By comparing your organization to relevant measures, benchmarking will identify where you are strong, where you are weak, and specifically where you can focus to improve your operations.

Benchmarking can expedite results, compress the maturity curve for your organization, and direct investments in dollars and resources.

With competitive benchmarking, an organization compares itself against peer organizations (or sometimes competitors) in specific measurable areas. You define a set of measures you would like to analyze, identify a set of peers you would like to compare yourself against, acquire the data, and perform comparisons.

Best practices benchmarking is more qualitative. In this approach, you seek to understand the best practices in one particular area. These best practices can involve processes, workflows, systems, tools, and methodologies employed by other organizations.

The key to both competitive and best practices benchmarking is to gain access to unbiased, relevant research. Organizations can obtain this research through a variety of sources:

• Up to date publications with detailed, actionable information such as the Corporate Learning Factbook, research from ASTD, and others. If you purchase or download such publications, it is important to have access to the source data so you can filter and sort by industry, organization size, geography, and focus area.
• In-depth case studies and examples of how companies have solved problems similar to yours. Trade shows and webcasts are good resources, as is our research. Most vendors and suppliers have best practice clients you can talk with.
• Talking with your peers. Compare notes in a face-to-face meeting or a telephone call. If purchasing a product, be sure to take the time to call vendor references.
• Call us. In the last several years we have built the largest database of trends, statistics, and best practices for the U.S. training industry.

Learn more about benchmarking; research members and non-members read the full article online.

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From a single LMS database, the NCR University Operations organization supports five different learning groups, four business units, and three audiences – employees, customers, and partners – comprising 46,000 learners in all. Each learning audience has a separate portal with blended delivery of self-paced and collaborative training, personal learning paths, certification tracks, and materials for order.

Learn how NCR, recognized as one of the nation’s leading learning organizations, has leveraged shared services and technologies, transitioned to online learning, and adapted a single LMS to meet diverse learner and business needs.

Research members: Visit the research center to download the NCR University case study.
Non-members: The NCR case study is available to non-members for a limited time; download today!

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Have you heard? The call for applications is now open for the 2006 Bersin & Associates Learning Leaders Program! We’ll recognize 15 Learning Leaders whose training programs, technology initiatives, and teams have had high positive impact on their businesses.

Bersin & Associates will also develop a comprehensive report of best practices, findings, and observations collected during the evaluation process. All applicants will receive a complimentary copy.

Please visit www.bersin.co m/leaders, where you’ll find details about the program criteria and categories as well as instructions on how to apply.

We want to emphasize that applicants from around the world are welcome to participate in Learning Leaders – the program is not limited to U.S.-based companies. And, we’re looking for best cases of learning at organizations of all types and sizes.

Thanks to those of you who have already responded by registering for the program and downloading applications. We appreciate your interest, and we look forward to hearing all about your organization’s learning and development programs!

Remember: Applications are due on August 31, 2006.

Please contact Diane Siroky for questions or to receive regular program news and updates.

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The Economics of Learning 101
[Elearning! Magazine]

Corporate learning is big business. We estimated the value of the U.S. corporate training market to be approximately $46.6 billion in 2005. Approximately $14.8 billion was spent on technologies, products and services. The remaining $38.1 billion went to salaries, facilities and other internal operations.
Read the full article on page 33 of Elearning! Magazine's Spring 2006 issue or email Diane Siroky for a copy.

Study: U.S. Market Will Increase 40 Percent for Workforce Performance Management
[Workforce Performance Solutions]

“When it comes to demand, we’re seeing the tip of the iceburg,” said Josh Bersin, president of Bersin & Associates. “The business drivers behind this market are very powerful. Undisputable shifts in workforce demographics are making all aspects of talent management critically important – from hiring smarter to identifying and cultivating management prospects to ensuring the development of competitively important skills throughout the organization.”
Read the full article.

Metrics: Performance Management
[Training Magazine]

The current demand for employee performance management is just the beginning. According to a new Bersin & Associates study, "Performance Management 2006: Market Analysis, Trends and Vendor Profiles," the U.S. market for performance management software is $136 million and growing at 45 percent a year—making it the fastest growing segment in the market for human resources applications software.
Read the full article.

Multi-Sourcing: Achieving Growth and Agility
[Chief Learning Officer]

The most effective and efficient training organizations employ some kind of outsourcing. Training outsourcing is following well-established patterns in other areas, such as payroll, human resource management, customer service, IT and call centers. Today, the question a business-savvy training executive asks is not, “Do we outsource?” but rather, “What should we outsource?”
Read the full article.

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WEBINARS

Upcoming Webinars:

Bersin & Associates is conducting research on the topic of structured learning content – especially content used for both formal and informal learning. We are particularly interested in the processes and technology used, challenges experienced, and any results seen. Please let us know if you would like to participate in this important project. We would require no more than 15-20 minutes of your time via phone or email.

Interested? Contact Chris Howard at chris@bersin.com.

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Key new research studies available for members only:

Training the Extended Enterprise
This case study provides an in-depth look at customer, channel, and partner training at NCR. It covers the organization structure and transition to a modern training strategy for the company’s external audiences. Download today.

Empowering Users with Electronic Performance Support Systems
This case study provides an overview of EPSS as applied to an enterprise-wide Lotus Notes implementation. It covers the business challenge, the capabilities derived from the solution, and data on user feedback. Download today.