Employee Training Tracking Software: From employee training tracking software to onsite software training, diverse information technology and e-learning components need to be integrated. SkillSoft brings powerful web based training software and a next generation elearning software architecture to help you solve your training technology integration issues.

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by Stephanie Pyle, senior product marketing manager, SkillSoft

There are two major challenges facing SkillSoft customers today: the need to integrate a wide variety of technology systems and content types, and the need to present content in a way that is relevant to the individual learner. These problems are getting more difficult as the number of content types and technology systems proliferate and the trend toward aligning learning programs with business initiatives accelerates the need for relevance. SkillSoft agrees with customers and analysts who say that these problems must be solved in order for e-learning to reach its potential, and this is the impetus behind SkillSoft’s Open Learning Services Architecture (OLSA) initiative.

Executive Summary
There are two major challenges facing SkillSoft customers today: the need to integrate a wide variety of technology are in over their heads in the technology discussion. How systems and content types, and the need to present content ever, while they may have more interest in instructional in a way that is relevant to the individual learner. These problems are getting more difficult as the number of content types and technology systems proliferate and the trend toward aligning learning programs with business initiatives accelerates the need for relevance.

Industry standards are in place but are not providing a complete solution. Proprietary technology systems continue to frustrate the desire of learning professionals to assemble an abundance of parts into a relevant and meaningful whole that serves business and learner needs. SkillSoft agrees with customers and analysts who say that these problems must be solved in order for e-learning to reach its potential, and this is the impetus behind SkillSoft's Open Learning Services Architecture (OLSA) initiative.

Roots of the Integration Problem
Integration is the single most dfficult issue facing the learning industry today, and in the opinion of many, the problem is growing worse not better. Training magazine states, "Integration and interoperability still remain the Achilles' heel of the [learning] industry." Gartner's "2005 E-Learning Client Issues" report states, "Integration and interoperability will dominate the e-learning technology agenda, particularly as companies adopt enterprise-wide e-learning."

Learning professionals, many of whom come from educational rather than technical backgrounds, may feel like they are in over their heads in the technology discussion. However, while they may have more interest in instructional design than software design, today's learning professionals must have at least a working knowledge of technology in order to be successful.

The desire for pain-free integration is often expressed as the need for an end-to-end learning solution that addresses all corporate learning needs within a single platform. This has proven to be an elusive goal. The reality is that even within a single customer, a wide range of needs may exist, and e-learning vendors tend to be specialized in the products they provide. It is therefore quite common to find learning departments knitting together a variety of content products and systems to cover the full range of needs. Many customers also customize their content and systems, as well as develop company-specific content from scratch.

Not surprisingly, customers able to minimize the number of vendors suffer far fewer integration headaches. SkillSoft content customers that use SkillPort as their learning management system are an example of this, as they generally finnd that it is easier, faster, less expensive and less resource-intensive to deploy e-learning within this single vendor environment. But even in this example, it is rare to finnd a customer that does not have some other type of content or some other vendor's technology running in their environment.

In the largest, most sophisticated companies, learning is often delivered through multiple learning management systems and/or portals. The number of products and systems is growing toward alignment of learning programs with strategic company initiatives. This has been a positive trend for the learn and/or portals. The number of products and systems is growing, as the scope of learning expands. Courseware is no longer the center of the e-learning universe, with online books, simulations, and internally developed content being added to the mix in recent years. Collaboration platforms and rapid content development tools also contribute content and complexity. Gartner's vision for the high performance workplace states that "augmenting 'nonroutine' activities to improve business results has become at least as important as automating 'routine' activities to reduce cost and improve efficiency.

There is also a need for learning technology to become better integrated within business processes and enterprise systems. Learning professionals must understand the overall technology architecture of their respective organizations, and look for ways to become a part of this picture rather than functioning as a technology island. Given that the learning department is almost never first in line for IT resources, this just makes good sense. The difficulty is that learning requires a great deal of specialized functionality not found in other HRIS or ERP systems. So the need for learning-specific systems remains, as does the need to minimize interoperability headaches.

Alignment and Relevance: The Emerging Challenges
In recent years, there has been a well-documented trend toward alignment of learning programs with strategic company initiviatives. This has been apositive trend for the learning industry, as it has elevated the learning function to a more strategic level in many companies. It demonstrates a greater awareness of the value of learning at the executive level. And to the degree that learning is perceived as a strategic function, it is assured of ongoing funding at adequate levels.

Alignment with business initiatives also creates a new set of challenges. Strategic learning programs that align with specific business objectives by their very definition cannot be made up entirely of off-the-shelf content; some component of internally developed content is always going to be required. Customization and creation take time. But strategic learning initiatives generally require much faster response than traditional learning development cycles allow.

Events such as mergers and acquisitions, new product launches, and price changes often necessitate extremely short response times. Learning professionals are in the uncomfortable position of making trade-offs to achieve their goals within the required timeframe. Anything that can be done to shave days off the development cycle is helpful in meeting the demands of business stakeholders. As integration is often one of the biggest time traps in learning development, it is a critical area of focus as learning professionals look for more ways to get involved with strategic business initiatives.

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