NelsonHall’s latest Learning BPS NEAT vendor evaluation included customer interviews to ascertain current satisfaction levels and future expectations across a range of criteria. Below is a selection of the findings from our interviews with learning BPS customers.  

Principal issues & operational priorities

Some of the more prominent issues and operational priorities cited by respondents included the following:

• Proactive and innovative solutions that are aligned with the needs of today’s learners, including deploying learning that is digitally enabled
• Delivering effective training for multiple generations as well as upskilling employees to offset the aging workforce
• Continuing to drive costs down
• Leveraging more enhanced analytics and metrics
• Reducing overall project time
• Leveraging automation to drive efficiencies
• Supplementing internal training with external informal training, while ensuring all training is relevant and engaging
• Globalizing learning deployment.

These issues and priorities, in turn, directly impacted the benefits organizations were seeking to obtain from outsourcing learning BPS services.

Drivers for outsourcing learning BPS

Approximately 21% of respondents were seeking better costs, and delivery in a more cost-effective manner, when going to market for a learning BPS vendor. The next highest objective organizations were striving to obtain by outsourcing was an innovative service model and innovative delivery methods.

Other reasons cited by organizations included efficiency and standardization (13%), improving technology (13%), transformation/redesign (12%), and improving quality and reliability (12%).

Top vendor selection criteria

Approximately 30% of respondents made their decision on which supplier to use based on the vendor’s knowledge and professionalism, while demonstrating that they are easy and pleasant to work with.

After expertise, respondents were equally concerned with the portfolio of learning BPS services available, as well as pricing.

Current satisfaction levels

Current buyer satisfaction levels from learning BPS reveals that there is plenty of room for improvement, and that the learner experience and learning content should be the main priority for vendors over the next few years.

Cost savings will remain a top concern, but it will also be equally important for suppliers to modernize technology and improve standardization, while driving business results for organizations.

Areas for improvement

Respondents cited many areas vendors can improve on to meet future requirements, but a frequently mentioned request was around innovation. Specifically, organizations want vendors to proactively share innovative best practices, as well as do more strategic thinking around client-specific training problems and develop appropriate solutions that resolve these problems.

Other areas cited for improvement included:

• Communication and enhancing critical thinking skills for unanticipated issues
• Reporting, both in consistency and depth of reporting
• Automation to drive resource continuity as well as a higher level of quality
• Staying responsive and not over-committing.

NelsonHall’s NEAT vendor assessments look in detail at vendors’ ability to deliver immediate benefits to their clients, as well as their ability to meet future client requirements, and assist strategic sourcing managers in assessing vendor capability while cutting the time and cost associated with their sourcing projects. To find out more, contact Guy Saunders.