How Ericsson made skills visible and actionable for 100,000 employees with TechWolf

1. Executive summary

Ericsson’s learning and talent leaders faced a problem most global enterprises will recognize: they couldn’t see the skills they had, didn’t know which ones mattered, and struggled to make skills useful across HR systems.

With 100,000+ employees, 140 countries, and rapidly shifting tech demands, the challenge was massive. But the ambition was clear: connect skills to strategy and make them visible everywhere.

With TechWolf, Ericsson built a global skills language embedded across SuccessFactors, Degreed, Eightfold, and the Ericsson internal resource planning hub. Ericsson immediately utilised this “one language” by bringing skills into new digitalised job profiles. However, that still left a lack of understanding about the skills supply. That's where Techwolf came in through helping Ericsson develop skill supply dashboards and give every employee in Ericsson a skills signature. 

TechWolf helped us hold up a mirror to ourselves. Skills became visible. And that's when they became valuable
— Peter Sheppard - Global Head of L&D Ecosystem

2. About the customer

Industry: Telecom & Technology Infrastructure
Employees: 100,000+ across 140 countries
Challenges:

• Poor visibility into skills post-hire
  

• Siloed profiles across disconnected HR systems
  
  
• Skills data trapped in theory, not used in practice
  
  

Ericsson is one of the world’s largest providers of telecom infrastructure. With 36% global market share and 10,000+ annual hires, understanding and growing the right skills is both a competitive edge and an existential need.

3. The challenge: what needed fixing?

• Skills were invisible, fragmented across systems
  
  
• No clear map of which skills mattered or how to grow them
  
  
• Career paths lacked clarity, and employees didn’t know what to learn next
  
  
• Business leaders couldn’t plan resources due to unreliable skills data
  

4. The TechWolf solution

4.1. The TechWolf products

• Skills Taxonomy: Translating the existing Ericsson taxonomy to TechWolf skills, identifying market skills and removing duplicate skills.
  
  
• Skills Supply: AI-powered inference for employee skill profiles based on TechWolf and Ericsson’s skills vocabulary
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• Job Architecture: Job profiles with 15 validated skills per job/stage combination based on TechWolf’s labour market intelligence & Ericsson’s internal data.
  
  

4.2. Plug & play: file-based integrations

• SAP SuccessFactors: Recruitment, performance
  
  
• Learning Hub (Degreed): Learning
  
  
• Career Hub (Eightfold): Talent marketplace
  
  
• Internal platforms: SharePoint, resource planning, analytics dashboards

“No matter where you go, job ad, project board, learning system, you see the same skills, same logic. That’s visible simplicity.”
— Peter Sheppard

4.3. Deep dive: how Ericsson uses TechWolf

• Career Development: Every employee now receives a personalized “skill signature” in development reviews. Based on AI inference and validated input, it shows current skills, gaps, and progress.
  
  
• Recruitment: Skill requirements flow from job profiles to job ads to talent marketplace matching. Hiring managers now know what to ask for, and candidates know what to show.
  
  
• Workforce Insight: Business units use dashboards to see skill supply by team, region, and role. Annual skills reports go to all managers, supporting better planning.
  
  
• Strategic Skills Sensing: Each year, Ericsson’s top strategy team sets updated critical skill priorities, while job role owners (90+ globally) map job-specific skills from the ground up.
  

5. The results: what changed?

100,000 employees with personalized skill signatures‍

Every Ericsson employee now receives a live, AI‑powered “skill signature” that informs development reviews and career conversations.

97% pilot satisfaction and strong adoption‍

97% of pilot users found value in the new skill profiles, with more than 77% accepting their inferred skills.

Skills connected across the employee lifecycle‍

Skills now power job design, recruitment, learning pathways, and internal mobility, creating one language across SuccessFactors, Degreed, and Eightfold.

75%+ of employees upskilled in critical global skills‍

More than three‑quarters of Ericsson’s workforce developed one or more of the company’s critical global skills.

“We finally connected the dots. Skills are now embedded in how we hire, learn and grow.”
— Peter Sheppard

6. The secret sauce: governance + buy-in

This wasn’t a top-down mandate. It was a multi-tiered, business-led effort:

• An internal resourcing team from the business was involved from day one
  
  
• A cross-functional steering group included HR, L&D, Resource Management, and IT
  
  
• 20+ skill area owners from the business defined skills at the ground level
  
  
• Legal, IT, and platform teams ensured scale and compliance
  
  

7. Why TechWolf?

Ericsson chose TechWolf because it provides an independent data layer that does not require employees to use a new platform. The solution combines inference, validation, and aggregation, making it a trusted partner for building a dynamic, global taxonomy.

“TechWolf wasn’t just another platform. They were our data supplier, giving us a mirror to see what we actually have.”
— Peter Sheppard