In this issue:
1. Business Training Library Becomes BizLibrary: Updates Brand and Website2. ALIGN 2010 Recap3. ALIGN 2010 Award Winners4. New White Paper: Learning Management Systems in Small & Mid-Sized Organizations - Usage and Features: Results of Market Survey 9/01/10 – 9/30/101. Business Training Library Becomes BizLibrary: Updates Brand and WebsiteBusiness Training Library has made some big changes over the past few weeks and officially changed its name to BizLibrary on October 1, 2010. “We’ve been ‘BizLibrary’ or ‘BTL’ to clients and the general market for years,” said Dean Pichee, President and CEO. “On top of that, we’ve had ‘BizLibrary’ as our domain nam
e for several years. So the name change seems very natural.”
In addition to a new company name, BizLibrary also launched a new logo and website on October 1, 2010. The new logo is designed to be more modern and up to date. It indicates the new company name with updated colors and a new design. According to Pichee, “We haven’t changed our logo in more than a dozen years, so it needed some updating. The new logo really illustrates the link we help establish for our clients between business strategy and learning resources.”
BizLibrary’s new website is designed to have a fresh clean look containing a more dynamic course catalog and simplified navigation for clients and visitors. Pichee commented, “The website is really exciting to us, too. Our new web design is much cleaner, easier to navigate and will respond very well to web-based searches for the terms the market associates with online training, e-learning and LMS providers. We are really excited about the way the new website presents our libraries of 7,000+ courses. The new site makes it easy for a casual visitor to see the breadth and depth of our training content.”
BizLibrary will continue to add new resources to the website such as case studies and training marketing tools on a continuous basis. Our goal is to provide clients and visitors a place to rely on for updated training resources and tools. The latest addition to our website includes BizLibrary’s blog, an area of the website dedicated to providing up-to-date articles and materials on events and improvements occurring at BizLibrary and within the training industry. “Finally, in addition to our new website we’ve also increased our commitment to social media.” states Pichee. “We certainly want to invite people to visit our new website at
www.bizlibrary.com and to follow us in various social media outlets like LinkedIn, Twitter and the BizBlog. People can see for themselves what we are doing. We think it’s pretty exciting.”
Visit BizLibrary’s New Website
2. ALIGN 2010 RecapBizLibrary recently hosted its annual ALIGN client conference during September 28-30, 2010. The conference is in its third year running and was hosted at the Hilton at the Ballpark in downtown Saint Louis, Missouri. During the conference, clients and prospects had the opportunity to connect and learn how other organizations utilize learning to get a competitive edge.
The conference began with a night at the ballpark where attendees watched the Saint Louis Cardinals take on the Pittsburgh Pirates. The next two days of the conference were dominated by a series of breakout
sessions on topics tied directly to learning, organizational development and learning technology.
Two excellent keynote speakers appeared at Align this year. Randy Pennington, President of Pennington Performance Group and author of
On My Honor I Will and Results Rule! ®, presented his keynote address,
Results Rule! on Wednesday September 29th. Randy shared a series of entertaining and informative stories that illustrated how organizations with an emphasis on results can improve bottom-line performance. On Thursday, Laura Bernstein, President and CEO of VisionPoint,
presented the second keynote presentation:
Training Triage: Prioritizing Needs for the High-Performing Workforce. Laura shared her knowledge and expertise in the field of training and development during her presentation.
“We are very happy with the overall success of this year’s conference.” says Shannon Kluczny, BizLibrary’s Vice President of Client Services. “ALIGN is always a wonderful way for clients and prospects to collaborate, share best practice ideas and learn how BizLibrary can be a part of their training program’s success. We are also thrilled that for the third year in a row, we set an attendance record.” The next ALIGN conference will be held in Saint Louis, Missouri in September 2011. Final dates for the conference are to be determined.
3. ALIGN 2010 Award Winners
BizLibrary recognized and honored clients for excellence in e-learning at BizLibrary’s third annual ALIGN client conference hosted in St. Louis, MO September 28-30th. BizLibrary recognized these clients for their outstanding achievements in training development within their organizations. Award recipients include: Navitus Health Solutions of Madison, WI, Universal Hospital Services, Inc. of Edina, MN and Marisa Mobley, Corporate Learning Specialist at 1st Farm Credit Services of Normal, IL.
Navitus Health Solutions, a pharmacy benefit company, won the Learning Program of the Year Award – BizLibrary’s top award. BizLibrary recognized Navitus’s deep commitment to training and employee development. Navitus implemented a program that directly addresses business needs, builds upon success and has integrated its training efforts throughout the company. Navitus Health Solutions has been a client since 2007. During that time they started an employee orientation program designed to get new employees up and running quickly while building a high degree of cultural and industrial awareness. In addition to new employee orientation, Navitus added compliance training, industry specific training with custom developed courseware and a year-long leadership program.
Universal Hospital Services, Inc. won the award for Best Blended Program. The award criteria, which UHS easily met, required UHS to have been a client with BizLibrary for at least one year, use multiple areas of online content, use multiple learning management system (LMS) modules, develop a learning program that addressed specific organization needs, with regular measurements and consistent high participant feedback. UHS, a leading provider of medical equipment, has over 1300 employees and clients nationwide. As a result they needed a blended learning solution to meet the needs of a widely scattered workforce marked by high levels of diversity. Universal Hospital Services, Inc. uses a variety of BizLibrary’s online content, learning management system, recommended authoring tool, Lectora, as well as classroom tracking and certification modules.
BizLibrary honored Marisa Mobley, Corporate Learning Specialist at 1st Farm Credit Services; the largest agricultural lender in the State of Illinois with its 2010 Learning Professional of the Year Award. Ms. Mobley is a training professional who achieved exceptional success while showing high levels of skill and innovation. Marisa was accountable for delivering training within her organization and participates in several outside associations and training partnerships. She is also a participant on BizLibrary’s client board. Since 2005, 1st Farm Credit Service has grown its revenue by 40%, and the organization credits Ms. Mobley’s efforts in leading the training program as a major contributor to that growth.
BizLibrary is proud to recognize these clients as leading examples of successful training programs for small and mid-sized organizations. Thank you for allowing us to help make your training programs a success in your organization.
For more information about our ALIGN 2010 Client Awards click here!
4. New White Paper: Learning Management Systems in Small & Mid-Sized Organizations - Usage and Features: Results of Market Survey 9/01/10 – 9/30/10Between September 1, 2010 and September 30, 2010 BizLibrary conducted a broad market survey on the current usage of LMS and the features organizations find most useful. Survey results identified that large organizations are more likely to currently have a learning management system. The survey also indicated that small and mid-sized organizations are turning in growing numbers to learning management systems as a way to provide and track employee training. How will small and mid-sized companies keep current on compliance training, prepare for succession planning and/or train employees at multiple locations? Survey respondents indicated by using learning management system technology and growing capabilities. This survey also explored how emerging LMS technologies might be received by both current LMS users and prospective LMS users.
BizLibrary is pleased to offer a complimentary copy of a white paper developed from this research called: Learning Management Systems in Small & Mid-Sized Organizations - Usage and Features: Results of Market Survey 9/01/10 – 9/30/10.
Download the free
white paper today!