Microsoft Selects Click2learn for Enterprise-Wide Global Readiness Initiative
Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jan. 21, 2003–
Click2learn (Nasdaq:CLKS), leader in enterprise productivity solutions, today announced that Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq:MSFT) has selected the Aspen Enterprise Productivity Suite(TM) as its enterprise-wide learning platform.
Microsoft recently selected the Aspen Learning Content Management System (LCMS), adding it to the company’s existing Aspen Learning Management System (LMS) implementation. The Aspen Suite will power a worldwide readiness initiative to help Microsoft employees, partners and customers across the globe increase their competence and productivity in developing, using and selling Microsoft products.
Microsoft first started working with Click2learn approximately three years ago to improve the readiness of its worldwide sales force by rapidly educating them on new products as they were released. Based on the early success of this project, Microsoft turned to Click2learn to expand this effort into an enterprise-wide initiative, uniting 41 separate training organizations, 15 content production groups and multiple existing delivery infrastructures. This global initiative, internally dubbed “Voyager,” targets more than 48,000 employees, 55,000 partners and tens of thousands of individuals seeking various levels of Microsoft certification, located in more than 62 countries around the world.
“Microsoft’s success depends on readiness — readiness to respond, readiness to sell, readiness to change, readiness to deploy — and achieving that goal has been our overriding purpose in implementing a global learning infrastructure,” said Gerry Lang, Director, Worldwide Learning and Readiness. “Microsoft is about helping people realize their potential, and in order to ensure our success and to meet the complex learning needs of an organization as a vast as Microsoft, we needed a deep, scalable, reliable platform from a company with the type of industry leadership and experience that Click2learn has built. Our deployment of the Aspen platform is a milestone in our continuing relationship with Click2learn. This relationship has enabled Microsoft to create and deliver a full-service learning content development and delivery platform for our entire worldwide organization, bringing unprecedented cohesion and immediacy to our training, learning and readiness efforts.”
According to Lang, Microsoft chose the Aspen Learning Management System (LMS), which provided an open architecture with a high degree of functional integration, flexibility and customizability, and the Aspen Learning Content Management System (LCMS), which facilitated a common approach to the creation, management and reuse of training content for employees, partners and customers. Microsoft also will implement the Aspen Suite’s broad range of optional modules, including collaboration, performance management and compliance, among others, to address a variety of business needs.
Microsoft will utilize the comprehensive capabilities of the Aspen suite to:
— Provide consistent service offerings across the enterprise
— Launch, track, manage and report custom, third-party and self-created training content
— Deliver just-in-time information to help make employees and
partners more productive in their day-to-day work
— Assess skills and competencies, and create development plans to help employees close skills gaps and achieve career goals at the company
— Train customers in the use and benefits of Microsoft products
— Reach diverse geographies, departments and employees by localizing the user interface in Japanese, German, French, Spanish and other languages
— Produce a unique “Universal Training Record,” or lifetime transcript, for employees
— regardless of reorganization or job change at Microsoft — that records all internal and external training
— Quickly train product support and sales teams on new product versions and releases
— Create content and courseware for individuals seeking Microsoft certification (e.g., MSCE, etc.)
— Create or repurpose content for partner consumption to ensure that channel partners and resellers are competent with and properly represent Microsoft products and services.
“Microsoft is not only a top client, but a key strategic partner for Click2learn,” said Kevin Oakes, Click2learn chairman and CEO. “It’s been rewarding to see the significant business results Microsoft is achieving with Click2learn, and the recent enterprise-wide license cements Aspen as the only learning platform across the entire enterprise. We expect to continue that success by working together on mutual opportunities and joint technologies, and leveraging the strengths of each organization with customers and prospects.”
According to Lang, Voyager is already paying out in significantly improved productivity and performance for user groups all over the company. “Employees can now more consistently improve performance, drive their careers through structured learning, and find relevant timely learning for their day-to-day jobs. Business groups can smoothly orchestrate learning experiences with products, solutions and company initiatives. Also, managers can objectively measure and tune individual and team readiness; and our training organization can finally maximize its impact on the business objectives of Microsoft, its customers and its partners.”
“Click2learn has been an outstanding partner throughout the development of our learning initiative, providing valuable guidance, and demonstrating a deep understanding of our business and what it takes to solve the challenges we face. We’re confident that the learning program we’ve created with Aspen will helped us meet the economic, compliance and business pressures of today’s environment,” said Lang.
About Aspen
Click2learn’s highly acclaimed Aspen Enterprise Productivity
Suite(TM) enables organizations to strategically manage corporate knowledge and workforce productivity to improve business performance. With Aspen organizations can — for the first time — enjoy a comprehensive, integrated solution for their learning needs. Aspen facilitates information management, knowledge exchange and multi-modal training, all under one platform with one seamless user experience. The Aspen Suite consists of separate but integrated modules,
including:
— Learning Management (LMS)
— Learning Content Management (LCMS)
— Virtual Classroom (VCS)
— Performance Management
— Collaboration, Knowledge Exchange & Instant Messaging
— Information Management
— Simulation Creation and Editing
— Auditing and Compliance Tracking
Whether organizations choose to deploy the entire Aspen suite, or to integrate select Aspen applications with existing infrastructure, Aspen’s standards-based (AICC, SCORM, XML, etc.) modular and open architecture is designed to lower the total cost of ownership of learning solutions.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
About Click2learn
Click2learn (Nasdaq:CLKS) is the recognized leader in enterprise productivity solutions for Global 2000 organizations and government agencies seeking to improve business performance and workforce productivity. Using Click2learn’s Aspen Enterprise Productivity Suite(TM), many of the world’s best-known corporations improve sales force readiness, achieve and demonstrate regulatory compliance, improve speed and quality of customer service, and educate customers and partners, while at the same time realizing significant cost savings. Click2learn’s clients include such industry leaders as Accenture, American Airlines, AstraZeneca, Century 21, Fujitsu, Microsoft, Pfizer, Symantec, and Towers Perrin. Based in Bellevue, Wash., with offices throughout the U.S., Click2learn (www.click2learn.com, 800/448-6543) also is represented in, Europe, Australia, Japan and India.
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including information contained in this document where statements are preceded by, followed by or include the words “believes,” “plans,” “intends,” “expects,” “anticipates” or similar expressions. For such statements, The Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted, and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements include, market acceptance of Click2learn’s e-learning solutions and competing e-learning offerings, the ability to successfully implement Click2learn’s solutions and increase revenues, the ability to successfully address technological developments and standards and the risk factors set forth in filings the Company has made with the SEC. Click2learn, Aspen and ToolBook are trademarks of Click2learn. All other company and product names are the trademarks of their respective owners.
CONTACT: Click2learn
Karen Peck, 425/637-1643
karen.peck@click2learn.com
or
Investor Relations:
John Atherly, 425/637-1557
john.atherly@click2learn.com
