Learning experience platforms are poised for take-off, says Paul McElvaney.

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Exclusive research suggests that 27% of US organisations have a learning experience platform (20% UK), and some 50% are likely to buy one in the next 24 months.

The learning experience platform (LXP) will feel like a fairly recent development to most people. It is true there were companies as long ago as 2008 touting platforms that looked a lot like what we now know as an LXP.

But it was not until about 2017 that the term gained any widespread currency and LXP really coalesced as a product category.

All of this has meant, up to now, that there has been a worrying lack of data available to tell us what sort of hold it might (or might not) be taking on the market.

More than 50% of companies likely to buy an LXP say they will do so in the next 24 months

Now that has changed, with the publication of original new research commissioned by Learning Pool from an independent specialist company.

This exclusive research, based on a survey of US and UK organisations, was conducted into the markets for LXP and the closely related technology of learning record stores (LRS).

651 organisations were surveyed, 57% of them from the US. Among the findings were:

• LXP is a potential billion-dollar market.
• More than 50% of companies likely to buy an LXP say they will do so in the next 24 months.
• One in four US companies suggest they already have an LXP in some form or another.
• LRS is also a potential billion-dollar market, but a significant share of this will go to packaged products (ie LMS + LRS).
• One in five US companies suggest they already have an LRS in some form or another.

This would mean that both technologies have crossed an important divide in the adoption of innovative new technology, as identified by Geoffrey A. Moore in his 1991 book, ​Crossing the Chasm​.

Based on Everett Rogers’ ​diffusion of innovations​ theory, Moore argues that innovations need to bridge the gap between the very different expectations held by early adopters (or ‘visionaries’) and the early majority (‘pragmatists’) in order to achieve escape velocity.

The diffusion of innovations theory identifies five groups of buyers: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards.

Moore argues that marketers should focus on one group at a time, adopting a different strategy for each; but that the biggest challenge lies in bridging the gap between the first two groups – innovators and early adopters – and this is the ‘chasm’ of his title.

The research would indicate that the chasm has been crossed in the case of both LXP and LRS technologies, and they are poised for take-off. Buying intentions captured in the survey support this conclusion.

The paper not only quantifies industry acceptance of these powerful new technologies, but also investigates the social, economic and theoretical changes of the last two decades that have spurred these innovations and driven their acceptance by the market.

If you are in the position of having to make key decisions about the purchasing and forward strategy for learning systems in your organisation, this paper will give you valuable advice.

Download the white paper here​.

About the author

Paul McElvaney is founder and CEO of Learning Pool