In recent years, various organizations of different nature have used eLearning at least once as a training method that can respond to a specific need. In general, the reasons that prompted the company to use eLearning are (from Garavaglia, 2010)

• the need to train people located in remote locations
• the need to train a large number of employees in order to create economies of scale
• to allow greater customization of training programs and greater flexibility of use in terms of methodology and time.

After several years of evolution, eLearning appears to be a reality that is far from transitory. It seems to move towards further consolidation, as it can also face economic situations like those in European countries in recent years. The research paper elucidates how such factors can influence the world of online learning, coming to characterize and define the new requirements, resources, and opportunities of the various solutions.

Data collection has been done through

• interviews with marketing managers of major companies
• analysis of solutions, products, and services offered by leading companies
• questionnaires to selected customers of eLearning products

By analyzing the various eLearning solutions in the marketplace, several trends have been identified

• the "cloud", linked to a particular articulation of cloud computing, SaaS (software as a service).
• talent-management-oriented solutions, which work especially for companies that already have experience in consulting and management in regard to integrated e-HR LMS applications.
• mobile learning, i.e. the use of portable devices for training, which has become increasingly common.
• social learning approaches, which enrich the LMS with informal elements in order to reconstruct a social-networks-style of interaction.

Download the full paper, 'Adoption of eLearning Solutions: Selection Criteria and Recent Trends' by Garavaglia, A., and Gaiotto, M., licensed under a Creative Commons Attribuzione 3.0 Unported License.