Expertus and Training Industry, Inc. Research Indicates That Customer Training Is Growing Faster Than Employee Training

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - September 3, 2008) - Expertus (www.expertus.com), a global leader in helping companies fuel business growth by maximizing the value of training investments, and Training Industry, Inc. (www.trainingindustry.com), an objective and trusted expert on the marketplace for learning, today announced the release of the findings from their joint August 2008 study, Optimizing Customer Training. The full results report can be viewed here: http://www.trainingefficiency.com/system/files/SurveyResults_CustomerTraining_Expertus_Aug28.pdf.

The research found that 48% of survey respondents believed that customer training budgets would go up in 2009, compared with 32% of respondents who believed that employee training budgets would go up next year. Further, 41% believe customer training budgets would increase by over 10%, with as many as 19% expecting it to go up by over 20%.

"In the training industry it is always insightful to see how budgets shift, and this study revealed that many organizations' customer training budgets are safe next year," said Ramesh Ramani, Founder and CEO of Expertus. "In fact, the respondents were quite generous in the percentage increase that they expect to see."

In addition to this growth, over one-third of respondents reported that they are getting a strong benefit from their customer training, not only in customer satisfaction (52%) but also in increasing training revenue (50%) and customer retention (30%).

"Customer training is making an impact in areas of interest to the C-suite," added Doug Harward, CEO of Training Industry, Inc. "If there was any doubt before, this research illustrates that customer training is an important and growing piece of the training pie."

Other findings include:

--  The vast majority of companies used website and email marketing to
    market training to their customers, which many also considered to be the
    most effective way to market their programs.
    
--  Webinar technology is used most frequently to deliver customer
    training.
    
--  The two top challenges had to do with a lack of resources -- in
    staffing and marketing expertise or budget.
    

The survey findings will also be addressed at an upcoming webinar, "Customer Training: 5 Ways to Fast-Track Your Programs in a Slow Economy," scheduled for Thursday, September 4, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. EDT. To register, visit http://www.expertus.com/webinar3/pr. The free, one-hour webinar will feature an all-star cast of learning gurus, including Brian Summerfield, Managing Editor of CLO Magazine, Tom Kelly, 25-year learning veteran and independent learning strategy consultant, and Mohana Radhakrishnan, VP Client Services of Expertus.

The survey was completed by 34 respondents from companies in industries as diverse as technology, financial services, business services/consulting, telecommunications and more. Companies ranged in size from 10-49 employees to over 30,000 employees. Most of the respondents were in leadership roles in customer and/or employee training.

To view the full results of the study and comprehensive charts, visit http://www.trainingefficiency.com/system/files/SurveyResults_CustomerTraining_Expertus_Aug28.pdf.

About Expertus

Expertus, a global leader in helping companies fuel business growth through maximizing the value of training investments, provides a variety of training outsourcing services for technology, administration, program management, and strategic initiatives. From implementing and managing LMS and learning-related technologies, to supporting major customer training initiatives, to seamlessly handling all aspects of training administration, Expertus has helped major companies such as NetApp, Cisco, ADP, EMC, Schlumberger, and Hyperion achieve efficiencies in corporate learning and development. Expertus employs 500 professionals across its offices in the US, UK and India. For more information, go to www.expertus.com or call (877) 827-8160.

About Training Industry, Inc.

Training Industry, Inc. is an objective and trusted expert on the marketplace for learning. Its mission is to make the marketplace more efficient through the world's largest online community of training communities and through services such as Training Industry Conferences, Training Industry Quarterly Ezine, Training Industry Webinars and Training Industry Research. For more information, go to www.trainingindustry.com or call (919) 653-4990.

Contact Information: Press Contact: Alicia Hassinger Communications Strategy Group ahassinger@csg-pr.com (720) 933-8119