Learning Barometer

March 29, 2009 - 532 Responses

How are learning budgets, resources and activities being impacted by the economic crisis?

Here is the first Learning Resources Barometer, published by The MASIE Center. 532 responses were gathered in late March 2009, reflecting organizations of all sizes. Of those responses, 77% were received from areas in the US. The remaining 23% represented other countries from around the globe.

The data indicates that 62% of organizations are experiencing a reduction in their enterprise learning budget. Only 12% are experiencing an increase.. Details about the changes in learning services provided or purchased are reflected in the questions below.

We will repeat this Learning Barometer on a regular basis.

1. Our overall Enterprise Learning Budget has:

Item	Percent %
Increased Substantially	2%
Increased Moderately	10%
Stayed the Same	25%
Decreased Moderately	41%
Decreased Substantially	21%

2. The size of our Learning Department has:

Item	Percent %
Increased Substantially	2%
Increased Moderately	11%
Stayed the Same	51%
Decreased Moderately	26%
Decreased Substantially	10%

3. Spending on external services (i.e., consultant, content development, program delivery and/or software/content licensing services) has:

4. The volume of eLearning modules we offer has:

5. The volume of face-to-face classes and seminars has:

6. The volume of virtual/webinar offers has:

7. Content Authoring Systems:

8. Social Learning (Communities and Collaboration):

9. Gaming/Simulations:

10. UserContent:

11. Competency Management:

12. Employee travel for learning has:

13. Use of Tuition Reimbursement has:

14. Over the last 3 months, the Learning department has done:

Item	Percent %
More with More Resources	11%
More with Fewer Resources	45%
About the Same with More Resources	4%
About the Same with Fewer Resources	30%
Less with More Resources	1%
Less with Fewer Resources	9%

15. Plans for a Learning System (LMS/LCMS) include: (Select all that apply)

Item	Percent %
Customized an existing system	10%
Upgraded an existing system	17%
Expanded the functionality of an existing system	18%
Purchased a new system	10%
Changed where we hosted an existing system	4%
Reevaluated our licensing/SaaS contract	8%
Initiated an RFI or RFP	7%
Reduced the number of systems we manage	8%
Migrated to an open source or lower-cost system	7%
No Changes to our LMS or LCMS	49%

Demographics of Responses

16. Industry:

Item	Total Number
Association/Non-Profit	15
Communications	12
Consumer Products	10
Education - Higher Ed	56
Financial Services/Banking	58
Food/Beverage	5
Government	40
Healthcare	47
Insurance	36
Intelligence/Millitary	0
Manufacturing	46
Media	5
Pharma/Bio Tech	15
Professional Services	52
Real Estate	0
Retail	26
Technology	77
Transportation/Logistics	10

17. Organization Size:

Item	Percent %
1,000-4,999	23%
1-499	22%
5,000-29,999	21%
30,000-99,999	14%
500-999	7%
100,00-249,999	7%
250,000-1,000,000	4%
Over 1 Million	2%

This survey was conducted by The MASIE Center. Results are in the public domain.