Industry Served: EdTech
Acuru, Formerly Examfly, Adaptive Technical Learning for Professional Services Firms
An Active Learning Platform Trusted by PwC, Grant Thornton, BDO, Andersen, Vialto, and UHY
Learning Built for the Time-Pressed Professional
Discuss your projectAcuru is a technology-first learning platform for accounting, tax, and regulatory environments, where technical precision and professional judgment carry real risk if they slip. Rather than long passive courses, it delivers short scenario-based exercises that test application, assesses applied understanding continuously instead of treating course completion as competence, and gives firm leadership clear visibility into capability across grades, offices, and service lines.
The idea began when founder Deirdre Lyons tried to study for a professional exam alongside a fulltime job and found how taxing it was. She describes the traditional route as working full time and then trying to get your head into books and lectures, calling it a very passive way of learning. Lyons drew on educational psychology, gamification, and data analytics to design an active learning model instead.
We were the development partner behind the platform, taking it from UI and UX through DevOps, development, and quality assurance. Launched as Examfly and now operating as Acuru, it is used by the Big 4 and leading professional services firms, holds a Bronze EduEvidence Efficacy Badge, and is supported by Enterprise Ireland and Learnovate.
Project Challenges & Needs
Engaging Working Professionals
Learners were studying around full-time client work, so every exercise had to earn its place in a short, interrupted study window.
Depth Without Density
Complex tax and accounting subjects had to be condensed into animated and scenario-based formats without losing technical accuracy.
Real-Time Performance Feedback
Instant, personalised feedback meant processing interaction data continuously and accurately as each learner worked.
Enterprise Rollout and Privacy
Organisation-wide leaderboards and dashboards needed strict data separation so firms saw their own cohorts and nothing else.
Our Solution
We developed a scalable, role-based Active Learning Platform enabling:
The platform is delivered as connected admin and learner products on shared data, so a firm can start with a pilot cohort and expand to an international rollout without changing how learning is administered.
Interfaces We Developed
Admin Dashboard
The administrative control layer for the Acuru team and firm L&D leads, used to:
- Manage organisations, cohorts, and individual users with role-based permissions
- Author and oversee content, then deploy it across departments, offices, and jurisdictions
- Push centralised updates when accounting standards or tax rules change
- Read cohort-level analytics on completion, applied understanding, and exam readiness
- Identify capability gaps early and target intervention before client delivery is affected
Learner Web App & Mobile Apps for iOS & Android
The learner-facing experience, delivered on the web & on mobile, giving working professionals:
- Animated educational content and visual learning aids on any device
- Adaptive exercise sets that focus effort where their understanding is weakest
- Interactive games, quizzes, & multi-step challenges
- Instant performance feedback showing which areas need attention
- A self-assessment tool that reveals learning patterns and shapes a study schedule
- Personalised flashcards, mind maps & decision trees
- Badges for milestones & an organisation leaderboard
Key Features & Capabilities
The Adaptive Engine
Detects a struggling concept immediately & delivers focused reinforcement, cutting unnecessary repetition.
Animated Explainer Videos
Complex topics explained visually with real-life context, making dense technical material accessible.
Performance Analysis
Instant personalised feedback tailored to interactions, pointing users to the areas that need focus.
Interactive Games and Badges
Knowledge tested through gameplay, with badges at every milestone to keep busy professionals returning.
Organisation-Wise Leaderboard
Points and rankings within a firm, fostering healthy competition while keeping data inside the organisation.
Leadership Visibility
Dashboards surfacing capability gaps and early exam readiness indicators across cohorts and offices.
Outcomes and Impact
+10%
Improved Exam Pass Rate
-40%
Time to Mastery
92%
Learner Engagement
Big 4
Firms on the Platform
Faster Onboarding
Early Careers
Graduate ramp-up time reduced through earlier technical reinforcement, with stronger readiness entering formal tuition.
Recognition
Awards and Backing
Top New Start-Up at InterTradeIreland Seedcorn, Bronze Winner at Ireland National Startup Awards 2021, & Bronze EduEvidence Efficacy Badge.
Enterprise Deployment
Scale
Rollouts across entire departments in days rather than months, with regulatory updates deployed to whole teams at once.
Technologies Used to Develop the Solution
Web Frontend
Next.js
Learner web app, admin dashboard, and analytics views.
Mobile
Flutter (iOS & Android)
One codebase for the mobile learner apps, including games & offlinefriendly content.
Backend
Node.js & Python
Learning APIs, content delivery, and the services behind performance analysis.
Adaptive Engine
Custom Algorithms & Analytics
Reliable storage for child, staff, attendance, and billing records.
Database
PostgreSQL & Redis
Learner records and progress, with cached leaderboards and live session state.
Analytics
Event Pipeline & Dashboards
Cohort-level capability reporting across grades, offices, and service lines.
Media Delivery
CDN Video Streaming
Animated explainer videos served quickly across regions and devices.
Devops
Docker, CI/CD & Infrastructure as Code
Automated deployment with consistent development, testing, and production environments.
Cloud & Security
AWS with SSO and Role-Based Access
Scales from pilot cohorts to international rollouts, keeping each firm's data separated.
Here's What Our Client Has to Say
Their tailored solutions and deep understanding of educational technology exceeded our expectations. The team's expertise and commitment were evident throughout the process, resulting in a seamless and impactful product. Their innovative approach and dedication to excellence made them an indispensable part of our success.
Get in touch
Share a few details about what you're building, and we'll take it from there.
