Is “Facebook at Work” in Our Future
The Financial Times reported recently that Facebook may have its sights set on the workplace. The potential new service is called "Facebook at Work," and would allow users to keep their personal profile separate from their work profile.
FT reports that the new website would look very much like Facebook, but will compete with professional social networking sites from LinkedIn, Google, and Microsoft. Citing unidentified sources, FT explains that “Facebook at Work” will enable users to chat with colleagues, connect with professional contacts, and collaborate over documents.
Facebook declined to comment in the FT article. Stay tuned.
E-Learning in Latin America to Reach $2.4 Billion by 2018, Says Ambient Insight
The five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for self-paced e-learning products in Latin America is 9.7 percent, according to a new report by Ambient Insight called "The 2013-2018 Latin America Self-Paced eLearning Market." Revenues reached $1.5 billion in 2013 and are predicted to climb to $2.4 billion by 2018.Packaged content accounts for the majority of revenues throughout the forecast period.
Meanwhile, the worldwide market for self-paced e-learning reached $42.7 billion in 2013. The five-year CAGR is 4.4 percent and revenues will reach $53.0 billion by 2018. Until recently, self-paced e-learning products were only in high demand in developed economies. Due to the rapid adoption of e-learning now taking place in developing economies and the explosion in the number of new suppliers, it is now possible to see the contours of a global e-learning ecosystem.
In this Latin America regional report, five-year revenue forecasts are broken out for 17countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Throughout the forecast period, Brazil will be the largest buying country, followed by Mexico and Argentina.
Revenues for self-paced e-learning products are expected to more than double over the forecast period in eight of the 17 countries analyzed in this report. The countries with the highest growth rates for self-paced e-learning in Latin America are the Dominican Republic, Honduras, El Salvador, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Colombia, Brazil, and Chile, respectively. These countries are new vibrant markets for the more than 100 suppliers competing for business.
The major catalysts driving the sales of self-paced e-learning products in Latin America are the large-scale digitization initiatives in the academic segments, new government educational policies designed to increase digital literacy and English proficiency, the demand for digital English language learning products, a steady increase in private for-profit education, and a boom in online education enrollments.
This Latin America self-paced e-learning report is available now in the Ambient Insight Store for $3,875.
7 Challenges to Social Learning Infographic
Social Learning is a self-propagating concept—once a social learning culture is achieved in an organization. An infographic from Origin Learning lists the top challenges that hinder social learning from becoming a reality in organizations.
Xerox Expands Learning Portfolio with Intrepid Learning Solutions Acquisition
Xerox recently announced an agreement that expands its learning portfolio with the acquisition of Intrepid Learning Solutions’ learning services to ensure companies’ employees are equipped with the latest skills and knowledge to improve their business performance. Xerox’s acquisition of the Seattle-based firm’s capabilities includes:
- consulting services focused on researching and developing company-wide learning strategies, measuring the effectiveness of the programs, and benchmarking against industry standards
- course curriculum design and development tailored to a clients’ specific business needs, ranging from IT training to leadership development and products and service-related education
- instructors, trainers, and facilitators to provide classroom instruction;
- administration and logistics for learning programs to ensure employees receive instruction in a timely and effective manner.
Xerox’s Learning Services unit has focused on implementing systems that manage a company’s internal talent management and employee learning programs, including live classroom sessions and e-learning.
“The speed of change in today’s business world means that in order to stay relevant, companies and their employees must be at the top of their game,” said Mark Hill, group executive of Xerox human resource services. “The addition of Intrepid’s expertise to our learning organization significantly expands our ability to deliver impactful, engaging and comprehensive learning solutions accessible to our customers at the point and time of greatest need.”
Xerox’s acquisition does not include Intrepid’s cloud-based learning technology business, which will continue to go to market under the Intrepid Learning brand after closing. The two companies will launch a partnership alliance to present clients with unified learning options using Intrepid’s technology and Xerox’s e-learning, consulting, administration and classroom training programs.
“Together, we will be able to offer our clients significant value through Xerox’s globally scalable learning services which naturally augment our award-winning cloud-based training technology,” said Sam Herring, Intrepid Learning’s CEO who co-founded the company in 1999 and will continue to lead the new Intrepid organization after the transaction is completed.
The global outsourced learning services market is estimated to be $129 billion, with the largest consumers of learning services consisting of government, manufacturing, high-tech, financial services and telecom—segments where Xerox has a deep client base and industry expertise.
Intrepid Learning and its 260 employees will continue operating from its Seattle and Mukilteo, Washington locations. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close following the completion of customary closing conditions.
