KnowledgeAdvisors' Study Reveals Quantifiable Business Value Delivered by SkillSoft e-Learning Solutions

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Highlights SkillSoft's high-applicability, business impact and value

NASHUA, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- SkillSoft Limited, a leading SaaS provider of e-learning and performance support solutions for global enterprises, government, education and small to medium-sized businesses, today announced the results of an independent study conducted by KnowledgeAdvisors, a learning measurement software and solutions company that improves the effectiveness of learning. The study showed that SkillSoft's training and e-learning solutions deliver a wide range of quantifiable benefits to individual learners and organizations including increased productivity, reduced operational costs, improved quality and increased employee and customer satisfaction.

Over 7,800 individual learners from 465 organizations found that SkillSoft e-learning solutions had a positive impact regardless of an organization's size, geography or length of experience with e-learning. According to the study, some of the key areas in which learners experienced clear, measurable benefits using SkillSoft e-learning solutions include:

Positive impact on job performance -- SkillSoft's readily-available learning resources are more immediately applicable to the job, allowing learners to use their new skills quickly. In fact, half of the learners surveyed were able to apply the knowledge they gained through SkillSoft's solutions within one week and 86% reported they were able to apply the learning within six weeks. That makes SkillSoft's application of learning rate remarkably high.

Positive impact in critical areas of business performance -- Using a Business Results ROI Scorecard, the study also isolated and estimated measurable impact on many business areas such as: 

    --  11.1% increase in employee satisfaction
    --  10.4% increase in customer satisfaction
    --  9.8% improvement in quality
    --  8.6% increase in sales
    --  8.3% increase in productivity

The findings also validated the use of SkillSoft learning can reduce training costs and cycle time.

Improved skills and learner confidence -- Respondents also found that SkillSoft learning resources helped close skill gaps and build confidence that is essential to high performance.

Higher employee satisfaction and increased value in learning resources -- Respondents overwhelmingly agreed that SkillSoft's e-learning resources are valuable and that their impact increases over time. A total of 90% of respondents said they valued having access to SkillSoft's e-learning resources. The far majority reported that the solutions were worthwhile for career development as well. Since higher employee satisfaction also correlates to employee engagement and retention, the ability to affect satisfaction with training becomes a critical lever for the talent management field.

"KnowledgeAdvisors was pleased to conduct this study for SkillSoft. The results are based on tens of thousands of data points from real SkillSoft users after being back on the job for several months after their SkillSoft experiences. The data demonstrates that users gain more value and impact from SkillSoft resources the longer they use them. This is very relevant because these resources are effective forms of performance support in today's world of informal and social learning. From a business results perspective, use of SkillSoft resources conservatively and credibly equates to an 8% improvement in workplace productivity. This translates into roughly 20 business days of optimized performance for the organization in a one year timeframe," said Jeff Berk, KnowledgeAdvisors' chief operating officer.

"This study further validates the real business benefits that SkillSoft provides to individual employees, as well as to organizations as a whole," said Kieran King Global Director, Loyalty Strategy for SkillSoft. "The results illustrate the powerful role that SkillSoft learning and development have played in organizations' success."

The report is available at: http://www.skillsoft.com/online/skillsoft/verify.asp?URL=http://www.skillsoft.com/infocenter/whitepapers/documents/KnowledgeAdvisorsPaper_2011.pdf&docnm=KnowledgeAdvisorsPaper_2011.

About KnowledgeAdvisors

For organizations that utilize learning and development to drive business outcomes, KnowledgeAdvisors offers learning measurement software that improves the effectiveness and business impact of learning. Unlike the standard reporting and dashboard features included in most learning and talent management software, we combine data from multiple enterprise systems with information collected through evaluations and assessments to paint a complete picture of learning and business performance. KnowledgeAdvisors can even benchmark your learning programs against other organizations. For more about KnowledgeAdvisors, visit: www.knowledgeadvisors.com.

About SkillSoft

SkillSoft is a leading SaaS provider of on-demand e-learning and performance support solutions for global enterprises, government, education and small to medium-sized businesses. SkillSoft enables business organizations to maximize business performance through a combination of comprehensive e- learning content, online information resources, flexible learning technologies and support services. SkillSoft is on the web at http://www.skillsoft.com.

Content offerings include business, IT, desktop, compliance and consumer/SMB courseware collections, as well as complementary content assets such as Leadership Development Channel video products, KnowledgeCenter(TM) portals, virtual instructor-led training services and online mentoring services. SkillSoft's Books24x7(R) product offering includes access to more than 25,000 digitized IT and business books, as well as book summaries and executive reports. Technology offerings include the SkillPort(R) learning management system, Search-and-Learn(R), SkillSoft(R) Dialogue(TM), inGenius(R) and virtual classroom.

SkillSoft courseware content described herein is for information purposes only and is subject to change without notice. SkillSoft has no obligation or commitment to develop or deliver any future release, upgrade, feature, enhancement or function described in this press release except as specifically set forth in a written agreement.

SkillSoft, the SkillSoft logo, SkillPort, Search-and-Learn, SkillChoice, Books24x7, ITPro, BusinessPro, OfficeEssentials, GovEssentials, EngineeringPro, FinancePro, AnalystPerspectives, ExecSummaries, ExecBlueprints, Express Guide, Dialogue and inGenius are trademarks or registered trademarks of SkillSoft Ireland Limited in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners, countries. 


    Source: SkillSoft Limited

Released February 23, 2011