As 2025 comes to a close, we’ve been reflecting on a year defined by progress, collaboration, and shared learning across the sectors we support.
Over the last 12 months, organisations working with Clever Nelly strengthened frontline capability, improved customer outcomes, and continued to raise the bar for operational excellence. From advances in vulnerability training to deeper conversations around Consumer Duty, one theme stood out.
When learning is engaging, relevant and human, it drives real impact.
We’re proud to have played a part in that journey and grateful to the customers and partners who shaped the year with us.
The highlights: Building capability that matters
We saw several milestones that reflect both the direction of travel across financial services and the growing focus on meaningful, outcome-led learning.
We launched Consumer Duty Insight (CDi), the latest addition to our Clever Nelly product stack, to help organisations better understand, evidence, and continuously improve customer outcomes in line with regulatory expectations.
We also partnered with the Money Advice Trust to develop a new vulnerable customer question set, aimed at helping frontline teams identify and respond to vulnerability with greater confidence, consistency, and empathy.
The year was capped with a proud moment as one of our customers, Phillips & Cohen Associates, was awarded Best Use of Technology – Partnership at the Credit Strategy Awards 2025. Recognition like this reinforces the power of collaboration when tackling complex customer challenges.
Customer moments that stood out
One of the most energising parts of 2025 was seeing how organisations brought learning to life.
Clever Nelly launches have increasingly become moments of celebration, bringing teams together, sparking conversation, and reinforcing a shared commitment to great customer outcomes. From AXA Commercial and RAC to Ascent Performance Group, Capital One and beyond, these moments captured what effective learning looks like when people are genuinely engaged.
We loved seeing teams share their launch moments and experiences across LinkedIn, and it’s something we can’t wait to see even more of in 2026.
Bringing the community together
Connecting with our wider community remained a priority throughout the year, with events creating space to share insight, challenge thinking and learn from one another.
Over the year, we:
- Explored how vulnerability training builds empathy and resilience at October’s Insurance Community.
- Brought together industry voices at the Financial Services Summer Summit to discuss Consumer Duty, vulnerable customer support, and evolving learning needs.
- Wowed at the Learning Technologies Conference & Exhibition (with Nelly making a surprise appearance), highlighting the growing role of creativity and engagement in workplace learning.
- Closed the year at our End-of-Year Event, reflecting on 2025 and looking ahead to the trends shaping 2026.
These conversations continue to shape how organisations think about capability, compliance, and customer experience.
Our most-read insights and resources from 2025
From webinars and events to purple papers, organisations engaged with our thought leadership throughout the year. Some of our most popular resources included:
Expert insights
The launch of our LinkedIn newsletter, the Nelly Insider, where we share research, insight, and perspective on how competence and confidence transform customer experience, compliance, and operational resilience.
Join the growing space for practical thinking and industry conversation from the Herd here.
Improving complaints handling and operational resilience
- Complaints under pressure: Maintaining quality when volumes surge (webinar) – with Aptean Respond, we explored what complaints handling excellence will look like in 2026, covering AI-enabled triage, MI, skill reinforcement, and leadership ownership under Consumer Duty. Watch here.
- How to protect performance and CX during demand spikes in the contact centre (webinar) – featuring leaders from Bupa Global, Get Out of Wrap, and Elephants Don’t Forget, this session examined why errors and burnout rise during peaks and what resilient organisations do differently to sustain quality at scale. Watch here.
Vulnerability & Consumer Duty
- Customer Vulnerability: Actions and priorities from the FCA’s latest review (webinar) – joined by SMEs from the Money Advice Trust and Bovill Newgate, we unpacked regulatory expectations, common gaps, and the practical actions firms must prioritise to meet the FCA’s standards for supporting vulnerable customers. Watch here.
- Your 2025 Consumer Duty report: Meeting FCA expectations (webinar) – with insights from Protiviti, this session focused on board-level reporting, evidencing cultural improvement through MI, addressing poor customer outcomes, and demonstrating tangible progress on vulnerability. Watch here.
Guides & practical tools
- People-powered CX in action: Confidence, competence and CX at Phillips & Cohen Associates (guide) – drawing on research, polling, and real-world results, this guide shows why leading contact centres are doubling down on people development and how continual learning drives quality, compliance, and customer trust at scale. Read more.
- Stop firefighting, start Fixing: Boost competence & cut failure demand (guide) – a practical look at the root causes of avoidable demand, human error, and rework and how building frontline competence reduces risk, cost, and customer dissatisfaction. Read more.
If you missed any of these, they’re well worth revisiting as we head into 2026.
Looking ahead
There are a few priorities that are already starting to pave the way – from a deeper focus on customer outcome and more nuanced approaches to vulnerability to learning that supports not just regulatory requirements, but confidence and resilience too.
We’re excited to continue working alongside our customers and partners to build learning experiences that make a real difference – both for frontline teams and the customers they support.
Thank you to everyone who has been part of our journey this year. We can’t wait to build on our shared success in 2026.