E-learning is becoming part of knowledge management. "Building on the concept of uniting informal and formal learning materials within an e-learning infrastructure, e-learning is moving out of its traditional silo and is becoming part of a larger approach to knowledge management. The value of linking a portal to a learning management system (LMS) comes from creating a single location for corporate information, learning, and collaboration. In spite of these benefits, IDC believes that less than 10 percent of corporations deploying an LMS integrate the software with a corporate portal. IDC expects this percentage to rise over the next few years." This quote comes from "Worldwide and U.S. Corporate E-learning, 2004-2008 Forecast," a report by IDC, a research firm in Framingham, Mass.

The outsourcing of all or portions of important business processes, including e-learning, continues. The same report predicts: "E-learning vendors will be forced to address this trend in their overall strategy, particularly in terms of partnerships. Outsourced e-learning services will not be offered solely by e-learning vendors but increasingly as part of larger HR BPO contracts. E-learning players who can successfully partner to offer outsourcing options will expand market reach. Those who fail to address the demand for outsourced e-learning services will find it increasingly difficult to compete."

Rapid e-learning is the fastest-growing segment of the e-learning market. "Rapid e-learning (Web-based training programs that can be created in a few weeks and are authored largely by subject-matter experts) grew 80 percent over the last year and will continue to grow at an annual compound rate of 40 to 50 percent over the next two years," says Josh Bersin, principal and founder of Oakland, Calif.-based research firm Bersin & Associates. "Today, it accounts for more than one-third of all current training-related projects and is expected to be employed for nearly half of all e-learning initiatives within the next three years."

Externally hosted LMS customers are significantly more satisfied than those that run LMSs internally. "Likely, this is because outsourced LMS systems reduce cost, complexity and resource requirements and are much more likely to be completed on schedule and within predicted budgets," Bersin says.

High-quality content is the most-important factor used to determine the success of e-learning efforts, according to Stamford, Conn.-based research firm Gartner. Its report, "2005 E-learning Client Issues," says, "The content market will prove more lively because quality matters above all; new content and new media for delivering content [are] a 'hot spot' of innovation."