A host of good reasons

One reason for using an ASP solution is that you can get results without the wait. John Martin is VP Global Operations for LMS provider Pathlore: “ASP makes sense when the organisation can not react quickly enough any other way. Large organisations can find it hard to respond to new opportunities – sometimes it’s like turning a battleship. The most successful e-learning projects are driven by a critical business problem, and they can not wait two years while you get the system up and running. It’s simply more cost-effective to outsource. Using an ASP solution for e-learning is like running a line for electricity – why set up your own power plant when you can just flick a switch?”

Ascot Systems has seen an increase in demand for a hosted version of its virtual classroom software, NetTutor. According to Ascot’s Bob Eades: “Hosting could well be the future, particularly for organisations where staff are widely dispersed, rather than based in a single location. Hosting allows you to have as big or as small a solution as you want, without the need for long-term contracts.”

Bob likens renting a virtual classroom by the day to hiring out real, bricks and mortar conference facilities: “The price for NetTutor, of 250 a day, compares favourably with the costs of hiring a ‘real’ training room, paying travel and subsistence costs for the tutor and trainees and so on. It also enables organisations to try out virtual classroom technology for a minimal cost rather than having to commit to capital expenditure before this learning delivery technology has proved its worth.” Clients like BT Broadband are already taking advantage of this technology to train customer service staff throughout the UK in weekly online training courses.

Karina Ward is Marketing Communications Manager for leading e-learning content publisher, NETg: “The primary reason people outsource their e-learning is because of the impact on internal IT systems. This could be because they have a limited infrastructure or don't want to clog up bandwidth that is used for mission critical applications. Using an e-learning solution that is hosted externally also saves time and money as there is no need to buy the necessary hardware or to recruit IT staff for maintenance, both of content and site performance.”

“But another factor training managers need to consider is that learners need to have constant access to the latest skills - using a hosted e-learning solution, the courses can be updated for the company as and when the course provider develops new courses or modifies existing ones. From the perspective of increasing business performance, if the e-learning solution is hosted outside your corporate domain, this also allows for learners from different organisations to interact with each other and, like a new employee, can provide your employees with fresh ideas and encourage knowledge-sharing across businesses.”