Tag: Managed Learning Service

L&D Staff: More Time AND Improved Productivity?

    We have spoken (at length, as it happens) in this blog about the advantages of using Managed Learning Services (MLS) to help with external training sourcing.  So often in fact that even the most ardent reader may feel the urge to skip this article…But hold on! What if we were able to promise both more productivity AND more time?

    Don’t get me wrong – we’re not promising a career on the beach in Cancun, sipping margaritas and flicking the sand from your feet. But our training sourcing service alone will save you hours of work, and save your company money into the bargain when you need external training.

    How much time do you spend finding suitable external training solutions for your staff? How long do you spend talking to training suppliers?  Making sure the best training solutions are in place?  Pulling your hair out?  Wailing and gnashing your teeth?

    Imagine there was a service there that could do all that for you.

    Well, of course, there is – it’s what managed learning services do, and we’re not going to pretend for one moment that we’re not the best of them ;-).

    Save time with training needs

    Primarily our core offering is the removal of the hassle of sourcing, booking and managing external training – meaning that you can spend more time showing real value in your company, perhaps by creating and developing the corporate strategy and pushing the company forward.

    Here’s a brief list of some of the more popular courses we can source and manage: (We can source ANY professional training you may need – for a full list click here)

    • Project management – PRINCE, MoP, MoV, MSP, PMI
    • HR – Handling grievances, managing fixed-term contracts, recruitment and selection, capability and conduct procedures, discipline procedures.
    • Professional qualifications – Accountancy, Financial Services, Tax, Insolvency, Administration & Secretarial, Actuarial, Law, Marketing and HR, Higher Education.
    • Health & safety– First aid at work, NEBOSH, Moving and handling, Breakaway, Student mental health awareness, Fire safety
    • Information technology– Microsoft, Cisco, Citrix, VMware, ITIL, Java, Oracle,  Linux. UNIX, SQL, GDPR

    Multiple formats

    The courses also come in a range of different formats including classroom instructor-led training, virtual classroom instructor-led training, e-learning, video learning or a blended approach, dependant on your needs and what suits your staff or organisation best.

    And as if that wasn’t enough our knowledge of the L&D market helps you to reduce the direct cost for external training and provide a scalable service avoiding additional headcount costs. These savings on the costs of learning will offset all of our managed learning service charges.

    Clients who receive our full managed learning services see reductions in learning costs between 16% and 25%

    Sourcing external training

    To discuss your training requirements or to find out how you can start using our service to help with external training, contact Blake via blake.henegan@optimuslearningservices.com  or call 0845 519 7408.

    Scalable Learning and Development On Demand

      The use of Managed Learning Services (MLS) has grown considerably over the past few years. According to CompTIA “Within a two-year period until July 2017, studies found the percentage of organizations leveraging managed IT training services (alone) grew from 30% to 66%.” Although these figures are US based, similar growth in the field exists in the UK and Europe.

      We have detailed the benefits of using a managed learning service elsewhere in our blog but broadly they are:

      • Quicker response times to meet business requirements and needs
      • Reduced lost opportunities and costs relating to expansion/change
      • Reducing and increasing L&D capacity on demand
      • Growing core-team skills while filling skill gaps immediately
      • Being able to use new technologies quicker
      • Allowing L&D staff to focus on strategic alignment et al

      Interestingly, you’ll note that price is not on that list, although it may have been a prime factor in the decision to use the MLS in the first instance. In this article, however, I’d like to comment on the third of the benefits mentioned above, namely:

      Reducing and increasing L&D capacity on demand

      A major reason that businesses use managed learning services is to address urgent needs for specific new training. 56% of businesses surveyed reported that they had done so in response to new and/or urgent demands.

      It comes as no surprise to learning and development professionals that there are ‘peaks and troughs’ in their training activity. This may be due to new technologies coming to the fore within the industry – new advances that may give the company an advantage over their competitors. In this instance it maybe that a high percentage of staff need training in the new tech, and need it quickly.

      training courses in new technologies

      Similarly a ‘peak’ in training requirements may appear subsequent to a merger or takeover. Every company will have it’s own culture and required skillset and staff will need to be trained to meet the requisite standard. These are only two examples of many, but when they occur they will happen in conjunction with the on-going core training requirements of the company – and as such may become a huge burden on the existing L&D staff.

      By using the talents of a quality MLS that burden is reduced – increasing the moral within the team, allowing them to focus on the strategic training needs of the company, and (in all likelihood) reducing costs too. The ability for L&D staff to work more closely and efficiently within a company ensures that they can create a strategy to enhance employee performance. Training has been proven to increase employee retention, loyalty and performance – and what organisation doesn’t want that?

      I’m Blake, MD of Optimus Learning Services – we provide managed learning services, supporting L&D teams and sourcing training for companies.

      Contact me at blake.henegan@optimuslearningservices.com or call 0845 519 7408.

      Are your L&D staff wasting their time?

        We have touched on this subject in our blog before, notably “The real cost of L&D admin”   where we showed that the average time taken to source and book training per requirement was roughly four hours.  Regardless of how valuable on-going development of your staff is, that’s an awful lot of man-hours that could be spent on other, more productive and profitable tasks.

        This is one of the many reasons why you should consider outsourcing to a managed learning services (or MLS) provider, particularly if you are managing multiple training requirements every month.

        There are three primary reasons why more and more companies are choosing to use an MLS and these can be categorised thus:

        • Course Quality
        • Cost Savings
        • Allowing L&D professionals to focus their talents elsewhere

        And it is that third reason we’d like to expound on.

        L&D managers, by their nature, tend to be highly educated and trained individuals whose focus is regularly better spent on strategy than on the mundane.  It can simply be a waste of talent to use the experienced staff on administrative chores when they are more valuable working on the design and implementation of training policies for the advancement of their company. 

        Learning and Development professionals are primarily responsible for creating and delivering a bespoke training strategy for a company’s employees. If one removes the ‘delivering’ part of their role, it naturally follows that the strategy will be better thought out and corporate training will be more in line with business objectives.

        Businesses who have outsourced to managed learning services usually report a boost in morale amongst L&D teams for whom the loss of administrative burden is a huge relief. This garners loyalty and, by default, better productivity.

        outsourcing to a managed learning services

        Hidden savings are also factor here, apart from ‘freeing-up’ hours, costs such as invoicing are cut too, for example – as most MLS will consolidate – meaning one invoice in total (as opposed to one per course).

        According to Personeltoday.com  “Virtually all elements of training and learning can be outsourced. From business alignment, curricula planning, content development and delivery, to learning administration and measurement of learning impact. Most providers offer tailored solutions to let you outsource as little or as much as you want. Outsourcing training and learning to an MLS specialist can reap rewards, and providers are keen to stress that all businesses, no matter how small, can see a good return on investment.”

        Managed learning services such as Optimus Learning can save your company hours of work and money by taking the strain of managing the training of your staff and utilising the skills of you L&D team to their best effect.

        To find out more about our services and how we can help YOU contact Blake via blake.henegan@optimuslearningservices.com or call 0845 519 7408

         

         

        Managed learning services: 5 common false assumptions

          In an ever changing and challenging business world, many companies are increasing investment in maintaining and growing their market position and this often means investing in internal Learning and Development (L&D) resources and programmes. This can be enhanced by using Managed Learning Services (MLS), which is one of the most cost effective and efficient resources at an L&D manager’s disposal, yet despite its success, is often clouded with misconceptions.

          Any learning can present its own unique management challenges by requiring a certain skill set that may not always be available internally or is much needed elsewhere in the business, so drawing on essential expertise from an external dedicated resource rather than taking your in-house professionals away from business critical involvement, makes perfect sense.

          Continue reading “Managed learning services: 5 common false assumptions”

          Managed Learning Services: How to implement

            After all the decisions regarding the Managed Learning Services have been made it is time to implement it. Like any strategy, there are various steps that need to be completed in order for the strategy to run smoothly. We have come up with the following 5 steps that need to be accomplished to implement the best Managed Learning Service. Continue reading “Managed Learning Services: How to implement”

            7 tips to stretch the value of your training budget

               

              Do you have trouble achieving everything you want in your L&D department with the budget you currently have? If you answered yes to this question you are in the vast majority. With the current lean times continuing longer than most companies expected, very few L&D budgets are being increased after the cuts over the last few years (CIPD 2013).

              With expectations and costs increasing however, how do you keep hitting targets with what you have got? Here is our list of 7 things you can do to make your training budget go further. Continue reading “7 tips to stretch the value of your training budget”

              Managed Learning Services: How to choose a provider

                Choosing the right Managed Learning Services provider is an important decision. You are entrusting the future development of your team to an outside organisation, and need to be confident that the provider you select will be the best for you and your company.

                We are working with companies who have chosen us as their Managed Learning Services provider and are aware of the challenges they have encountered. Therefore, we decided to create this guide to help you choose a Managed Learning Services provider for yourselves so that you don’t have similar problems. Continue reading “Managed Learning Services: How to choose a provider”

                What is a managed learning service?

                  Managed Learning/Training Service

                  A Managed Learning Service (or Managed Training Service) is when an outside company provides a service to manage some or all aspects of organisational learning.  The functions that a Managed Training Service provider may offer include the following:

                  • Sourcing external training
                  • L&D Administration
                  • Supplier management
                  • Reducing costs
                  • Learning needs analysis
                  • Management Information

                  Continue reading “What is a managed learning service?”