Humana Signs Agreement with SkillSoft for Multi-Modal Learning

SkillSoft PLC (Nasdaq: SKIL), a leading provider of enterprise e-learning, today announced that Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM), one of the nation’s largest publicly traded health benefits companies, signed a two-year agreement to license a SkillSoft multi-modal learning solution. The integrated solution encompasses more than 1,000 e-learning courses spanning a variety of IT technologies and desktop applications; 24×7, online mentoring support for IT professionals; and more than 3,000 online, unabridged Referenceware(R) titles. With multi-modal learning, professionals can access a variety of formal and informal learning resources through a single, unified search and then select the appropriate resources based on information needs, available time, and learning preferences.

“Our human capital premise is that our people are our competitive advantage. SkillSoft gives our associates access to the online content they need — anytime, anywhere — to develop critical competencies and learn faster than the competition,” said Ray Vigil, Humana’s chief learning officer. “The solution expands the resources available to our associates and gives them the flexibility to choose the resources that meet their needs and personal learning styles.”
Multi-modal learning resources, which are hosted by SkillPort, SkillSoft’s learning platform, are accessed by employees through Humana’s secure intranet site. In addition to searching through available resources by topics, employees will soon be able to search for all resources related to identified competencies.

“This capability helps us reinforce the importance of professional self-development and offers associates guidance in meeting specific role requirements,” said Brian LeClaire, vice president and chief technology officer. “We also believe the ITPro and OfficeEssentials Referenceware libraries, with more than 3,000 unabridged books on IT and desktop applications, will be important new productivity tools for our associates.”

“Humana’s adoption of multi-modal learning is a demonstration of the value companies see in offering employees a wide variety of formal and informal learning resources that can be tracked and managed for greatest efficiencies,” said Jerry Nine, chief operating officer of SkillSoft. “Humana has been an important SkillSoft partner; its vision of learning has helped us shape our own offering to best meet the needs of today’s enterprise.”

About SkillSoft
SkillSoft is the leading provider of comprehensive e-learning content and technology products for business and IT professionals within the Global 2000. SkillSoft’s multi-modal learning solutions support and enhance the speed and effectiveness of both formal and informal learning processes and integrate SkillSoft’s in-depth courseware, learning management platform technology and support services.

Content offerings include SkillSoft’s Business Skills Library and IT Skills and Certification Library; ITPro, BusinessPro, FinancePro, and OfficeEssential Referenceware collections by Books24x7; and health and safety compliance courseware by GoTrain. For more information, visit www.skillsoft.com.

About Humana
Humana Inc., headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the nation’s largest publicly traded health benefits companies, with approximately 6.6 million medical members located primarily in 18 states and Puerto Rico. Humana offers coordinated health insurance coverage and related services — through traditional and Internet-based plans — to employer groups, government-sponsored plans and individuals. For more information, visit www.humana.com.

SkillSoft, SkillPort, RolePlay,SEARCH-and-LEARN, e-Learning for the Knowledge Economy, NetUniversity, and Accelerated Path are trademarks and/or servicemarks of SkillSoft PLC. Books24x7 and Referenceware are servicemarks of Books24x7, Inc. All other brand names, trademarks, or registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

Linda Galloway of Apollo Associates LLC, +1-203-790-1591, lgalloway@apolloassociates.com, for SkillSoft PLC; or Dennis Brown, Director of Corporate Communications of SkillSoft PLC, +1-630-707-9024, dbrown@skillsoft.com/ Web site:http://www.skillsoft.com http://www.humana.com