KNOWLEDGEPOOL ACQUIRES BTP
KnowledgePool has acquired Business Training Partnership (BTP), a vendor-independent learning outsourcing specialist. Established in 1998, BTP provides managed training services helping its clients to organise and manage their training. KnowledgePool says BTP had 2007 revenues of £8m, representing a 56% growth over the prior year, and has a current run rate of £12m. KnowledgePool’s own revenues in 2007 were £14.2m, and it says its current run rate is £17m. BTP co-founder and former Sales Director Craig Hyslop will join KnowledgePool, while Kevin Senior, the other co-founder and former Managing Director of BTP, will be leaving “to pursue a new entrepreneurial opportunity”. Mar 2008

GARTNER WARNS OF IT TALENT SHORTAGE
A new shortage of skills and talent in IT and business is threatening business growth, according to analyst firm Gartner. It says this skills shortfall is very different from the dot-com squeeze of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Then there were shortages of specific, technical skills and domain-specific expertise. Today, by contrast, there are shortages of people with more general qualifications, experience and business insight. The focus is on understanding and managing business processes and technology – which take time to mature. “Identifying the people, competences and roles that will be required has to be ongoing”, says Gartner. “Companies are going to need people who offer much more than technical certification or specific skills. They will need people with experience in roles such as project management and business process analysis... people with drive, initiative and leadership skills.” Mar 2008

QA-IQ WINS ORACLE AWARD
QA-IQ has been awarded UK Oracle University Partner of the Year for 2007 at the Oracle UK Partner awards. The award is in recognition of both the growth in Oracle training delivered by QA-IQ in the last twelve months, and also the company’s commitment to consistently high quality delivery. QA-IQ says it has seen a significant rise in demand for Oracle training in the past year, and is also seeing more organisations request bespoke courses so that training is tailored to the exact requirements of their business. Mar 2008

NCC SELLS CIO CONNECT
The management of CIO Connect, the networking organisation for CIOs, supported by venture capital firm Shackleton Ventures, has acquired CIO Connect from the National Computing Centre (NCC) for an undisclosed amount. CIO Connect offers a service connecting senior CIOs through networking events and facilities such as web-based news, information and research. Michael Gough, NCC's Chief Executive, says the sale “allows NCC to focus on its mission of championing the effective deployment and professional management of IT within the UK”. The NCC also owns the Institute of IT Training, whose Learning Directors’ Network was based on the CIO Connect model. Mar 2008

DNS ARROW BUYS ANIX TRAINING
Specialist IT distributor DNS Arrow has acquired the Training Services Division of Anix, and now claims to be the UK's largest IBM-authorised training provider. Three Anix Training sales and technical personnel have been seconded to DNS Arrow's training services team to help integrate the new business with existing IBM training services. DNS Arrow has offered specialist IBM storage training for its reseller partners for over ten years. In recent months it bought InTechnology's training business and server-based computing distributor Centia. (Reported by IT Training) Mar 2008

XPERTISE ADDS SIEBEL
Xpertise has added Siebel training to its existing list of Oracle courses. Acquired by Oracle in 2005, Siebel is recognised as a leading CRM solution for large organisations. Its addition to Xpertise's portfolio further strengthens the company's position in the specialised field of CRM training. Xpertise says CRM is a notoriously difficult area for training companies as it requires a great deal of specialist knowledge. "We already successfully provide CRM training for other products," says Bill Walker, Xpertise's commercial director. "We've developed a good understanding of CRM and have built up quite a specialisation in CRM training. It's terrific to add Siebel to our CRM training portfolio." Mar 2008

ILX RAISES £6MILLION
ILX Group plc, the AIM quoted business education and training specialist, has agreed banking facilities totalling £6.0 million with Barclays Bank. The new facilities comprise a £5.0 million amortising term loan repayable over four years, and a confidential invoice finance facility of £1.0 million. The facilities will be used to refinance £2.2 million of existing debts and to pay the remaining £1.0 million balance on the first earn-out payment due to the vendors of the Corporate Training Group (CTG). The balance of the facilities is available to finance the final CTG earn-out payment which becomes payable in June, and to fund future growth of the business. Mar 2008

E-LEARNING AWARDS 2008
Details have been published for the e-Learning Awards 2008, sponsored by City & Guilds. There are 13 awards this year, including new categories for Best use of rapid e-learning content, Best use of synchronous e-learning, Best online or distance learning programme, Best learning game, simulation or virtual environment, and e-Learning development company of the year. Entries cost £99 per category. The closing date is 30 June, the awards evening is in November. Mar 2008

ONLINE LEARNING PORTAL FOR NHS
Course-Source has announced the launch of a new, dedicated and ‘mostly free’ e-learning portal to go live when the NHS Connecting for Health Essential IT Skills (ECDL) portal closes on 22 March. Course-Source has provided the software, hardware and IT services behind the NHS ECDL programme since the outset 5 years ago, and says its new 'Health e-Learning' site will work in a similar way but will be able to manage any e-learning, not just ECDL. The new portal will also offer a 'per enrolment' pricing model for off-the-shelf e-learning courses from leading publishers. Mar 2008

QA-IQ PM TRAINING FOR MANCHESTER CITY COUNCIL
QA-IQ has been engaged by Manchester City Council to develop and deliver the training for its leading project management programme as part of a three-year contract. To ensure consistency and reliability in the delivery or major projects, the City Council has developed a public sector tailored model for project management. This model, the “Manchester Method” is widely used by others within both the public and private sector. QA-IQ has worked with the City Council to update the Manchester Method, to reflect the growing diversity of projects which the council delivers. This new version is being supported by training modules which focus on the different roles within the methodology, developed and delivered by QA-IQ. Mar 2008

BYRNE IS BACK
Industry stalwart Paul Byrne has been appointed Head of Sales at Video Arts and its sister company Tinopolis Interactive. Byrne was Managing Director of PPI Learning (formerly Spring IT Training) prior to its collapse in December 2006. His previous positions included sales management roles at Spring and Parity Training. Mar 2008

TRINITY MIRROR SELECTS ATLANTIC LINK
Trinity Mirror is the latest organisation to purchase Atlantic Link’s Content Point authoring tools, with a view to expanding the use of e-learning across the company. Trinity Mirror publishes more than 200 regional newspapers, five national titles and operates more than 300 online brands. It sees e-learning as a way of ensuring that consistent training to equivalent standards is taking place across the group, and believes the advent of advanced e-learning authoring tools such as those from Atlantic Link means its own training teams “are able to design and implement highly professional e-learning quickly and easily”. Mar 2008

WINS FOR INTELLEGO
AIM-listed e-learning and compliance courseware business Intellego has announced two wins for its newly acquired subsidiary Copia. A leading high street pharmacy and beauty store has contracted Copia to develop a series of product training modules for its retail sales floor staff; and Copia has won an order from a leading mobile phone operator to develop a personnel induction e-learning course for its 5,000 retail shop staff. Mar 2008

TIS EXPANDS UK TEAM
Global learning provider Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) has established a presence in the North East of England with the appointment of Jayne D’Silva as an account director. D’Silva has spent over 14 years in the e-learning sector: immediately prior to joining TIS, she was an independent consultant working with blended learning specialists RedTray. Before that, she was an account manager for SkillSoft, whom she joined from General Physics (formerly System House Ltd). At TIS, her key focus will be on organisations in the finance and manufacturing sectors. Mar 2008

LAUNCH OF STT INFOSHARE
Kaplan IT Learning has released STT InfoShare, a new e-learning lesson deployment solution for STT Trainer. Kaplan says STT Trainer enables authors to create end-user simulation training for any enterprise-wide application such as Enterprise Resource Planning, Call Centre software or any customised software application: STT InfoShare provides organisations with a delivery platform for STT Trainer lessons and other SCORM (Shareable Content Object Reference Model) content. Mar 2008

ENDSLEIGH INSURANCE CHOOSES NETDIMENSIONS
Endsleigh Insurance Services has chosen NetDimensions' Enterprise Knowledge Platform (EKP) as its learning management system foundation. Endsleigh will initially use EKP to manage course information, such as user records, course details and running reports, and to roll out regular assessments to new and existing staff. The company later plans to integrate a course authoring tool to provide blended online solutions for distance learning as well as added support for its existing and future training programmes. Mar 2008

GIUNTI LABS ENTERS NORDIC MARKETS
Giunti Labs, a vendor of e-learning and mobile learning content management solutions, has expanded its international presence by establishing an office in Lund, Sweden covering the Nordic countries. It says the economies of all the Nordic countries have been experiencing stable and continuous growth for some time, and that consequently organisations there are increasingly willing to invest in human capital development in order to better compete in the global marketplace. Giunti Labs now has a market presence in Italy, Germany, Sweden, the UK and the USA. Mar 2008

KNOWLEDGEPOOL 'STRATEGIC LEARNING DIAGNOSTIC' SERVICE
KnowledgePool has introduced a strategic learning diagnostic service, which it says offers “an independent and confidential assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of an organisation's learning operation and a benchmark of the results against best practice”. Using key performance indicators, the model analyses the quantity, quality and total cost of learning as well as the overall efficiency and effectiveness of learning provision, and provides an independent report which outlines the key performance indicators and details the recommended actions. Mar 2008

ITQ: THE NEXT GENERATION
A national one-day conference and exhibition, supporting and promoting ITQ best practice, is to be held in London on 29 May. It will be hosted by e-skills UK. With presentations from key speakers and a range of workshop sessions, the conference will provide an opportunity for training providers and others to share their expertise and experience. Delegates from training organisations of all sectors will explore the impact on performance which ITQ can deliver and the current thinking around best practice delivery models, as well as providing opportunities for networking. Providers will be able to consider current developments in ITQ, in preparation for implementation of the QCF later this year. The agenda will include input on current advances in ITQ within the QCF; the strategic landscape for ITQ development and funding; and employer engagement and recruiting learners. Mar 2008

FIRST EU FORECAST OF SKILL NEEDS
Cedefop, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, has published its first forecast of skill needs up to the year 2015. The study Future skill needs in Europe: medium-term forecast – conducted by Cedefop with the help of Skillsnet, its international network of researchers and policy makers – concludes that demand for skills and qualifications is increasing in most occupations, including in so-called elementary jobs, due to the continuing rise of the service sector and sweeping technological and organisational changes. It says that services are where the real growth is – the European economy as a whole will generate more than 13 million new jobs by 2015 – and that even more significant is the growing requirement for skills and qualifications at all levels. Today, 80 out of 210 million European workers are in highly-skilled, non-manual jobs and this high proportion is expected to rise further. Between 2006 and 2015, Europe will gain 12.5 million additional jobs at the highest qualification level and 9.5 million at the medium level. Mar 2008

EMPLOYEES WANT TRAINING
A new survey conducted on behalf of the LSC reveals how the UK’s working population would like to spend the extra day it gains because 2008 is a leap year. It says almost a third of UK workers (31%) would like to train on their extra working day. Yet despite such enthusiasm, 42% think their employer is unlikely to give them training, and almost half admit that training is often overlooked at work and that there is a lack of communication between bosses and their workforce. The LSC’s Train to Gain survey also makes it clear why training is regularly overlooked at work, with 61% of respondents believing that time is the biggest constraint and 49% saying they are put off by the expense. Mar 2008

BANKS REAPPOINTED AS CHAIRMAN OF LSC
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) has announced the reappointment of Chris Banks as Chairman of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), the organisation responsible for the delivery of education and training for young people and adults. In writing to re-appoint him as chairman for a further three years the prime minister, Gordon Brown, acknowledged Banks's leadership of the LSC over the last three-and-a-half years and his strong personal commitment to equal opportunities and to improving the life chances of the disadvantaged. The LSC will invest £11.6bn of public money in 2008-09, £12bn in 2009-10 and £12.6bn in 2010-11 for the benefit of young people, adults and employers. DIUS says Chris Banks will be instrumental in ensuring value for money and driving forward the Leitch Skills agenda. Mar 2008

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