How ELB Learning leverages HeyGen to slash video development time by 75%

ELB Learning is a full-service professional services and learning tech provider that helps organizations move learning online and elevate it. Rich Vass, Senior Vice President of Global Learning, leads both ELB’s U.S. and India operations for the services team, working on custom learning, advisory strategy, and learning technology deployments.

ELB’s client roster includes roughly 90 % of the Fortune 100. They build everything from VR training tools and asset libraries to AI‑driven micro‑learning platforms. As video becomes central to learning, ELB needed a smarter, faster way to produce scalable, high-quality content. That’s where HeyGen came in.

Overcoming bottlenecks in traditional video workflows

For over a decade, ELB Learning’s teams built explainer videos, talking-head segments, and motion graphics using traditional tools like Adobe After Effects and Camtasia. As Rich put it, “video is such an important medium for learning.” Yet, the process remained labor-intensive and rigid.

Creating videos the old way involved scripting, shooting, editing, and graphics which is costly in both time and human effort. Translating content into multiple languages required redoing major pieces of the workflow. Moreover, clients increasingly asked, “Which tool are you using?” putting pressure on ELB to adopt more modern, transparent approaches.

Rich described how ELB initially experimented with Colossyan, but moved to HeyGen when internal engineers and client demands pushed them that way. A client insisted on HeyGen, which accelerated their decision. “The flexibility you offered us was exactly what we needed,” Rich said.

What once took months for versioning, translation, and rework was becoming a major strategic friction point. ELB had to find a video solution that would enable speed, scale, localization, and lower cost while maintaining quality.

Transforming production and sales by implementing HeyGen

When ELB adopted HeyGen, it became a strategic tool not just within their production pipeline—but also in sales and solutioning. Rich explains that AI video is now part of their standard offering: “Before we sign a statement of work, we include video as a solution. Clients ask what tool we’re using—we tell them HeyGen.”

For one large micro-learning project, ELB estimated 200+ hours of design, scripting, review, and build time. Using HeyGen, they completed it in around 70 hours, a reduction of nearly 65–75%.

ELB’s sales teams now pitch HeyGen as a value driver and not just cheaper videos. As Rich says, they avoid framing it as “cheap route” and instead position it as “cost-effective, value-based” delivery.

HeyGen also helped ELB win new business. Rich mentioned a content aggregator client who awarded ELB a contract for hundreds of micro-courses principally because ELB could meet tight timelines using HeyGen.

Finally, ELB remains transparent with clients about their tool stack. “They ask what tool we use,” Rich said. “We open the code and disclose it. Using HeyGen gives them confidence that we are using leading‑edge solutions.”

Shaping ELB’s competitive edge with fast, authentic AI video

Since adopting HeyGen, ELB has accelerated delivery, expanded capability, and improved its market positioning:

• 65–75% reduction in development hours: For a micro‑learning project SaaS scope, ELB moved from ~200 + hours to ~70 hours using HeyGen.
• Speed becomes a selling point in proposals: ELB can now confidently promise shorter timelines in both upcoming projects and sales proposals.
• New client wins enabled by AI capability: HeyGen helped ELB land a contract to build “hundreds of micro-courses” by offering aggressive delivery timelines and lower production cost.

Rich noted that internal teams and acquired engineering leaders pushed the move: “Engineers were recommending HeyGen saying ’it’s the best on the market’ and a key client asked us to use it, so we pulled the trigger.” Today, HeyGen is routinely embedded in ELB’s solution packages.

Beyond metrics, Rich emphasized the intangible shift: clients, internal stakeholders, and prospects now see ELB as a forward-thinking, capable partner in AI video. “They know enough to ask what tool we’re using,” Rich said. “HeyGen is part of how we differentiate now.”