eLearning Though Recession And Future Growth

eLearning came into being through its early predecessors in the form of CBT & then WBT. It took off mainly due to its potential to save costs, the inherent advantages in centralizing content, the reduction in logistics costs, ease in maintenance of content and uniformity in content delivery.

It soon caught on and became an important part of the ‘learning strategy’. It not only helped companies save costs on a recurring basis but also helped improve organizations’ performance.

*Source: 'European Corporate e-Learning Market Forecast and Analysis, 2003 - 07‘, by IDC Image Courtesy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robdeman/2390666040/ The size of the e-learning market in Western Europe was $358mn in 2003*.

*Source: "eLearning: A Global Strategic Business Report,“ by Global Industry Analysts #Source: Ambient Insight's 2008-2013 US Corporate Market Forecast In 2007, the U.S. eLearning market was $17.5 bn*, while the corporate market for Self-paced eLearning was $5.2 bn#.

Thus, as an industry, eLearning had witnessed significant growth over the years. The global market for self-paced eLearning products and services had reached US $ 27.1 billion in 2009*. *Source: Ambient Insight Report Read more

THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN Read more

There was promising growth on one hand and recession on the other. Recession threatened to disrupt the continuity of growth and momentum of the eLearning industry. Image Courtesy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/toddography/12034661/

From the companies point of view - tremendous pressures were put to save on costs & to generate more value at the same cost. There was mix of cost pressure and need to keep an eye on training to survive and grow beyond the recession phase.

THE SECOND WAVE OF eLEARNING Read more

There has been an increase in demand for eLearning primarily to compensate for the budget cuts and to reduce overall training costs. While this is proving and will continue to prove a booster in terms of revenue growth for learning solutions providers, it also has the potential to erode the true value to some extent.

Over the past few years, as the industry was maturing, the focus was slowly moving towards producing learning solutions that impact performance and dollar numbers. This second wave could have a pull-back effect, potentially.

THE DOWNSIDE

This could lead to a surge in solutions which are good from a cost perspective but not from a ‘learning’ perspective. This is because with the focus on finding the cheapest solution, other important parameters may get overlooked.

Companies will realize that the real cost of bad eLearning is much higher than good eLearning. Cost of bad sales training Read more

As more such solutions are adopted by companies, it would take another level of effort to evangelize and educate customers on the true value and potential of eLearning.

THE BRIGHT SIDE Read more

More companies are now able to produce better quality eLearning at costs lower than before – striking the right balance.

So companies can work with limited budgets and still create good eLearning. This can be done by focusing on critical learning needs & areas, and designing solutions that engage the mind, encourage reflection, and induce behavior change.

Companies are also pushing technology innovation to develop advanced solutions.

FUTURE THE Read more

The demand for eLearning is growing at a 5 year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.8% and revenues will reach $49.6 billion by 2014*. *Source: Ambient Insight Report

North America will continue to be the biggest market.

The compound annual growth rate in Asia is a very healthy 33.5%*. By 2014, Asia (which includes Australia and New Zealand in this report) would overtake Western Europe to become the second largest market after North America. *Source: Ambient Insight Report

The size of e-learning market in India is expected to grow from the $27 million (in 2008) to $280 million by 2012. *Source: Report by brokerage firm CLSA Asia Pacific Markets

Vibrant outsourcing hubs have come up in countries such as Belarus and the Ukraine. *Source: Ambient Insight Report East Europe is second fastest in growth terms at 23.0%*. Image Courtesy: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Easterneurope-map.png

Source: Ambient Insight Report The demand for local content in each region is increasing. This is due to resistance in regional markets to content that has been translated but not localized.

100% of primary and secondary schools in Korea & Singapore offer some type of online education already*. *Source: Ambient Insight Report

New tool and learning platform suppliers are entering the market at a steady rate in each region even in more mature markets like North America.

Source: Ambient Insight Report Adoption of self-paced eLearning is now wide spread across buying segments. North America where corporate are still the top buyers, will see academic buyers emerge as top buyers in next five years.

….And the demand for eLearning Solutions will continue to grow. Image Courtesy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/feverblue/3980021169/

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