Business missing out by not modernising training, new research shows
LONDON, 31st May 2011. Piers Lea, CEO of LINE Communications, one of Europe’s leading providers of learning and communications, has joined other industry leaders in highlighting a benchmark study that shows Britain is missing out on a potential source of cost savings and efficiency gains due to outdated attitudes to training among top management.
The report, from benchmarking practice Towards Maturity (http://www.towardsmaturity.org/) shows clearly that a mature use of innovative and technology-enabled learning has been measured to deliver on average:
• 18% cost savings
• 22% reduction in study time
• 2x volume of learning delivered
…with the more mature achieving even better results.
This sector of the training market has remained buoyant throughout the recession as a result. However, senior leaders seem to be still relatively unaware of the considerable potential for greater business efficiencies and ‘fleet-of-foot’ business transformation. Worse, the study even shows evidence of Learning & Development departments backing off good practices that lead to better results in response to pressures on budgets.
Piers Lea said: ‘It is heartening to have solid data at last that shows how effective the type of innovative learning LINE and others create with clients has been in driving business results. On the other hand, there are worrying trends highlighted by this research; worrying for British business as a whole as it recovers from recession. Hidden potential is being overlooked, at a time when everyone acknowledges that people development is more important than it has ever been.’
LINE, along with other leading providers of learning products and services, helps to support Towards Maturity through the not-for-profit’s Ambassador programme, instituted when Becta funding came to an end last year. This consensus view emerged at the inaugural meeting of the Ambassador group, attended by some of the most prominent entrepreneurs and CEOs in the industry, including Jonathan Satchell CEO of Epic, and Martin Baker MD of the Charity Learning consortium, and Armin Hopp, founder and president of Digital Publishing.
The group called for specific industry-wide action to spread awareness among business leaders.
To read the full benchmark report from Towards Maturity go to http://www.towardsmaturity.org/2010benchmark