Border States Electric is a major player in the electrical distribution and utility space, with hundreds of employee-owners and a complex array of systems to support. As the company grew, so did the demand for scalable, consistent training that could keep up with tech rollouts and reach learners across departments and devices.

At the center of this initiative was Sara Madsen, L&D Leader at Border States. Tasked with enabling multiple teams while supporting onboarding, ongoing training, and acquisitions, Sara and her team turned to iorad to transform their training model, making it faster, more engaging, and more inclusive of subject matter experts.

Challenges

Before adopting iorad, Border States faced several key challenges in training delivery and content creation:

Cumbersome Tools and Low Contributor Engagement

SMEs were using PowerPoint with manually added voiceover—a slow, frustrating process that discouraged participation and content creation.

"We had people making PowerPoints and adding audio... people didn’t want to create content because of how hard it was."

Compressed Rollout Timelines

Technology updates and internal tool rollouts often came with little lead time, leaving the training team scrambling to create resources in time.

Non-Interactive Training Methods

Prior materials lacked interactivity, offering learners little control or engagement. Step-by-step walkthroughs and click-based learning were notably absent.

Mobile Accessibility Constraints

Many employee-owners accessed training on mobile, but creating and delivering mobile-compatible content was slow and inefficient.

Solution

To overcome these challenges, Border States adopted iorad to bring consistency, interactivity, and efficiency to their training workflows.

Fast Onboarding for SMEs

With iorad, SMEs went from spending 48 hours on a single course to creating four short, polished tutorials in just eight hours. This efficiency has been key in helping Border States implement tools faster and maximize SME contributions.

Embedded Learning Across Systems

iorad tutorials were embedded into Adobe Learning Manager using Storyline and linked directly in SharePoint libraries, streamlining onboarding and ongoing training.

Interactive, Click-Based Learning

Tutorials offered learners control over pace and sequence, improving engagement and understanding.

Mobile and Multilingual Support

After acquiring Spanish-speaking sites, the team used iorad's translation tools to localize content quickly and cost-effectively.

Flexible Licensing Model

With rotating licenses, teams could scale content creation without ballooning costs.

Results & Impact

5x Faster Content Creation

SMEs now create five tutorials in the time it used to take to produce just one traditional training.

Sara:

"They said it would take two weeks to do one or two trainings... with iorad, they popped out five."

Higher Learner Engagement

Learners benefit from interactive formats that give them control and immediate feedback.

Cross-Functional Enablement

iorad now supports monthly training across departments including IT, sales enablement, and procurement.

Multilingual Reach

Localized content helped support new teams acquired through company expansion.

Key Takeaways

SMEs Are More Willing to Contribute When the Tools Are Simple

iorad’s low learning curve made it easy for subject matter experts to start building content quickly—no design background needed. This lowered the barrier to contribution and distributed content creation across departments.

Faster Authoring Supports Faster Rollouts

With compressed timelines for tech launches, Border States used iorad to meet deadlines without sacrificing quality. Tutorials could be created in hours, not weeks, accelerating go-to-market readiness for internal tools.

Interactivity Improves Learner Autonomy

Replacing static slides and long PDFs with clickable, step-based tutorials gave employee-owners more control over their learning. This boosted reusability and made content easier to revisit on demand.

Localized and Mobile-Friendly Content Is No Longer a Bottleneck

orad’s translation and mobile compatibility features helped Border States meet the needs of Spanish-speaking teams and mobile users—without extra work or complex workarounds.

Flexible Licensing Maximizes Impact Across Teams

By rotating a small number of licenses between teams, Border States empowered more contributors without scaling cost. This approach increased iorad adoption while preserving budget efficiency.