Turning Big Data into an Advantage

Award-winning learning solutions provider LEO is encouraging businesses to embrace new technology-enabled big-data approaches to measure impact. Expanding on from the 'Top 10 Components for Measuring the Business Impact of Learning', the two new insights take a deeper dive into an aspect of learning analytics that's plagued L&D professionals: How do you measure and then justify training spend on learning programmes?

"There's a huge demand, not just in L&D circles, but across many levels in the wider organisation such as senior management, to understand how learning programmes can be accurately and sustainably measured," says Imogen Casebourne, Director of Learning at LEO, who co-authored the insights. "Through LEO's research into the growing appetite for organisations to measure business impact and continued conversations with the industry, it's become clear that there's a pressing need for businesses to get started with measuring their learning. These latest insights look at how to set a measuring-impact strategy and ways to define and collect learning data."

A significant focus of the insights is the use of a big-data approach to uncover and analyse patterns in learner data. "The insights look at traditional and 'new' approaches to data collection, measuring informal learning and big-data analysis techniques," adds Imogen.

LEO's Chief Strategy Officer Piers Lea, who has played a key role in bringing the measuring-business-impact research and insights to the market, adds, "Delivering results on the business impact of our learning investment is possible to do using traditional methods, but as we all know, it's very labour intensive. Using a data-driven approach requires strategic thinking and setup, but it gives you a sustainable route to delivering huge value."