SkillSoft Releases 27 Business Skills Courses Localized for Chinese Market
SkillSoft Corp. (Nasdaq: SKIL), a leading provider of e-learning courseware and Referenceware for business and IT professionals, today announced the release of 27 business skills courses localized for the Chinese market and covering areas such as project management, customer service, and leadership. The ongoing localization initiative is the result of SkillSoft’s strategic alliance agreement with Beida-Online, a joint venture of Peking University and Jade Bird Group, a major Chinese IT company. Under the agreement, Beida-Online,
which is headquartered in Beijing, has distribution rights to all SkillSoft courses and other products in China.
Localizing courses for use by Chinese corporations involves translation from
English to Mandarin and incorporation of appropriate imagery and examples relevant
to the Chinese market. Localization work is shared by Beida-Online, which handles
all development work, and SkillSoft, which provides the development tools, methodology,
and quality assurance. Plans call for a significant number of SkillSoft’s 1,000-plus
business skills courses to be localized for the Chinese market over the calendar
year.
"Chinese businesses are eager to learn more about business. Our company
sees e-learning as an efficient way to help Chinese businesses of all sizes
learn the business skills required to compete in today’s global business market,"
said Ni Jinlei, president and CEO of Beida-Online. "We evaluated other
e-learning content vendors as potential partners and chose SkillSoft because
of its extensive course library and excellent industry reputation."
In addition to SkillSoft courses, Beida-Online also offers its own courses, developed through the use of information resources available
through Peking University, China’s oldest and most prestigious university. China’s
largest web-based training provider for professionals and businesses, Beida-Online
counts among its customers Lexmark (China), Industrial Bank of China, and Ping
An Insurance. In a recent survey conducted by the China Internet Statistics
Center, a majority of respondents predicted that on-line training would be the
biggest Internet business in China, outpacing on-line shopping and B2B commerce.
One of the largest in the industry, the SkillSoft business skills library encompasses
areas such as such as management, leadership, communication, project management
and customer service, as well as business subjects such as e-commerce, finance,
marketing, sales, and strategy. SkillSoft courses were among the first to be
designed purely for web-based delivery. Incorporation of learning object architecture
and job aids into each course gives learners the ability to search and find
the specific information required for
"just-in-time" job performance support. SkillSoft’s library currently
contains more than 12,000 learning objects — self-contained sections of information
about specific topics requiring about five- to ten-minutes of learner time —
and 2,500 job aids such as checklists, outlines, and samples.
"We are very proud of our partnership with Beida-Online. Beida’s belief
in the business value of web-based training is a perfect match to our own philosophy.
They also share a similar commitment to quality," said Chuck Moran, president
and CEO of SkillSoft. "As companies throughout the world begin to compete
on a global scale, the demand for business skills training will continue to
foster the widespread adoption of e-learning."
About SkillSoft
With more than two million user seats, SkillSoft is a leading provider of comprehensive,
integrated e-learning solutions for Global 2000 companies and government organizations.
Customers receive comprehensive learning and performance support solutions for
their workforce through SkillSoft’s business skills library, comprised of more
than 1,000 courses for global business markets, of which over 550 are in U.S.
English. The library, which also includes more than 12,000 learning objects
and 2,500 job aids, encompasses a wide array of business skills, such as management,
leadership, communication, project management and customer service, as well
as business subjects such as e-commerce, finance, marketing, sales, and strategy.
SkillSoft complements SkillSoft courses with SkillSimulations, Web-based simulations
designed to reinforce skills newly acquired through specific courses. SkillSoft
courses can be managed and tracked through SkillPort, an e-learning management
platform that offers rapid implementation at a cost-efficient price point, or
through third-party learning management systems.
SkillSoft recently acquired Books 24×7, which offers subscription clients detailed
online searches to more than 1,700 unabridged IT and business books. Books24x7’s
patent-pending technology platform gives users the ability to perform multi-tier
searches of the company’s Referenceware lines: ITPro, BusinessPro and OfficeEssentials.
For more information, visit www.skillsoft.com.
SkillSoft, SkillPort, RolePlay, Search-and-Learn, SkillSimulation, and Referenceware
are trademarks of SkillSoft Corp. All brand names, trademarks, or registered
trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Safe harbor language:
This release includes information that constitutes forward-looking statements
made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Any such forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results
encompassed within the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause
or contribute to such differences include competitive pressures, changes in
customer demands or industry standards, adverse economic conditions, loss of
key personnel, litigation and other matters disclosed under the heading "Future
Operating Results" in the Company’s most recent Report on Form 10-Q filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking information
provided by the Company in this press release represents the Company’s estimates
as of January 2002. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will
cause the Company’s estimates to change. However, while the Company may elect
to update this forward-looking financial information at some point in the future,
the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. This forward- looking
information should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s estimates
of its future financial performance as of any date subsequent to the date of
this release.
CONTACT:
Linda Galloway
Apollo Associates
+1-203-790-1591
lgalloway@apolloassociates.com
John Catlin
Managing Director of SkillSoft Asia Pacific
+61 2 9960 0040
Web site: http://www.skillsoft.com/
