Learning platforms Degreed and LearnUpon announced a partnership that offers their products through a single solution.
LearnUpon’s tools enable companies to create, manage and track formal learning programs, such as mandatory or optional training. Degreed provides a single app through which workers can find, access and track formal training—such as courses built in LearnUpon—along with informal resources like videos, podcasts or articles.
.@Degreed, @LearnUpon say partnership will provide a unified experience for learners and admins, as well as support for both platforms through a single system. #HR #HRTech #Learning Click To TweetThe companies positioned LearnUpon as simplifying the work of learning administrators while Degreed enhances employee engagement. They said their partnership will provide–through one vendor–a unified experience for users and admins, as well as support for both platforms through a single system.
Degreed CEO Chris McCarthy said the partnership offers “a seamless buying process” as well as a product integration. “Now Degreed can help clients streamline their technology investments and vendor management without sacrificing on user experience, product features or innovation,” he said. “Businesses need more than just an engaging learning experience. They need tools that enable their learning and HR teams to adapt more quickly to constantly shifting opportunities.”
In December, Degreed acquired London-based Adepto, which allows organizations to gain greater insight on the skill sets of employees, candidates and alumni.
Subscribe-to-Own Learning
Separately, UK-based Bridge Learning Tech will unveil mLearn, a microlearning platform, later this week at the Learning Technologies 2020 conference in London.
mLearn offers customers the chance to own the platform at the end of what the company calls, “a three-year microlearning mortgage.” In essence, that’s a three-year subscription. A free version of mLearn will be available for smaller businesses.
Bridge said mLean is meant to facilitate daily learning and greater knowledge retention. The platform can be integrated with the existing LMS products or used as a standalone. With planned releases including Training Needs Analysis and a Business Intelligence Suite, as well as open integration with solutions such Microsoft Teams, Slack and Zapier, mLearn “provides a roadmap for organizations to acquire their own bespoke learning cosystems, liberating themselves from lifetime subscriptions,” the company said.
Expect to hear a lot about that last part from Bridge. Founder Vlad Shishkaryov argues the traditional subscription approach taken by learning companies leaves customers “with no assets, no residual value and no return on their investment at the end of their contracts.” He added, “The time has come for L&D to be liberated.”
The subscribe-to-buy approach seems reasonable, thought it might complicate the lives of some learning and HR leaders. In arguing for budget, they often say investment in learning tools pays off in the long term by increasing productivity and agility, boosting retention and strengthening engagement. They may not be on fire to tell executives they’ve been mistaken.
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