IDC Sees Key Opportunities for Renewed Growth in Corporate Training Markets

April 3, 2003

Over the same period, the U.S. corporate business skills training market will grow at a CAGR of 10.5%. eLearning will continue to shine in both markets, although not as brightly as in the recent past

Shifts in spending priorities and buyers’ requirements influenced the corporate IT training and business skills training markets in 2002. “Spending priorities have shifted from ‘build for the future’ to a priority of ‘cost containment’ and seeking maximum value with immediate payoff. This means training investments must be increasingly tied to strategic priorities to obtain funding,” says Cushing Anderson, program director for IDC’s Learning Services research.

“Buyers want to show tighter links between their employee development investments and bottom line results,” added Michael Brennan, program manager for Corporate Learning and Performance research at IDC.

Corporate IT and business skills training vendors must be ready to take advantage of several key opportunities as they present themselves to prospective buyers. IDC believes key opportunities exist for IT training vendors in business applications training, custom curriculum design and course development, live-elearning technologies, and customizable off-the-shelf courseware. Similarly, bright prospects will emerge for business skills vendors that align content, delivery and support offerings with clients’ needs, can show ROI, focus on hot content areas, and offer performance management services.

The two IDC reports, Worldwide and U.S. IT Education and Training Services Forecast and Analysis, 2003-2007 (IDC #28983), and U.S. Corporate Business Skills Training Market Forecast and Analysis, 2003-2007 (IDC #28985) present IDC’s current assessment and best growth estimates through 2007 for the corporate IT and business skills training markets. The purpose of these reports is to identify and quantify recent trends and events that are impacting opportunities in these markets. Furthermore, the two reports offer advice to training and elearning vendors to position themselves for long term success.

More specifically, the document, Worldwide and U.S. IT Education and Training Services Forecast and Analysis, 2003-2007 (IDC #28983), covers the worldwide IT training services industry with a focus on three regions – the Americas, Asia/Pacific and Europe/Middle East/Africa. Also included in this document are U.S. IT training forecasts by content category (i.e., applications, system infrastructure software, and application development and deployment), and by delivery medium (i.e., classroom-based, text-based, and technology-based). Finally, this report offers insights in training strategies adopted by the largest software vendors.

The document, U.S. Corporate Business Skills Training Market Forecast and Analysis, 2003-2007 (IDC #28985), focuses on the U.S. business skills training industry and presents a forecast by delivery category (i.e., classroom-based, text-based, and technology-based).

Related Links

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