The evolution of managed learning
In both 2018 and, prior to that in 2015, we surveyed the managed learning market. Eight years ago clients were largely turning to managed learning providers to cut costs, deliver generic programmes, do the administration of learning and manage suppliers. Outsourcing was fairly evenly balanced with in-house provision.
However, years of in-house L&D downsizing meant that by 2018 outsourcing was more prevalent across the whole learning lifecycle. Some organisations even relied on managed learning providers to deliver the whole learning operation. The business-provider relationship had also deepened with employers looking to outsource consultation, globally scale learning operations, and understand how to move learning forward with the use of digital provision and data.
Indeed, a comparison of results from our last two surveys shows that despite cost being of top importance to employers the provider-client relationship was evolving past being solely transactional. By 2018, having a trusted deeply integrated outsourcing partner was seen as critical and businesses valued access to a wide range of outsourcing services, in a flexible manner, that delivered sustainable business improvements. By this time, the focus was on optimising everything from the learner experience to delivering for the business in a relationship that lasted and where communication was at the centre.
"...the focus was on optimising everything from the learner experience to delivering for the business in a relationship that lasted and where communication was at the centre."
Managed learning in 2024
Fast forward to 2024 and the learning and development landscape has changed once more. The pandemic emphasised L&D’s importance with organisations turning to the function to deliver newly business-critical skills in an increasingly digital manner. With a better understanding of how L&D can deliver on the wider talent and organisational agendas, and with ongoing challenges to the status quo in skills acquisition and business-as-usual, pressure on the function has ramped up.
Indeed, CIPD’s 2023 Learning at Work report found that over half (53%) of L&D functions are experiencing a growth in workload with widespread concerns about how to provide digital solutions, learning evaluation, learning strategy direction and effective design and delivery of learning. Learning is now widely considered part of the talent strategy — to attract, retain and engage workers — as well as an increasingly central part of ESG foci. Both in giving employees skills to support business delivery in these much-focussed-on areas, but also a central part of delivering on the ‘S’ social: supporting employees in their development and reaching their potential.
In such a landscape, it's not surprising that the overwhelming majority of study participants are outsourcing more than they were five years ago as well as widening the scope of what they need from providers. Turbocharged by the pandemic, employers are regularly turning to managed learning for strategy consultation and creation, training course and content library access, vendor management, learning evaluation activities, access to (and deployment of) learning technology as well as programme design and delivery.
There is also evidence of learning functions asking providers for advice on how to deploy new learning platforms, move towards digital models, and for insight into new learning and market trends. Providers are also being asked to deliver globally, help with service procurement and take on legal liability.
It’s not all one-way traffic, though. Our survey also shows a balance of in-house and outsourcing learning provision still exists — with some employers wanting to ensure they retain learning practitioner skills they perceive to be business critical. Either that or they have a centralised operating model or simply want to ensure oversight over at least some learning activities.
That being true, with resource pressure on L&D, it’s clear that managed learning is seen as a way to build capacity. As such, half of respondents stated they were outsourcing at least some part of all learning activity with many having a flexible hybrid model i.e. increasing the reliance on outsourcing when they need it.