Evolution of Corporate Training Market

The corporate training market has been around for decades and has been impacted by four technological and economic revolutions.

In the 1970s and 1980s, when I started my career, we learned in classrooms using slide projectors and "foils" (plastic laminated slides).

In the 1980s and 1990s, when web browsers hit the market, we learned to build video disk and CD-ROM based training.

In the 1990s, as web browsers hit the market, the phrase "e-learning" was born and the instructional paradigm shifted to "online courses" accessed through an LMS.

The LMS market exploded in the 1990s and companies wanted their LMS to be the "online university."

In the 2000s I made a business out of helping companies select and implement all these tools.

In the 2010s, as e-learning became more sophisticated, the instructional paradigm shifted again to "learning in the flow of work" and we entered the "digital age of learning."

The market for "training management systems" (LMS) and "e-learning platforms" (LPE) was very excited in the early 2000s, but there were many problems.

LMS vendors shifted their focus to integrating learning with other HR practices, but this failed to keep up with the consumer technology revolution.

In 2005-2007, the market for "integrated talent management suites" (ITMS) grew rapidly, as LMS vendors shifted investment into HR features.

Employees quickly found amazing new learning experiences on the internet, and LMS vendors lost focus on modernizing the employee learning experience.

Video-centric, short-form learning is growing in popularity

Old-fashioned LMSs were designed to serve up first generation e-learning

Video and continuous learning emerged as a new paradigm

Micro-learning emerged as a new paradigm

New learning platforms integrate on-demand learning with long form education

The key obstacles to growth are not always technical, they're in our own minds

Today, most learning platforms are becoming more like Netflix, with recommendations and "flow of work" design.

The paradigm has to go further, and I now call it "Learning in the Flow of Work."

People want to learn less, and micro-learning and learning experience platforms are the way to go.

LinkedIn just released their latest research, which shows that people don't have enough time to learn.

O'Reilly's research from 2015 found that 50% of all learning interactions are for "in the moment of need."