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Another Merger!
Fidelity Investments Acquires TEDS

(pay attention, this is bigger news than Click-Docent)

Yesterday Fidelity Investments announced its intention to buy TEDS.

I really like the C2l+Docent merger; I love Fidelity's move for what it means for the industry.

Huh? Fidelity?! Don't they do mutual funds and 401k's?

Hey, Kevin_GuruDude, have you ever seen a merger you didn't like? Are you crazy?

I don't know the executive teams at either of these companies, so they could always screw things up in the integration and all important execution. But the potential is what gets me excited...

Sure, to the end user, Fidelity does 401ks and stuff like estate planning, discount brokerage, life insurance etc. But that's not their business.

Fidelity's business is to offer technology-leveraged solutions for financial, HR and benefits problems. They've been innovators in the use of web technologies for the creation of employee self-service benefits portals, self-service portfolio management etc. What they've accomplished with thousands of customers is to get them to outsource administration, while improving quality to the end-user employees.

Look. A merger between the right two LMS companies is good, but obvious. An acquisition of LMS companies by enterprise software companies would be expected. An acquisition of an LMS/e-recruiting/training company by an HR benefits outsourcer takes some executive vision and courage.

Don't get me wrong. Will the sales training department at a major pharmaceutical company buy their LMS from Fidelity Investments? Doubtful. But will many mid-market companies who are already using Fidelity services and employee benefit portals be interested in adding LMS and e-recruiting functionality? Why not?

In fact, I've long wondered why the payroll administrators like ADP or Paychex don't get into the game. They have an army of sales professionals who visit small and mid-size companies every day. Why not offer a basic suite of soft skills and desktop app training as well?

The real difficulty (again) is unlocking the secret to cross-selling. Most reps (in any industry) only sell and support their first and second product because that's where the comfort zone (and often commission) comes from. Fidelity needs to introduce TEDS LMS and e-recruiting offerings to its entire customer base, which won't happen over night.

What this merger potentially means for e-learning is:
(1) A new reach and focus on the mid-market.
(2) A focus on solutions and solving problems, not on technology (please vendors, keep the J2EE vs .NET talk for the IT influencers not the training & HR decision makers - they really don't care and usually just get scared and confused).
(3) A signal to other HR outsource players that e-learning and e-recruiting might be valuable tools to add to their box.

Best of luck to all involved.

There IS a significant difference...
In the last issue I referenced the No Significant Difference website which archives studies claiming no difference between multimedia or online training and other more traditional forms of education. Dr. Karl Kapp, author of Winning E-Learning Proposals, was nice enough to let me know about the Significant Difference website the catalogs the counter arguments. Also got the link from Brian Sullivan of Courses By Wire and Leo Lucas of e-learningconsulting.com.

Webcast: Is Your Training a Strategic Force?
Don't forget that on Nov. 19 you can participate in a free webcast titled, "Beyond Tactics: 6 Steps to Make Training a Strategic Force." Sponsored by ASTD, Worknowledge and Docent.
Click here to register at Interwise.

Special thanks to Teresa Clarke for noticing my "visa versa" instead of "vice versa" mistake in my last issue. Fixed for the future.

Know anyone who is interested in the LMS space? Please send them this newsletter, they'll thank you!

Here's to living and learning,
-- Kevin

Kevin Kruse is the e-learning columnist for CLO, Chief Learning Officer magazine, author of Technology-based Training (Jossey-Bass), and President of Axiom Professional Health Learning. He can be reached at kkruse@e-learningguru.com.