Online Content: Still a Pain In the SaaS

Content-as-a-Service offerings are emerging as a way to solve the issues surrounding the maintenance and delivery of effective online training that have been hampering organizations since the inception of e-learning.

An old mantra proclaims that "Content Is King." In many organizations, where content management is considered a business critical strategy for staying up-to-date with the ever-changing business landscape, this statement is quite true. In the training and development market, a strategic content management strategy is nothing but essential to effective e-learning.

Learning content management emerged in the late 1990s as organizations migrated their classroom-based training initiatives to e-learning. Today, Forrester estimates the learning content market at approximately $150 million. Since its introduction, a series of market developments have had an impact on the cost, flexibility, and the business benefits of e-learning content solutions, though none as significant as the introduction of the concept of Content-as-a-Service (CaaS).

Content-as-a-Service offerings emerged some three years ago as a way to solve the issues surrounding the maintenance and delivery of effective online training that have been hampering organizations since the inception of e-learning. The last two years have seen major adoption and expansion of the services provided to support online content. Several learning management system (LMS) vendors have introduced offerings, varying in completeness, to try to solve the e-learning problem. However, content is still the most neglected piece of an organization's learning strategy.

CaaS as a Trend

The foocus of application functionality and user interface still dominates the buying process and arguably. Second, organizations need to weigh heavily the consequences of ignoring the ability to effectively manage and deliver e-learning. Ignoring content or accepting a decentralized hosted model will continue to cause integration and training problems rendering the best training strategies ineffective. Find the LMS that best fits organizational requirements, but do not forget the effect of online training in this decision process. This is equivalent to buying the perfect car without wheels.

Over the last couple of years, it has become even clearer that companies continue to struggle with content management and delivery. Internally developed content continues to be the major area of concern in most organizations. Developing content requires tools, technical expertise, subject matter experts, and infrastructure to deliver the content effectively after development.

Internally developed content or custom content is also the most valuable content to organizations as it encapsulates specific business processes, firm culture, and unique intellectual property. The ability to effectively manage, update, and deliver this content remains the cornerstone of an e-learning strategy. Additionally, most organizations struggle to load third-party vendor libraries, as they are hundreds if not thousands of titles deep.

More importantly, organizations lack the ability to handle the significant number of monthly updates for large libraries, which can number in the hundreds. Loading content for "go-live" creates a snapshot of valid content but this becomes stale over time. Not accounting for updates is the mistake that compounds monthly. A new trend of outsourcing the management of third-party titles has proven successful for many organizations in satisfying end user demands, containing internal costs, and maintaining content quality and accuracy.

The economic downturn in the fall of 2008 accelerated an existing trend away from instructor-led-only strategies. As e-learning becomes more robust and effective, there is less need for expensive classroom based training, which limits or restricts the end-user consumption. End users are increasingly looking for the ability to take training during off hours, OnDemand, or via mobile learning. This fits with shrinking internal budgets while organizations attempt to train more with less.

The success of CaaS hinges on the flexibility of services to meet varied customer needs. This flexibility is evident in the way companies now purchase content. The concept of custom bundles, whereby organizations choose titles to fit their exact learning and development need, is one example of this process shift. Custom bundles allow companies to pick titles from multiple catalogs, multiple providers, and create a unique set of training for their user base. Bundles typically range from 25 to 100 titles, which is more in line with what an organization needs to support end-user e-learning consumption, rather than purchasing 2000 plus titles that largely go unused.

Organizations are no longer willing to purchase thousands of titles that sit unused only to show a large inventory. In addition, some companies are trying a mixed model approach where CaaS providers manage a sub-set of the overall content library that the company is having difficulty managing internally.

Companies leverage Content-as-a-Service to purchase content with increased flexibility in timing, size, and levels. CaaS allows companies to purchase in a pay-as-you go model or with pre-paid cards. Each allows companies maximum flexibility in regards to budgets and payment cycles. The added transparency of CaaS allows managers visibility into the ROI of the training and determines where the budgets are most effective.

A final trend seen with CaaS is somewhat surprising, as it busts a common e-learning myth. Early CaaS solutions often fell short in providing an e-learning only experience, given the lackluster market response. It is a myth that some organizations need ONLY e-learning. Companies need a meaningful way to deliver e-learning, for numerous business reasons, but they also need additional LMS functionality.

Organizations serious about training need more than just e-learning. Logging into a platform to take a few courses, albeit simple, falls short of developing a strategic and effective training program. The traditional LMS system provides e-learning, plus hundreds (if not thousands) of other features. Some obvious missing pieces are instructor-led training (ILT), virtual classrooms, and blended learning. Even with the move away from ILT, there is and will most likely always be a need for some blended or ILT.

As organizations develop training strategies, requirements that are more complex evolve with credits, pre-requisites, eCommerce, chargeback's, reporting, grouping, catalog management, and so forth. Companies who prioritize training and employee development need more than the ability to launch and take an online course - they need a complete solution.

The paradigm shift around e-learning into a CaaS model is providing a more meaningful solution for all sizes of companies. The popularity of SaaS helps fuel the adoption of CaaS as more organizations focus on the effectiveness and value of e-learning and forgo wrestling with expensive infrastructure and resources. This change allows organizations to drive additional value, increase effectiveness, and lower overall costs.

Simple Questions, Tough Answers

The struggle for an organization to effectively manage and deliver e-learning has increased. Technology improves the breadth and complexity of content driving the necessary skills to support and deliver it. More companies are using videos and simulations coupled with more traditional static e-learning to train organizations. However, most companies have not increased their internal technical capabilities to handle existing content requirements, regardless of e-learning's expanded role. These are the same problems that became evident a few years ago, but they are growing larger and deeper. Companies still do not have expertise or process to effectively load, manage, test, and deliver e-learning.

Companies still struggle with the basic questions:

• Who produces XYZ type courses?
• Do I have the most recent version of this course?
• Will this course work with my LMS?
• Do I have the bandwidth and storage capability to support my entire company?
• What content do I have available for users?
• What content is being used?
• Where do I get more content?

These are the basic questions a CaaS solution solves and allows companies to focus on the most important question: is the content providing effective training? Organizations contemplating a CaaS solution should find one that allows them focus on delivering the right training to the right audience at the right time.

Technology

Dealing with the technical complexities and standards (AICC/SCORM) of e-learning are a technical subspecialty. Without technical resources and staff to administer content the basic steps of loading content and managing updates becomes overwhelming. The initial step of loading content still stymies organizations as they attempt to publish hundreds if not thousands of titles. Once published, the need to support e-learning expands as the problems of launching, tracking, bookmarking, and recording scores requires well-developed content and support.

Many organizations have multiple development tools that produce content that behaves differently across LMSs - and especially across different end-user environments. Different patches or versions of the OS, Java, and browsers are only a few of the technical support hurdles derailing e-learning. This is expanding in complexity as more browsers and OS versions enter the market.

Another persistent hurdle is content delivery. The best content in the world is rendered useless if users cannot download and consume the title. As organizations expand globally and content becomes heavier (simulations and video) the need for a content distribution network (CDN) increases, but again is often ignored. Using a simple content hosting box is less appealing but the adoption of a CDN for some is still not a reality due to costs. A CDN solution such as Akamai allows a consistent and reliable delivery stream for any geographically dispersed workforce. Any CaaS solution must provide access to a global CDN to remove this delivery problem.

Manpower

Having technical and administrative staff on hand to trouble shoot content issues is essential but costly. The list of technological challenges above requires a broad set of skills that are difficult to find, maintain, and afford. The simple task of discovering if the issue is content or application related requires a unique skill set most companies do not employ.

A simple example:

• Content is tested in a staging environment and rolled out to production.
• The content works for everyone but a small set of users.
• Troubleshooting those end-user environment variables requires a deep technical knowledge of content, applications, networks, web technologies, and programming.

Process and Updates

After the labor discussion, process problems quickly arise around who is qualified and authorized to test and manage content. During an implementation, content is published and ready for go-live, however that content begins to stagnate on Day 1. Without personnel and processes to update the content it will become stale and ineffective. Most organization's implementation teams dwindle and the remaining administrative staff is ill equipped to handle e-learning. The technical skills continually vanish leaving frustrated administers and end-users.

The update problem is exacerbated by the introduction of large third-party libraries. As organizations took the approach of covering, every topic for every user, they purchased entire catalogs of content. Most vendors put out monthly updates for content, which are required to keep the content accurate and fresh, these require resources to manage and apply. Again, organizations typically do not consider the update process with online content, and much of the value of purchased content is lost as it becomes unused or stale. This hampers adoption rates and training schedules as users train on old content or wait for the latest version.

Lastly, the problem of authorized publication continues to be a problem. The process of controlling the" who" and the "what" around e-learning eludes most companies. Organizations need to know what content is published and who is responsible or authorized to publish. Too often organizations allow too many, too few, or the wrong people to publish content causing cost and training problems.

Custom Content is King

As expected, internally developed custom content is still the most valuable to companies. Moreover, this content continues to be the most problematic for all of the reasons listed here. A consistent issue centers on finding a consistent development process. There are hundreds in the market and organizations typically have several in-house. Most companies use custom content as a means to train specific business process and procedures. The content is developed on many different tools by SMEs and then rolled out to the field. However, SMEs do not have the technical background to ensure the content will function properly with an LMS.

A course may launch and play correctly in the development tool but still fail in an LMS. Custom content contains the intellectual property and business process most important to organizations. The effective management and delivery of this content is crucial to effective training plans. Inconsistent development techniques and tools create content that may work in some environments and fail in others. Unfortunately, companies continue to rely on SMEs or LMS administrators to troubleshoot and publish custom content no matter that they lack the necessary skills.

Less is More

The problems of the global economy in 2008 and 2009 cascaded down to many training and development organizations. This translated to smaller staffs and budgets to deal with e-learning or training in general. We continue to see a shift away from ILT-only training to move of a blended approach with emphasis on e-learning. This is an attempt to try to alleviate some of the costs associated with classroom-based training.

The smaller staffs compounded the troubles with e-learning as the number of available resources to handle problems decreased while the reliance and usage of online training increased. This created a perfect storm for some LMS administrators who assume responsibility for handling the overflow and increased occurrence of e-learning problems.

Another shift is caused by demographics as the demands of a younger work force look for alternatives to traditional training methods. The changes in technology with bandwidth, social media, and content development allow organizations to train employees in ever-increasing fashion. More learning is done during off hours, on-demand, and through simulations. These technologies are increasingly popular and effective while adding to the technical complexity of the infrastructure and skill sets necessary. This trend will expand and increase in velocity over the next couple of years, forcing companies to seek different solutions.

What a Short Strange Trip It's Been

It has only been a couple of years since CaaS entered the market as a viable solution. This short strange trip is a true paradigm shift in how organizations view and use e-learning. A paradigm shift causes confusion, doubt, and froth in most markets and the content world is no exception.

The adoption of CaaS was a slow and often confusing process as companies were forced to understand and deal with problems larger than just GBs of storage. However, with multiple CaaS offerings in the market and the general acceptance of SaaS, the confusion is dissipating with true long-term benefits for the market. Without the constraints and fears of managing and delivering e-learning organizations now focus on the effectiveness of training. Organizations do not need to worry about hosting infrastructure or specialized technical resources to support the complex e-learning requirements.

The goal of every CaaS solution should be to allow a company to focus on delivering the right training to the right people at the right time. There will be more changes as CaaS evolves and grows and new ecosystems spring forth to expand the offerings. This should enable training managers to more easily find and deliver high quality e-learning across global teams at a lower costs and higher acceptance rates. CaaS has changed rapidly over the last several years and this change should only accelerate as more vendors enter the market and companies continue to embrace the benefits of the model.