There is unequivocal evidence that eLearning delivers knowledge and skills to those who use it. There's also evidence that course completion isn't a true indication of what's been learnt - as the immediacy of the medium allows employees to dip in and out of courses, just learning what they need.

The learning is put into practice, and it delivers a range of specific benefits to the enterprises in which employees work. Most importantly of all, the overwhelming majority of employees like learning in this way.

Within the majority of organisations, eLearning is now a well accepted means of increasing skills and knowledge across the enterprise. For the most part, firms have seamlessly integrated eLearning into their training strategy along with all the other methods of delivering training available to them. Even those organisations that waited until eLearning was proven are now enjoying cost efficiency, accessibility, flexibility, and the many other benefits that eLearning brings.

Employees genuinely like eLearning and find it effective. Courses are enjoyable: 93.5% of the respondents stated that they have enjoyed the courses they had taken. Furthermore, the learning is effective, with 87% of those queried being able to cite tangible examples of how they have applied their learning. Application of the learning goes beyond just the individual; 52% said they passed on what they had learned to someone else.

The whole eLearning experience is engaging, and 98% say they would recommend eLearning to a colleague. Finally, course completion is not critical to the outcomes, with 92.5% saying they learned what they needed even if they didn't complete the course.

Why do employees like eLearning? The ability of employees to take eLearning at their own pace is key: 93% said they value eLearning because of this. The ease of use is also important, and 87.5% think it's easy to use. The flexibility of eLearning is highly rated, with 85% mentioning flexibility as one of the key reasons why they like it. Its efficiency in terms of time is cited by 77.5% who appreciate being able to learn whenever they have time. Seventy-three percent of employees like eLearning because they think it's an interesting way to learn.

Why are they learning and where are they learning? The majority (34%) are learning to improve their competency and efficiency in their current roles or they want to broaden their skills and knowledge (16%). Most of the learning is done by employees at their desk - almost 70% learn at their workstation Two thirds of those who learn at their desk do so during the working day, with the remaining third furthering their knowledge before or after hours. There is very little work time formally dedicated to eLearning in most organizations.

All major IT skill areas are represented in the sample. Employees are using eLearning to develop skills across the wide range of general operating systems and network fundamentals. In relation to business skills, the picture that emerges is similar to the IT area. The users who participated in this study are using eLearning to help them with their professional and personal development across a wide range of competencies.

On closer analysis it appears that there are five major areas where the impact of the learning is being realized:

• Tangible business benefits - the respondents cited examples of increased sales, happier customers, and an improvement in their negotiation skills;
• Improved processes - such as better project management, improved reporting, and more efficient contract management;
• Improved communications - both internally across departments as well as with customers and suppliers;
• Personal skills development - in key areas like management, leadership, coaching and mentoring, assertiveness, time management, and presentation skills, to name just a few;
• IT and computer literacy - the skills base of employees at both beginner and advanced levels has been significantly improved.

It should come as no surprise, therefore, that eLearning continues to grow across the enterprise, but the important fact for organisations to bear in mind is what this research proves; that eLearning really is delivering. It is delivering because it offers good ROI, employees like it, and - most important of all - it works.