“Inventory is waste.” That’s the well-known slogan of the just in time inventory control model, but it doesn’t just apply to widgets or office supplies. An unused inventory of elearning courses is just as wasteful.
Many companies get their elearning in bulk: Enticed or forced to sign long-term contracts or purchase big subscriptions, they spend money upfront without an accurate picture of how much of their learning budget goes to waste.
For example, one of our customers purchased 50 courses for 2,500 employees at an annual cost of $125,000. At a contract price of $1 per person, per course, this sounds like a great deal! But after a year, our customers found that each user was launching an average of 5 courses per year – and completing only one. This means they were leaving 45-49 courses on the shelf, and making the cost of each course $45.
Let’s Do the Numbers
All those unused courses represent unused inventory: Products you’re paying for but not using. As we worked through additional scenarios with our customers, we’ve discovered something even more shocking. The more elearning companies buy, the more they waste. We’ve been trained by Costco, Sam’s Club and even Amazon that bulk purchases mean savings – but when it comes to corporate training, getting all of those courses is not always a good deal.
We’ve built a Course Savings Calculator to enable our customers and partners to plug in their company’s numbers and discover how much they’re paying for each learner. Start with the contract pricing you negotiated, and then enter your actual usage. Don’t know what your actual usage is? Get in touch and we’ll help you make an educated guess based on industry averages.
Pay Per View: Not Just for Cable
Since OpenSesame’s debut, we have offered flexible pricing options to elearning customers accustomed to limited and complicated purchasing models. Our Pay-Per-Use pricing option takes flexibility a step further:
- Browse OpenSesame’s catalog of more than 12,000 training courses
- Take courses on OpenSesame or add courses to your learning management system
- At the end of each month, OpenSesame will bill you for only the courses you use
Interested in calculating your course usage or learning more about the Pay-Per-Use model? Send me an email or call me at 503-808-1268 and we’ll run your numbers.
Image credit: jtl308 on Flickr