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Record number of L&D Professionals Utilising Data to Shape Future Strategies

London, UKLearning NewsTowards Maturity

Bumper year for Personalised Benchmark Reports shows L&D professionals are turning to data to help shape their learning strategies.

Today, Towards Maturity revealed a record 25% increase in the number of reports being delivered to L&D professionals this year. The not-for-profit organisation has been supplying independent, personalised feedback to L&D professionals thanks to the help of supporting Ambassadors, issuing over 2,500 reports, across 50 countries worldwide, with a combined value of over £740,000 since 2010.

The Personalised Benchmark Report is what sets Towards Maturity’s benchmarking process apart from any other. The 3-stage process – Review, Compare, Act – helps L&D professionals identify the actions they need to take in order to improve results and integrate learning into the workflow more effectively. The Personalised Benchmark Report is the critical output that helps them directly compare results with top performing organisations, in order to help define the steps needed to a achieve a modernised learning strategy.

The Towards Maturity Benchmark study is the only global research programme that provides every participant with a tailored, confidential 21 page Personalised Benchmark Report. Towards Maturity collects over 1.5 million data points annually, which provides deep insights into global trends and effective practices of learning and development teams across the world. The insights collected are explored confidentially and the trends detailing effective practices and industry setbacks are released in an annual Benchmark Report - launching this year on 5 November 2015.

There has been a 25% increase in the number of reports sent out in 2015, indicating an increase in the number of L&D leaders using its Benchmark as a performance improvement tool through to 2016. Its reach continues to grow internationally, now serving L&D professionals in over 50 countries.

Laura Overton, Managing Director of Towards Maturity commented on the findings:

"It is exciting to acknowledge the sheer scale of what we have achieved; over 4,000 L&D leaders have benchmarked their L&D strategy with Towards Maturity since 2003 and the results are telling. Those coming back year after year are starting to see a real shift in tangible results, with top learning organisations reporting four times as much business impact benefits and a greater learner engagement. It is fantastic to see that we are influencing the future of learning and development; we are truly thankful to the Ambassadors who have supported us to make this level of independent research freely available to all."

Towards Maturity’s Ambassadors believe that high quality independent research should be available to inform all L&D leaders and have been supporting the annual Benchmark since 2010. Without these forward-thinking organisations, many L&D professionals would not be able to access the Personalised Benchmark Reports and insights on the industry’s direction.

Caroline Walmsley, CEO of Brightwave, commented:

"As a founding Ambassador of Towards Maturity, Brightwave is delighted to see the latest success figures surrounding this year's benchmark. Personalisation is an area that is close to Brightwave's own agenda currently - it is great to see the volume of L&D teams seeking out tailored, data-backed insight to highlight opportunities to improve performance and drive their own strategies forward. It is an encouraging indicator of the change happening across our industry."

Nick Bradley, Managing Director of Reed Learning said:

"As one of Towards Maturity's Ambassadors, Reed Learning is delighted to see the impressive increase in number of reports being delivered to L&D professionals each year. This is another sign of the changing environment in which we are now working - one where measurable impact is the key to the delivery of any learning and development activity.

"The data from these Benchmark Reports is invaluable, as it underpins our approach to working closely with our customers to deliver tangible results that are aligned to their business strategy."

The results of this year’s Benchmark study will be made freely available during a webinar on 5th November in conjunction with Learning and Skills Group. For details and to register your interest go to www.towardsmaturity.org/2015benchmark