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learndirect Business

Brand recognition for learndirect in the business training market leapt from 21% to nearly 40%.

Offering a high-quality, affordable and innovative way for employers to train their workforce.

Strategic objective: To market products and services to UK employers to improve the skills of the workforce and enhance national productivity.

Key performance indicator

Generating annual revenue of £44 million from employers by 2010/11.

learndirect Business, Ufi's commercial wing, had two key priorities in 2006/07: to build capacity to reach small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) and to pilot its eCourses business training portfolio.

As part of our strategy for reaching employers, we created a new re-seller network. By the end of 2006/07, the network consisted of 43 business-facing learndirect centres plus a number of enterprise agencies, county councils, chambers of commerce, colleges, universities and other training organisations.

This new delivery model offers employers the opportunity to access publicly-funded courses, alongside commercial training, through a single supplier. It also gives maximum flexibility to our re-sellers. They can add their own products to our portfolio therefore diversifying their own offer to employers.

We have scaled up the learndirect Business website, which uses e-commerce to sell our commercial training products. The upgraded platform has stronger branding, a portal for the re-seller network, an extended range of on-line titles, a restructured course catalogue and clearer course descriptions.

Through systematic testing of different routes to market and marketing strategies we have found the most cost-effective way of reaching SMEs is via the learndirect Business website, e-commerce and web marketing techniques.

On the back of our marketing activities and PR campaigns, brand recognition for learndirect in the business training market leapt from 21% to nearly 40%.

eCourses portfolio

Market research tells us the content, quality and range of our products are the main drivers for the success of the learndirect eCourse offer. We have therefore conducted a major pricing and portfolio review with a view to growing conversion rates, boosting repeat sales and providing a credible offer for our re-sellers.

An important achievement for the year was the successful remodelling of our design and production process. We now use a rapid content delivery tool which allows us to customise content and bring new products to market quickly in response to, for example, the requirements placed on small businesses by new legislation. Our product on the Work and Families Act was built and launched in eight weeks. In 2007/08, we intend to reduce lead times even further.

Learning through Work

The Leitch report suggested that 5.5 million adults (40% of people aged 19-65) need to have level four qualifications by 2020.

In response, we have increased our capacity to support and grow our Learning through Work activity. We have created a scalable new web platform with added facilities and appeal for both learners and our higher education partners.

The original platform has supported some 3,000 learners and over 750 employers to date, offering work-based learning leading to qualifications up to and including foundation and honours degrees and masters programmes.

The new platform will be launched in January 2008 and by 2008/09, it will accommodate up to 15,000 concurrent learners on highly flexible, customised, blended learning programmes. It will accommodate up to 20,000 by 2011.

We are looking forward to rapid growth and to making a significant contribution to the number of adults qualified to level four.

We will continue to develop the programme in partnership with higher education institutions, the Sector Skills Councils and employers.