Training Industry Magazine - March/April 2018 - 56

CLOSING
D E A L S

ACQUISITIONS AND NEW STRATEGIC PLAN
POSITION CORNERSTONE ONDEMAND
FOR THE FUTURE OF TRAINING
BY TARYN OESCH

Cornerstone OnDemand, a cloudbased learning and human capital
management
software
company,
has been busy over the last year. In
November, the company announced
a $300 million strategic investment
from Silver Lake (a global technology
investment firm) and LinkedIn. At the
same time, Cornerstone launched
a new strategic plan that includes
"leveraging its leadership position in
global learning to expand its presence

RESKILLING AND UPSKILLING
WILL BE CRITICAL TO FIND
THE TALENT TO CONTRIBUTE
TO THE FUTURE OF WORK.
in e-learning content," according to the
press release. Jason Corsello, senior vice
president of strategy and corporate
development at Cornerstone, says the
new plan is to support the "next phase
of growth for the business, going from
$500 million in annual revenue to a $1
billion revenue company."
The plan includes several key
components. First, following the model
of many other large software companies,
Cornerstone will start contracting
delivery and implementation services
to partners. "We believe our partnerfirst model will strengthen our extended
ecosystem," says Corsello, "and enable our
clients to embrace our diverse and wellestablished partner network of global
systems integrators such as Deloitte,
IBM, Wipro and DXC Technology."
Cornerstone is also expanding into new
markets, including e-learning content.
For example, the company strengthened

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its relationship with LinkedIn last month,
announcing an agreement in which
the two companies are collaborating
to provide LinkedIn learning content
to Cornerstone customers. The press
release announcing the partnership
described the partnership as allowing
customers to "[weave] continuous,
lifelong learning into daily employee
activity while also addressing extensive
organizational learning requirements."
This type of learning strategy, which
combines daily learning aligned with
organizational needs, is increasingly
important as companies compete
for skilled talent and employees look
more and more for employers who
provide opportunities for professional
development. As a 2018 World Economic
Forum report stated, "As the types of
skills needed in the labour market
change rapidly, individual workers will
have to engage in life-long learning
if they are to achieve fulfilling and
rewarding careers. For companies,
reskilling and upskilling strategies
will be critical if they are to find the
talent they need and to contribute to
socially responsible approaches to the
future of work."
This strategy is also behind Rallyteam, a
startup founded by former Cornerstone
employees and in which Cornerstone
is an investor, participating in an $8.6
million Series A funding round last year.
Cornerstone's strategic venture arm, the
Cornerstone Innovation Fund, invests in
and collaborates with early-stage cloud
startups, according to Corsello. He adds,
"We believe Rallyteam is addressing
a big opportunity as it relates to the
'gig economy' and mobilizing talent.
Rallyteam
intelligently
matches

employees to projects, tasks, ideas and
people, enabling teams to quickly selforganize and companies to respond
faster to change."
What's next? In 2017, Cornerstone
launched its learning experience
platform,
which
uses
artificial
intelligence to personalize learning,
and a video-based subscription service,
Cornerstone Content Anytime. Corsello
says the company plans to add new
capabilities this year, including playlists,
intelligent search and discovery. He adds,
"Our learning experience combined with
modern content is geared toward closing
skill gaps and developing both" hard
and soft skills. In addition to its learning
products, Cornerstone is investing in
its recruiting and performance suites,
"adding a new candidate experience,
native mobile applications and AIassisted career development applications
that enable employees to control their
career ambitions."
Finally, Corsello says Cornerstone is
partnering with Institute for the Future,
a think tank, to prepare clients "for the
future of work." The two organizations
just released a forecast report called
"Future Skills: Get Fit for What's Next,"
describing "the monumental shift that
needs to occur" in how we work and learn.
As employees, organizations and entire
economies prepare for what the World
Economic Forum is calling "a reskilling
revolution," Cornerstone is positioning
itself as a resource for companies
looking to navigate that revolution with
strategic talent development.
Taryn Oesch is an editor at Training Industry,
Inc. Email Taryn.

https://www.trainingindustry.com/press-release/e-learning/cornerstone-ondemand-strengthens-strategic-relationship-with-linkedin/ https://www.trainingindustry.com/press-release/e-learning/cornerstone-ondemand-strengthens-strategic-relationship-with-linkedin/ https://www.trainingindustry.com/glossary/artificial-intelligence/ https://www.trainingindustry.com/glossary/artificial-intelligence/ https://www.weforum.org/reports/towards-a-reskilling-revolution https://www.weforum.org/reports/towards-a-reskilling-revolution https://www.trainingindustry.com/press-release/learning-technologies/cornerstone-ondemand-announces-300-million-strategic-investment/ https://www.trainingindustry.com/press-release/learning-technologies/cornerstone-ondemand-announces-300-million-strategic-investment/ https://www.trainingindustry.com/press-release/performance-management/rallyteam-raises-8-6-million-to-grow-talent-development-platform/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - March/April 2018