Disintermediation and the Rise of Learning Platforms in the Workplace

Definition: Disintermediation is the act of cutting out intermediaries in a supply chain or organization.

Disintermediation is silently reshaping the internal hierarchies in organizations. An excellent example of this is in the arena of Corporate Training and Development. Once middle management or HR departments’ responsibility, employee education coordination is being transferred over to centralized, tech-driven platforms. These learning platforms not only simplify the learning environment, they also have far-reaching implications on how business’ leverage human resources.

The Transition to Platform-Based Training

Historically, staff training and development efforts were dispersed across teams and departments; and the onus was on middle managers to schedule, coordinate, and sometimes lead in-house training days. Fast forward to the present day, and cloud-based learning management systems (LMS) such as WorkRamp, Docebo, and TalentLMS consolidate the delivery of content, automate progress tracking, and provide real-time analytics.

Economic and organizational efficiency are behind this shift. As enterprise-wide training requirements have become more complex—due to compliance with regulations, technological changes, and remote employee dynamics—manual management not only proves inefficient but takes a toll on the budget. With this, learning platforms are able to address the problem by centralizing curriculum design, delivery, and compliance all under ‘one roof’, which minimizes duplication and delay.

Disintermediation in Practice: Middle Management Redefined

Disintermediation does not necessarily mean extinction, but it does mean a change in the role of the middle managers. In the process of automating administrative tasks, middle managers are unburdened to do more strategic work: mentoring, cross-functional coordination, and performance evaluation. This redefinition is part of broader shifts in labor as tasks are getting automated. Automated software does the low-value work, and leaves higher-value or work that needs a human touch.

In fact, in a 2023 LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report, 41% of L&D cited "manager involvement" as their biggest obstacle to scaling learning initiatives. That figure is a paradox, which is that managers are supposed to train their teams, and yet their time and capacity to do so are typically quite constrained. Centralizing this function minimizes variation in the quality of training and removes reliance on any one manager’s coaching ability. 

Economic Forces Driving the Trend

This shift is driven by a combination of macroeconomic and organizational trends:

Scale and Cost: LMSes have high fixed costs and low marginal costs per user. Content can be produced once and sent out to thousands of workers at virtually no marginal cost. This scale economy is particularly advantageous for large companies.

Remote and Hybrid Workforces: The move from centralized to remote work was accelerated after the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Learning platforms are not affected by geography, time zones, or roles.

Compliance and Standardization: Vertically regulated sectors -including finance and healthcare- have stringent training requirements. These learning tools are designed to ensure consistency, documentation, and legal defensibility.

Implications for the Future of Management

The consequences of disintermediation are not limited to training. With more essential business management being digitized, we could potentially have fewer traditional hierarchies and more flat organizations in which being a “manager” is more of a guiding role than control.

For instance, companies such as PwC are betting heavily on upskilling initiatives and these are largely happening in the form of LMS programs, which take much of the load off team leads. Amazon, too, has introduced internal upskilling academies for career changes—mostly tech-driven and self-paced.

However, these developments cast a dark shade over career progression within organizations. Middle management used to serve as a steppingstone for people who wanted to become senior leaders. Should those jobs be limited or eliminated, businesses will have to rethink how talent is spotted and prepared for top posts.

Conclusion

Disintermediation via learning platforms is not just a technology trend—it’s an economic evolution. Eliminating the friction and inefficiencies of decentralized training enables scalable education for organizations. But it also requires a rethinking of how the work force is organized, and what value human managers add. Organizational and individual adaptability is going to be critical in this new era.