FT Knowledge, Indeliq, Accenture to Form Alliance for Corporate Learning
LONDON and CHICAGO and NEW YORK; March 18, 2002 – FT Knowledge, the corporate training arm of Pearson, the international media company; Indeliq, the leader in simulation-based eLearning solutions; and Accenture, the world’s leading management and technology services organization, announced today that they have formed an alliance to bring together the best in educational content, eLearning products, and corporate learning services.
As part of the four-year alliance, FT Knowledge and Indeliq will co-develop, co-brand, and co-market over 200 hours of simulation-based e-learning courses, initially focusing on the critical skills of newly promoted managers including coaching, financial analysis, change management, and building high performance teams. Indeliq’s patented performance simulation technology enables managers and employees to “learn by doing” through a powerful Web-based environment that simulates real business situations and drives improved business results. FT Knowledge supplies content and learning expertise and will also draw on the wealth of intellectual property in Pearson Education, the world’s leading education company.
Also, through the alliance, FT Knowledge becomes Accenture’s preferred provider of business skills learning services and content, delivered either in the classroom, over the Internet, or through a blended approach. The companies have agreed to co-market and co-brand select corporate educational services.
"Businesses need effective training solutions tied to business results," said Cushing Anderson, Program Manager for IDC’s Learning Services Research. "The combination of high quality content, engaging delivery methodology and a strong link to business results make this a powerful offering."
Pippa Wicks, chief executive of FT Knowledge, said: “This is a perfect partnership: the world’s leading education company, teaming up with the best simulation technology and the world’s leading business services company. It will open up opportunities for all Pearson companies to bring services and content into the corporate education market.”
Daniel Hamburger, chief executive officer of Indeliq, said the alliance provides unique benefits in corporate learning. “The alliance is a means to deliver real business return on investment, beyond just cost savings through computer-based training, by taking the best training methodology— simulation — and combining it with the best educational content,” he said.
Accenture will serve as an important channel partner, providing an effective means for the alliance companies to jointly deliver the highest quality learning products and services. Accenture clients span the full range of industries around the world, comprising 88 of the Fortune Global 100 and more than half of the Fortune Global 500.
Harry Brakeley, managing partner of Accenture Learning, believes that the combined strengths of the alliance will enable it to develop and deliver the highest quality eLearning products and corporate education services on a global basis.
“The individual competencies of the alliance companies, when brought together in a single focus, creates an enormously powerful capability,” Mr. Brakeley said. “This combination supports Accenture Learning’s mission to improve its clients’ workforce performance by delivering outsourced transformational learning services.”
About Pearson
Pearson (FTSE: PSON; NYSE: PSO) is an international media company with market leading businesses in education, business information and consumer publishing.
About FT Knowledge
FT Knowledge, part of Pearson, is one of the world’s leading business education companies. FT Knowledge partners with leading companies to deliver learning that equips people to implement company strategy solve business problems and perform better, with emphasis on quantifiable business benefits. The business focuses on two areas: soft skills or business skills learning through the Forum Corporation and financial learning through FT Knowledge Financial Learning.
For more information about FT Knowledge, visit www.ftknowledge.com.
Pearson Education is the world’s leading learning company. Its textbooks, online learning tools and testing and assessment programmes help to educate more than 100 million people worldwide. The Financial Times and its network of business and financial newspapers and online services informs the daily decisions of more than 4 million businesses and investors worldwide. The Penguin Group is one of the world’s leading consumer publishers, with an unrivalled range of fiction and non-fiction, bestsellers and classics, children’s and reference works for audiences in more than 100 countries. For more information, visit www.pearson.com .
About Indeliq
Indeliq provides simulation-based eLearning solutions to the corporate enterprise market. Analogous to a flight simulator used to train pilots, Indeliq’s simulation technology provides a “learn by doing” approach that results in higher levels of cognition and retention than traditional classroom and computer-based training approaches. For example, a major telecommunications customer that deployed simulation technology doubled their rate of sales productivity versus another team receiving the same training in classroom format. Indeliq is an affiliate company of Accenture. For more information or a demonstration, visit www.indeliq.com or call 312.442.6600.
About Accenture
Accenture is the world’s leading management and technology services organization. Through its network of businesses approach -- in which the company enhances its consulting and outsourcing expertise through alliances, affiliated companies and other capabilities -- Accenture delivers innovations that help clients across all industries quickly realize their visions. With more than 75,000 people in 47 countries, the company generated net revenues of $11.44 billion for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2001. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
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