Top Training Outsourcing Deals for 2008
By Doug Harward, CEO, Training Industry, Inc.
February 11th, 2009
Written Exclusively for TrainingIndustry.com
All industries have deals that are instrumental in defining the evolution of their market in terms of quality and scope of services. The biggest deals are not always industry changers, but the relative complexity, scope, and innovativeness of the engagements are. The training outsourcing industry is no different. As there are many deals that we don’t hear about because of confidentiality, there are many others that are publicly recognized as changing how we look at our industry.
TrainingIndustry.com is pleased to recognize 10 deals consummated in 2008 that 
were highly instrumental in the ongoing evolution of the training outsourcing market. As re-engineering the learning function is now standard practice during these economic times, corporate executives are seeking more innovative ways to manage the supply chain of knowledge. Of course time will only tell the true influence these deals have on the overall industry, but each of them have attributes which affect how we’ll manage the learning function in the years ahead. These deals demonstrate that the old way of managing training is not the way we will be doing it in the future. We are all learning from our past experiences and seeking to pull from the best of the best.
Below are the Top 10 Training Outsourcing Deals of 2008. Please know that financials and/or size of the deals are not published to protect the privacy of the companies involved.
(Listed in alphabetical order by customer name)
Alcatel-Lucent and MicroTek
Alcatel-Lucent selected MicroTek to manage a globally integrated set of services for training administration, material fulfillment, and real estate and facilities management for classroom training. MicroTek will provide Alcatel-Lucent a solution that facilitates the growth of the NA Enterprise Business group through the readiness, education and certification of sales teams, business partners, and internal services teams. MicroTek will be coordinating learning program development, delivery and execution with the global Sales Enablement organization. This integrated model is innovative as it combines services for training administration, real estate and classroom management on a global basis for customer and sales training. /training-outsourcing/suppliers/microtek.aspx
Ciena Learning Solutions and NIIT
Ciena Learning Solutions selected NIIT to support their launch of their first marketed certification program on Carrier Ethernet Training. Ciena operates in an extremely competitive market of high technology companies deeply entrenched in IT certification programs. This relationship will accelerate their ability to address critical requirements in both development and delivery of professional certifications, and introduce a scalable, cost-effective development and delivery resource on-demand./training-outsourcing/suppliers/niit.aspx
Cigna Healthcare and General Physics (GP)
Cigna and GP completed the last phase of the comprehensive training outsourcing engagement which included an LMS implementation, management of administration, call center and help desk services, project management support, vendor management services, content development of all courseware, and delivery of all instructor led training. With the recent assumption of the development and delivery work streams, all phases of this very broad reaching outsourcing deal were completed. The scope of this relationship was very large as implementation extended from the 2007 to 2008 calendar years. /training-outsourcing/suppliers/gp.aspx
EMC and Expertus
EMC selected Expertus to develop and implement a web 2.0 learning portal to extend the functionality and usability of their LMS to increase registrations and reduce costs from expensive updates and reconfigurations. Although not a big deal in revenues/costs, this deal is instrumental in how LMS technologies and web 2.0 portals interact. Expertus developed several innovative solutions around the SmartPortal and SmartConnect technologies. This new portal technology minimizes the financial impact from annual LMS updates and the software development required to reconfigure their customer training web portal with each enhancement. Most importantly, this better positions EMC to be more competitive in the IT compliance market for customer training. /training-outsourcing/suppliers/expertus.aspx
FEMA and GeoLearning
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), selected GeoLearning’s GeoMaestro Learning Management Suite (LMS) to deliver and manage training regarding NFIP rules, policies and procedures. The platform and professional services contract is for five years and involves the deployment of GeoLearning’s GeoMaestro platform to support a nation-wide training initiative targeting 20,000 insurance agents, lenders and claims adjusters regarding NFIP rules, policies and procedures. GeoLearning will also help develop training content for instructor-led distance learning and NFIP webinars to be delivered using GeoLearning’s GeoConnect virtual classroom tool. Insurance agents will be able to obtain continuing education credits for successfully completing the NFIP training. This national agent requirement supports the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004. /training-outsourcing/suppliers/geo-learning.aspx
Hertz Corporation and ACS
The Hertz Corporation selected Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS) to provide learning process outsourcing services to meet Hertz’ human resource transformational objectives on a global basis. Under the five-year contract, ACS is providing curriculum redesign and management as well as content development and delivery; learning administration; managed learning technology and vendor management within a shared services environment. In the relationship, ACS is providing a global roadmap to centralize Hertz’ learning organization, which will help it maintain competitive advantage. This allows Hertz to rapidly evolve their organization through the accelerated development of their employees. /training-outsourcing/suppliers/acs.aspx 
Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital and Delta College Corporate Services
Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital selected Delta College Corporate Services (DCCS) to assess the level of employer-defined competencies that health care managers require to drive the organization to high performance results in patient satisfaction and business growth. The results allowed DCCS and MFBRH to compose a health care based learning plan to address competency gaps and deliver training workshops targeted to improve defined competency gaps. Most instrumental about this deal is that Delta College is a community college that has revolutionized how community colleges work with businesses and organizations to improve performance. Community Colleges traditionally operate as a student first institution and assisting them in gaining job skills. Delta College has changed how higher ed institutions, especially community colleges can successfully work with businesses and organizations to change the learning supply chain./training-outsourcing/suppliers/delta-college.aspx
Medco Health Solutions and Element K
Medco Health Solutions, a leading pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), selected Element K to develop and deliver a comprehensive portfolio of custom e-learning courses over the next 3 years to thousands of sales professionals. These programs will form a portfolio of products entitled, “The Medco Product Foundation Series”, providing accurate, consistent, and up-to-date information available on a 24/7 basis to their rapidly growing, geographically dispersed sales and account professionals team. This program includes integrated hands-on capstone activities using cutting-edge avatar-based learning design. /training-outsourcing/suppliers/element-k.aspx
Philips Healthcare and Harbinger
Philips Healthcare selected Harbinger Group, a global provider of software products and services, to create a learning environment that would leverage cognitive benefits of game-based learning in a manner that is cost-effective and rapid to build. Philips collaborated with Harbinger to secure the technology and services to design and deliver the program. With the help of Harbinger's thought leadership on game based learning development and its innovative product Raptivity, Philips has started a new paradigm in providing a unique learning experience in healthcare. The celebrated "Clinical Challenge" combines entertainment with challenge, even when testing knowledge on complex clinical subjects. This relationship was instrumental in Harbinger winning the Gold award at the 2008 Learning in Practice awards by Chief Learning Officer magazine. /learning-technologies/suppliers/raptivity.aspx 
State Street Global Advisors and Intrepid Learning Solutions
State Street Global Advisors selected Intrepid Learning Solutions to provide targeted, high quality online content, with a high touch marketing and quality user experience. Intrepid’s solution provides SSgA the ability to extend their brand reach and deepen their relationships with clients. While training existing clients is common, attracting prospective clients with education is challenging and difficult to validate. As SSgA's learning partner, Intrepid is providing an integrated set of measurable services to create a seamless, engaging learning experience. This is helping to extend the brand and strengthen loyalty. This relationship was instrumental in Intrepid being awarded the Excellence in Content – Gold Award in 2008 from Chief Learning Officer Magazine. /training-outsourcing/suppliers/intrepid.aspx
