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20 Apr 2011 - Martin Kornacki

UK’s top management has an outdated view of e-learning, experts say

Outdated attitudes to training among the UK's top management are resulting in companies missing out on potential cost savings, according to e-learning experts.

At the inaugural meeting of the Towards Maturity Ambassadors Group that included Piers Lea of Line Communications, Jonathan Satchell the CEO of Epic and Martin Baker the MD of the Charity Learning Consortium a consensus viewpoint emerged that business leaders were currently overlooking learning innovations.

The group said that according to the Ready to Grow report from the CBI last year, almost two thirds of firms see investment in skills as very important for achieving their strategic objectives, the same number also say that they will be targeting their training more effectively as resources remain tight during the early stages of economic recovery.

In a statement released this week the group asked: "Why then, at a time when people development is widely seen as more critical than ever to the success of British industry, do business leaders often overlook an area of innovation that has been proven to yield excellent results when effectively harnessed?"

According to Towards Maturity's research findings from its 2010-11 Benchmark Survey a mature use of innovative and technology-enabled learning is almost a fifth more cost effective than classroom training and reduces study time by more than a fifth.

Lea, the CEO of Line Communications, said: "For the first time, we have objective, empirical industry research that shows a mature use of technology in learning can significantly influence business agility and efficiency. Business leaders need to challenge their staff to look beyond past experience and to ensure that they are equipped to make the most of new learning opportunities."

Towards Maturity, which set up the Ambassadors Group, is a not for profit benchmark practice that provides independent advice and support in using learning technologies at work.

To find out more visit http://www.towardsmaturity.org/

Comments

  • Comment 1.

    I agree - there is definite evidence of e-learning becoming more innovative and being able to provide not only tailored learning solutions but also achieve significant business transformation, time savings and cost reductions.

    Increasingly businesses are turning to learning technologies for these reasons, for example:

    • Sky's 'Get Up To Speed' induction learning portal has accrued more than £1m cost savings and reduced training time for each new sales agent by 37.5 hours • Bupa's 'One Plan' large-scale organisational change project has resulted in 53% decrease in customer complaints and a 7% reduction in costs across the company • The City of Edinburgh Council's CECil platform has provided a wide range of training that classroom-based approaches simply couldn't provide and has so far delivered cost savings in excess of £1m

    Brightwave has just launched a series of videos

    http://www.brightwave.co.uk/what-a-difference/video

    featuring leading L&D figures (including Donald H Taylor (LSG) and Sky's Kenny Henderson) sharing lessons learned and explore how we can support fast-changing business practices in the next 10 years. Laura Overton of Towards Maturity is one of the other featured guests in the series.

    Sincerely,

    Peter Styles, Content Editor, Brightwave www.brightwave.co.uk

    Peter Styles - 21 Apr 2011 04:43PM

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