Industry experts gathered at Customer Advisory Forum to discuss latest trends & Learning Initiatives
Learning CAFÉ Middle East closed the curtain on its 9th edition at the H-hotel in Dubai. The annual event highlighted the latest trends in Learning technologies, Development & Learning strategies and proposes new solutions for future learning.
CAFÉ ME brings together experts from education sector, software developers as well as CEOs and HR directors looking to improve on their current HR practices and training methods. “What started years ago as a small gathering of our customers to discuss learning technologies, has grown into one of the region’s largest think tank event on new HR and Learning technologies”, said Paul Michael Gledhill, Co-Founder and Executive Director of XpertLearning.
Gledhill continued: “Companies are now taking steps to ensure their corporate training is effective and up-to-date so that they can be sure that they are making it worth all the money spent. However, in addition to budgeting, employee turnover is usually a major problem which leaves companies with various learning gaps. Not to mention, the continuous changes and shifts in learning material and management systems”.
With competition in the corporate education market in the UAE intensifying as many players are operating in the market; companies are now investing in their human capital through effective learning and development approaches, particularly those that guarantee tangible future success. Experts at the event presented case studies and shared their knowledge and expertise on topics such as empowering local talent, mobile learning and leading the industry with innovation. “Companies that are now looking to incorporate new training programs are turning to e-learning, which offers numerous advantages when compared to face-to-face or classroom learning. Advancement and efficiency are extremely important to businesses today, and many companies are turning to e-learning to save money, time, and energy”. Gledhill added.
Commenting on the event, Tony Glass, General Manager and CVP of Skillsoft, said: “Due to the continued growth of e-learning technologies & the increased connectivity, which is driven by not only the changing global economy but also by the millennial group of users we are seeing more organisations increasing their expenditure on-line. This is driven further by the continued pressures on ‘time’ so people are really wanting to have access to relevant, accurate and up to date information at the point of need, in the format they want and on the device they prefer. This immediate access to information is really driving the use of technology and the move to more mobile learning rather than the more traditional class room approach”.
Glass added: “This event is incredibly important to Skillsoft as it provides the perfect forum for us to engage with our ME Clients as well as support one of our key partners XpertLearning. The event this year was of particular significance as it also allowed us to share the new, engaging and essential business skills course format as well as showcasing Percipio, our new and beautiful content delivery system”.
From his side, John Ambrose, General Manager of SumTotal, said: “e-learning is an essential and indispensable component of every contemporary learning program. It is an absolute requirement for any organisation that aspires to do learning at scale. This event, brings together the largest group of talent and learning development professionals from across the UAE for an intense day of sharing of best practice, insights and strategies. I always take back a boatload of new perspectives from talking to our customers in the region and share these learnings with our product and development teams”.
Janine Croft, Co-Founder and Managing Director of XpertLearning, said: “The partnership between XpertLearning and Skillsoft has been pivotal in meeting the demands and requirements of clients in a challenging market place in the GCC. We continuously thrive at providing innovative methods to bring learning to people in a cost effective, timely and professional manner”. “CAFÉ ME is organised every year to acknowledge our relationship with our customers and prospects in the region. This year is no exception, we have had an amazing lineup of speakers, with some of the most senior HR, Talent and Learning professionals joining us”. Croft concluded.
An award ceremony was held at the conclusion of the event with the announcement of 6 winners. Abraj Energy Services, Dubai First, Emirates NBD, GPIC, Kentech and Mobily all won in different categories for their contribution and effort to implement and use eLearning as way of training and development within their organisations.
