SAP Bridges the Learning Gap

LAS VEGAS, Sept. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Knowledge is power, but according to Workforce 2020, a recent study from Oxford Economics and SAP SE (NYSE: SAP), the majority of global companies are not doing enough to develop it. Nearly 80 percent of employees have not received company-sponsored skills training in the past five years. To help close the skills gap, SAP today announced an expanded vision for SuccessFactors® Learning, which includes the release of quick guides and programs capabilities, and partnerships with Coursera, lynda.com, OpenHPI, and Udacity, helping companies create a culture of continuous learning. The announcement was made at SuccessConnect 2014, being held September 9-11 in Las Vegas.

"Organizations often fail to recognize learning as a critical factor in corporate success," said Mike Ettling, president, HR Line of Business,  SAP/SuccessFactors. "When learning is neglected, employees are ill-equipped to meet future demands. The solutions and partnerships we are announcing today are designed to change this by empowering companies to create a culture of continuous, employee-driven learning that drives innovation and advantage."

Power to the People
"Employees want to develop new skills and executives want to fill talent gaps from within," said Jenny Dearborn, chief learning officer, SAP. "But despite best intentions, there is a gap between what companies and employees want and what's actually being delivered. Through the use of technology, we are empowering companies to close that gap and deliver true business benefits from a more educated and skilled workforce."

The most effective learning initiatives are employee-driven and self-sustaining, where employees are empowered and equipped to be both lifelong students and teachers. The quick guides and programs features and content partnerships enable companies to deliver such learning and become true learning organizations by improving delivery, personalizing content and engaging all audiences.

Learn as You Go and Grow
Traditional approaches to training content creation are complex and expensive. The cost per learning hour has increased 20 percent in the past three years and is now more than US$1,700 per hour of e-learning content. New partnerships with Coursera, lynda.com, OpenHPI and Udacity are laying the foundation for the open content network for SuccessFactors and SAP, giving customers access to fresh, next-generation content, with the goal of reducing costs.

With the quick guides feature, companies can produce content that is personalized and relevant, and provide a path for continuous learning that is fun, engaging and accessible anywhere, anytime, from multiple devices. Using the application, employees can easily create step-by-step instructions on any topic and produce compelling digital content which can be consumed on a laptop or mobile device.

Through the programs feature, organizations can create engaging, interval-based programs that match a defined schedule or a learner's progress. Such programs are useful in onboarding full-time and temporary employees and helping them develop new skills over time without overwhelming them.

"We view SAP and SuccessFactors as a critical component of our talent management strategy, which has improved how we recruit, train, engage and compensate our global workforce," said Sue Hatfield, director of HR systems, compliance and payroll, Owens Corning. "We believe that learning technology equips us to develop and educate our employees, improve performance, build new job skills and ultimately, careers that are rewarding."

Owens Corning is not alone in its thinking: "As the economy grows and technology changes accelerate, companies see a tremendous need to revamp and improve their employee learning strategies," said Josh Bersin, principal and founder, Bersin by Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting LLP. "The Global Learning Management Systems (LMS) market grew by 21 percent to more than $2.5 billion in 2014* and the hottest topic is creating an engaging learning experience by modernizing the learning infrastructure. Companies that truly build an always-on, continuous learning experience can dramatically improve employee engagement, performance and skills."

A key part of SAP's learning strategy is to empower people to consume learning when and how they would like — a flexible approach embodied in the SAP® Learning Hub site, which is built on SuccessFactors Learning. More than 45,000 site subscribers worldwide have access to over 4,000 courses from the SAP Education organization, including innovations such as the SAP HANA® platform, as well as innovations in the areas of cloud and mobility. In a move to significantly expand access to SAP knowledge to individuals around the world, more than 80 courses are available free of charge in the discovery edition of SAP Learning Hub. The recently launched student edition of SAP Learning Hub helps university students prepare for SAP certification exams or for future employment on their chosen SAP career path, an important step toward helping to plug the looming IT skills gap.

To learn more about SuccessFactors solutions and the ways in which they are transforming learning to improve business execution, visit www.successfactors.com

For more information, visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

*The Definitive Buyer's Guide to the Global Market for Learning Management Solutions, Bersin by Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting LLP/David Mallon, Wendy Wang-Audia, Todd Tauber, August 2014

About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 261,000 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

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