product, ensuring that learning is an integral part of the user experience and overall business growth.

Your Academy is a Product, Not Just a Content Library
Instead of just producing courses, we design education as a scalable, evolving product that integrates into your entire organization. This means:

A strategic roadmap for educational offerings – aligning learning experiences with business milestones.
Clear measurement of success metrics and business impact – connecting education to organization, department, and team metrics and goals.
Continuous iteration and optimization – updating and evolving learning assets based on customer needs, product changes, and market trends.

By treating education as a core product, we ensure that learning experiences are engaging, structured, and aligned with business goals - driving both user success and company growth.

How it Works

Transformational Education – Designing learning experiences that go beyond knowledge transfer to drive real behavior change.
Education Roadmap – Defining the right learning formats (self-paced, live training, certifications, community-based learning) for different audiences.
Education’s Role in the Enterprise – Supporting customer success, partner enablement, internal employee training, and industry leadership.
Learning Experience Design – Creating structured, engaging, and actionable education that integrates with the user journey.

SAA Tip from Lindsay:

"If education is an afterthought, it won’t drive real impact. Treat your academy like a core product, it should be built, managed, and evolved just like your SaaS offering."

Setting the vision, strategy, and foundation for a successful Academy

Why it Matters

Strong leadership ensures that your Academy aligns with business goals, secures executive buy-in, and has the necessary resources to scale. Without clear direction, education programs risk becoming disconnected from business impact.

How it Works

Program Planning – Defining goals, vision, and roadmap
Resource Allocation – Ensuring budget, staffing, and tools are in place
Risk Management – Identifying challenges and ensuring long-term viability
Performance Metrics – Establishing KPIs that link education to business outcomes

SAA Tip from Chris:

"An Academy leader’s job isn’t just about content; it’s about reinforcing the mission. Your team needs clarity on what success looks like and the confidence to drive impact."

Ensuring seamless execution and continuous improvement

Why it Matters

Your Academy is only as effective as its ability to function day-to-day. Operations covers the processes, systems, and best practices that keep your program running smoothly.

How it Works

Content Management – Defining workflows for content creation and updates
Quality Assurance – Ensuring consistent educational standards
Reporting & Analytics – Using data to optimize and scale

SAA Tip from Lindsay:

"Scaling an Academy program is about repeatable processes. If you’re constantly reinventing the wheel, your team will burn out before the program ever reaches its full potential."

Aligning education with internal and external partners

Why it Matters

Your Academy program doesn’t exist in a silo. Collaboration with internal teams, customers, and partners ensures your Academy delivers maximum value and integrates with broader business strategies.

How it Works

Stakeholder Mapping – Identifying key internal & external collaborators
Communication Strategies – Establishing alignment across departments
Cross-Functional Collaboration – Ensuring sales, marketing, and CS leverage education
Feedback Loops – Incorporating stakeholder insights into continuous improvement

SAA Tip from Chris:

"An Academy program without stakeholder buy-in is just an expensive content library. Make sure your internal teams see education as a tool that helps them hit their goals."

Maximizing reach and engagement through strategic promotion

Why it Matters

Even the best educational content won’t drive impact if nobody sees it. Marketing ensures that your Academy is discoverable, engaging, and actively contributes to business growth.

How it Works

Audience Segmentation – Targeting the right learners with the right content
Channel Optimization – Leveraging email, social, SEO, and in-product learning
Content Promotion – Aligning with Marketing and Customer Success strategies
Internal Enablement – Equipping customer-facing teams with education tools

SAA Tip from Lindsay:

"Treat your Academy like a SaaS product - because it is one. If you aren’t marketing it, don’t expect people to magically find and use it."

Creating a support system that fosters engagement and long-term learning

Why it Matters

Education doesn’t stop when a course ends. Providing structured support, peer connections, and ongoing learning opportunities helps the users of your education apply their knowledge and see continued value.

How it Works

User Personas & Learning Preferences – Understanding how different learners engage
Support & Help Resources – Offering FAQs, knowledge bases, and forums
Community & Peer Learning – Enabling discussions and mentorship opportunities
Learner Engagement Metrics – Tracking usage and satisfaction

SAA Tip from Lindsay:

"Your Academy learners aren’t just customers, they’re users of your education product. Keep them engaged beyond the first touchpoint, and they’ll stick around for the long haul."

The foundation that powers your Academy’s delivery and scalability

Why it Matters

Without the right technology, even the best education strategy will struggle to scale. A well-integrated tech stack streamlines content creation, delivery, and measurement, ensuring that education is accessible, trackable, and optimized for impact.

How it Works

Learning Management Systems (LMS) – Centralized platform for hosting educational content
Content Authoring Tools – Streamlining course creation and updates
Data & Analytics Platforms – Measuring effectiveness and learner engagement
Automation & Integrations – Ensuring education is embedded within the customer journey

SAA Tip from Chris:

"Your tech stack should enable your Academy, not create bottlenecks. The best platforms are the ones that disappear into the background, allowing education to seamlessly fit into the user’s journey."

The Academy Program Matrix is flexible - whether you’re launching an education initiative for the first time or scaling an existing Academy, these core functions provide the structure needed for success.

Where do you start?

If you’re launching, focus on Content as a Product and Leadership & Management first.
If you’re scaling, refine Operations & Development and invest in Stakeholder Relations.
If you’re struggling with engagement, double down on Marketing & Distribution and User Enablement.

Frameworks > Academy Program Matrix