Small steps with meaningful momentum. 2025 was a year that moved fast, but not without direction.

From reaching a major learning milestone to supporting organisations with broader AI adoption, from steady product progress to welcoming new partners, this year was about building momentum that fits real working lives.

Here’s our look back at 2025.

Major 5milestones

Some years are defined by one big launch. 2025 was defined by steady progress across multiple fronts.

• Reaching a major learning milestone on the 5miles platform
• AI becoming a central theme in how organisations think about skills and productivity
• Becoming a preferred AI learning partner for 3 leading banks in the Netherlands
• Continued evolution of our platform, content, and integrations
• Celebrating 10 years of 5miles, marking a decade of helping professionals build skills in realistic, sustainable ways

Each milestone reflects the same focus: making learning realistic, relevant, and easy to apply.

In numbers

• Crossed the milestone of 1.5 million+ learning moments
• 27,000+ professionals trained over the past 10 years
• 2,600+ challenges available on the platform
• 9 new clients across multiple sectors
• 3 new AI training tracks introduced to support practical adoption

What sits behind these numbers are individual learning moments, small steps that make a difference in daily work.

The year of AI and the importance of adoption

If one topic dominated conversations in 2025, it was AI. There was excitement. There was uncertainty. And there was a lot of noise.

What became clear very quickly: AI only creates value when people know how to work with it.

Throughout the year, we supported organisations in onboarding and adopting tools like Copilot 365 focusing not just on what the technology can do, but on practical use, confidence, and responsibility.

We’re proud that 3 leading banks in the Netherlands now work with 5miles as a preferred supplier for AI and Copilot learning. Together, we help their people work more efficiently, so they can focus on the tasks where they add the most value.

AI doesn’t replace professionals, but it supports them when learning is done right.

Welcoming new partners

Our community continued to grow in 2025.

Different organisations bring different contexts, but the challenges are often the same: limited time, fast-changing tools, and building skills that support daily work.

In 2025, we welcomed 9 new partners from different industries, from smaller teams to larger organisations, all looking for learning that is practical, flexible, and sustainable, rather than something added on top of already full agendas.

We’re glad to support them as they build learning habits that last.

Product updates, content highlights & new launches

• New integration with Komensky, made learning more accessible within existing learning ecosystems.
  
• We launched a new 5miles website, clearer in structure and calmer in design, making it easier to explore our platform, content, and approach.
  
• A highlight this year was our Copilot content snippet showing how AI can support familiar tools and make daily workflows more efficient.
  
• ChatGPT NL launched, making AI learning accessible in Dutch.
  
• Our Copilot learning offering expanded with 14 new challenges to 24 challenges in English and Dutch.
  
• 5miles became available in Portuguese, opening the platform to more learners. The first onboarding track with 25 challenges is now available in Portuguese.
  
• The Office Onboarding Track launched to support smoother onboarding through short, practical learning moments, available in 5 languages.
  
• Our Author module got a fresh redesign, making content creation faster, easier, and more enjoyable. We’re currently deploying it with a select group of clients.

Throughout the year, we ran multiple learning competitions with our partners, ranging from hoodie giveaways to Learning Week contests with the well-known Koekemannetje cookies as a prize. These initiatives added a playful element to learning and supported teams in building consistent habits together.

Behind every learning moment is a team that keeps improving, building, and learning along the way.

In 2025, Michelle and Floran completed their studies and continued their careers in full-time roles outside of 5miles after their time as working students with us. We’re grateful for the energy, ideas, and commitment they brought during their time at 5miles. At the same time, Kelly chose to follow her creative ambitions, focusing more on the creative side of her work and starting to write a book, something we’re excited to see take shape.

Coming up in 2026

If 2025 showed us one thing, it’s that meaningful progress doesn’t need to be loud.

In 2026, we’ll continue building on what works supporting broader AI adoption, refining the platform, and helping professionals strengthen skills that matter in their daily work.

We’re also looking forward to bringing back familiar favourites, including the Run Streak competition (2022 winner, 2023 winner), helping teams stay motivated and build learning habits together in a fun, consistent way.

Always focused on realistic learning.
Always learning.

The 5miles team

AI’s not the future, it’s the present. It’s a gift, if we let it be. Using it properly as an everyday tool, it can transform our own working day—and have a domino effect on entire industries. Especially those which rely on smart insights and quick decision-making.

Assessing investment risks, optimising business models, advising on strategies…the right insight at the right moment makes all the difference for finance professionals and consultants. Using AI means insights can become faster, more personalised, and even predictive.

Mountains of data to moments of clarity

Finance and consulting professionals are drowning in data daily. The challenge isn’t finding enough of it, it’s making sense of all that they have. Thanks to AI, they can:

Automate analysis: Spotting anomalies, forecasting trends, and detecting risks with speed that humans simply can’t match.

Enhance accuracy: Reducing human error in repetitive tasks like data entry, financial modelling, and compliance checks.

Provide context: Turning numbers into narratives that decision-makers can act on.

Instead of spending hours cleaning up spreadsheets, the focus can now be on interpreting the insights and advising clients.

A quicker way to reach the final say

Think of AI as the colleague who handles the heavy lifting in the background. AI frees up the human mind for higher-value work, like critical thinking, strategic advising, and building client relationships.

It works at lightning speed, and can comb through millions of data points without missing a beat. Yet you’re still the one making the call—as you should be. AI just makes sure you have the clearest picture possible before you do.

New skills, new opportunities

The rise of AI means professionals in finance and consulting need to evolve, too. Skills in data interpretation, AI tool management, and ethical oversight are becoming just as essential as traditional technical know-how.

The good news is these skills are learnable, and once mastered, they make you invaluable in a market where tech keeps raising the bar.

Where we’re headed

AI is no longer a “nice-to-have” in industries like finance and consulting, it’s a baseline. Firms that embrace are gaining an edge in both the quality and speed of the insights they can deliver.

At 5miles, we see AI as part of the bigger picture: a tool that empowers people to do their best work. That means knowing how to use it, when to trust it, and when to challenge it. Because while AI might be able to analyse the numbers, only you can understand the people and the goals behind them.

Get AI on your side

You can start turning insights into impact today. Upskill your team in just 5 minutes a day with challenges designed specifically for finance and consulting professionals. Reach out to us via info@5miles.nl to learn more about boosting your team’s AI skills in ChatGPT or Copilot.

This month, 5miles turns 10.

That’s a whole decade of building, iterating, experimenting, making (and learning from) mistakes, and most of all—growing alongside the frankly wonderful people who make up our team and community.

To celebrate our journey so far, we’ve pulled together 10 key lessons we’ve learned along the way. Some are serious, some are fun—but all of them reflect who we are and how we work. We’ve learned so much from you all, it’s about time we give back.

If you’re building something, leading a team, or just curious about what it has taken us to keep going for 10 years, we hope a few of these resonate.

1. Real-life needs are the only starting point

Before 5miles was a company, it was a frustration. Our founders, realised they were missing something in their professional life—a way to actually develop relevant skills continuously, without waiting for the next overwhelming training program. So they built the thing they needed. Turns out, a lot of others needed it too.

2. Measure that intuition

Intuition is powerful—but we’ve learned it gets even better when you validate it with data. At 5miles, we trust our instincts, but we also obsessively track, measure, and test. That combo has helped us make smart decisions while staying true to our vision

3. Slow and steady wins the race

Big goals can feel overwhelming. So we break them down into manageable chunks. Whether it’s a complex feature rollout, a challenging client request, or an ambitious personal learning goal—we chip away, bit by bit. Progress is progress.

4. There are lots of I’s in team

Every team is made up of individuals. When each person feels seen, heard, and supported, the whole team wins. We put love and care into building a culture where people can focus on and flourish in the tasks that suit them best.

5. Stay open & adaptable to stay relevant

We adapt fast. Whether it’s to feedback from members, a shift in the market, or remote working via Teams during a global pandemic, we listen and adjust. Being open-minded (and a little light on our feet) has helped us stay ahead of the curve.

6. Community is everything

Our members, partners, and network have been a huge part of our evolution. Their feedback, encouragement, and challenges have shaped who we are. We don’t build in a vacuum—we build out there, with them. Some partners even create their own learning tracks with our author module.

7. Precision over speed

Fast is flashy and messy, focused is precise and effective. Moving with clarity and purpose accomplishes more than sprinting in circles. Whether we’re building a new course, developing a feature for a client, or fulfilling a member’s needs, we stay aligned and intentional.

8. Our members say it best

Our friends and families will confirm; we can (and do) end up talking about our product all day. But, the most powerful stories come from the other people who use 5miles every day. Their experiences and growth are the clearest reflection of what we’re building.

9. Celebrate even the very small stuff

Yes, we celebrate big milestones. But we also celebrate completing an easy challenge, solving a quick bug, or someone’s kid losing their first tooth. Life happens in the small moments—and we’re here for all of them.

10. #AlwaysBeLearning

We talk a lot about continuous learning because, well... we live it. Feedback loops, user insights, tech trends, and self-reflection all fuel our curiosity and help us evolve. It’s how we stay relevant—and excited about what’s next.

The past 10 years have been full of lessons, people, and moments we’re deeply grateful for. We’ve learned how to build a product, a culture, and a company—but more than anything, we’ve learned how to keep on learning.

Thank you all for being part of the journey.

Here’s to the next 10.

ChatGPT-4.5 knows more, and understands better

At 5miles, we're always on the lookout for tools to improve our professional growth and help us stay ahead in the ever-evolving digital landscape. The recent release of ChatGPT’s brainier older cousin,  ChatGPT 4.5,  boasts a range of advancements that make AI interactions more intuitive, efficient, and human-like than ever.

Improved conversational intelligence: Interacting with ChatGPT-4.5 feels closer to having a chat with a thoughtful individual than a machine, demonstrating a better understanding of context and user intention. It proves particularly useful for tasks like improving writing, programming, and solving practical problems.

The 4.5 version responds in a more human-like way when you tell ChatGPT you're going through a tough time after being rejected for a job you really wanted, compared to the 4o version.

Reduced hallucinations: A common challenge with earlier AI models was the generation of plausible-sounding but incorrect information, often referred to as "hallucinations." ChatGPT-4.5 addresses this by significantly reducing such instances, enhancing the reliability of its responses.

The image below shows what happens when you ask ChatGPT to summarise a TED Talk by Elon Musk about ethical investing—a talk that doesn’t actually exist. The newer version (4.5) admits it can’t find anything and points you to real TED talks instead. The older version makes something up. That might sound helpful, but it highlights an important truth: not all AI answers are based on facts.

Broader knowledge base: Thanks to a major upgrade in how the model was trained—feeding the model more data, more compute power, and smarter training methods—OpenAI has deepened the model’s understanding of the world.

A richer knowledge base means it’s better at spotting nuance, making connections, and staying accurate across a wide range of topics. Whether you're learning about the latest data tools or tackling complex work-related questions, 4.5 is more likely to give you reliable, relevant answers that make sense.

The image above demonstrates what happens when you ask ChatGPT why some innovations fail even when they solve a real problem. The older version gives surface answers like “too early or too late.” GPT-4.5, on the other hand, digs deeper—exploring product-market fit issues and ecosystem readiness can make or break adoption. It’s a clear example of how newer AI models don’t just respond—they reason.

Use the newest tools and stay ahead

Incorporating tools like ChatGPT- 4.5 into your professional toolkit can be a game-changer. Its improved capabilities can assist in drafting content, coding, data analysis, and more. By staying updated with such advancements, professionals can streamline their workflows, make informed decisions, and maintain a competitive edge in their field.

If you’re wanting  to make the most of ChatGPT in your day-to-day work, our ChatGPT learning track’s a great place to start. It breaks down practical use cases in short, hands-on challenges—so you can build real skills in just a few minutes a day.

If you’re already a member, start the track here.
If you’re new to 5miles, join and explore the track here.

Interested in boosting your teams' AI knowledge / skills, feel free to reach out to us via info@5miles.nl to learn more.

Microlearning is built on a simple idea: breaking complex topics down into bite-sized, easy-to-digest, and (hopefully) appetising lessons. In other words: a learning method for busy realists.

It’s the idea of delivering knowledge in short challenges instead of cramming everything into one single session. 5 minutes here, 5 minutes there, and before you know it, you’ve made real progress—without jarring the flow of your life.

Skills that stand the test of time

It’s not only the time-friendly aspect that’s enticing, though. You’d never build a wall by putting all the bricks at once: the wet cement would buckle and the wall wouldn’t stay up. Letting each brick dry before adding another makes it sturdy. And it’s the same with your brain—packing a large amount of information in at once makes it less likely to stick long-term. But, when we engage with information in short, focused bursts, we’re more likely to remember it long enough to apply it.

Chris, our founder, put it plainly the other day: “Learning doesn’t have to be a massive time commitment. If you take small steps consistently, you’ll see macro-level results. That’s the magic of microlearning.” (We also stole the header of this blog from his wise words.)

When he took an Advanced Modelling course in London years ago, he realised that—as smart as he is—he’d forgotten half of it by the end of the week. We could call this his lightbulb moment: setting him on a mission to reduce the risk of cognitive overload and increase the likelihood of retention when professionally upskilling.

Built for busy people

Microlearning can help squeeze learning into an already packed schedule—flipping the script by fitting into the tiny gaps without stepping away from work. Chris explains how 5miles uses this premise: “We don’t take you out of your workflow to learn. We integrate learning into it. People want flexible, on-demand learning that fits into their daily workflow.” That’s the key to making learning a habit rather than a hurdle.

Engagement that feels natural

The success of learning hinges on engagement. Chris breaks it down: “One of the biggest challenges we hear from clients is engagement. If learning isn’t fun, people won’t do it. That’s why we’ve designed 5miles to feel less like an obligation and more like a daily puzzle—something you can actually enjoy doing.”

A good learning experience is not only dynamic, but also keeps things relevant. The real magic happens when you can learn something that’s immediately applicable to your daily life. 5miles courses are designed to mirror real-world tasks, offering skills that can be applied—and therefore cemented—instantly.

The future of microlearning

If we want to keep growing our professional skills, learning needs to continue adapting to the way we work. And it looks like it will. The microlearning method that we use at 5miles is designed to align with how we consume information today, in the digital age.

AI is already playing a role in ensuring that content is tailored to individual needs even further, while seamless integration with workplace tools—think Microsoft Teams and Slack is moving towards even more effortless learning.

Chris gave us another little insight into what he thinks the future looks like for microlearning: “AI is already playing a role in tailoring learning journeys to individual needs. We’re also seeing learning embedded into everyday Microsoft work tools, for example, so learning is really becoming a seamless part of the workday.”

The beauty of adaptive learning and microlearning is in its simplicity. It’s just setting aside a few minutes a day. And those minutes are worth their weight in gold.

Over 25,000 engaged members are enjoying our range of courses in the current top in-demand data and digital workplace skills. Find the right course for you via our fresh course pages www.5miles.nl

2024 in review: AI courses, a TIME award, Microsoft partner… and more.

We’ve won dream awards, designed custom AI courses, tweaked and expanded our learning platform, grown partnerships, welcomed dazzling new team members, and more. To all of you who help us keep getting better and keep achieving our goals—thank you. To those of you who have jumped on board (or are about to)—welcome.

Here’s our bitesize breakdown of 2024.

Major 5milestones

• We were named one of the World’s Top EdTech Companies by TIME and Statista, celebrating our position as leaders in professional skill development.
• We became an official Microsoft Adoption Partner for Copilot 365 to continue our commitment to digital transformation.
• We showcased during ABN AMRO’s Learning Week
• We expanded partnerships with industry leaders like Van Lanschot Kempen.
• We collaborated with Top Talent Incubators to support the next generation of professionals—working with 5 of the top producers of talent (according to this recent HBR study).

In numbers

• 25,000+ members engaged
• 100 partners now on board
• 12 new clients, including VodafoneZiggo, De Volksbank, Renewi, and Enexis
• Net Promoter Score (NPS) jumped from 36 to 57 (2023 to 2024)

Product upgrades

Innovation fuels us to stay on top of what partners and members actually need from our platform.

• We added custom track creation: allowing members to tailor their learning paths.
• We developed track recommendations based on activity: keeping members on their best path.
• We designed a more intuitive Library, Archive, and sidebar: making navigation a piece of cake.
• We improved member management tools for enterprises, including scheduled invites: enabling clearer insights and easier admin control.
• We started offering end-of-course assessments: pushing more robust skill validation.
• We now provide content in multiple languages across platforms: improving accessibility.

Watch this video for a tour of how things look now.

New launches

• Power BI: 20 new challenges, a new level assessment, and everything available in Dutch. Visit the new course page or read more on our blog.
• ChatGPT: Updated to the latest version (October) and translated into Dutch. Visit the new course page or read more on our blog.
• Copilot: Teaser track (10 challenges) in both English and Dutch. Visit the new course page or read more on our blog.
• SQL: Teaser track launched in May. Visit the new course page or read more on our blog.

Happy partners

We continued to empower Van Lanschot Kempen (VLK)’s team with digital skills. As the oldest independent financial institution in the Netherlands, they wanted to partner with 5miles to bring their 1,700 employees into the digital and data world with ease. A highly personalised approach and some internal integrations later, VLK achieved:

• 95% activation rate among over 1,000 sign-ups.
• 450+ active members annually, completing 7,000+ challenges.
• An average recommendation score of 8/10, with 95% of challenges rated relevant.

"The implementation of 5miles has transformed our digital adoption process, boosting productivity and empowering our team in decision-making," shared VLK’s Chief Analytics Officer.

Watch what else they had to say: https://vimeo.com/915879718

Member achievements

• Kathy, a long-time member at Rabobank, won our Runstreak Competition with 24 consecutive days of learning and 630 challenges completed.

Our team

We welcomed Ruud as our new Sales Director to help reach and onboard new partners.

Michelle also joined us as an integral part of our Customer Success and Operations team.

Coming up in 2025

• Our 10th anniversary is in May!
• We’re crossing the Ts and dotting the Is on new pricing packages, making 5miles accessible to individuals, students, and SMEs too.
• Even more track launches and updates.

Thank you for counting on us for one more year to help you and your company learn vital skills. We’re sure our members’, partner’s, and our team’s buzzing energy will make 2025 our best year yet.

Data-driven decisions as the key to growth

More than ever before, businesses are looking for ways to turn huge amounts of raw data into information they can really work with. We see the global business intelligence (BI) market growing rapidly: projections suggest it’ll reach a value of 54.9 billion USD by 2032, up from 27.24 billion USD in 2022.

From creating interactive reports to visualising complex data and making informed decisions in record time, its wide range of purposes make it the ideal option for businesses who want to monitor KPIs, identify trends, and ease data reporting. A simple and seamless integration within the Microsoft ecosystem makes it particularly appealing, too.

Power BI users are multiplying around the world

With that in mind, we’re not surprised to see Microsoft Power BI rising in popularity around the world. Recently, Power BI has outpaced competitors and become one of the most widely used BI tools. As of 2023, Power BI holds a stronger-than-ever position in the BI market: it’s used by approximately 36% of global enterprises, according to this Gartner report.

For companies using Microsoft, going full force with Power BI’s the clear choice—allowing them to enhance analytics capabilities without the steep learning curve associated with other BI tools.

More Power BI engagement at 5miles

Power BI engagement on the 5miles platform has also seen significant growth. 5miles members are keener than ever to wrap their heads around Power BI: we’ve seen a substantial increase in user activity related to Power BI.

Currently, Power BI shows our highest engaged users out of all courses in our library. From 2019 to 2020, we saw a 1,520% increase in unique Power BI users on our platform. Then from 2021 to 2022, user activity showed a 40% increase in completed challenges and learning tracks. It’s clear that professionals have started to recognise the increasing importance of upskilling in data analytics and BI tools.

More professionals are seeking to enhance their Power BI skills, in line with the tool's rising importance in the global market. We work to make sure our platform offers relevant, up-to-date learning content and offers a valuable resource for those looking to stay competitive in the job market.

Learning how to dive deeper into the data

As data becomes even more central to business strategy, the demand for tools that can simplify data analysis continues to grow. Microsoft's commitment to enhancing Power BI’s capabilities, particularly in areas like AI and machine learning, will likely further cement its position as a leading BI tool.

At 5miles, we help teams harness Microsoft’s Power BI’s power to connect their data sources and enable data-informed decisions. We’re dedicated to developing cutting-edge training in Power BI, ensuring that professionals—interns to tenured—can keep up with the evolving landscape.

Find out more here, and start empowering yourself, and your business, with Power BI.

At 5miles, we're always on the lookout for tools that can enhance productivity and streamline our workflows. Recently we’ve been putting Microsoft Copilot, one of many AI assistants designed to revolutionise your workday, to the test. We wanted to share our experience with you.

As its name suggests, Copilot integrates seamlessly with the apps many of us use daily: Outlook, Teams Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Under AI’s spell, it helps us take various filler tasks off our plate—like taking meeting notes or roughly planning projects—speed up the things that matter.

Clearing the way for strategy and creativity

Productivity and creativity are 2 things we can’t get enough of. When we use Copilot for repetitive tasks, we have more time and brainspace for them. For example, when working on course creation, Copilot provides the outlines while we bring our knowledge and ideas. This allows our content team at 5miles to focus more on creating, refining, and polishing content rather than starting from scratch.

In the same way, Copilot can streamline things like data entry in Excel or formatting presentations in PowerPoint under our instruction. By automating the ‘foundations’, our team can dedicate more time to strategic and creative endeavours—which, to be honest, is where we prefer to put more energy.

Here are a couple of other ways we’ve incorporated this tool cohesively into our daily work at 5miles. We hope it’ll inspire you to explore Copilot's capabilities and improve your productivity, too.

Taking meeting notes off our hands

At 5miles, we use async communication whenever possible. So, when we do decide to hold meetings, the ideas and insights that come out are gold dust to us. Taking detailed, accurate notes that do these meetings justice can be time-consuming. Luckily, Microsoft Copilot does this for us. Copilot joins our Teams meetings, listens in, and transcribes the conversation in real-time. It then summarises key points and action items, leaving a concise summary to easily share among everyone. We love that it saves us time and ensures everyone’s left on the same page.

Pro project planning

You know what it’s like. Multiple projects, multiple deadlines, everything’s a priority, and everything’s urgent at once. Good project planning helps us ease the pain when we feel like we’re juggling too much at once. For example, when developing a new course, we tell Copilot what we’re doing, who’s involved, what our goal is, and what our deadline is. It’s then able to work backwards to give us a suggested plan. Microsoft Copilot creates our project plan outlines: giving timelines, a structure, key milestones, and a breakdown of tasks for relevant team members. We’re then able to edit and adapt it to better fit our needs.

Digest long email threads

When our inbox is brimming with important conversations, we sometimes need a quick refresher before diving back in. With Copilot’s email thread summarising features, we can easily extract the info we need for pitches or presentations, or get another teammate up to speed on what we’ve been talking about with a client or contact. This has come in handy for us many times.

The beauty of Copilot is that there’s something for everyone, and something for every business that uses Microsoft Apps. In short:

Outlook: Email drafting & management, conversation summarising, scheduling, calendar, & task management.

Teams: Meeting summaries & transcriptions, chat & collaboration, tasks assignments & follow ups.

Word: Content creation & editing, grammar & style suggestions, formatting & layout.

PowerPoint: Presentation design, content suggestions, & visual enhancements.

Excel: Data analysis & visualisation, formula assistance, automation of data entry or repetitive tasks.

Transform the way you work, make your day-to-day tasks more efficient and effective. Stay tuned for our upcoming Copilot course, where we'll dive deeper into practical tips and ways to make the most of Microsoft’s AI tool, and gain the knowledge and skills to leverage its fullest potential.

At 5miles, we’ve joined forces with our long-time partners and Microsoft Copilot early-adopters Van Lanschot Kempen to co-create a Copilot course. We've been carefully tailoring it to their company’s needs and, after letting them vet it, are happy to share it with you too.

Keep an eye out for our new Copilot course coming soon.

Today’s businesses exist among a sea of wishy-washy strategies and dozens of experts with differing opinions. When making important decisions, many are recognising the value of turning to the data.

Luckily, these days the amount, variety, and richness of data at their fingertips is at an all time high—but they need people who can make sense of it all.

Big data’s kind of a big deal

There’s a reason it’s being called an “explosion of data”: in 2023, it was estimated that 90% of the world’s data was generated over the previous 2 years, with 328.77 million terabytes still being created each day. Every click, swipe, and transaction leaves its digital mark and gives valuable insights into customer behavior, market trends, and operational efficiency.

Smart businesses are harnessing the power of data to identify patterns, gain deeper insights, and make better decisions. Various industries show an ever-growing hunger for professionals who can readily extract actionable insights. That’s where SQL comes into play.

SQL’s data’s friend, and can be yours too  

SQL (less commonly-known as Structured Query Language) enables both technical and non-technical people to interact with data seamlessly. SQL is simple, intuitive, and incredibly versatile. It allows handling massive datasets with minimal steps and effort. Its plain English syntax, for one, helps make querying databases, getting insights, and analysing data a breeze.

SQL is to data what the English language is to global communication—and benefits of being fluent in it show up across various industries. For example:

Finance professionals can use SQL to analyse financial data, perform calculations, and generate reports for budgeting, forecasting, and financial analysis purposes. Suppose they want to assess the overall financial health of the business. They can use SQL to analyse the company's cash flow over the past month, identify trends, and see peak periods of income and expenses.

Data analysts often use SQL to extract valuable insights from large datasets, perform complex analyses, and derive actionable intelligence to support decision-making and drive business growth.

A marketer can use SQL to get insights from customer data and inform marketing their strategies and campaigns. Let's say a marketer wants to identify the most profitable customer segments for a new product launch. They can use SQL to query the company's database and analyse purchase history data to see which customer behaviours correlate with higher sales.

Have data—and your career—in the palm of your hands  

Whether you're a seasoned expert or a newcomer to the world of data, learning or improving your SQL skills is the key to taking a step up in your role or driving innovation in your organisation.

Wherever there’s data, SQL follows. Having stood the test of the ever-developing, bumpy technology world, SQL stands to remain valuable across all industries for the long haul.

Get in touch with us at 5miles to ask about our new SQL courses and see which one suits you.

After almost 18 months public, there’s no doubt ChatGPT has irreversibly transformed the world of work since becoming part of the equation. The AI software’s abrupt appearance sparked concerns about making some jobs obsolete— studies suggest that by 2025, AI could take over 52% of jobs globally.

Although this fear isn’t a complete overreaction, we now know that the key to making us better at our jobs (and our jobs better for us) is understanding exactly how to work with it.

The best human input = the best ChatGPT output

Instead of replacing humans, we’ve seen it make workers more productive and win them more time to spend on the stuff that matters by automating those pesky momentum-stunting tasks. A recent study carried out with Boston Consulting Group showed that those with GPT-4 did “more work, more quickly, and of much higher quality”.

From nailing prompts and providing relevant information, to knowing its strengths and weaknesses and how much of a ‘human touch’ to add: the winning combination of tactics needs training and refining in order to squeeze all the juice from our interactions with ChatGPT.

Nail impactful prompts, every time

On top of the obvious tip to “be clear and specific, avoid vague, ambiguous or overly complex language”, there are other necessary ingredients for a great ChatGPT answer: provide context or examples, keep questions open-ended (avoiding yes or no ones), give feedback and preferences along the way… Then adapt and experiment patiently to iterate, iterate, iterate.

Context is everything—but watch what you share

ChatGPT can prove limited in logic and reasoning. That’s why you should always hand over background context and reasoning for questions that require using more human-like logic. Remember: we want to give enough real-life context without sharing any confidential information. For example, presenting your real-life business situation as a hypothetical one.

Both sides should play to their strengths

Taking the model’s strengths and weaknesses into account is fundamental for tailoring our approach.  Like a mediocre job interview, we asked ChatGPT itself what its strengths and weaknesses are. Here’s what it had to say: “Strengths: Knowledge, adaptability, speed, accuracy, versatility. Weaknesses: Lack of emotional intelligence, bias and errors, context understanding, creativity limitations, limited real-world experience.”

Adding a human touch isn’t too much

Knowing the above very well can help us know exactly how and when to get involved. While much human intervention may not be necessary for things like data entry, admin, or menial tasks (except accuracy checking, checking for biases etc), for things like or content creation, writing, data analysis, a human touch is always necessary: AI should only help with the base or structure.

Of course, there’s a ton of human judgment that goes into all kinds of job roles, and upskilling that side is up to you.

ChatGPT’s countless—and counting—capabilities

AI tools will continue shaping our world with its exponential capabilities. So far, we count creative image generation, customer support automation, data-driven decision-making, collaborative writing assistance, and automated note-taking. Even more are developing as we speak.

Staying on top of and being able to truly embrace what they can do is what will mark our success. 5miles’ new ChatGPT learning track will help people with all backgrounds and in all job roles learn how to use ChatGPT like a pro. Keep an eye out for it this week.

2023 year in review: Cool awards, motivated members, reaching new portals… and more.

We’re glad to have continued our dedication to showing professionals the magic of micro-learning. Working hard to keep delivering engaging, digestible learning experiences that drive productivity and skill development.

Take a look at everything we’ve accomplished this year:

Major 5milestones

• We won the Cool Tool Award from Edtech Digest in the Professional Skill Solution category.
• Van Lanschot Kempen featured our success together in their 2022 Annual Report.
• We expanded our preboarding and onboarding training at KPMG via Appical
• 5miles was added to Archipel Academy's learning portals, and reached partners like ING, TenneT, and Achmea.

In numbers

• We saw 143,813 learning moments.
• We started working with 6 new partners, including Broadview, APG, and BrandLoyalty.
• Our billings grew by 35%.
• Our Net Promoter Score (NPS) increased to 36 from 31 in 2022.

Product upgrades

We’ve enhanced our learning platform with by adding:

• Spoken challenges.
• PE points, helping members earn professional development credits.
• iDeal payment option for easier access.
• Multi-Factor Authentication, ensuring enhanced information security aligned with ISO27001 standards.
• Author module enabling clients to create customised content, challenges, and learning tracks.
• Certificates with client branding, elevating user achievements.
• Embedded videos within challenges.
• All courses are now available in French!

Also—our daily challenge limit now adapts to subscription types, catering to both daily learners and busy professionals who prefer flexibility.

New launches

• Advanced Power BI 2 is now available, offering deeper insights and more advanced analysis techniques.
• To improve presentation skills, we’ve introduced 10 new think-cell challenges focused on creating professional, data-driven slides.
• The new Excel XLOOKUP course simplifies complex data analysis and helps streamline work in Excel.
• We revamped the PowerPoint track for a big-four accountancy firm, aligning it with their updated branding style and supporting employees in adopting the new style seamlessly.

Check out the latest 5miles training overview in English or Dutch.

Happy partners & members

• “Micro-learning helps me stay consistent and focused.”
• "The content is good with nice explanations and the team behind is very approachable."
• “A great way to get many practical tips in a short time, often immediately applicable”.  

Member achievements

• Chris Hutten from KPMG was our 5miles Runstreak competition winner. He shared his experience and passion for Excel tricks while competing with other professionals.

Our team

• André Willems began as our Enterprise Account Executive
• Anoeschka Hiralal started as our new Head of Customer Success
• Floran van de Ven joined our Content Team

Coming up in 2024

• Expanding the Power BI offering with Dutch content.
• Launching our first AI trainings around ChatGPT and Copilot, in collaboration with Microsoft Early Access Program partners.
• Onboarding an array of exciting new partners, watch this space!

Here’s to another year of learning, growth, and innovation. Thank you to our clients, members, and team for making this possible yet again. We can’t wait to share what’s next with you.

Are you fed up spending far too much time – that you really do not have – creating and tweaking charts and slides for your latest PowerPoint presentation?

Think-cell is your answer.

In this blog, we’ll explain why. We’ll also tell you about our new think-cell learning track, which you can use to start employing think-cell at work today! Skip to learn more about the track here (or sign up for it here).

But first…

What is think-cell?

Think-cell is a powerful add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint created by a Berlin-based software company.

It’s designed to revolutionise the way you both create and edit charts and visuals in PowerPoint. It streamlines and automates much of the often tedious design process, letting you focus on your message and the story you want to tell.

How does think-cell work?

Once you’ve installed the add-in, you can use think-cell directly in PowerPoint.

Its time-saving features include:

• professional, customisable styles and templates (that are b-e-a-utiful!)
• automatic layout and positioning (even when you make changes)
• simplified chart creation and editing (with dozens of visual annotations)
• data-linking (e.g., to excel spreadsheets) and automatic data updates

The animation below demonstrates how easy it is to add and edit a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Ratearrow).

Why should you use think-cell?

If our description isn’t enough to convince you, maybe these three reasons will:

1. think-cell will save you lots of time (and there’s research to prove it)

Think-cell partnered with a top-tier strategy consulting firm to research the extent to which think-cell makes Powerpoint slide creation and alteration more efficient.

They found that the total working time it took a team to create a set of slides with two rounds of alterations was reduced by over seven hours when the professionals used PowerPoint with think-cell, compared to PowerPoint with templates and macros.

This was true for all chart types used, including column, waterfall and pie charts.

That’s a lot of time back to focus on other tasks!

2. you'll be in good company

Think-cell has over one million users. These include professionals at many of the top management consulting firms, blue chip companies and business schools across the world.

Convincing and engaging presentations are their bread and butter, so think-cell really must be good! Why not join them?

And if that doesn’t seal the deal for you - we use think-cell here at 5miles too! ?

3. the software is getting better and better

Think-cell continually release new software updates, focusing on things like:

• new charts, graphs and customisation options
• new product features (including tools, connectivity options and more)
• efficiency savings and usability
• speed and stability improvements

This means your slides will look even better, and you’ll save even more time.

Interested?

Why learn about think-cell with 5miles?

The way that you will learn with us is what sets us apart from other learning providers. This is done to our bite-size, learning by doing approach.  

'Learning by doing'

All of our courses follow this approach.

It means that once you sign up to a learning track, you’ll receive regular practical challenges to solve.

The challenges are to solve problems that you will come across in real-life business cases.

Once you’ve completed the challenges – with the help of detailed explanations available when you need them – you can then take what you’ve learned and use it in your professional life immediately.

Bite-size learning

Our challenges don’t take long to complete - often just FIVE minutes!

You can also customise your learning schedule – choosing when you receive your challenge reminders, how often and more – meaning it really couldn’t be easier to learn!

You can find out more about our approach here.

So, if you want to start using think-cell immediately, our new think-cell learning track is the one for you!

What's included in our new think-cell learning track?

The challenges on our think-cell track include:

• creating and customising both simple and advanced charts
• linking think-cell charts to excel worksheets
• exploring how to save time with think-cell advanced features and shortcuts
• learning data transposing and flipping techniques
• applying best practice chart principles and visual techniques (including Zalazny’s ‘Say It With Charts’ principles)

No prior think-cell knowledge is required to start the track. You’ll just need a basic understanding and knowledge of the PowerPoint environment, and think-cell itself.

Interested in starting the think-cell teaser track?

• If you already have a 5miles account, you can begin learning right away by clicking here.
• If you're new to 5miles, sign up here to get started on your learning journey!

Looking for other ways to improve your PowerPoint skills? Check out our beginner, intermediate and advanced PowerPoint courses here.

It’s become a tradition for us at 5miles to look back on the year and reflect on our work. This year, we’re looking back on a year of milestones and successes and we’re absolutely thrilled to have achieved our first profitable year since we started in 2015.

We’ve got there by building 5miles from the ground up, and by continuously investing in our online learning tool and content library. With most of our clients, members and team still working remotely, the demand for online learning continues to be strong and has amplified this success.

The 2022 numbers speak for themselves. We:

• Crossed 1,000,000 learning moments
• Welcomed 15 new clients
• Increased revenue with 61%

It’s amazing to see thousands of people around the world learning with 5miles on a daily basis. We’re making a real impact on their work, and with an engagement rate of 80% and a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 45, it’s clear that our approach to micro-learning is here to stay.

None of this would have been possible without the endless drive of our members, the strong support of our customers and partners and the dedication of our team.

To celebrate 2022, we’ve selected our proudest accomplishments from across the product, integrations and training courses business areas. We’ve also included a round-up of our team, partnerships and company news from 2022 too.

Product

At 5miles, we’re dedicated to delivering the best learning experience for business professionals. And we’re proud to say that 2022 was a fantastic year for our product team!

We focused on providing lots of new, top-notch features that our members need to advance their learning journeys. Here’s a rundown of the exciting product highlights we implemented last year.

• Certificates: you can now showcase your achievements and prove to colleagues, employers, universities or other institutions that you’ve completed a 5miles course. You can download, receive via email, or share your certificate directly on LinkedIn. So far, 5,675 certificates have been awarded!
• Customized Learning Paths: you’re in control of your learning journey and can now mix and match existing courses and tracks to suit your needs. If you’re not sure where to start, we’ll even suggest a path that’s tailored to your current learning desires.
• Search function: with the new search function you can access information and tips about the most frequently used Microsoft Office applications within our library. This year’s most popular search terms were Excel’s Vlookup and the Array formula. PowerPoint’s was SmartArt.
• NPS: we introduced an NPS survey to regularly check in with our members and gauge our performance. With a score of 45 out of almost 900 responses, we’re doing quite a fair job!
• Help Centre: we launched a help centre to provide all the information you need to get started with 5miles. And if you still need assistance, our team is always ready to help.
• Download your challenge schedule: to truly make 5miles a ‘learning in the flow of work’ experience, you can now download and view your challenge schedule in your Outlook and Google calendar. With just one click, your next challenge will always be a part of your workday!
• Run Streak: in Q4, we hosted our first Run Streak competition, bringing members from all over the world together to compete. It was a fantastic success, and we’re already looking forward to the next one!

So, there you have it, a year of exciting product highlights. We’re proud of what we’ve achieved and look forward to continuing to provide the best learning experience for business professionals. Are you ready for an even more exciting 2023 with 5miles? We’ve got some big things in store for you.

1. Get ready to create your own custom learning experiences with the launch of our brand-new author module. You and your company can now design and curate your own tracks and challenges with the help of the 5miles team. Take your compliance and onboarding trainings to the next level!
2. Attention PE points earners! We’re bringing even more value to your learning journey. As more and more organizations require proof of professional development, you’ll soon be able to earn PE points with your 5miles challenges.
3. Building on the success of our Free Flow Excel track, we’re now going beyond just Excel. Choose from any of our 800 challenges across a variety of new subjects including PowerPoint, Power BI, Outlook, and Teams. Choose the subjects you want to learn simultaneously and learn at your own pace.

Stay tuned for more information!

Integrations

A seamless learning experience is all we’re after. 5miles is committed to providing easy integrations with the most popular corporate learning portals. Whether it’s LMS, LXP, HCM, or TEP, our goal is to make it a breeze for our members to start learning with just one click.

In previous years, we’ve integrated with the following learning portals:

• Degreed
• Cornerstone
• SAP SuccessFactors
• Workday Learning
• Studytube and Springest – 5miles trainings are scored with a 9.4 on Springest
• Edubookers and De Leerrekening – including 5miles
• Bloomville
• Talmundo
• YourCampus – 5miles

Are you curious about how 5miles seamlessly integrates with Cornerstone, the learning portal of Van Lanschot Kempen, among others? If so, check out this short animation which shows how you can begin your 5miles learning journey directly from the learning portal, including single sign-on (SSO)

We are grateful to join forces with the leaders of the L&D arena! In 2023, we’re taking it to the next level, by amplifying our integrations to deliver even more seamless and remarkable learning experiences to our clients.

With this focus on user experience and security, it makes 5miles the perfect solution for your centralized learning needs. And if you want to dive deeper into the world of corporate learning portals, we highly recommend you check out Josh Bersin’s insightful article on LXP.

Training courses

Our content team is constantly pushing limits to bring you the ultimate experience with over 800 bite-sized online challenges. And we achieved some exciting milestones in 2022 that we can share with you.

Firstly, improve your Power BI game with 35 fresh and challenging new courses, ready for beginners and intermediates alike. Over 800 professionals took the leap and sharpened their Power BI skills in 2022. It’s now time for you to join the pack too and learn how to easily create stunning dashboards!

Next, the world of Power Apps got a whole lot more interesting with our brand new Power Apps teaser track. You can get a sneak peek into the scene of Power Apps and discover how to design, style, and customize apps to perfection. With app-building on the rise, this track is your chance to stand out from the crowd.

Thirdly, in response to the growing demand in the German market, we took things up a notch with 160 German challenges and the launch of Beginner Excel 1 & 2 in German. So far, our efforts have been a huge success, with over 6,700 completed challenges and 400 professionals brushing up on their Excel and VBA skills in 2022. Voll gas, Germany!

English, German, Dutch... What about French? In 2023, our French-speaking members will be able to enjoy all our content in their native language. We’re adapting our challenges, certificates, assessments and more to the French versions of MS Office. They’re set to launch later this year. À bientôt, France!

Stay tuned for more updates by following our 5miles LinkedIn page!

Team, partnerships, and company

Our 5miles team now consists of 15 members (not all pictured), all working remotely in line with most of our clients. The Spaces Amstel office serves as a valuable meeting point where we can connect and work together efficiently.

Are you up for a thrilling adventure with a dynamic team on a mission to conquer the world of learning? We’re now hiring for various roles to support our continued growth. Visit the 5miles career page to see what opportunities are waiting for you. Be a part of something great!

2022 was a breakthrough year for 5miles. With 15 new clients and a revenue increase of over 60%, companies across The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, the UK and the USA are now embracing 5miles as a valuable tool for their employees.

To see which top companies are already using 5miles, follow 5miles on LinkedIn and be amazed by the list of industry leaders, including Van Lanschot Kempen, Zilveren Kruis, KPN, GrandVision and Van Oord.

And that’s not all. We’ve proudly joined hands with the Refugee Talent Hub (RTH) in The Netherlands, aligning with their mission and positively impacting the lives of refugees and society. In 2022, 5miles provided its first cohort-based course for refugees and empowered 35 talented individuals to learn relevant skills in just 5 minutes a day. Join us in making a difference and see the RTH website for more information on participating. ?️

Finally, as the cherry on top, 5miles has now become the preferred choice for data and digital skills development for 8 of the top 10 financial consulting firms across the world, as ranked by Vault-Firsthand.

It’s a true testament to the quality and effectiveness of 5miles, and we couldn’t be prouder to be relied on every day by these top consultants. Here’s the top financial consulting firms according to Vault-Firsthand.

Ready for 2023!

At 5miles, our goal is to provide convenient and effective training that empowers individuals to grow and improve their skills. We believe that just 5 minutes of training each day can help people to stay engaged and make a significant impact.

In 2023, we remain focused on delivering on this promise and helping people learn, have fun, and work more efficiently. We encourage you to join us on this journey and see the benefits of short but meaningful training for yourself.

For those who have followed us in the past, you’ll know that this is the second year in a row we’ve taken time out to reflect. If you’d like to see how much we’ve grown, you can review last year’s reflection here: 2021.

Let’s make 2023 another successful year with 5miles!

5 jaar geleden, op een CoSta event in Eindhoven kwam KPN in gesprek met Chris van Voorden van 5miles. Hij had een oplossing waarmee medewerkers aan de hand van korte dagelijkse challenges hun (toen nog) Excel skills konden verbeteren. Voldoende reden om een POC te beginnen bij de Finance teams van KPN. Inmiddels zijn we 5 jaar verder, hebben 500 KPN medewerkers dagelijks 12.000 challenges gedaan en is het aanbod van 5miles sterk uitgebreid.

De methodiek is hetzelfde, een korte challenge per dag waarmee je als medewerker dagelijks nieuwe skills aanleert. Het aanbod is echter sterk gegroeid; van Excel bij de start, kun je inmiddels je skills trainen in PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, Power BI en Visual Basic. Daar waar KPN een van de launching partners was, is ook het aantal klanten in de afgelopen jaren sterk gegroeid laat Chris weten.

Door geregeld kort bij te praten zijn 5miles en KPN samen opgetrokken en willen we nu ook weer nieuwe mogelijkheden gaan verkennen; want als het goed is voor KPN, kan het ook een nuttige oplossing voor onze klanten zijn.

Een mooi voorbeeld van hoe een corporate en een startup elkaar kunnen versterken, dat begint bij een oplossing van een “customer pain” en een goede transparante relatie.

Wij wensen Chris en zijn team veel succes en plezier met een mooie toekomst, waarbij jezelf dagelijks verbeteren centraal staat.

Ben jij ook enthousiast om je skills te verbeteren (het kost slechts 5 minuten per dag), kijk dan op de KPN Academy toegankelijk via MijnKPN (intranet), op de 5miles website of PM Chris van Voorden.

We Love Innovation, we Love Startups!

Dit artikel is verschenen op de LinkedIn-pagina van Marie-José van den Boomgaard, Liaison Manager Startups & Scaleups bij KPN.

Voor meer informatie over KPN's activiteiten rondom Startups en Innovatie, check out deze video of ga naar www.kpn.com/innovation.

Voor meer informatie over de 5miles online training bij KPN, check landings.5miles.nl/nl/kpn of ga naar www.5miles.nl.

Have you completed one of our trainings in Excel, PowerPoint or maybe Power BI and would you like to share your progress with the world? Read on!

Sometimes you’re doing our challenges just for the sheer joy of learning something new every day. However, sometimes you need to complete a course for a promotion, or a college application. Or maybe you’re about to land your dream job and need a symbol of your enhanced knowledge, gained at 5miles.

We’d like to help you to capitalize on your learning experience at 5miles through our brand-new 5miles certificates. A 5miles certificate can provide proof for an employer, university, or any other institution that you have successfully completed an online 5miles course.

How do I obtain my certificate?

When you complete a course or a track, you will obtain a 5miles certificate, which you can download, receive via email, or share on your LinkedIn profile. You can do this on the My certificates page (only for 5miles members), where you can find all certificates you have earned for completed courses and tracks.

- For each certificate you would like to obtain, click the PDF icon to download your certificate as a PDF file on your laptop.

- Clicking the email icon will send the certificate to your email address.

- If you click on the LinkedIn icon you could immediately show the world what you have learned by saving the certificate on your LinkedIn profile (more info on LinkedIn Certificates).

In this 2-min video I show you what this looks like in our tool.

Let us know what you think!

To assist in the process of obtaining your certificates, you can always drop us a line via the chat or email. Also, we’re very interested to hear what you think of the 5miles-certificates, so please share your thoughts by dropping a line at info@5miles.nl.

Click here to see our post on LinkedIn about 5miles certificates.