In This Issue
- Maximizing Training Budgets in a Down Economy: Leveraging User Generated Content to Build Employee Knowledge
- Next-Generation Corporate Learning Webinar
- 2008 Training Efficiency Masters Series Survey Results
- Industry White Papers and Books
- Altus in the News
- Complimentary E-Learning Consultation
- Review Other Editions
Sharing Information, Strategic Ideas and Practical Insights
How can your organization share critical knowledge and improve productivity?
This edition of All Media On Demand features E-Learning industry insights, news and information from top industry leaders to provide you with best practices, strategies and techniques on Next-Generation Corporate Learning. And it’s delivered via Altus Xcellerator™, the only Xtreme Knowledge Sharing solution that provides rich-media content including video searchable down to the spoken word.
Maximizing Training Budgets in a Down Economy: Leveraging User Generated Content to Build Employee Knowledge
The Growing Role of Social Media in Turbulent Times
When times get tough, people turn to technology to find new ways to get things done with fewer people, lower budgets and high expectations.
The depth and duration of the much-debated "recession" of 2008 is yet to be seen, but there's no doubt that the impact of cutbacks and downsizing has already been felt within training organizations across America. The best-prepared training executives already had contingency plans in place, since budget ups and downs are hardly new to the training business. Those contingencies, in many cases, relied on new technologies.
To read the full article, click here.Next-Generation Corporate Learning Webinar
Wednesday, May 28, 2008, 10am PDT / 1pm EDT
Learn from distinguished industry experts on how organizations are evolving their learning strategies to deliver new media resources on-demand, content management, product information and career development materials to enable collaborative knowledge sharing among sales people, product managers, engineers, customer service personnel, channel partners and training professionals.
Join e-learning analyst and "The Blended Learning Book" author Josh Bersin of Bersin & Associates, and Tom Kelly, former Chief Learning Officer for Cisco Systems and NetApp, and "The Business Case for E-Learning" co-author, along with moderator Sebastian Grady of Altus Learning Systems for a comprehensive review of new technologies that can help your organization accomplish more with less.
Collaborative knowledge sharing is radically changing the emphasis of corporate learning from formal training to "peer-to-peer learning." Companies need people with critical knowledge to share it easily and freely with those throughout the organization who need it, since the roles of contributor and consumer of learning can change from hour to hour. Formal learning will always play an important role, but the shift happening today is from traditional training to a highly collaborative approach for knowledge sharing.
Find out how to succeed in the new world of Learning 2.0 and take advantage of next-generation collaborative platforms. Become an enabler by leveraging the collective intelligence of your organization via user generated content and valuable "Blended Learning" approaches to win the talent wars and decrease the "time to revenue" for your new hires.
Training Efficiency: Optimizing Costs
2008 Training Efficiency Masters Series Survey Results
In early 2008, TrainingIndustry.com and Expertus partnered to produce the first of four surveys in the Training Efficiency Masters Series. They asked training leaders about the efficiency of their organizations, opportunities and plans to reduce costs, and how they plan to reinvest cost savings. The survey was completed by 113 training leaders whose companies vary by industry sector and organization size.
Cost reduction pressure is significant or intense among most training leaders (54%), resulting from expectations to expand training without additional revenue (60%), and/or from budget cuts (49%). Among those feeling intense pressure (13%), 80% feel budget cut pressure.
To access all of the Expertus survey results, click here.
Industry White Papers and Books
The Googlization of Learning: Chief Learning Officer Magazine
Article Excerpt:
Today, employees are overwhelmed with immense volumes of information. "Searching" is much less productive than "finding." Traditional search mechanisms are too time consuming and ineffective. Learning organizations need to bridge the knowledge gap by providing users with critical information as they are performing day-to-day activities. Organizations combining formal and informal learning, blended into the way that users work, are much more likely to produce a cadre of high-performing, knowledgeable business professionals. Additionally, by gaining insight into the use and relevance of training resources, organizations can make more informed decisions about investments in future learning assets.
To read the full article, click here.
2008 U.S. Corporate Training Budgets Emphasizing Management and Leadership Training
Although management represents a small percentage of the corporate workforce, it gets the lion's share of the corporate training budget, according to a study of the $58.5 billion U.S. training marketing just released by Bersin and Associates. Approximately 21 percent of training program dollars is spent on leadership development and management/supervisory training.
"Corporations are investing heavily in current and up-and-coming leaders," said Josh Bersin, president of Bersin & Associates, the only research and advisory firm solely focused on enterprise learning and talent management. "We see an emphasis in this area across all sectors. Looming retirements, gaps in management talent, and economic pressures are causing companies to funnel dollars into their leadership pipelines."
See the highlights from the study, available through the report and Bersin events, at http://services.tekrati.com/research/9987/
What's in Your Training Budget?: Training Magazine
How can you create a budget that spends wisely and earns the approval of those who review it? Use the numbers to tell a story.
By Holly Dolezalek
Some industries already are feeling the contraction of the labor market as baby boomers get ready to retire, because there aren't enough Generation X or Generation Y folks to replace them. "The whole issue of talent is why budgets have begun growing again," says Josh Bersin, principal, CEO, and founder of Bersin & Associates, a learning research firm in Oakland, CA. "Companies are having a hard time hiring people at the manager level, and are finding gaps at the first, second, and third tiers of management. As companies realize they have to develop talent internally, the training function is becoming more and more strategic, and the folks who are getting more money for their budgets are the ones who are proposing big initiatives for big talent problems."
To read the full article, click here.
Book: The Business Case for E-Learning
by Tom Kelly and Nader Nanjiani
The Business Case for E-Learning is the first book that demonstrates the productivity gains provided by Internet learning through a unique approach combining e-communication, e-training, and e-assessment. Beyond theory, The Business Case for E-Learning is based on practical experience in developing and deploying programs that bolster profitability. This book offers you practical recommendations for best practices and return on investment and provides lessons learned from real-world experiences.
Managers need to prove to companies that an e-learning program can result in demonstrable productivity gains. Through The Business Case for E-Learning, you learn to avoid unnecessary trial and error with e-learning and take advantage of the e-learning experience documented by authors Tom Kelly and Nader Nanjiani.
For more information or to purchase this book, visit Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Business-Case-E-Learning-Network/dp/1587200864
or Safari at http://safari.ciscopress.com/1587200864
E-Learning Case Studies
Cisco Systems - Anytime, Anywhere Training and Product Knowledge Sharing
Altus in the News
Can't Find the Information You Need? Try This
Several organizations have turned to Altus Learning Systems' Sales Xcellerator, a Web 2.0 application that captures sales-critical knowledge wherever it is being shared, including sales presentations, conference calls, Webinars, and conferences. The information is transcribed verbatim and synchronized with video and slides. It is then searchable down to the spoken word. In other words, say a sales rep wanted to find out what cost savings their product or service had provided to certain types of customers.
SellingPower Sales Management Newsletter
Altus Extreme Knowledge Sharing
Think of YouTube gone corporate, powered by TiVO and indexed by Google search. Think searching a DVD by indexed keywords rather than movie scenes... If these sound interesting, check out Altus Learning Systems (altuscorp.com) and see how corporate events, invigorated by social networking video presentations, can impart more information faster and more accurately than ever.
IT World, James Gaskin
Complimentary E-Learning Consultation: Maximizing Your Training Budget with Social Media
Are you maximizing your employees' knowledge? You don't need instructor to lead a course, let your employees guide the way. If budgets are frozen or cut, open your community to social networking. Register for a free professional consultation from Altus that will identify specific areas where new technologies can be leveraged to effect significant improvements in your training and social media strategy. Discover the true value of your employee knowledge and intellectual property as they are able to more freely collaborate and add their own input and experience. Register here for your free consultation. Be sure to check the box next to "Yes, I am interested in a Complimentary Training and Social Media Consultation."
Previous Newsletter
If you missed our February 2008 newsletter on Event Effectiveness, you may review it here »
Coming Up in our Next Issue…
The latest industry insights on knowledge sharing for social networking in the enterprise, collaboration and community building.