eLearning Firm Viviance Closes US Operations, Cuts 20 Employees
The Swiss eLearning provider Viviance AG new education is focusing on profitability after obtaining several large projects in Europe and therefore terminating its cost-intensive activities in the U.S.
Dr. Neil V. Sunderland, Chairman of the Board of Viviance, says that profitability is first priority. “The vast majority of our revenue has come from the European market, which has meant considerably more success in Europe than in the U.S. During this year, Viviance has received orders for eLearning solutions from large corporates in Europe for several million Euros. Within the last few days alone we have realised orders for more than 2.8 million Euros until end of this year. Therefore, we prefer to dedicate ourselves to the fast-growing European market for corporate eLearning. A consistent focus on Europe will allow for making use of Viviancessss strong positioning in the market, and to attend to customers even better.”
Sunderland stated that the close contact to the American eLearning market provided valuable expertise in content as well as technology. However, the US-sites were not as successful as required for this market.
According to Sunderland, even though the Internet is based on world-wide standards, it does not guarantee the same success in eLearning everywhere: “Corporate decisions regarding the use of eLearning solutions are specific to the cultural background. Therefore, our distribution experiences in the U.S. have been similar to those American eLearning-providers are reporting e.g. from the German speaking area.”
About Viviance new education:
Viviance AG new education the European specialist for Corporate eLearning with its headquarters in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and offices in nine European countries. Viviance blends the most recent educational findings with the latest online applications on Thinktanx(TM), its own technological platform, for large enterprises and institutions such as ABB, Hewlett-Packard, Swissair as well as important Swiss financial institutions. Viviance offers all services from consultancy to the realisation and management of internet-based information and learning systems.
With its future-oriented activity, the company has been granted several financing rounds by the European 3i Group and Vontobel Groupssss Private Equity Holding. Additionally, a top-class advisory board supports Viviancessss management team. Its members include Ulrich Bremi, well-known Swiss politician and businessman; Prof. Dr. Heinz Riesenhuber, former German Minister for Research and Technology; John Hanley, Chairman emritus of Scientific American; and Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer
