Construction Business Owner, November 2007 

Identified by successful businesses as critical, training is the all-important yet sometimes difficult to incorporate function. Through training, companies transmit information, convert it into knowledge and transfer learning in an attempt to improve employee and overall organizational performance, meet various compliance standards and engage the workforce in continuous development necessary to meet personal and organizational goals and objectives.

While some businesses are fortunate enough to have a professional and experienced trainer on the payroll, many do not. Even those companies with a training manager or a training department often find themselves in need of something more either because they are not well-versed in a particular area, have little or no experience or accreditation on a certain topic or are simply overloaded and focused on other areas within the organization.  It is for these and other reasons that the training function, in part or in its entirety in many cases, continues to be outsourced at an accelerating pace.   

In the summer of 2006, Bersin & Associates performed an extensive study titled, “The Economics of Outsourcing Training Technology and Operations,” and the study indicated that the market for training outsourcing will grow by $20 billion over the next few years.  Outsourcing training is a reality, and one that successful organizations—big and small—are increasingly turning to.

What Is Outsourcing?

Outsourcing of the training and development function is not a new phenomenon. It has been very popular for a long time, particularly over the last fifteen years. In most organizations, learning and development specialists are either non-existent or are a relatively small group of professionals who are expected by the company to be technical experts in a variety of topics, skills and procedures. Even organizations with internally identified and well-run learning and development functions continue to outsource certain aspects such as content development, a wide variety of training programs and, increasingly, management and executive development. In addition to training design and deployment itself, businesses often outsource functional tasks such as the production of books and manuals, training materials, training videos and CD-ROMs.  

Outsourcing really has three main components to it. First, it refers to the traditional use of vendor services, such as working with a human resource (HR) and/or training consulting firm to provide identified coaching, training courses and programs. Second, it refers to the outsourcing of training technology such as learning management systems (LMS), e-learning content development and content integration and hosting of complex training and development (T&D) software.  The final component, often referred to as business process outsourcing (BPO), entails outsourcing help desks, vendor management, classroom administration and the training personnel themselves. 

Research indicates that a significant percentage of outsourcing falls within the first component—the traditional use of outside vendors for content development and other training tasks and initiatives. Trends indicate that this percentage will continue to increase, with the largest area of growth coming in the outsourcing of both training technology and comprehensive training program design and development. 

 

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