Companies with heavy emphasis and need for professional development and compliance, such as law, accounting and financial services, are starting to realize that with deployment of a centralized Learning Management System they can move beyond “reactive learning” – i.e. scrambling to keep up with coursework, logistics, ever-changing compliance requirements, and content delivery – and instead drive professional development with strategic “learning cultures” and branded “University Portals” that net more engaged, knowledgeable employees who can bill more hours and at higher rates.

 

Centralized learning management systems also deliver huge ROI by drastically lowering costs via the elimination of manual administration, excessive travel and redundant efforts due to schedule conflicts; and eliminate the need to manage disconnected internal and external systems and vendors. 

 

There is a sea change taking place in how companies manage the delivery and certification of accredited eLearning programs -- with this trend strongly continuing in 2010. Here are 10 predictions why:

 

 

1.                  Billings hours will trump all: There are fewer billable hours to chase; firms that have the most competent and educated employees can increase billings and expand their brand; the pathway toward this is via mature learning strategies that leverage and make available internal knowledge/IP to professionals anytime, anywhere to drive billings and productivity.

 

2.                  Overwhelming Consensus for E-Learning: Firms will continue to leverage e-learning within their firms, driven by the economy and an across-the-board mantra to keep the focus on billable hours, reduced expenses and less travel. This now greatly appeals to partners once resistant to (technology) change, while more recent, wired professionals, eager to take advantage of the Internet, Web 3.0 and new technologies change cultures and drive change.

 

3.                  Consolidated services/one learning platform: Companies will look more toward single, central repositories to manage their learning initiatives, streamline and standardize training and development across their organizations, develop “learning cultures,” and provide their professionals with single point of access to their company’s “university portal.” Asking professionals to manage four or five vendor accounts, then piecing together disparate completion records has become outdated.

 

4.                  Fewer options: Continuing consolidation in the marketplace is squeezing out smaller providers who do one thing (i.e. content provider) or offer a singular and limited product (like a compliance tool). To survive, single tools must fit into open architectures; content providers must be AICC or SCORM compliant; quality tools will be acquired and integrated into larger systems.

 

 

5.                  Regional (professional services) firms take the training reins: With off-the-shelf packages that manage all facets of learning and online training, it is now much easier, affordable and wholly realistic for smaller, regional firms to take the reins and go well beyond the logistics of training to instead develop and build “learning cultures” that advance professionals from both a professional and firm perspective. 

6.                  National firms have fewer options: With consolidation in the industry, it will be interesting to see what the consolidators do to open their combined solutions and react with increased flexibility to the customized needs of the National Firms. Will these companies allow their competitors content, at the choice of the firm, into their combined solution? To date, the consolidators have said no, which has frustrated the National firms. 

 

7.                  The Big 4 will become overwhelmed: The Big 4 are striving to deliver 40% of their content via webcast to the desktop and traditional online courseware. This volume is unmanageable and is causing the training infrastructure to burst at the seams. How do they scale to this percentage and meet NASBA (News - Alert) and state requirements without overwhelming PD staff and their subject matter experts? How do they avoid costly travel expenses by moving to webcast delivery? How do they deliver content to reach 10K professionals without delivering that same content 20 different times and getting an instructor to teach it 20 times?  

8.                  Learning strategies will become internationally focused and streamlined: IFRS will continue to drive the global focus of firms. With trend toward single, consolidated services coupled with open architectures, it is now fairly easy to provide a seamless, standardized learning environment and content across global offices, with ability to micro-customize content as necessary. 

9.                  Government will expand regulations into more industries: Banking, insurance, securities and insurance are seeing the effects of stricter rules and in some cases unprecedented government oversight, which can bring new regulations and requirements in the number of credits and type of content required by licensed professionals in these professions. 

10.              Leverage eLearning platforms into mechanisms to extend brand/marketing reach into existing and potential customers: A huge benefit of a cohesive leaning strategy including eLearning systems is the ability for firms to more easily leverage content/internal knowledge across their organizations, and to repurpose it back out to existing and potential customers as a way to extend brand and marketing reach at virtually zero additional cost. 

Shawn Englund is founder and CEO of LearnLive Technologies, the leading platform provider for the automation, delivery, management, and certification of accredited eLearning programs for professional service firms including accounting, legal and finance.