Vendor White Papers

Our vendor white papers can help you make sense of the wokplace learning and performance market and provide access to industry insights and data, ASTD presents e-learning white papers from investment firms, market research companies, and training suppliers.

In Search of Learning Agility: Assessing Progress from 1957 to 2008 
A Special Report from TRCLARK LLC
Timothy R. Clark, Ph.D., President and Managing Partner
Conrad A. Gottfredson, Ph.D., Senior Partner, Chief Learning Officer
This report is written to address the market upheaval, technological disruption, demographic churning, and political instability that threaten organizations today. In the context of the global age, organizations must respond to constant buffetings. Adaptive challenge presents itself in combinations of speed and complexity that are simply unprecedented. If an organization must learn each time it responds to an adaptive challenge, the learning implications of the global age are breath taking. Our central premise is that enduring competitive advantage must be built on organizational learning agility—meaning an organization’s ability to respond to adaptive challenge—be it an opportunity, threat, or crisis—through the acquisition and application of knowledge and skills. Accordingly, we trace a brief history of organizations in their search for this capacity, sketching three distinct stages of learning agility: 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0, covering the years between 1957 and 2008. We conclude by providing a summary of current trends associated with learning agility today, outlining threats and risks in the near term, and offering a set of recommendations to leaders for future progress.

Sponsored by ASTD Research, Chief Learning Officer, and the eLearning Guild

Sales 2.0:Exploring Paradigm Shifts in Web Technologies Sales Performance & Learning
Intrepid Learning Solutions
Over the past twenty years, we have seen changes in all types of sales processes across all industry segments. Most of the significant changes have come over the past seven years, driven largely by new enabling technologies, an increasingly tech-savvy customer base, and rapid evolution of the Internet. These changes have affected the roles of both sales and marketing, as well as the ways in which they interact and support each other. In addition, economic factors continue to lengthen and complicate purchase decision cycles and drive up the cost of traditional field sales operations. This white paper explains the essential move to Sales 2.0 environment.

Learning and the 2.0 Collaboration Revolution
element k
CLOs and training managers have witnessed the recent popularity of Web 2.0 technologies, such as wikis, blogs, and podcasts. As organizations struggle to retain and enhance workforce knowledge and manage an increasing information flow, wikis are already playing a crucial role.

State of Global Talent Nation: Organizations Struggle to Ready Workforces to Meet Growth Demands
Softscape
Third Annual Softscape Survey reveals that 94% of HR professionals feel their workforces are still not adequately prepared to meet future goals.

The 10 Key Steps in Developing an Enterprise-Wide Compliance Training Strategy
SumTotal Systems
Organizations often uncover redundant processes that manage separate compliance needs. These could be leveraged with better planning. So how can your organization reduce the costs and compliance risks of mandatory training? Here are 10 steps for developing an enterprise-wide compliance training strategy.

The Emergence of Talent Management 
 SumTotal Systems
This string of functions often has been referred to as the “employee life cycle,” or “cradle-to-grave” employment applications, or the ability to “attain, train, and retain” a workforce. Instead of talent management, other terms that have been loosely used to describe the entire process are “human capital management,” “employee relationship management,” or “workforce management.”

The Five Costliest Mistakes in Training – And How to Avoid Them
ViewCentral
To achieve maximum return, you need to manage the business side of training as efficiently and effectively as you manage the educational side. ViewCentral offers advice for improving the quality, financial return, and overall business impact of your enterprise training initiatives. 

Employee Engagement Report
BlessingWhite
Although 60 percent of employees may say they plan to stay with their organization through the year, less than one-quarter of them are fully engaged in their work. The 2005 Employee Engagement Report includes recommendations for driving organizational clarity, tapping into the self-interests and motivation of individual employees, and helping managers link business imperatives with employee needs.

The Real Costs of Outsourcing
Global Sourcing Insights LLC
What is the real cost of outsourcing? Conflicting reports from respected sources can heighten any company's anxiety over the decision to embark on an outsourcing initiative, particularly if it involves offshore outsourcing. On the one hand, there is tremendous pressure to use offshore outsourcing as a means to reduce costs and increase the firm's ability to compete globally. On the other hand there is pressure both socially and politically to keep jobs in your home country.

The New Learning: A Strategic Imperative for Enterprise Performance
IBM Learning Solutions
To overcome the challenges in implementing learning programs that drive performance and deliver competitive advantage, organizations must overcome three challenges. They must establish an enterprisewide learning approach. They must deploy targeted learning focused on performance. And they must implement an open, scalable infrastructure for learning programs. Drawing from a comprehensive portfolio of solutions and its own extensive experience, IBM helps craft learning solution that help organizations achieve strategic goals and enhancing enterprise value.

In the Future: Learning Will Reshape our World at Work, at Home, and at School
IBM Learning Solutions
As a result of the complex convergence of three powerful forces - rapidly changing markets, technologies and demographics - learning is changing dramatically. In the future, learning will empower learners to shape their own learning experiences. Learning will be embedded directly into everyday work and life. Learning will include both individuals and groups, inside and outside the organization. This paper explores how IBM can help organizations prepare now to leverage these changes for maximum organizational advantage.

Making the Most of Virtual Classrooms & Self-Paced Presentations: Guidelines for Rapid eLearning
Written by Dr. Karl Kapp and Dr. Mary Nicholson of the Institute for Interactive Technologies at Bloomsburg University, and Tom King of Macromedia this papers provides observations, tips, techniques and best practices for making the most of this new instructional environment. Learn how to prepare for and conduct effective on-line instruction.

Issues Surrounding Digital Content
Sun MicroSystems
This paper identifies potential solutions for extending SCORM to better support building learning experiences by aggregating learning content from different sources and reusing that content in different learning environments. This paper builds on the work done in a previous whitepaper by the team of Lieutenant Commander Roger St-Pierre, Captain Peter Hope and Ms. Suzanne Skublics [DAM]. The effects that the new Simple Sequencing Specification from IMS has in this area are also discussed.

Measuring Success in E-Learning
Sun MicroSystems
This white paper documents the success of e-learning in education, based on interviews with leading e-learning project leaders in Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America.

A New Look at Workforce Productivity:
Developing Human Capital to Drive Top- and Bottom-Line Results
Saba
In the past few years, the global workforce has experienced dramatic alteration. The "bust" that followed the "boom" forever changed the face of employment. Today, there are increasing numbers of part-time, contingent (temporary), consulting and remote workers. At the same time, there is increased pressure to quickly assimilate and respond to corporate direction and strategy. With a renewed focus on driving higher productivity out of a lean workforce, organizational alignment is mandatory.
*Registration is required.

Integrated Employee Performance Management: A Leading Indicator for Improved Business Performance
Saba
Organizations are increasingly recognizing the linkage between improved employee performance and improved business results. As such, the laser focus once applied to talent acquisition has moved to talent improvement. There are a number of ways large organizations are attempting to create an environment of improved employee performance. Some are appraisal and pay related, other address longer-term strategic needs such as goal alignment. The challenge is determining what approach is right for your organization.
*Registration is required.

Streamline Regulatory Compliance, Manage Costs and Drive Your Top Line
WBT Systems
This white paper explores the business challenges faced by the financial services industry due to the changing regulatory compliance environments and ever growing oversight of organisations such as the FSA in the United Kingdom and the SEC in the United States. It will also look at how e-Learning solutions can be used to improve the delivery, tracking and management of compliance related training and certification. Not only can this be achieved faster and at a lower cost but with a much higher degree of verifiability for any audit situation.
*Registration is required.

Managing Knowledge with Learning Objects
WBT Systems
e-Learning is increasingly where enterprises with large, dispersed organizations are turning to stay competitive. Companies who successfully implement e-learning speed their employees' time to performance gain the agility and effectiveness needed to stay ahead. This white paper gives an overview of the major e-learning technologies, an introduction to Learning Objects and their key benefits, the business benefits of implementing a Learning Content Management System and the steps to choosing the best Learning Content Management System to leverage your organisation's knowledge assets.
*Registration is required.

e-Learning and Healthcare White Paper:  Streamline Regulatory Compliance & Enhancing Organizational Efficiency
WBT Systems
This white paper explores the business challenges created by the changing regulatory environment in Healthcare. It makes clear that traditional training methods can no longer cope with the urgent need for widespread fast and individualised training. Only e-Learning solutions can improve the delivery, tracking and management of the necessary training and associated certification. *Registration is required.

The Learning Content Management System: A New E-Learning Market Segment Emerges 
IDC avalaible from WBT Systems
Corporate trainers who deploy e-Learning are discovering the need for systems that can deliver proprietary content easily and efficiently to their end users, helping to speed time to performance. The Learning Content Management System(LCMS) segment describes sets of tools that provide this mechanism and ultimately give businesses a competitive edge. This white paper outlines IDC's definition of the segment as well as the effect of learning object-based LCMSs on corporate elearning, a comparison of the LCMS space to learning management systems (LMS) and content management systems and industry research based on LCMS vendors.
*Registration is required.

Blended Learning for Compliance Training Success
Karl M. Kapp, Ed.D., Institute for Interactive Technologies
Discusses training in the compliance industry from a blended learning perspective.

eLearning: A Key Strategy for Maximizing Human Capital in the Knowledge Economy
PrimeLearning.com
Discusses the benefits of elearning as a delivery method to help support cultures of continuous learning. Explains why companies should consider e-learning and gives pointers on choosing an e-learning system.

A Systematic Approach to Media Selection
William W. Lee and Diana Owens, TTC Training Technology Consultants
Presents a Media Analysis Model composed of four components, Organizational Assessment, Information Structure, Media Selection, and Cost Analysis. Looks at the systemic, performance and training issues associated with each component. Contains an Information Structure/Objective Worksheet, Instructional/Student Factors Rating Sheet, Cost Factors Rating Sheet and Media Analysis Rating Sheet.

Interested in submitting a paper?
To qualify, your paper must: provide a substantive overview of e-learning practice or the market; be neutral in viewpoint (free from product or company endorsements); substantiate statements with data; identify opinion as such and not present opinions as fact; and credit all sources. Email your white paper as a PDF file with a digital copy of your logo to rellis@astd.org