We are closing in fast to the end of 2009 which usually
means one thing with regard to corporate IT training spend: Use it or lose it. It
seems quite a few corporate IT learning budgets are set up where in order to
get money for 2010, you need to spend all the money you had set aside for 2009.
While we may have seen double digit declines in overall training spend, the use
it or lose it premise still applies.
So the question is, how will you, or did you spend your
dollars in 2009? Trainingindustry.com made some bold predications back in
January, 2009 (/articles/2009-predictions.aspx)
that stated user generated content would increase, consolidation would occur
and informal learning would grow. There
is no argument that 2009 saw a steep rise in You Tube, Digg, Flickr and
Facebook content. These are all user generated, Web 2.0 content areas, but did
we see an increase in training spend to learn about how to use it, how to
manage it or how to best utilize those mediums to solve today’s problems? I
would argue no.
Where the IT training spend for 2009 went was likely to traditional
IT training used in the past. IT learning on Microsoft, Cisco, networking and
office applications still dominate IT training spend. Yet the user generated
and informal learning channels are seeing the most rapid increases in what users
actually use. Is this because the user generated content is easier, more
readily available and better accepted then traditional training? Or is it just
because the economic times of today lend itself to low cost or no cost content?
As more of us Twitter, Blog, Wiki and Digg what may happen
is that all of our IT training needs will be met with what’s on the web. We
won’t have to worry about training budgets and the use it or lose it mentality
will be left behind.
Let’s make December the time to remember and when we get
around to January blogs we will look at what 2010 and beyond can offer. In the
meantime, if you have any comments about the How
did you spend your 2009 IT Training dollars, please feel free to
comment below or your feedback is always welcome at bob.austin@itlearnblog.com.
