How a training company with 160 trainers and 90 themes turned planning into a competitive advantage

The training company behind some of the biggest names in the Netherlands

Improve Training Group delivers in-company training programs across the Netherlands under seven branded labels. Over 160 freelance trainers, more than 90 different training themes, and over 1,000 trainings delivered per year. The person responsible for planning knows the trainers, knows the themes, and knows which trainer fits which job. But with that kind of volume, keeping track of everything in your head only gets you so far.

The planning puzzle nobody could see clearly

The initial question was straightforward: can we get a better picture of which trainers to send where? The team wanted to reduce travel costs by making smarter assignments. A trainer based in Amsterdam doing a job in Maastricht costs significantly more than one based around the corner. With over 160 trainers and 1,000+ trainings a year, those costs add up quickly.

But once we started digging in, the real complexity surfaced. Trainers had preferences for which themes they wanted to give, and which they didn't. Evaluation scores varied wildly per trainer per theme. The cost spread between the most and least expensive trainer for the same training could be over €250. Multiply that across a thousand trainings and you're looking at potential savings between €70,000 and €250,000 per year. Nobody had visibility into that.

A recommendation system built on how the team already thinks

We built a trainer recommendation system that encodes everything the planning team knows, but makes it visible and actionable. When a new training comes in, the system automatically generates a ranked list of recommended trainers based on multiple factors: which trainers actually give that theme, their evaluation scores for that specific theme, their location relative to the client, and their cost profile.

On top of that, we automated the entire evaluation pipeline. Every evaluation that comes in now flows through the system automatically and generates branded reports for the client. All scores get saved, every combination of trainer and training theme builds up a profile over time, and all of that data feeds back into the recommendations. The system gets smarter with every training delivered.

Everything runs through Monday.com, where the team already works. No new platform, no separate login. The recommendations show up right where the planning happens.