September 10, 2015− Global learning provider Demos Group has undertaken a strategic reorganization to introduce a new learning solutions-oriented operating model and a broader range of training services to clients in five key countries.
The group’s operations in Australia, Czech Republic, Germany, Portugal and Spain will now be managed by Hemsley Fraser, which has been a subsidiary company of Demos Group since 2008.
“HemsLey Fraser’s operating model is very successful in the United Kingdom and the United States," Franck Lebouchard, CEO of Demos Group, explained. "We’ve restructured our internal operations because we see great potential in replicating that success in other markets. This is an exciting development as it means that clients in five more countries can now take advantage of the combined strength of Hemsley Fraser’s and Demos’s expertise in managed learning services, customized learning solutions, personalized in-house training programs, publicly-scheduled training courses and digital learning. This opens up new opportunities for organizations to create even more effective localized training programs, and also means that multinational clients can benefit from truly transformative and integrated global learning programs.”
Hemsley Fraser’s immediate plans for the expanded international operation include offering their top UK training programs in the new countries, promoting greater digital learning offerings and extending their Managed Services support center footprint, currently run out of the southwest of the UK, through the addition of a new Managed Services customer support center in Frankfurt.
“This strategic reorganization represents a vote of confidence in our strategy from Demos," said Todd Turner, CEO of Hemsley Fraser. "All of the group’s employees and operations across Australia, Czech Republic, Germany, Portugal and Spain now fall under Hemsley Fraser’s umbrella and we look forward to continuing to support the positive learning activity underway in these markets. This change greatly expands our international service capability and will ensure that key clients in these countries will benefit from a broader range of learning services and expertise.”
Founded in 1991, Hemsley Fraser is a learning specialist which is recognized as one of the world’s leading providers of leadership and management training and managed learning. The company’s training and faculty network includes over 5,000 L&D professionals worldwide.
“We have a robust suite of our own intellectual property,” added Turner. “This means we can rapidly create personalized learning programs that are customized to a client’s needs. There’s a growing market for this as clients want training that feels uniquely theirs, but they don’t want to pay for fully bespoke solutions. Over the past year, we’ve invested heavily in digital learning innovations, interactive design technology and next-generation classroom environments to really bring to life how learning is changing. We look forward to bringing these innovations to new markets through this expanded relationship with the Demos international organizations.”
In this internal reorganization, Turner will also now serve as executive vice president of international operations for parent company Demos.
Demos Group Reorganizes to Offer Hemsley Frasers Expertise and Learning Services in Five More Countries
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RAIN Group Opens Offices in Mumbai and Delhi to Serve Sales Training and Consulting Clients in India
Framingham, MA− September 14, 2015− RAIN Group, a global sales training and performance improvement company, has announced that it has expanded its operations in APAC with new offices in Mumbai and Delhi. Vivek Kumar, an expert in sales training and sales performance improvement, has been named practice director and will lead the expansion.
“We’re excited to have Vivek and his team join RAIN Group,” said John Doerr, president of RAIN Group and bestselling author of “Insight Selling.” “His passion for analysis and drive toward innovation will help our clients push boundaries and keep them well ahead of their competition. He brings a great deal of experience and a new, entrepreneurial perspective to our APAC team that is essential for both our growth and the growth of our clients.”
Kumar has worked in training, coaching and consulting with leading organizations in various aspects of sales performance improvement for over 15 years. He started his career in sales at ICICI Prudential, India’s largest private life insurer. In 2008, Kumar co-founded a successful sales maximization firm that has partnered with organizations like Canon India, Metlife, and Walmart India. Kumar has worked with sales professionals across diverse industries including banking and financial services, IT, e-commerce, travel, retail and education.
“We are extremely impressed with RAIN Group’s research-based sales consulting, sales training, and sales coaching methodology,” said Kumar. “We believe that Indian organizations can achieve a significantly higher ROI on their sales efforts by subscribing to RAIN Group’s approach. We’re pleased to partner with such a strong firm, and have the opportunity to deploy a global sales enablement framework in alignment with the nuances of the Indian market scenario.”
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Creativedge Launches Toolkit Plus the New 180 Minute Training Session
September 14, 2015− Creativedge Training & Development announced the launch of its new ‘Toolkit Plus’, training sessions. All 90-minute, bite-size training sessions will be available, on request, in longer sessions of 180-minutes.
Now, thanks to this extended timeframe, Toolkit Plus sessions will enable participants to benefit from more exercises and practice time, as well as have a chance to fully reflect and review their performance with the trainer.
“The 180-minute training sessions have been specifically designed to meet the needs of those participants who would benefit from having more immersive exercises and practise sessions as part of their training, beyond what is offered in the 90-minute sessions," said Mark McCormack, Creativedge business development manager. "Participants will have the opportunity to address specific concerns whilst still benefitting from our original bite-size training sessions which meet the demands of busy, time-restricted professionals."
Just as with bite-size training courses and sessions, bespoke 180-minute Toolkit Plus sessions can also be specially developed by Creativedge with companies to meet their particular business and staff training requirements.
“By offering training in an extended time frame, people have more time to really practice and fully immerse themselves in what they are learn," said McCormack. "They are also able to use more tools and techniques recommended to them by the trainer. This is especially useful for people who have specific training needs required for their job, and as such, would welcome the more specific, in-depth training guidance.”
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The Training Associates Named a Fastest Growing Staffing Firm in the US
Westborough, MA – September 18, 2015 - The Training Associates (TTA), the largest provider of training talent and solutions, announced they have been recognized by Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) as one of the Fastest Growing Staffing Firms in the United States.
To qualify for the list, staffing firms had to post at least $1 million in revenue in 2010 and have compound annual revenue growth of at least 15 percent between 2010 and 2014. Only organic revenue growth was considered.
“We are honored to have been recognized by Staffing Industry Analysts as a Fast Growing Staffing Firm in the U.S." said Maria Melfa, president and CEO at The Training Associates. "After 21 years in business, I couldn't be more grateful for the dedication of our staff and trainer consultants. They are always looking at ways of improving our customers’ experience working with us and this award is a direct result of their efforts.”
ABOUT STAFFING INDUSTRY ANALYSTS
Staffing Industry Analysts is the global advisor on contingent work. Known for its independent and objective insights, the company’s proprietary research, award-winning content, data, support tools, publications, and executive conferences provide a competitive edge to decision-makers who supply and buy temporary staffing. In addition to temporary staffing, Staffing Industry Analysts also covers related staffing sectors. The company provides accreditation with its Certified Contingent Workforce Professional (CCWP) program. Founded in 1989 and acquired by Crain Communications Inc. in 2008, the company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with offices in London, England.
ABOUT THE TRAINING ASSOCIATES Founded in 1994, The Training Associates is the largest, most recognized provider of on-demand learning and development talent and solutions. TTA's talent offerings feature over 25,000 L&D resources specializing in adult learning for all technologies and business/soft skills. Our services include our ability to undertake and manage projects of any size or scope related to the design, development, and delivery of training.
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First Ever Adapt Hangout Lifts the Lid on Multi-Device E-Learning
Plymouth, UK− September 21, 2015− The team behind the award-winning Adapt responsive technology will be answering questions on multi-device e-learning at the first ever Adapt Hangout.
Adapt is a free and easy-to-use e-learning authoring tool that creates fully responsive, multi-device, HTML5 e-learning content using the open source Adapt framework.
Established in 2013 and developed by a collaborative team, Adapt allows people to create single version content that works across multiple types of devices.
Some of the project leaders are coming together to answer questions about the technology in a discussion hosted on Google Hangouts.
The panel will include Adapt’s Project Lead and Kineo’s Technical Director Sven Laux, Adapt’s Project Manager and Freelance Instructional Designer, Lucy Hodge, CEO of Learning Pool, Paul McElvaney, and Games Developer Jason Butler from Sponge UK.
“Adapt is changing the e-learning landscape and making multi-device learning a reality for more and more organizations," said Butler. "We’re using the technology to create responsive learning solutions that can meet the needs of large global businesses and their employees. As well as creating a new customised look and feel for the framework, we’re also working to expand its gamification capabilities and range of interactions.”
The Hangout is a chance to ask questions about the Adapt framework, how it works, the progress of the new authoring tool, the advantages of open source development and the organizational benefits of using Adapt.
“We’ve been heavily involved in the Adapt project from the start and our focus has been on creating Adapt Builder," said McElvaney. "I’m hoping to share how this development has significantly changed our business by reshaping the development workflow and encouraging creativity. I can also explain our continued plans for developing this exciting new product as an open source endeavor.”
Aimed at L&D professionals, instructional designers and e-learning developers, the Hangout is the first of its kind to bring together some of the key figures behind the world’s leading open source responsive framework.
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Boosting Engagement With Games at World of Learning
September 22, 2015− How games work to increase engagement and how they fit into workplace elearning are among the questions being answered at a free seminar at the World of Learning exhibition and conference.
The learning workshop hosted by Louise Pasterfield, managing director at Sponge UK, will offer L&D managers and professionals an overview of e-learning games and real-life examples of how organizations are using them to boost learner engagement.
World of Learning takes place at NEC Birmingham on September 29-30 and features live workshops, free seminars, 120 exhibitors and a highly respected conference.
“I’ll be breaking down what it is about elearning games that engages learners," said Pasterfield. "I’d like to show people the sheer variety of elearning games available and how they can be used to target specific learning challenges or develop particular skills. As with all our seminars, you’ll be able to see lots of real examples of the work we are doing for major global businesses including an interactive video project that is helping train managers in how to deal with difficult conversations.”
Sponge UK is an award-winning e-learning provider specializing in bespoke e-learning solutions for large organizations.
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BizLibrary Releases Employee Perspectives on Training Vol 1 Report Results
Chesterfield, MO −September 23, 2015− BizLibrary released today a report on the “State of the Training Industry” based upon the results of a new survey of employee perceptions of their employers’ training programs. Among the key findings in the report are that employee training programs deliver overall better results when the content is delivered via online, micro-video content.
This nationwide survey, conducted from June 10 through Aug. 4, 2015 on behalf of BizLibrary, collected a total of 1,821 responses, 55 percent of which came from the public (non-BizLibrary client employees) and 45 percent from BizLibrary client employees. The report provides evidence on changes in online training trends and the industry as a whole.
This initial volume reports employee perceptions on the effectiveness of training programs at performing three foundational tasks: teaching new skills, improving performance and preparing for the future. The report also measures employee perceptions on the effectiveness of different training methods.
Among the other key findings reported are that BizLibrary client employees with access to online content delivered via micro-video report substantially better learning results compared to public participants with access to different types of learning programs.
“We looked carefully at the “State of the Industry” reports that are generated each year, and we noticed an important theme," said Chris Osborn, vice president of organizational strategy. "All of the data shared a common point of view. All of those reports came from data generated by organizational leaders in either HR or employee training. None of the widely published data reported any information about how employees felt about the effectiveness of $70 billion spent by American organizations each year on employee learning. This survey and subsequent report represent our attempt to change that."
The next volume of this series will explore the relationship between employee perceptions of training effectiveness and the content and topics organizations provide. The third volume will provide a range of data from technology use to topics, based on job roles.
"We wanted to learn what employees think about the training they receive from their employers, but to find out, we had to ask ourselves," Osborn added. "So we developed and ran this survey. We are very pleased with the level of participation. With over 1,800 responses, we believe we have a substantial enough sample size that these results are significant. We are also deeply gratified that BizLibrary client employees reported results that are so much better than employees at other organizations. We believe we’ve been at the leading edge of employee learning for quite some time, and this data really helps confirm that belief.”
About BizLibrary
BizLibrary is a leading provider of online employee training and eLearning solutions. The BizLibrary Collection is our award-winning content collection, and contains thousands of online videos and eLearning courses covering every business training topic, including: business skills (including soft skills), leadership and management, sales and customer service, HR compliance training, IT, software, industry specific content, workplace safety and more.
The BizLibrary Collection can be accessed online through BizLibrary's Learning Management System (LMS) or through any third-party LMS. Technology solutions include: BizLibrary’s Learning Portal, Content Management System, LMS, and BizLibrary Mobile App to help clients improve and manage employee learning across the entire organization.
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SurePeople Launches Intelligent Learning and Development Platform
Chicago, IL− September 23, 2015− SurePeople, a global provider of human capital analytics solutions, announced the launch of its intelligent learning and development platform. Driven by individual employee and organizational data, this product is designed to scale across an entire company.
SurePeople’s fully-integrated, cloud-based applications provide organizations across industries and sizes with customized on-demand learning and personalized development plans for all employees – from front-line workers to leadership teams.
"We're officially introducing our solutions at a time when companies need learning, development and hiring applications that are scalable, affordable, personalized, driven by real data and analytics from people themselves, and deliver a real return on investment," says Niko Drakoulis, founder and CEO of SurePeople.
The innovative platform creates a data-driven learning culture for companies that is engaging, collaborative and employee-driven. Key features include:
Individual Data: The SurePeople PRISM™, a personal assessment built on psychometric testing standards and decades of scientific research. As the only assessment that reveals an employee’s Emotional, Relational and Team Intelligence (ERT-iTM), it creates a foundation that targets the individual’s learning and development needs.
Organizational Insights: The SurePeople PULSE™ delivers real-time data for organizations through custom 360 assessments for employees or customers and surveys on company culture, leadership strength and engagement. These insights give companies greater visibility across their talent pipeline and align the learning needs of an employee with the needs of a business.
Personalized Learning and Development Plans: An automated plan for each employee that features over 60 practice areas designed by executive coaches, with strategies and direction based on the 70:20:10 model for learning & development. Users access an on-demand multimedia library filled with curated and customized content to support each learner.
Performance and Analytics: A suite of tools that provide employees with real-time feedback on their professional development, evaluate their growth through self-assessments, and foster a socially collaborative experience through recognition and endorsements. In addition, company leaders get instant access to all learning and development activities to measure their return on investment.
SurePeople has also released its intelligent hiring application. Companies can use the PRISM assessment to support hiring decisions, match and compare candidates, and short-form assessments for references which will outline a candidate’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
According to the Global Human Capital Trends 2015 report by Deloitte, learning and development is a top three issue for companies. The report, which surveyed more than 3,300 business and human resource leaders worldwide, reveals that companies are struggling to develop leaders at all levels as they confront increasing skills gaps.
Josh Bersin, founding principal of Bersin by Deloitte and an expert in business-driven learning, HR and talent management, notes that there is a need to revamp and improve employee learning. According to Bersin, research shows that companies with high performing learning environments rank high in employee engagement.
"Our technology and leadership team is poised to reinvent the learning experience for companies, and to bring a fragmented landscape of learning and human analytics into focus and alignment in one cloud-based platform," says Drakoulis. "We've been working and innovating with several Fortune 500 companies across industries. The feedback gathered during our year-long soft launch phase with select industry leaders has been extremely positive."
"SurePeople has created a technology solution that brings the learning and development marketplace into a whole new paradigm of efficacy—and modernizes how we manage people," said Karlin Sloan, founder and CEO of Sloan Group International. "It delivers instant people data and analytics, and gives companies the tools to develop leaders at all levels of their workforce strategically and without wasted effort."
ABOUT SUREPEOPLE
SurePeople is a global provider of the industry’s most comprehensive human capital analytics solutions. Its mission is to make people sure of themselves and businesses sure of their people. SurePeople’s intelligent learning, development and hiring platform drives performance and innovation for companies worldwide.
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eLogic Learning Selected by Hooters as Learning and Development Partner to Bolster Global Training Strategy
Tampa, FL – September 24, 2015− Hooters of America, LLC, (Hooters) has selected eLogic Learning (eLogic) as the iconic dining destination’s strategic learning and development partner. Hooters announced the partnership at the 2015 Hooters National Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, June 22-25 with great reception from both employees and franchisees.
Hooters is investing in guest-centric enhancements, from remodeling its restaurants with contemporary design elements to focusing on the recruitment, retention and development of staff members. Through its relationship with eLogic, Hooters is transforming its restaurant employee training and development programs in order to build efficiency and consistency in training across the globe. Hooters Chief Human Resources Officer Terri Hoskins is leading the training redevelopment strategy.
“Hooters is an iconic brand where tradition and service have been ingrained for more than 30 years,” said Hoskins. “Training and execution are critical as Hooters continues its international growth and domestic remodel initiatives. We want our guests to enjoy the same incredible Hooters dining experience no matter which one of our more than 400 worldwide locations they visit. We chose eLogic as our learning partner in this process because of their successful track-record of experience, strong representation in the hospitality world and ability to grow with us into the future.”
As part of the new training and development initiative, Hooters will evolve employee training from traditional, paper-based methods to interactive, online programs. By partnering with eLogic as its learning management system and online training provider, Hooters will deliver a consistent message to all employees and enhance the outstanding customer experience the restaurant is known for.
Utilizing eLogic’s learning management system, the eSSential LMS, Hooters has created an online corporate university that employees will have access to anywhere, including all mobile devices. The online university, called Hooters eCampus, has been designed to integrate seamlessly with the company’s branding and will play an integral role in standardizing restaurant employee training across all Hooters locations and franchise stores.
In addition to using the eSSential LMS to deliver training, Hooters is leveraging eLogic’s Learning Solutions team to develop custom eLearning courses specifically for Hooters employees. The courses cover a range of topics including employee onboarding, food preparation, menu knowledge and point-of-sale (POS) training.
Tammy Carr, chief learning officer, eLogic Learning, is directing the custom online training course development process.
“As a CLO it is exciting to work with the Hooters training professionals on this project,” said Carr. “They are extremely knowledgeable training professionals who are dedicated in bringing the best eLearning to their organization to enhance performance.”
According to Carr, the training is fully animated and is led by custom-illustrated “avatars” representing the different roles at Hooters, including the world-famous Hooters Girl.
“The training is engaging, fun and allows the Hooters employees to acquire and retain the knowledge they need to be successful at their jobs and represent the positive values of the Hooters brand,” said Carr.
In addition to job-related training, a number of courses are available in Hooters eCampus to help employees further develop their careers, including leadership training, communication skills development and much more.
“It’s a great honor to partner with Hooters and the inaugural roll out of the eCampus as part of the brand revitalization plan,” said Mark Anderson, CEO, eLogic Learning. “We’ve had a long, positive history of collaborating with Terri throughout her successful career in the hospitality industry. We’re honored Terri has continuously recommended eLogic and excited to collaborate with Hooters as the most recognized restaurant brand in the world.”
About Hooters of America
Hooters of America, LLC, is the franchisor and operator of more than 400 Hooters restaurants in 42 states and 26 countries. Known for its world famous Hooters Style chicken wings and the fabulous Hooters Girls, Hooters first opened its doors in 1983 in Clearwater, Florida. Expectations were so modest at the time that the simple fact the doors opened was deemed worthy of a toast. Since then millions have been liberated from the ordinary at Hooters while enjoying great food, fun and one-of-a-kind hospitality that can only be served up by the Hooters Girls.
About eLogic Learning
Since its founding in 2001, eLogic Learning has been leading the industry in learning management system innovation and providing personalized solutions and world-class support to achieve better business results through learning. Ranked as a Top 3 LMS by E-Learning 24/7, eLogic's eSSential LMS is a cloud-based learning management system with advanced reporting capabilities and unparalleled user experience. The eSSential LMS has helped hundreds of companies including Outback Steakhouse, Sage and Massage Envy Spa increase productivity, save costs and generate value. As a full-service learning solutions provider, eLogic offers its clients a range of professional services and tools to successfully train and develop their most valuable asset: the people behind their brand.
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NIIT to Establish European Delivery Center in Dublin Creating 110 Jobs
Dublin, Ireland− September 24, 2015 - Minister for Jobs, Richard Bruton TD announced that NIIT Limited, a global company which provides multi-disciplinary learning management and training delivery solutions to corporations, institutions, and individuals in over 40 countries, is to establish a European Delivery Center in Dublin, creating 110 jobs over five years.
The development is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through IDA (Industrial Development Authority) Ireland.
On Wednesday, September 23, 2015, the Irish Prime Minister, Enda Kenny said in a joint press statement with the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, "I also welcome the NIIT Company here to Ireland with a 110 jobs, with the IDA working strongly in terms of foreign direct investments here."
The publicly listed company, which was established in 1981 and is headquartered in Gurgaon, India, employs about 3,000 people in over 40 countries with primary locations in India, the United States, Europe and China. The focus of this announcement is NIIT’s Corporate Learning Group (CLG) which delivers comprehensive managed training services including Custom Curriculum Design and Content Development, Learning Administration, Learning Delivery, Strategic Sourcing, Learning Technology, and Advisory Services.
Ireland was chosen as the location for the new European Delivery Centre due to the availability of suitable creative and technical talent and multilingual skills, the cluster of existing learning technology companies and open business environment.
“A key part of our Action Plan for Jobs is achieving greater diversity in our multinational investment,” said Bruton. “As part of that, we have doubled the number of trade missions, and increased the number of IDA staff in key foreign growth markets. I have been to India on three major trade missions since taking office and I have seen first-hand the amazing work being done by our Agencies in that market and the massive potential for attracting investments and jobs to Ireland. I am well aware from our meetings in New Delhi that NIIT is a world-leading company in its sector, and today’s announcement that it is establishing its first operation in Ireland and creating 110 jobs is a huge boost. I wish NIIT every success with this great project.”
The new roles will include high-end engineers, creative writers, and digital media professionals. Other roles will be for trainers, multilingual customer service support, and project managers.
“Europe is an important and growing market for NIIT’s Corporate Learning Group,” said Sapnesh Lalla, president corporate learning group at NIIT. “Ireland was our country of choice for its extremely conducive business environment, strategic location, availability of multilingual creative and technical talent, and investment potential. We are honoured and very grateful for the support and cooperation that has been extended to us by the Government of Ireland, Minister Bruton, and the IDA. Our vision is to build NIIT Ireland as one of the finest global centres for bespoke content development, training management and delivery excellence.”
Welcoming the announcement, IDA’s CEO Martin Shanahan said, “The Indian market is an important region in IDA’s Growth Markets and NIIT is a valuable addition to the growing base of technology companies establishing in Ireland. It will serve as a strong reference seller for other e-learning and Indian companies considering Ireland as an investment location. The substantial number of jobs being created is also most welcome. I wish the company every success for the future in its Irish operations.”
About NIIT Limited
Established in 1981, NIIT Limited, a global leader in Skills and Talent Development, offers multi-disciplinary learning management and training delivery solutions to corporations, institutions, and individuals in over 40 countries.
NIIT has three main lines of business across the globe - Corporate Learning Group, Skills and Careers Group, and School Learning Group.
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Saba Builds Global Momentum for Learning Centric Talent Management
Redwood Shores, CA− September 28, 2015− Saba, a leader in cloud-based intelligent talent management solutions, announced its continued momentum for best-in-class learning and development solutions for companies of all sizes.
According to a 2015 Deloitte Human Capital Trends Survey, the need to transform and accelerate corporate learning tripled in the past year, while companies' confidence in their ability to deliver on learning sharply declined (from 75 percent to 40 percent). This, in turn, has contributed to global market momentum for Saba's learning-centric talent management solutions that deliver scalable, secure, collaborative and agile support for formal, informal, social and collaborative learning.
That agility has been key to global customers of all sizes turning to Saba for engagement-focused learning to address better ways to connect, develop, advance and incent their people. In the past year, increasing demand for Saba Cloud from companies of all sizes, including industry leaders like Dell, Virgin Atlantic and Air Canada, and closely-watched new business model innovators like FlightCar, drove user growth of over 100 percent.
The company's proven platform, Saba Cloud, is based on 18 years of learning management systems experience. Saba Cloud's innovation and talent management leadership has been acknowledged this year in reports by Gartner, IDC, Bersin and the Fosway Group. Further, the solution has been vetted for advanced security and scalability by the world's largest businesses.
Two examples at opposite ends of size and scope help highlight the breadth and leverage of Saba Learning: Dell and FlightCar.
Dell is using Saba Cloud to power product learning across 475,000 learners including employees, partners and customers. The business has been extremely innovative in tapping Saba to host learning content across a variety of mediums including "scan-to-learn" video linked to barcodes on its machines.
"Every end user wants a unique experience, customized just for them, whether you're a Millennial, a Gen X or you're a baby boomer like myself, you want to feel that user experience is designed specifically for you," said Charles Atkins, director of global learning and development, Dell. "Now we have a true management system in place with Saba that is relevant for our end users."
"Saba is helping us transform our learning by making it more simple and personalized," said Sydney Savion, global learning officer, global support and deployment learning & development, Dell. "Saba technology gives us the ability to measure the learning, aligning it to industry standards and providing global, 24/7 availability."
FlightCar is a three-year-old innovative start-up that rents out its customers' cars at 17 airports across the US. Growing at 400 percent + annually, FlightCar taps Saba to quickly ramp its teammates to deliver on its disruptive value proposition versus the entrenched rental car model. Saba is helping FlightCar extend a unique -- and consistent -- customer experience designed to build trust and return business.
"Saba partners with us to help us see what is possible," said Patrick Cournoyer, VP of HR at FlightCar. "We Implemented Saba in 6 weeks and I was able to launch the solution internally with an email that included a login and these directions: 'it looks like Facebook, you can't break it, go explore'. Done!"
"Our plan is to be very aggressive with opening new markets and expansion, and we have been," said Rujul Zaparde, CEO at FlightCar. "There's absolutely no way that we could have done it and can do it without Saba."
About Saba Saba delivers a cloud-based intelligent talent management solution used by leading organizations worldwide to hire, develop, engage and inspire their people. With machine learning at its core, Saba Cloud offers proactive, personalized recommendations on candidates, connections and content to help employees and businesses lead and succeed. It is purpose-built on a highly scalable platform that exceeds industry security and reliability standards. Saba has more than 31 million users and 2,200 customers across 195 countries and 37 languages.
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Trivantis Announces Latest Release of Its Course Reviewing SaaS Solution ReviewLink
Cincinnato, OH− September 29, 2015− Trivantis, makers of the popular e-learning software Lectora® and CourseMill®, announced the latest release of their course reviewing solution, ReviewLink™, now in version 3.0.
“ReviewLink was already the best way to collaborate with external reviewers, internal stakeholders, and subject matter experts when authoring new Lectora e-learning projects,” said John Blackmon, chief technology officer, Trivantis. “But now we have introduced the ability to upload and review projects from Adobe® Captivate™ and Articulate® Storyline™, too. Our customers often use a variety of eLearning authoring tools, so we wanted to make it possible for them to get feedback, check functionality, and report fixes in one place, regardless of how they created their courses.“
ReviewLink has also been made available for purchase by non-Lectora users starting at just $29 per month.
Customers have praised the development.
“ReviewLink is by far the best review tool I have ever used, and my SME’s love it too," said Jessica Sanderson, manager, instructional design at Sirius XM. "I’m happy that Trivantis has recognized learning designers use a variety of different authoring tools depending on the need. Now, no matter what tool I use, I know my SME’s will have a consistent, collaborative, and smooth review process."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used ReviewLink to run a course pilot. By using ReviewLink, the CDC could allow multiple reviewers to share their opinions, while keeping their comments hidden from each other. This prevented one reviewer’s opinion from influencing another’s first impression of the course.
Trivantis has also made a number of other improvements in its ReviewLink product. ReviewLink now uses responsive design, empowering reviewers to use mobile devices, such as tablets or smartphones, to review courses. ReviewLink is included with all Lectora maintenance plans and Lectora® Inspire users, who are current on their maintenance, now have the ability to upload up to 50 courses at a time starting with this new release.
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CrossKnowledge Partners with Junior Achievement USA to Support Future Entrepreneurs
Colorado Springs, CO− September 30, 2015− Junior Achievement USA® and CrossKnowledge, the distance learning brand of John Wiley and Sons, Inc., announced a joint partnership that will bring digital learning solutions to thousands of students and educators. As part of the agreement, CrossKnowledge has donated the use of its Learning Management System (LMS) to Junior Achievement USA (JA) for the next five years (starting in 2016) through the CrossKnowledge Foundation. This in-kind contribution is one of the largest of its kind in the history of JA.
To support its digital delivery strategy, JA selected CrossKnowledge out of hundreds of potential partners to help achieve this goal. The LMS allows students, educators and JA's network of more than 218,000 classroom volunteers to easily access JA curriculum using an electronic device and internet connection. The blended learning model also supports an in-person delivery of curriculum content to students in the classroom, helping to prepare them for the workforce and life after graduation.
Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to empowering young people to own their economic success. The organization serves 4.6 million students each year in 113 U.S. markets and another 5.6 million students in 121 countries worldwide.
"JA is in the midst of an historic transformation that will allow our organization to pair JA volunteer mentors with digitally delivered curriculum as part of a blended-learning experience that will positively impact the students we serve," said Jack E. Kosakowski, president and CEO, Junior Achievement USA. "CrossKnowledge and its parent company Wiley have made a transformational gift that will eventually change the lives of millions. We cannot thank them enough for their generosity and dedication to our mission of inspiring and preparing young people to succeed in the global economy."
It is estimated that nearly 300,000 Junior Achievement users will access CrossKnowledge programs in 2016 and that figure is expected to reach 1.6 million in 2020.
"We are pleased to provide Junior Achievement users with a complete range of courses that will help them develop the critical skillsets needed in the 21st century organizations and succeed in their future career," said Christophe Peron, head of North America, CrossKnowledge.
"Wiley, through our CrossKnowledge brand is proud to support the future generations of business leaders who are part of the Junior Achievement program," said Mark Allin president and CEO, Wiley.
About Junior Achievement USA® (JA) Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. JA programs are delivered by corporate and community volunteers, and provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students from kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship. Today, JA reaches 4.6 million students per year in 113 markets across the United States, with an additional 5.6 million students served by operations in 121 other countries worldwide.
About CrossKnowledge CrossKnowledge provides digital learning solutions built on exclusive learning technologies and a catalog of 20.000 learning objects in the fields of management and leadership available 16 languages. CrossKnowledge's learning content and teaching formats are developed in collaboration with an international 'Faculty', comprising the best experts and professors from the most renowned Business Schools in the world. CrossKnowledge serves companies of all sizes and all sectors, spanning more than seven million users.
About Wiley Wiley is a global provider of knowledge-enabled services that improve outcomes in research, education, and professional practice. Our core businesses produce scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, reference works, books, database services, and advertising; professional books, subscription products, certification and training services and online applications; and education content and services including integrated online teaching and learning resources for undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners.
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Global Knowledge Receives 2015 Red Hat Premier Training Partner Award
Cary, NC− October 6, 2015− Global Knowledge, the world's leading learning services and professional development solutions provider, was recently named Red Hat's Premier Training Partner of the Year for 2015 for its role as a top provider.
For more than 11 years, Global Knowledge has helped companies train individuals, teams and departments on the latest Red Hat technologies to solve challenges such as data storage, global information sharing, and saving money on IT infrastructure. The combination of customizable training options and expert instruction has earned Global Knowledge the Red Hat Premier Training Partner award for six of the past eight years.
“Receiving this award from Red Hat for a sixth year is truly an honor,” said Michael Fox, SVP, Enterprise Solutions for Global Knowledge. “As a premier training partner, we strive to enable companies to get the most out of their Red Hat technologies, empowering them to solve increasingly complex business issues through technical training and certification exam preparation.”
Red Hat-certified instructors actively engage students in task-focused activities, lab-based knowledge checks and facilitative discussions on a full catalog of Red Hat technologies such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform, for certification and organizational success.
Global Knowledge also offers the Red Hat Learning Subscription, a self-paced training option which provides students with access to up to 400 hours of hands-on lab time and more than 300 recorded instructor videos on Red Hat operating systems, middleware, cloud, and virtualization.
“Red Hat is happy to award our North American Red Hat Premier Training Partner of the Year award to Global Knowledge,” said Karl Reynolds, director of training for North America, Red Hat. “Global Knowledge has been a Red Hat partner for more than 10 years, a RH Partner since 2003. They’ve experienced growth for our fiscal year 2015 through their strong efforts in both public sector and commercial markets, and are one of the top providers for Red Hat training. We are happy with our continued collaboration to provide resources that enable individuals and organizations to get the most out of our open source applications.”
About Global Knowledge
Global Knowledge is the world’s leading learning services and professional development solutions provider. We deliver learning solutions to support customers as they adapt to key business transformations and technological advancements that drive the way that organizations around the world differentiate themselves and thrive. Our learning programs, whether designed for a global organization or an individual professional, help businesses close skills gaps and foster an environment of continuous talent development.
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Skillsoft and SumTotal Celebrate First Year as Combined Organization
Camberley, UK− October, 12, 2015− Commemorating the anniversary of its acquisition of SumTotal Systems, Skillsoft, a global leader in learning and talent management announced key milestones the companies have achieved, both separately and together, in transforming learning and talent management over the past year. In the time since the two organizations combined forces and unified their vision, Skillsoft and SumTotal have executed against a tight timeline and aggressive goals to grow their combined business and deliver content-infused, seamlessly integrated learning and talent processes that improve organizational performance by improving employee performance.
“In the past year, the recognition Skillsoft, our partners and our customers have earned underscores Skillsoft’s vision and commitment to delivering end-to-end learning and talent solutions that drive positive business outcomes,” Skillsoft CEO Chuck Moran said. “In the 12 months since the acquisition we have laid groundwork focused on our united vision to help organizations address the challenges business leaders face today – and the ones they will face tomorrow. Building on that strong foundation will allow us to continuously raise the bar by delivering modern learning and talent management solutions that appeal to a wide range of organizations and their employees. Our commitment to help people get better at their jobs and create great places to work through product innovation and an unmatched customer experience positions Skillsoft to grow our business, increase our market share and extend our industry leadership in the coming years.”
Innovation and Expansion
In 2015, Skillsoft and SumTotal announced their first joint Talent Expansion suite solution, which embeds Skillsoft’s library of over 60,000 IT, leadership and business content assets spanning multiple modalities directly within SumTotal’s talent and learning processes. This solution provides employees and HR leaders with access to an intelligent, highly-personalized solution that knows what learning actions to deliver based on the skills they require to drive employee enablement and team performance, leadership development and succession planning.
In May, Skillsoft acquired Vodeclic, a leading provider of a new generation of video courses, to help employees increase their competency in commonly used applications in today’s digital workforce such as Excel, Prezi, Photoshop and Salesforce with more than 25,000 video tutorials in six different languages via an easy-to-navigate cloud-based platform.
Skillsoft showcased stage two of the multi-phase joint development effort with IBM Research to harness the power of big data in enterprise learning and development. Through the partnership, Skillsoft can deliver hyper-personalized learning recommendations that are constructed and dynamically sequenced, based on historical content consumption and the semantics of a large number of courses and learning goals, to optimize employee engagement, knowledge retention, and performance.
In response to the growing demand for mobile learning, the latest Skillsoft Learning App was released for Android and iOS devices. Leveraging Skillsoft’s patented multi-modal search and curation capabilities, the app delivers an unparalleled content discovery experience, proactively recommending videos, books, audiobooks and summaries based on an individual user’s interests.
Industry Recognition and Momentum This year, several industry analyst and media organizations recognized business leaders, customers and solutions across both organizations for demonstrating leadership and innovation in learning and talent management:
Skillsoft CEO Chuck Moran was honored as EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2015 New England for demonstrating innovation and leadership in the technology sector. Moran, who has built Skillsoft into a market-leading business organically and through strategic acquisitions over the past 17 years, was honored for transforming the way organizations use technology to improve business performance and for contributing to the vibrancy of the regional community.
SumTotal was recognized by IDC, a premier global provider of market intelligence, in a series of IDC MarketScape reports on the integrated talent management market. Highlighting its end-to-end solutions, reporting and analytics, and interactive and collaborative user experience, IDC named SumTotal a leader in the report on learning management[1] and social technology[2] and a major player in the IDC MarketScape reports for performance[3], compensation[4] and recruiting[5] and overall talent management[6].
Nucleus Research named SumTotal as a leader in its Technology Value Matrix 2015 – Talent Management. SumTotal was recognized for the innovations in its latest Talent Expansion release and one-click access to more than 60,000 Skillsoft-sourced learning assets from various talent management workflows.
Skillsoft and SumTotal customers represented more than 80 percent of Human Capital Media’s 2015 Learning Elite, which awards organizations that perform above the benchmark standard in learning and development. Winning customers continue to pave the way as leaders in learning strategy, implementation, executive leadership support and use of technology.
Customers across both companies were honored in Brandon Hall Group’s Excellence Awards for learning and talent management. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center earned the top award for Best Advance in Creating a Talent Strategy, the United States Department of Agriculture and customer Fallon Health won bronze for Best Advance in Learning Technology Implementation and Best Learning Program Supporting a Change Transformation Business Strategy, respectively.
The combined company was ranked as one of the Top 10 HCM Application Vendors in the Cloud by market research firm Apps Run the World, which highlighted Skillsoft’s breadth of solutions and strong industry position.
Skillsoft was recognized by Training Industry, Inc. as a Top 20 Outsourcing Training Companies, Top 20 Workforce Development Company, Top 20 Content Development List Company, and included in the Top 20 Sales Training Companies Watch List.
SumTotal was named a Visionary in Gartner’s annual Talent Management Magic Quadrant report, honored for its strong learning and performance management solutions, strong succession management functionality, and pre-mapped Skillsoft content embedded directly into its talent management processes. As a Visionary, SumTotal was recognized for its forward thinking approach to delivering innovative product, anticipating emerging market trends, and moving the market ahead into areas where it hasn’t yet been.
Strategic Partnerships In the last year, Skillsoft and SumTotal partnered with other forward-thinking organizations to deliver programs that support and expand learning, education and talent development. Strategic partners and customers the organization worked with in the last year includes:
SumTotal integrated iCIMS recruiting and onboarding capabilities into Talent Expansion® applications, extending SumTotal’s talent acquisition capabilities across the full talent lifecycle. In conjunction with these capabilities, SumTotal can immediately and dynamically embed and prescribe specific onboarding content from Skillsoft based upon a candidate’s profile, accelerating time to proficiency so that employees are productive from their first day.
Skillsoft and Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, now offer Skillsoft online courses at public libraries to support local economic development by helping skill up today’s workforce and enabling individuals to take ownership of their own professional development.
Skillsoft launches college credit business certificate in partnership with Patten University, an award-winning online higher education institution. The Professional Essentials certificate, a combination of Skillsoft’s award-winning business content and Patten’s integrative assessments, focuses on helping working adults develop and expand critical skills necessary for advancing in their careers.
Moving into 2016 and beyond, Skillsoft will continue invest in innovation that helps customers deliver a talent management experience that enables employees to advance their careers and aligns their development to organizational goals.
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Global Knowledge Expands Application Development Portfolio with Acquisition of DevelopMentor
Cary, NC− October 13, 2015− Global Knowledge, the world's leading learning services and professional development solutions provider, has further invested in supporting its customers with the acquisition of DevelopMentor.
Based in Los Angeles, California, and Swindon, England, DevelopMentor has long provided learning solutions for professionals involved in the software projects life cycle. With a team of expert instructors around the world, DevelopMentor expands the Global Knowledge application development training portfolio to more than 300 courses and bolsters the company's asynchronous learning delivery capabilities.
"The developer education market is an important growth area for our company, and this investment supports that objective,” said Brian Branson, CEO and president, Global Knowledge. “We're very pleased to add DevelopMentor to the Global Knowledge team. With this expansion, we will have a broader set of software and application development learning solutions to provide to our customers, as well as greater depth of expertise to help them carve a pathway for success and reach their goals with the highest-quality instruction and support.”
Global Knowledge’s application development portfolio of courses and learning services provide individuals, teams and organizations with opportunities to develop or refine skills needed to master programming languages like Python, Swift and Java, and to operate across platforms and methodologies. The growing adoption of mobile and cloud operating systems, along with corporate initiatives aligned to BYOD, software-defined networking and big data analytics, are forcing greater breadth of application development capability from traditional IT staff, as well as enterprise architects.
“We understand that organizations across industries face increasing challenges when recruiting and fostering talent for developer skills – and that those skills are critical for organizations to innovate and transform their businesses within the technology trends of hybrid cloud, mobile enterprise applications, Web commerce and cybersecurity,” said Michael Fox, SVP, Enterprise Solutions for Global Knowledge. “Our app dev portfolio has grown gradually during the past few years, but more and more customers are indicating a need for professional development solutions to address growing requirements for these skills. The addition of the DevelopMentor course portfolio will enable us to offer our customers the broadest, most modern skills development capability for their growing developer teams.”
About Global Knowledge
Global Knowledge is the world’s leading learning services and professional development solutions provider. We deliver learning solutions to support customers as they adapt to key business transformations and technological advancements that drive the way that organizations around the world differentiate themselves and thrive. Our learning programs, whether designed for a global organization or an individual professional, help businesses close skills gaps and foster an environment of continuous talent development.
Offering the most relevant and timely content delivered by the best instructors, we provide customers around the world with their choice of customized private programs, convenient public training scheduling options, flexible delivery formats and continuous learning support to accelerate their success. Our business skills solutions teach essential communications skills, leadership development, business analysis, project management, IT service management and process improvement. With thousands of courses spanning from foundational training to specialized certifications, our core IT training is focused on technology partners such as Amazon Web Services, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, Red Hat, SAP and VMware. We offer comprehensive professional development for advancements in application development, big data analytics, change management, cloud computing, cybersecurity and networking.
Founded in 1995, Global Knowledge employs more than 1,300 people worldwide and is headquartered in Cary, North Carolina.
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TrainingIndustry.com Announces Top 20 Gamification Companies List
CARY, NC− October 15, 2015 – TrainingIndustry.com has announced its Top 20 Gamification Companies List, as part of its mission to continually monitor the training marketplace for the best providers of gamification services/technologies in support of corporate learning and development.
View the 2015 Top 20 Gamification Companies
Selection to this year's Top 20 Gamification Companies List was based on the following criteria:
Features and capabilities of the gamification products/services
Company size and growth potential
Quality and number of clients/users
Geographic reach
Awards, recognition and competitive differentiation
“Our second annual Top 20 Gamification Companies list showcases the companies who best integrate gaming into learning and development programs,” said Ken Taylor, president, Training Industry, Inc. “The top companies provide some of the most innovative forms of gamification in learning, whether we are discussing serious games, training simulations or any other form of structured training program.”
“Incorporating gamification into your corporate training remains a strong trend across the industry,” said Doug Harward, chief executive officer, Training Industry Inc. “Those selected are incredibly in tune with their clients’ needs and goals and provide them with solutions that enhance the training experience and the employee’s retention of the new skills.”
Email info@trainingindustry.com for thoughts or feedback regarding the list.
View the 2015 Top 20 Gamification Companies
About Training Industry, Inc.
TrainingIndustry.com spotlights the latest news, articles, case studies and best practices within the training industry. Our focus is on helping dedicated business and training professionals get the information, insight and tools needed to more effectively manage the business of learning.
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Greenwood Hall and LoudCloud Systems Announce Strategic Alliance to Provide Integrated Technology and Services Offerings for Competency Based Education
Santa Monica, CA and Dallas, TX− October, 19, 2015− Greenwood Hall Inc., an education technology company, and LoudCloud Systems, Inc., a leading SaaS-based adaptive learning platform provider, announced a strategic alliance to provide post-secondary institutions with an integrated suite of services and technology designed to enable leading universities to launch high-value competency-based education (CBE) programs.
This strategic alliance combines Greenwoood Hall's online “Education as a Service” platform with LoudCloud's unique learning and teaching products to bring to market a fully integrated platform that supports the entire student journey. Education institutions will now have access to all the enterprise services they require to offer competency-based academic offerings including market research, lead generation, recruitment, student services, executive coaching to maximize retention, instructional design support, and career placement supported by a learning management ecosystem that includes adaptive LMS technology designed for CBE programs and a powerful analytics engine.
"LoudCloud's innovative cloud-based software redefines the teaching and learning experience based on a richer understanding of behavior, process and outcomes,” said Dr. John Hall, CEO of Greenwood Hall. “Their platform is the perfect complement to our own end-to-end lifecycle solutions and online program management capabilities. Offered together, the full platform will integrate all of Greenwood Hall's student facing functions with LoudCloud's academic and analytics product suite to provide a unified SaaS package. Together, the complete technology plus services package offers all the tools administrators and educators need to efficiently implement student lifecycle and engagement initiatives that are so critical to attracting and retaining students today. This integrated solution provides higher education with a significant competitive advantage over other available options that cannot deliver end-to-end support across the entire student lifecycle."
Greenwood Hall specializes in enrollment management, retention, financial aid, career advising and student service solutions for higher education institutions – a complete set of services that address the entire student lifecycle from lead generation through graduation. Greenwood Hall's end-to-end solutions help facilitate exceptional student experience, and drive actionable results including increased enrollments and retention for online, non-traditional and traditional academic programs.
"We are delighted to join forces with Greenwood Hall to co-market our products and services," said Manoj Kutty, CEO of LoudCloud Systems. "Greenwood Hall has an outstanding customer service platform that is highly complementary to our LMS, CBE and Analytics offerings. Our product collaboration will offer clients an easy-to-implement and comprehensive solution to improve student outcomes."
In 2014, LoudCloud introduced the world's leading competency-based learning management system to address the market's urgent need for modularity and flexibility within LMS systems to support CBE. FASTRAK, LoudCloud's CBE platform, is the industry's latest evolution in LMS technology and the first major move toward providing technology to support competency and mastery based learning in K-12 and higher education. LoudSight, LoudCloud's powerful analytics platform provides early warning indicators of at-risk students along with intervention recommendations.
Both companies also indicated they expect to announce additional integrated technology and service offerings that will help education partners tackle critical issues impacting many schools including how to grow enrollments, maximize retention, and increase alumni engagement.
About Greenwood Hall
Greenwood Hall is an education technology company that helps colleges and universities manage the student journey. Every Greenwood Hall solution is designed to increase revenue and improve student engagement as well as learning outcomes. Since 2006, Greenwood Hall has developed customized turnkey solutions that combine strategy, people, proven processes and robust technology, to help schools effectively and efficiently improve student outcomes, as well as increase revenues and expand into new marketing channels, such as online learning. Greenwood Hall has served more than 50 education clients and over 70 degree programs.
About LoudCloud Systems
LoudCloud is a behavioral analytics based teaching and learning platform designed to deliver personalized pathways in education. The core framework, rooted in reimagined LMS technology, simplifies course and content authoring using proprietary algorithms to inform and guide course progress. With innovations in collaborative, digital readers and task centricity, LoudCloud continues to grow business with prominent customers in both the higher education and K-12 sectors while providing platforms for institutions engaging in competency-based learning solutions.
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Talent Plus Named No 7 on Great Place to Work 2015 Best Small Medium Workplaces List One of Five National Awards Received in 2015
Lincoln, NE− October 22, 2015− For the fifth consecutive year in the top ten, Talent Plus, Inc. was named by Great Place to Work as one of the best small and medium workplaces in the United States. Being ranked No. 7 on their annual list in Fortune, Talent Plus is honored to be recognized along with other companies making significant impact in business today. Great Place to Work evaluates each application using its unique methodology based on five dimensions: credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie. In addition to being named to the Great Place to Work list, Talent Plus has experienced many other successes this year: Ranked No. 86 on Modern Healthcare's 2015 Best Places to Work list. Judges evaluate an organization's culture by looking at general business information, as well as responses from an in-depth employee survey to determine rankings. In the inaugural year of Fortune Magazine's 100 Best Workplaces for Millennials, Talent Plus was named No. 38 of the 2015 100 Best Workplaces for Millennials. After surveying nearly 90,000 millennials, Great Place to Work and Fortune recognized us as one of the 100 Best Workplaces for Millennials in the country. Talent Plus was ranked No. 6 of the 2015 100 Best Workplaces for Women. This honor is exceptionally notable because the recognition is based on a survey of 135,600 women's own assessments of the quality and fairness of our workplace. Great Rated! People's Picks: 20 Great Workplaces in Consulting & Professional Services, Talent Plus, Inc. was named on FORTUNE.com as No. 6 of the best small and medium workplaces in the United States. Of the 600 companies that were surveyed using the Trust Index Employee Survey, 74 self-identified as Consulting and Professional Services companies. Talent Plus, Inc. is also honored to be named by Becker's Hospital Review as one of the Top 150 Great Places to Work in Healthcare for 2015 and the second year in a row. We are proud to be using The Science of Talent (R) to help patient and health care workers all over the world.
About Talent Plus, Inc. Talent Plus, Inc. is an internationally recognized management consulting firm with over 400 clients in 20 countries delivering The Science of Talent (R) through interviews and assessments in more than 20 languages. Headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska, Talent Plus also has an office in Singapore.
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Kaplan to Acquire SmartPros Expanding Its Continuing Education Offering in Accountancy and Financial Services (1)
Fort Lauderdale, FL & Hawthorne, NY− October 22, 2015− Kaplan, Inc., the global education services company and largest subsidiary of Graham Holdings, has agreed to acquire SmartPros, Ltd., a leading provider of accredited professional education and training, primarily in accountancy. Kaplan will pay approximately $16.9 million in cash or $3.57 per share.
SmartPros offers a broad suite of services and content in accountancy continuing education. These include its well-known Financial Management Network (FMN), CPA Report (CPAR) and SmartPros Advantage (SPA) accounting subscription products. Its Financial Campus product and Banking library delivers continuing education to the financial services industry. SmartPros also offers accountancy training to accounting professionals and corporations through its Loscalzo Associates unit that qualifies practitioners for CPE credits in accounting, auditing and assurance topics. Its library of over 2,800 hours of primarily online education programming is delivered via a modern, proprietary learning management system (LMS) that enables clients to tailor their training requirements.
SmartPros recently launched its Audit Management System (AMS), which delivers a robust regulatory compliance solution for banks, broker-dealers and insurance companies to carry out branch audits and systematically help minimize regulatory and compliance risks.
“SmartPros’ continuing education courses in accountancy for professionals in the U.S. will provide a domestic complement to our existing global accountancy training programs,” said Dr. Andrew Temte, CFA and president of Kaplan Professional Education, who noted that Kaplan is a recognized leader in accountancy training in the U.K., Singapore and Hong Kong. “In addition, SmartPros’ continuing education offerings in the financial services field fit well with Kaplan’s existing Firm Element and Insurance CE products, which will enable us to deliver enhanced value to current and future customers.”
SmartPros reported $13.5 million in revenue for 2014.
Its existing customer base consists of approximately 3,000 companies, which primarily includes corporate, accounting and financial services firms. Additionally, SmartPros serves broker-dealers, securities and banking firms as well as state CPA societies and other professional groups and associations.
“We believe that combining SmartPros with Kaplan will strengthen our product offerings and allow the combined entity to better meet the needs of the changing professional development marketplace,” said Allen S. Greene, CEO and chairman of the board for SmartPros. “We think this transaction is good for SmartPros’ customers, employees and shareholders. It is a marriage of two well-regarded leaders in continuing education for accountants and financial service professionals.”
Practitioners can earn professional education credits for CPA, CMA, CFM, and CIA designations, and continuing legal education (CLE) credits.
The transaction is expected to close by year-end, subject to SmartPros’ shareholder approval.
About Kaplan
Kaplan, Inc. serves over 1.2 million students globally each year through its array of higher education, test preparation, professional education, English-language training, and university preparation, and offerings to individuals, institutions, and businesses. Across its 75-plus year history, first as small test-prep pioneer and then an early online education leader and now a global education provider, Kaplan has been recognized for expanding educational access and using technology and learning science innovations to continually improve outcomes for its students and partners. Kaplan has operations in over 30 countries, employs more than 19,000 full- and part-time professionals, and maintains relationships and partnerships with more than 1,000 school districts, colleges, and universities, and over 2,600 corporations and businesses.
Kaplan Professional Education helps professionals obtain in-demand certifications, licensing and designations that enable them to advance and succeed in their careers. Through live and online instruction, Kaplan Professional Education provides test preparation, licensing, continuing education, and professional development programs to businesses and individuals in the accounting, insurance, securities, real estate, financial planning, and information technology, industries.
About SmartPros
Founded in 1981, SmartPros Ltd. is an industry leader in the field of accredited professional education and corporate training. Its products and services are primarily focused in the accredited professional areas of corporate accounting, financial management, public accounting, governmental and not for-profit accounting, financial services, banking, engineering, legal, ethics and compliance, and information technology. SmartPros is a leading provider of professional education products to Fortune 500 companies, as well as the major firms and associations in each of its professional markets.
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