Corporate Learning Executives Also Reveal Where They Would Reinvest Cost Savings

Mountain View, CA – March 11, 2008 – Expertus, a global provider of services that optimize the business impact of learning, today announced the findings of its newest study entitled “Training Efficiency: Optimizing Costs.” The research, conducted in collaboration with TrainingIndustry.com, found mounting pressure among training executives to reduce costs. More than 50% of training executives surveyed indicated that cost reduction pressure is “significant” or “intense.” These findings, along with other survey results, can be viewed at: https://www.expertus.com/survey/results08/CostEfficiency.pdf.

“Training executives are always feeling challenged to do more with less,” said Mohana Radhakrishnan, Founder and Vice President of Client Services for Expertus. “Under that type of pressure, training organizations are learning how to maximize their training investments more than ever across delivery, content development, administration and technology.”

According to those surveyed, the most critical area to cut costs and improve efficiency is in administration (46%), as compared to delivery, content development and technology. In fact, training managers say the last place they will reduce cost is in learning technologies, as they consistently rate it as an investment through which they can reduce costs in other budget areas. However, learning leaders identified the following specific opportunities as the top ways to cut costs within each of the budget areas:

  1. Technology: Optimize, customize/consolidate learning technologies (67%)
  2. Administration: Streamline evaluations or reporting process (53%)
  3. Delivery: Reduce travel and lodging (53%)
  4. Content Development: Increase use of content development software (46%)

“Much of the belt tightening is coming from senior management with expectations to expand training without increasing costs,” said Doug Harward, CEO of TrainingIndustry.com. “It’s about doing more with less. In most cases, it is helpful to training organizations to learn how to be savvy about learning process management and reinvest in process optimization. We’ve developed an upcoming webinar where we’ll talk about tips and best practices for optimizing costs.”

The study results indicated that training leaders, given the opportunity to reinvest cost savings, would spend those funds on:

  1. Improving the quality of the content (65%)
  2. Improving measurement and analytics capabilities (61%)
  3. Upgrading technology (61%).

These and more survey findings will be discussed in-depth during a webinar, “9 Ways to Trim Operational Expenses to Fund Strategic Learning”, hosted by Expertus and TrainingIndustry.com on March 20, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. ET. For more information and to register, visit https://www.expertus.com/RSVP/pr.

“Training Efficiency: Optimizing Costs” was a survey of 113 training leaders across the country from companies of all sizes in a variety of industries. It was conducted in February 2008 by Expertus and TrainingIndustry.com to measure the budget challenges, pressures and opportunities facing training leaders today. This was the first of four surveys in 2008 to gather market data on efficiency in training organizations. For more information on the research or Expertus, log on to the Pressroom https://www.expertus.com/about/pressroom.html or call 877-827-8160.

About Expertus
Expertus is the leading global provider of services that optimize the business impact of learning. For more than a decade, the firm’s 500+ learning management professionals have defined and implemented plans, processes and technologies that transform training organizations – creating measurable value for the world’s most successful corporations. Customers include ADP, Cisco, ConocoPhillips, EMC, Honeywell and Lockheed Martin. Every day at these and other companies, more than a million employees, customers and business partners are educated as a result of Expertus’ innovative business strategies, outsourcing services and technology-rich solutions.

Based in Silicon Valley, Expertus serves its customers from offices in the US, UK and India. For more information, visit www.expertus.com, or call toll-free 1-877-827-8160.

About Training Industry, Inc.

Training Industry, Inc is a Cary, North Carolina based company with a mission to create a more efficient marketplace for learning. Training Industry Inc. provides a variety of services to buyers, suppliers, and professionals in the training industry under: TrainingIndustry Consulting, TrainingIndustry Conferences, TrainingIndustry Webinars, TrainingIndustry Research and TrainingIndustry.com Learning Communities. For more information, please contact info@trainingindustry.com or visit our website www.trainingindustry.com.