The research, based on input from a longitudinal study with 7,500 learning professionals at some of the world’s leading organisations, showed that learning transformation happens in clear stages and that a business needs to let go of previous success factors to deliver improved impact that comes with progress to the next stage.

Applying this thinking to the whole learning industry and to Towards Maturity, the business realised its own need to transform before it could help more organisations deliver the potential business impact highlighted by the report: 24% increase in productivity, 24% increase in customer satisfaction, and an 18% reduction in staff turnover.

CEO Laura Overton commented, "In fifteen years, we have brought the global learning community together and shown what works. Everyone is now talking about the level of change and disruption required to move learning from being course providers to value creators. Yet despite all the insights, not enough organisations have even started the journey. We are as committed as ever to growing and delivering our research programme on behalf of the learning community, but we also need to make a step change."

Having already recognized the bigger role it needs to play, Towards Maturity joined Emerald, the global publisher, in June 2017. With a strong heritage of producing evidence-based research and solutions, Emerald has been perfectly positioned to support Towards Maturity in developing a service that will help more organisations apply the evidence and data.

Laura adds, "The transformation curve shows that learning professionals will only be ready for the future if the research is applied rather than just read. Our analysts are uniquely positioned to help organisations gain the benefit in a way that helps the whole industry to grow. Joining Emerald has been a key part of this mission, with its global reputation for helping communities make decisions that count based on research that matters."