Learning in the Cloud An Executives Guide to Limitless Learning

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Table of Contents
Business Case for the Cloud Leaving Behind Learning Limitations Conclusion

Learning in the Cloud: An Executives Guide to Limitless Learning

INTRODUCTION
Analysts predict Cloud spending will reach $13 billion by 2014 ,
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indicating that many businesses see Cloud as a good platform to drive their applications. This guide will cover the topics necessary for you to understand the value in adopting cloud-based learning, especially for small and medium-sized organizations.

Action Item Deliver compliance, regulatory, safety, customer service, software and systems, industry-specic and sales training
As an executive, these are the benets you must deliver to justify adopting, changing or upgrading your current learning management system. A cloud-based learning system provides these benets to any training program, regardless of size. Rapid Deployment and Maintenance As an executive, you are likely attuned to the time limitations faced by companies that do not have limitless resources. So, purchasing a learning management system with an extensive implementation and time-consuming upgrade processes would greatly diminish the upfront and long-term value, as the system can become outdated before it is even installed. To implement a cloud learning solution there are three key steps, which are often completed in a matter of weeks:

Cloud spending will reach $13 billion by 2014, indicating that many businesses see Cloud as a good platform to drive their applications 1. BUSINESS CASE FOR THE CLOUD
Many smaller, fast-growing organizations have small and highlyfocused expert training departments that are responsible for a variety of training-related tasks2. These departments face the same training objectives as enterprise-sized businesses, but on a smaller budget. They need to deliver compliance, regulatory, safety, customer service, software and systems, industry-specic and sales training with a solution that is rapidly deployed, easy to manage, cost effective and highly accessible.

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1. Ensure users have access to Internet-enabled devices and secure logon access to the application. 2. Train end-users on the applications. 3. Wait out the natural learning curve as users acclimate to the solution3 Your company can save several resource- and time-intensive steps on the deployment of a cloud solution. Further, a cloud learning management system can be updated seamlessly and automatically to provide businesses the latest innovations without causing a slowdown in training activities. When it comes to maintenance, a cloud learning solution often streamlines any support challenges you might have as all of the technology and data is securely stored and managed in the cloud. This improves quality of service, speeds resolution times and enables HR managers to spend less time on technical issues related to support. The cloud eliminates the burden on IT to manage support for hardware, database, network and infrastructure that would otherwise need to be purchased and maintained by the organization.

5 Learning Trends for 2013.

Find out if your company is keeping up with this trend in 5 Learning Trends for 2013. With the beginning of 2013, the landscape for enterprise learning solutions is incredibly fluid and fast-paced. What are the opportunities that you should focus on first? Well highlight five ideas that your learning strategy must address.

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While cloud deployment is known to be fast, it still maintains the security of a premised learning management system. SumTotals Cloud solution, with its best-in-class security integrated across physical, network, application and data layers, lets you choose the right ownership and deployment option for your organization: Each of these platforms is also fully capable of Mobile Learning delivery.

Cloud-based learning mitigates the risk of unexpected costs related to labor or infrastructure. On-premise software can cost about 20 percent of the initial software purchase price per year in maintenance4. One of the reasons cloud solutions are becoming so popular with businesses is that the costs are much more predictable since the solution provider takes on the burden of up front equipment and support expenses, with maintenance fees laid out ahead of time. Lowering this up front investment means that savings can be invested elsewhere in the department or organization. Below is a list of 10 expenses that are eliminated when choosing a learning management system deployed on the cloud instead of on premise: 1. Cost of database, operating system(s), middleware and other infrastructure software licenses. 2. Cost of servers, storage and networking equipment to support the application, as well as additional power, cooling and space to house the equipment. 3. Recurring costs for infrastructure software upgrades and maintenance contracts. 4. Cost of IT staff or external IT contractors to support the application. 5. Cost of a database administrator to manage the application.

Cost Effectiveness As with all successful businesses, planning is key. Teams or individuals spend many hours planning budgets to maintain protability over the coming year, so when unexpected expenses arise, they may require drastic rearrangement of funds. This is particularly dreaded by small and medium-sized businesses that do not necessarily have the reserves or ability to transfer funds from one division to another.

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6. Cost of reiterative integration of diverse, fragmented or homegrown applications. 7. Cost of multiple applications and multiple recurring software support contracts. 8. Cost of reiterative customization. 9. IT costs and concerns associated with maintaining and upgrading separate applications, including the test center, and time and expertise required to pilot all new software releases before putting them into production. 10. Cost of training to keep administrators current with new infrastructure technologies (e.g., data communications, operating systems, databases, web servers, et al)5. Improved Accessibility and Elasticity Spread across the country or globe, and with employees making contributions from remote or mobile locations, businesses need solutions that are highly accessible. Cloud-based learning offers access anywhere there is Internet, which creates a level of convenience appreciated by every worker. Whether your business is in a year when it is necessary to expand or smarter to cutback, learning management software on the cloud can be adjusted accordingly and quickly to meet your needs, where adding or removing processing capacity merely requires the click of a button.

15 Million Users Succeed with SumTotals Cloud Platform

This whitepaper details SumTotals Strategic HCM Cloud Solution Robust Data Center Service Advanced Architecture Strong, Complete Security Product and Implementation Options

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Uninterrupted access to the application will also be a huge benet to companies that count on their employees to take added responsibilities, either as a cost-saving technique or because they have hired truly capable talent. It is important for the employees to have continuous access to the system, whether they need to add some inputs after working hours or are turning downtime waiting for a plane into uptime on the application. Improved accessibility is a step toward improved productivity.

optimize content delivery performance and reduce load on corporate bandwidth. As a customers demand increases during heavy use periods, the cloud capacity expands automatically. SumTotals technology platform provides vertical and horizontal scalability. Horizontal scalability allows for adding additional back-end servers while vertical scalability offers the option to migrate to larger and faster servers.

2. LEAVING BEHIND LEARNING LIMITATIONS

Scalable Content Storage and Delivery Cloud computing has pushed the evolution of data center and infrastructure services for consumer and business applications. This enables customers to scale dynamically to meet their needs while only paying for what they use, perfect for organizations that are closely watching the bottom line. In addition, security, monitoring and auditing at every level of the infrastructure and application ensures that your human capital data is completely secure. SumTotal provides Akamai content storage distribution technology as part of a cloud-based solution. This can enable organizations to push learning content closer to users, which is critical to geographically dispersed organizations. SumTotal Cloud provides an effective content distribution strategy to

Action Item Provide a learning solution that is easily accessible by users anywhere they have internet access
Provide Seamless Access for Users Very often, organizations need to deliver business-critical information to non-employees or employees that are traveling and do not have access to the corporate network. For example, you may need to deploy a certication program for your reseller channel or enable your sales team to access new product training, even when they are on the road and do not have easy access to the corporate network. Cloud learning can address issues with system access by providing a solution that is easily accessible by users anywhere they have Internet access.

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Instead of creating complicated holes in the rewall to allow for remote access to training, the cloud becomes the repository for information that you can distribute as necessary. This can cut out the difcult task of providing virtual network access to nonemployees or employees that are traveling. In addition, the cloud often allows these non-employee or remote users to receive a faster, richer experience than if the learning system were behind the rewall because the company network does not become a bottleneck and, with the cloud, learning content can be cached closer to users. Integration with Third-Party Systems SumTotal Cloud provides integration interfaces to a variety of third-party systems: Virtual classroom tools such as Adobe Connect, Microsoft LiveMeeting and WebEx Content management networks such as the SkillSoft OLSA framework and Akamai SumTotal Cloud is easily integrated or congured with these platforms with less work than on-premise implementations, where there is a need to consider internal IT security policies, rewall settings and proxy server congurations. With web-services communication between systems taking place in the cloud, the integration between SumTotal Learning and third-party vendors becomes a seamless endeavor.

Case in Point: ORBITZ

Learn how Orbitz uses SumTotal Cloud to deliver training to employees, channel partners and channel partner operational staff.

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CONCLUSION
Learning in the cloud can provide organizations with a wide variety of very compelling business benets from quicker deployment schedules and more cost-effective ownership model to easier access for remote workers and a more elastic system able to handle your businesses changing requirements, just to name a few. Further, because cloud computing is now a mature technology, many of the risks which prevented businesses from taking this path have been signicantly reduced or removed entirely. Finally, you will be in good company as you join SumTotals 15 million users on the cloud, where they reap the benets of a robust cloud infrastructure and achieve great success with SumTotals marketleading Learning & Strategic Human Capital Management (HCM) solution and our highly responsive services and support teams.

END NOTES
1. US Business Spending by Size of Business and Vertical, 2009-2014: Cloud Computing and Managed Hosting Services, In-Stat, 2010. Choosing an LMS: Differentiating the Needs of the SMB Market, Bersin & Associates, 2011. Software as a Service: Understanding What the Cloud Means for HR, Bersin & Associates, 2011. Up in the Cloud: Core HR Has Arrived, Bersin & Associates, 2011. Software as a Service: Understanding What the Cloud Means for HR, Bersin & Associates, 2011.

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About SumtotAl
SumTotal Systems, Inc. is the global leader of strategic Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions that provide organizations with a new level of visibility to help make more informed business decisions and accelerate growth. Recognized by industry analysts as the most complete solution, SumTotal provides full employee lifecycle management, including a core system of record, from a single provider for improved business intelligence. The company offers customers of all sizes and industries the most flexibility and choice in deployment and configuration. We have increased the performance of the worlds largest organizations, including AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN[ADR]; London: AZN), Amway (KUL:AMWAY), and Seagate (NYSE: STX). For more information, or to request a demo, please call +1 (866) 768-6825 (US / Canada), +1 (352) 264-2800 (international) or visit www.sumtotalsystems.com
SumTotal, and the SumTotal logo, are registered trademarks or trademarks of SumTotal Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. 013_0301_EB_NH

Cloud is just one of the implementations offered by SumTotal Systems. For an overview of the other implementation options you can select with our products, download the Implementation Service Packages datasheet.

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