Gloucestershire (UK), September 2016 - This month, Fosway Group, one of Europe’s leading independent HR analysts, marks twenty years of learning and HR technology research since its inception in 1996. As part of its anniversary, Fosway is opening its archive of research, sharing some of its original papers, models, and insights. Its analysts will also be exploring what the next two decades will bring, as organisations try to keep pace with the digital revolution.
Founded in 1996 by current CEO, David Wilson, Fosway Group, originally known as Elearnity, was formed with a focus on understanding how technology was enabling new ways of working. The objective was to provide research and insights that would help organisations accelerate their progress with technology, whilst de-risking their decision making. These goals remain unchanged.
With a wide portfolio of major corporate clients, including Alstom, Deutsche Bank, PwC, Rolls-Royce, Shell, Swiss Re, and Vodafone, Fosway’s analysts have developed a unique understanding of the realities of HR, talent, and learning and how they are changing within European organisations. This insight is coupled with independent supplier research to ensure an objective insider view of market developments and innovation.
CEO, David Wilson, comments, "The last twenty years have obviously brought about massive changes both in technology and how we interact with it. This has made our job at Fosway both challenging and rewarding. But whilst this anniversary is an important landmark for us, looking back is not what we’re about. Fosway has always tried to stay ahead of the curve – from our original focus in 1996 on collaborative and social learning and criticism of the isolation of ‘click next’ eLearning, through to our early advocacy of cloud computing and transforming HR."
He continues, "There are also valuable insights that can be gained from reflection. Opening our archives has enabled us to explore just how far corporate learning, talent, and HR have come. But it also highlights what has been slow to change: many of our insights from ten or fifteen years ago could have been written yesterday! For instance, why has it taken until the last couple of years for user experience to become such a hot topic? And problems of legacy systems, lack of employee engagement and outdated IT policies are all still issues that continue to impact companies today. But as organisations become increasingly digital, there is a unique opportunity for HR and L&D to become real agents for change, which we believe is long overdue."
The future remains exciting for Fosway, with the team having doubled in size following the successful rebrand from Elearnity. Unique industry partnerships including those with HRN and Learning Technologies further extend the reach of its research and the depth of its insights.
