Skillsoft’s 2015 research report reveals strong growth trends for mobile learning in India

Skillsoft released its research report, The State of Mobile Learning in India. The report highlights key insights into the availability of and preferences for mobile learning, as well as challenges and concerns which impact the implementation of mobile learning in organizations in Asia Pacific broadly, as well as specifically in India. The research report includes numerous unique insights for organizations in India addressing the challenges of learning and development in the mobile-enabled age.

The State of Mobile Learning in India: How mobile is shaping cloud-based learning reveals gaps in the learning and development landscape in India and identifies ways in which organizations can utilize mobile learning to address these challenges. The regional study collected 545 responses from decision makers (individuals who manage a budget within an organization for Human Resources or Learning & Development) and learners (individuals who do not manage Human Resources or Learning & Development budgets and receive training in any form) across 16 countries in Asia Pacific.

One telling insight from the report showed that while respondents in India overall (80 percent) agreed that mobile learning would increase learning engagement, adoption rates among organizations remains low (27 percent). This suggests that there is a significant opportunity for organizations in India to capitalize on the perceived benefits of mobile learning by these respondents.

Aruna Telang, Manager, Consulting Services – Asia, Skillsoft commented, “For many in India, mobile has become their platform of choice, where employees are empowered to access learning on demand. Companies seeking to adapt to this new reality need to quickly evolve their learning strategies and better understand the needs of their workforce in order to ensure high learner engagement and the program’s effectiveness.”

Mobile learners in India are both highly pragmatic and bullish on mobile learning. 80 percent agree that mobile learning enables the development of new knowledge and skills, while 83 percent of users believed it gave them a competitive advantage in the industry. Overall they are clearly convinced of the benefits of mobile learning with 97 percent responding that mobile learning benefits them in some way. Organizations in India also see the benefits of mobile learning, with 82 percent agreeing that mobile learning improves business efficiency and 76 percent seeing improved business results.

Organizations and users in India agree that the preferred formats for mobile learning content are video tutorials (48 percent), slide shows (40 percent) and interactive content with active participation (39 percent). There remains opportunity to increase the use of the most popular format preferred by Users and Potential Users. This approach leads to gaps, such as with simulations, which are used by 17 percent of organizations, while they are preferred by 55 percent of users. Clearly, as mobile learning develops, organizations in India have improvements to make in terms of delivering formats that appeal to their employees while balancing business and compliance requirements.

There are also obstacles to implementing an effective mobile learning program. The three biggest concerns for organizations seeking to implement mobile learning are network issues like connection stability and speed, VPN requirements (62 percent), concerns about network security (58 percent) and inadequate support from IT (40 percent).  “Additional operating costs” are another area of concern (48 percent) with mobile learning adoption.  These challenges have not dampened the enthusiasm for mobile learning however, with 45 percent respondent organizations planning to implement mobile learning in the near future.

“Much of the success of mobile learning in India can be attributed to the 173 million mobile internet users in India, which decision makers and business professionals can no longer ignore. Cloud-based learning is evolving to match the expectations of the mobile employee where learning opportunities often occur throughout the day. If it is done right, mobile learning offers knowledge at the touch of one’s mobile devices which can establish continuous employee development and provide organizations with better skilled human capital and greater competitive edge.” said Mr. Vinay Pradhan, Country Manager – India, Skillsoft.

The report findings demonstrate how organizations have the opportunity to transform the way they deliver talent development that resonates with and engages their learners, resulting in a greater return on investment and proves that organizations that leverage mobile learning successfully achieve greater employee and organizational effectiveness and business impact.