North America Corporate Training

From the very first business-related classroom course, to the CD-ROM-based courses that punctuated the 1990s, to today’s increasingly convenient and mobile learning environments, the corporate training industry has accelerated the development of new and improved learning content and new platforms through which to deliver training content. In order to match the pace of the rapidly changing business landscape these vendors have been continually investing in research and development, with several increasing R&D spending by high double digits. Enabling skills-based learning to occur anyplace at anytime has become a top priority within the training industry as client organizations demand solutions that will help close the skills gaps present in their globally dispersed work environments.

New delivery platforms facilitate growth in the main corporate training segments—soft skills training, which consists of instruction in non-technical, business-related skills including communication, leadership, management, team-building, succession planning, sales and customer service; information technology (IT) training, which is predominantly targeted toward IT professionals; and e-learning, which includes infrastructure systems that allow clients to create online content, manage all forms of training (classroom, online, CD-ROM, etc.), track usage by employees, and test and assess student performance. Live virtual classroom and collaboration firms provide products and services that allow clients to hold real-time training sessions over the Internet or corporate intranet, using either installed software or via a Web-hosted service. With constricted workforces in the “jobless” recovery, the emphasis for corporate training is not on acclimating new employees but facilitating the productivity and development of new skills among existing staff, generating modest growth over the next several years.