IT Training Market Barometer Released

05 Feb 2010

by: Margaret Snell

All areas of IT training suffered a decline in the 3rd quarter of last year, although there is some optimism for higher revenues in the 4th quarter, particularly for e-learning. This is according to the IT Training ‘Market Barometer’ produced by Pardo Fox for the IITT’s Learning Directors Network. 


The report found that “the rate of decline in the third quarter of 2009 turned out to be as bad as expected and just as bad as in Q2”. There could be some light at the end of the tunnel, however, with 25% of companies reporting feeling ‘bullish’ and optimistic of higher revenues in Q4 than in the same period of 2008. Although, as revenues continue to fall, so do training company profits, so the state of the economy has had a direct effect on the IT training market.


All three areas of instructor-led training (end-user, technical and business skills) suffered equally, each incurring nearly a 10% decline since Q1. Despite a forecast for little change, learning technologies also suffered declining revenue in Q3 compared to the same quarter last year, bucking the trend of recent times in which many organisations have been replacing instructor-led training with ‘cost-saving’ technology-based spending.  The market for training support services had a second successive sharp decline of almost 10% since Q2. IT certification also suffered, as the number of IT professional tests administered fell for the first time, and end-user testing continued its decline at a steeper rate.


Participants were asked to name the areas that saw the biggest increases or decreases in training revenues. The biggest decreases mentioned include public courses and Prince2, whereas  e-learning development, training tool development for business users, e-learning and collaborative learning and bespoke product sales training were all seen to be in demand.


General comments on the state of the IT training market included one participant who saw “signs that things are picking up. Investment in learning tools/ technology in particular is increasing – budgets are no longer frozen.” Whilst the outlook for the future may not be as favourable as hoped, some areas of IT Training are expected to grow, albeit at a slow rate.

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