Everyone is talking about using learning technologies to help deliver more with less but how does your experience compare with others?

Towards Maturity Impact indicator looks at how learning technologies help L&D departments influence both the efficiency of their offering and bottom line results in the workplace.

Those responsible for implementing learning technologies in organisations were invited to take part in an online survey during October and November 2009.

The full findings were launched at Learning Technologies on 27th January 2010 and the reports can be downloaded below.

The full report was released on March 12th - for high level report findings click here.

About the Towards Maturity Impact indicator

Actual facts and figures on bottom line benefits are notoriously hard to get from a wide sample and we are seeking those out separately.   Our aim with this survey is to gather a wider sample of estimates and perceptions to help create an evidence base that will support organisations new to technology with data that will help their business case. It provides a benchmark for others who have already invested.

We were interested in all learning technologies that support the total process of learning in the workplace.

Key findings to support organisations who are looking to build their business case include:

Efficiency savings reported by participants:

• Average cost savings of 11% ( 7 different learning technology types were compared)
• Average time savings of 28% (or 36% if you include travel time)
• Average increase in volume of learning delivered - 47%
• Only 29% of organisations measure basic cost comparisons between technology enabled learning vs. classroom. However those that do consistently report improved efficiency benefits. Those that estimate benefits typically are underestimating their impactd

Busines Agility benefits:

• 69% of 153 participants reported that time for staff to reach and prove competency in their jobs was faster with 12% able to comment that staff were reaching time to competency in less than half of the time as a direct result of implementing learning technologies.
• 82% of participants believe that they can deliver learning interventions faster with 26% able to deliver learning in less than half the time than before – an important factor when organisations need to adapt quickly to survive.
• 59% reported improvements in ability to implement changes in products and process and 52% said that it improved their ability to roll out new IT systems faster.

Many L&D departments are missing a trick:

• Only 29% of organisations measure basic cost comparisons between technology enabled learning vs. classroom. However those that do consistently report improved efficiency benefits. Those that estimate benefits typically are underestimating their impact.
• Over 50% of organisations do not understand the impact they are making on the significant business drivers behind their learning investment.

The Towards Maturity Impact Indicator is part of Evidence for Change  - a programme to provide a single place for evidence that will support learning and development professionals who are looking to build their own business case for change.

We would like to thank our strategic partners - BILD, e-Learning Network, Learning Technologies, e-Learning age magazine and colleagues from our Community of Excellence for their support in distributing the survey.

We would also like to thank Abdi for their support of this important survey - they have a depth of experience unique in the UK, in impact measurement and ROI within work based learning and development, teaching staff the tools they need to effectively plan, measure and evaluate all business activity.(You can find out more at www.abdi.eu.com).

Related downloads

• Towards Maturity Impact Indicator Final Report March 2010
• Towards Maturity Impact Indicator Launch Presentation 27 Jan 201

Also do complete our minipoll.

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