Tipping the Scale of Personalized, Adaptive Learning

In the world of corporate training, there are universal truths that apply to all organizations regardless of size or industry. In fact, the only thing that differentiated large and small organizations’ approaches was the per-learner cost of their technology. Other than that, everything was pretty much one-size-fits-all. But now, in the age of personalization, contextualization and remote workers, larger organizations facing a host of issues presented by the scale of their operations.

If I wanted to deliver a hyper-personalized learning program to a group of 20 people, all working on the same floor of the same building, it should be easy. But if I’m looking at 20,000 people spread out across the globe, it becomes an entirely different matter. That’s why organizations should also consider scale when thinking about modernizing and personalizing their learning programs.

Once we get north of 5,000 employees, things start to get a bit more challenging. Right off the bat, 60% of these larger enterprise organizations say that lack of the right technology is a massive challenge to delivering personalized learning. Among the many other challenges these companies face is the need for learning to be in multiple languages and dialects, cited by 59% as challenging or extremely challenging.

The technology piece would be easier for many of these large companies, with 53% saying it was either important or critical that they have a single instance of learning technologies across the entire organization. This makes it much easier to integrate the overall technology stack —which can be more complex the larger and more decentralized an organization becomes.

Here are the top five things large enterprise organizations seek in learning technology, according to Brandon Hall Group’s most recent Learning Technology Study:

  1. Ability to integrate with other systems
  2. Ease of use
  3. Reporting and analytics
  4. Mobile capabilities
  5. Personalization/Contextualization

Brandon Hall Group Smartchoice Preferred Provider Totara has a unique approach to learning technology with their Totara Learn LMS, part of their broader Talent Experience Platform. What makes it a unique opportunity for large-scale enterprises is that it is an open-source platform. This allows companies to adjust the LMS to meet their specific needs, regardless of how large or globally dispersed they are. It also easily ticks off the items on the list above and more. Totara is one of our preferred providers precisely for its ability to address the new personalization and contextualization needs at scale.

David Wentworth, Principal Learning Analyst, Brandon Hall Group
@davidmwentworth

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Mike Cooke

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Mike Cooke

Chief Executive Officer of Brandon Hall Group Mike Cooke Prior to joining Brandon Hall Group, Mike Cooke was the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of AC Growth. Mike held leadership and executive positions for the majority of his career, at which he was responsible for steering sales and marketing teams to drive results and profitability. His background includes more than 15 years of experience in sales, marketing, management, and operations in the research, consulting, software and technology industries. Mike has extensive experience in sales, marketing and management having worked for several early high-growth emerging businesses and has implemented technology systems to support various critical sales, finance, marketing and client service functions. He is especially skilled in organizing the sales and service strategy to fully support a company’s growth strategy. The concept of growth was an absolute to Mike and a motivator in starting AC Growth, in order to help organizations achieve research driven results. Most recently, Mike was the VP and General Manager of Field Operations at Bersin & Associates, a global analyst and consulting services firm focused on all areas of enterprise learning, talent management and talent acquisition. Tasked with leading the company’s global expansion, Mike led all sales operations worldwide. During Mike’s tenure, the company has grown into a multi-national firm, conducting business in over 45 countries with over 4,500 multi-national organizations. Mike started his career at MicroVideo Learning Systems in 1992, eventually holding a senior management position and leading all corporate sales before founding Dynamic Minds. Mike was CEO and Co-Founder of Dynamic Minds, a custom developer of software programs, working with clients like Goldman Sachs, Prentice Hall, McGraw Hill and Merrill Lynch. Also, Mike worked for Oddcast, a leading provider of customer experience and marketing solutions, where he held a senior management position leading the company into new markets across various industries. Mike also serves on the Advisory Board for Carbon Solutions America, an independent sustainability consulting and carbon management firm that specializes in the design and implementation of greenhouse reduction and sustainability plans as well as managing the generation of carbon and renewal energy and energy efficiency credits. Mike attended University of Phoenix, studying Business Administration and Finance. He has also completed executive training at the Chicago Graduate School of Business in Chicago, IL.