Positive Return on Investment Through Training

RESEARCH SHOWS A POSITIVE RETURN ON INVESTMENT THROUGH TRAINING WITH NEW HORIZONS

Over 1.5 Million Evaluations Indicate New Horizons Training has an Immediate Impact on Job Performance

ANAHEIM, Calif., June 8, 2004 – New Horizons Computer Learning Centers (NASDAQ: NEWH – News), the world’s largest independent IT training company, today announced the results of a learning analytics process where nearly 1.5 million evaluations have been collected from New Horizons customers.  The results indicate that New Horizons training is a significant catalyst in optimizing efficiency and effectiveness back on the job.  Within eight weeks of completing training, participants showed 38 percent of an average performance improvement was directly attributable and isolated to New Horizons training, as opposed to other factors that can influence performance gains.

The independent research audit was conducted by KnowledgeAdvisors, a learning analytics company, and was based on data that was collected two months after New Horizons students received training and had gone back to their jobs.  The data was collected through KnowledgeAdvisors’ learning analytics tool, Metrics that Matter™.  New Horizons, an early adopter of the learning analytics strategy, has been collecting and analyzing data of this type since February 2000.

“In 2001 we introduced our Integrated Learning solution framework which consists of customer-focused computer training choices with a wide variety of tools and resources that reinforce the learning experience,” said Martin Bean, New Horizons chief operating officer. “Our goal is to ensure our customers are not only satisfied with our training offerings, but that our services are aligning with their business strategies back on the job.  The learning analytics process provides us with a measurement that proves a positive return on investment for our customers.”

In addition to performance gains, the learning evaluation also concluded:

• 70 percent of participants were able to apply New Horizons training within 8 weeks;
• 97 percent of participants utilize or plan to utilize the knowledge and skills gained through New Horizons training on their job;
• 60 percent increase in skill or knowledge was noted by participants upon leaving the training;
• New Horizons training yields a 4:1 benefit-to-cost ratio, relative to the predicted increase in performance

Through the Metrics that Matter tool, KnowledgeAdvisors is able to predict job impact and can reinforce the prediction with follow-up data collected when participants are back on the job.  The process is used by over 100 of New Horizons training centers around the world to meticulously track a scorecard of metrics including: customer satisfaction, learning effectiveness, job impact, business impact, and ROI. 

KnowledgeAdvisors learning analytics solutions are leveraged by Microsoft and other major IT hardware and software manufacturers.  "The data supports the fact that New Horizons continuously ranks as a high performing partner for Microsoft and they continue to be a leading advocate of measuring the impact and ROI on their training, which not only helps their customers but Microsoft as well," commented Lutz Ziob, general manager, Microsoft Learning.

“The impact of training on job performance, and the ability to prove a positive training ROI, will be a standard in the training industry in the near future,” said Michael Brennan, learning services analyst with IDC.  “By adopting a method for analyzing and measuring training effectiveness, New Horizons has clearly demonstrated they are ahead of the curve when it comes to showing their clients the benefits of their training investments.”

“New Horizons training was a very important strategic investment for Iron Mountain.  Prior to our relationship with New Horizons, we were not effectively providing a productivity baseline for our knowledge workers,” said Anthony Garreffi, Manager E-Learning/Technical Training, Iron Mountain.  “New Horizons training not only served as a way to improve productivity and provide better service but it also provided developmental and cultural benefits, resulting in greater employee retention.”

“The bottom line is that this measurement process validates the effectiveness of our Integrated Learning training approach by positively impacting our customers’ business results,” concluded Bean.

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