Ben Betts, Learning Pool's CEO, commented, "Every global enterprise is struggling to attract and retain skilled employees, and the widening skills gaps that are stopping businesses from growing at the pace they desire are apparent in every boardroom conversation. Learning Pool's acquisition of People-Analytix, and the subsequent advancements it will bring to our platform, means that we can now give customers the power to automatically address skills gaps as they appear.  It is a tremendously exciting technology and a fundamental component in our wider mission to support talent development in creating extraordinary performers."

Learning Pool notes that analysts and market commentators are keen to point out that the pivot to skills is not a temporary fad, but a fundamental shift in the way we think about talent and development. 

According to technological research and consulting firm Gartner’s Market Guide for Talent Acquisition (Recruiting) Technologies, "Skills are fast becoming the main talent-related currency in terms of hiring, workforce planning and optimization, career development, talent marketplaces, and learning."

The World Economic Forum predicts that by 2025, as many as 50% of all workers will need reskilling. To address this global issue, skills development can no longer be satisfied by being simply reactive.

"Fosway research shows that skills are a critical strategic priority for organizations. However, only 20% of learning professionals say they are very effective at upskilling and reskilling. Both organizational agility and resilience are dependent on developing the right skills at pace, Learning Pool's acquisition of People-Analytix significantly strengthens its skills capabilities to address those needs," according to Fiona Leteney, Senior Analyst, Fosway Group.

Forming a key part of the Learning Pool platform, customers will use the latest release to assess the current skills within their organization, plan for the future, and close the gap through Learning Pool's platform and content libraries - all in a single solution.

Betts continued, "Our latest release is powered by the incredible AI that People-Analytix and their partners have been developing over the better part of the past decade. The work the team has done has been lauded as one of the smartest 'skill cloud' executions available in the market today, and that's been backed up with real-world success stories."

Taking a highly user-centric approach that is unique in the marketplace, the product announcement includes

• a unique personal skills profile
  From the outset, each user will have a completely unique and personal skills profile, fully capable of recommending the next best step for their development based on up-to-date market data, summarised into a seamless and automated experience.
• a market-leading "skills ontology"
  This will provide a categorization of skills that creates a common language, defining the aspects of a specific job rather than relying on blanket terms and descriptions. Other providers in the industry use more limited methods of taxonomy, essentially hardcoding a hierarchy of jobs or competencies into their products, putting additional pressure on learning and development teams, whilst inevitably becoming an outdated, poor reflection of how people do their jobs.
• external employment marketplace data
  This will be updated daily to help both workers and administrators understand the skills that are in highest demand and shortest supply and to keep pace with the rapidly changing demands of global workplaces.
• a range of new learning experience types
  This will include gig projects, internal mobility, mentorships, and social-learning opportunities to broaden the methods by which employees can enhance their skill profiles.
• updated and personalized learning recommendations
  These will give learners the best resources, social interactions, and learning experiences to improve the most in-demand skills that are available on the platform. Users can re-skill or upskill using different pathways and different methods of learning.
• a comprehensive skills gap analysis tool
  This will allow managers to view the current skills within their team, as well as identify the potential for staff members to upskill to fill new or emerging needs.

In addition to benefiting from People-Analytix technology, Learning Pool will also be strengthening its ranks of skills and data experts, led by Christoph Küffer, Co-Founder and CEO of People-Analytix, who joins Learning Pool's management team.

Christoph commented, "We are excited to take our shared passion for innovation and customer centricity forward to build the future of enterprise learning. Current skills solutions in the market use a relatively basic taxonomy that doesn’t reflect current market developments. At the heart of our solution is a unique AI-powered ontology built over ten years with human guidance. This sets us apart and is why it has the power to revolutionize how organizations manage their approach. Reporting around skills and skills progress can be used for organizational planning and developing and measuring learning and development strategies, making a powerful impact on business goals.''

Participants at Learning Pool Live will be able to share in the announcement, get hands-on experience with the technology, and speak to the wider team. Last minute tickets are available to join industry pioneers and hundreds of peers for a day of innovation, idea sharing and best practice.