Chief Learning Officer - September 2007 - (Page 63)

business intelligence BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE continued from page 58 answers for the last couple of years. It appeared that whether the learning function is centralized or decentralized had no bearing on a company’s decision to outsource learning — about two-thirds of companies with either centralized or decentralized learning function outsourced a portion or all of it to an external providers. outsourcing that is now completed. But the bigger story seems to be that the respondents who do not outsource don’t plan to do because they are satisfied learning internal training resources. More are Content with Internal Learning Resources When asked the primary reason for not pursuing learning outsourcing, 37 percent of respondents said they are content with their internal learning resources (see Figure 4). This response is followed by 18 percent of respondents who feel their companies do not do enough learning to justify outsourcing. There has been a noticeable increase in these two responses this year. Conversely, there has been a decrease in the number of companies that say the outsourcing providers do not understand the business and that the subject matter is too complex. In addition, the companies seem less concerned about losing institutional knowledge or intellectual property to an outside provider. The results suggest learning outsourcing providers have improved in demonstrating they understand the company’s business and its complexities but also highlight an opportunity to better communicate the advantages of outsourcing to the buyer community. Also, although cost was not a major factor in deciding whether to outsource and with whom to outsource, it appears cost is of a bigger concern for those who are not outsourcing. Learning outsourcing is well-established within the ranks of the BIB. The key findings from this survey include: • Decrease in the number of respondents likely to outsource in the future primarily because of the increasing number of companies that are content with their internal learning resources. • Most buyers outsource select learning activities and are looking for learning and subjectmatter expertise, followed by cultural fit. • The adoption of outsourcing continues to be about two-thirds of the market, as it has been for the last couple of years. Although this survey answered some questions, it also raised some that need to be explored, such as whether future growth in learning outsourcing will come from existing customers outsourcing more select learning activities and whether more companies will build learning expertise organically and become content with their internal learning resources. For now, it appears majority of the companies are satisfied with either the learning outsourcing provider or their internal resources to meet their learning needs. Most Buyers Outsource Select Learning Activities Learning outsourcing engagements typically fall into one of two camps: those in which select training activities are outsourced, and those in which the entire learning function is outsourced. As in the last couple of years, most respondents who outsource engage in select learning activities (97 percent), and a minority (3 percent) said their organizations outsourced the entire learning function. This suggests companies are content to leverage specific areas of learning, and they either are not ready to outsource or are not interested in outsourcing the whole learning function. Of those who do outsource, more than half do so for only front-office activities, compared with 4 percent who outsource only back-office learning functions. This suggests outsourcing providers are able to provide seamless integration with the company to the extent that companies are comfortable outsourcing the more visible and crucial aspects of learning compared with the less visible back-office functions. Of the front-office functions, learning delivery and custom content design and development were the most frequently outsourced, and learning technology management was the most common outsourced back-office activity. The results suggest learning outsourcing providers have improved in demonstrating they understand the company’s business and its complexities but also highlight an opportunity to better communicate the advantages of outsourcing to the buyer community. Buyers Satisfied with Outsourcing Solutions Of the respondents who do outsource, nearly 80 percent are either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the arrangement. Nine percent indicated they were dissatisfied with their company’s outsourcing situation. These results were consistent for both select and total learning outsourcing, which suggest an outsourcing strategy can be deployed successfully for either case. Fewer Likely to Outsource in Future Despite the high satisfaction rate, there has been a decrease in the number of respondents who plan or continue to outsource in the future — from 69 percent last year to 58 percent this year. Upon closer examination, there are a couple of factors that play into the decrease in the number of companies that plan to outsource. One is that some respondents outsource but do not plan to do so in the future as a result of dissatisfaction or because of a temporary need for 63 September 2007 I www.clomedia.com I Chief Learning Officer http://www.clomedia.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chief Learning Officer - September 2007

Editor's Letter Contents Letters to the Editor Strategies Selling up, Selling Down Take Five Imperatives Guest Editorial Learning Solutions Embarking on a Learning Journey Clo Profile Environment CIGNA Service Operations: Making Strategic Change Happen, and Making It Stick Tactics Black & Decker: On-Demand Learning Creation and Consumption Productivity The Army You Have Human Capital Holiday Inn Express: Delivering Critical Training Globally Case Study: Tegan Jones Business Intelligence Case Study: Lisa Rummler Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources In Conclusion

Chief Learning Officer - September 2007

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