TomTom turns to HowNow to build a skills-based workforce as demand for AI upskilling grows

TomTom Academy, powered by HowNow's AI skills mapping platform, reached full functionality within seven months of going live, a timeline that reflects accelerating enterprise investment in skills infrastructure.

TomTom provides mapping and navigation technology to carmakers, businesses, and governments worldwide.

TomTom has selected AI learning and upskilling platform HowNow to power its transition to a skills-based organization. TomTom Academy reached full operational capacity in under a year, a deployment pace that underscores growing urgency among global tech companies to close workforce skills gaps ahead of continued market disruption.

HowNow is an AI-powered learning platform that connects employee development to real-time skills data, enabling organizations to identify capability gaps and surface relevant upskilling opportunities in the flow of work.

TomTom Academy went live in December 2024, with full skills functionality rolling out in July 2025. In that window, HowNow's AI skills mapping technology has given TomTom real-time visibility into capabilities and gaps across its workforce of more than 3,300 employees, connecting people with relevant upskilling opportunities in the flow of work.

A people strategy built around the "now of work"

The engagement forms part of a two-year people strategy at TomTom, with accelerating skill readiness identified as a primary driver, enabling the Netherlands-headquartered company to respond faster to shifting customer and market demands.

Aneta Milosierna-Santos, People Product Lead at TomTom, says: "[HowNow's] AI skills mapping functionality was a big selling point for us, as was the strong sense of partnership we felt during those initial conversations. Like TomTom, HowNow is an agile, fast-growth company...because of that, we could see their potential to evolve with us and that really resonated."

The platform has also changed how knowledge moves across the organization. Milosierna-Santos adds: "In just a few short months, HowNow has enabled us to democratise learning. Any one of our employees, in any of our geographic markets, can now become an internal content creator. This is already multiplying knowledge across and between our employees at speed - and in a way that is quick and easy for them."

Visibility into workforce skills in real time

For TomTom's leadership, the value proposition centers on operational responsiveness as much as learning outcomes. Arne-Christian van der Tang, Chief Human Resources Officer at TomTom, says: "At TomTom, our people strategy is built around what we call the now of work - creating the conditions for our teams to have impact today. Academy gives us realtime visibility into skills across our organisation and enables our people to learn, grow and deliver value with agility. In a world where the pace of change is relentless, this partnership helps us stay responsive, flexible and focused on empowering TomTom'ers to do their best work, every day."

Other factors in the vendor decision included a shared product-led mindset, strong ecosystem integration, and ease of use for employees across global markets.

Nelson Sivalingam, Co-founder and CEO at HowNow, says: "TomTom is a progressive organisation that continues to create world-class products and services. By becoming a skills-based organisation, the company has demonstrated a strong commitment to its people and future success - and we're delighted to be supporting TomTom on that journey."

TomTom joins a client roster that includes Trainline, Investec, and the UK Government.