The "competition" is gaining ground:
BILLERICA, Mass., April 11, 2000 - TrainingNet announced today that it has surged ahead in the international training marketplace with the acquisition of The Graduate Group, owner of the United Kingdom's leading B2B e-commerce training resource, The National Training Index.
This acquisition establishes TrainingNet's global presence with the addition of the National Training Index's base of over 130 online corporate customers - including such leading companies as British Aerospace, Ernst and Young, British Airways and America Online U.K - and some 2,000 training providers included in the Index. It combines the English-speaking world's two largest training markets, allowing TrainingNet clients instant access to the greatest selection of training resources addressing the needs of corporations.
Also today, TrainingNet announced it has acquired another U.K. company, Trainers Village, a Web-based registry of information technology trainers. The Trainers Village acquisition enables TrainingNet to offer training providers instant access to the skills of more than 1,600 freelance independent trainers in subjects ranging from UNIX engineering to C++ programming to Microsoft certification.
Today's announcements are the first moves in TrainingNet's plan to bring the most comprehensive B2B e-commerce training marketplace to a worldwide audience. The company has raised more than $46 million to execute this strategy through acquisitions and product development.
"The training market is highly fragmented in terms of providers, content and quality," said Peter L. Martin, vice president of Equity Research at Jefferies & Company. "TrainingNet's efforts to bring coherence to this international market is a tremendous operating strategy and huge competitive advantage. There are too many providers for any company to keep track of, never mind evaluating quality and calculating return on investment. Companies, especially multinationals, need a single source to find and buy training if they want to manage it as a strategic asset."
TrainingNet gives corporate training managers a single place on the Web to find, evaluate and buy the training their employees need from a network of more than 1,200 U.S.-based training providers. TrainingNet has grown rapidly over the last year, adding 35 corporate customers, 30 strategic partners and establishing regional offices in San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, North Carolina, and now London. Already the largest U.S. training exchange, it is moving aggressively to offer customers access to training in North America and Europe.
"We've been clear from day one that we're out to give corporations a one stop source for their training needs," said TrainingNet CEO Hemang Dave. "The Graduate Group is indisputably the number-one training resource in the U.K., with no competitors even a tenth of its size. Trainers Village is the U.K.'s largest pool of independent trainers. Bringing them under our umbrella ensures that multinational companies with U.S. and European operations have a single place to look for and buy training on the broadest range of business and technical subjects."
Unified worldwide brand, localized content
TrainingNet will integrate the Graduate Group's subscription and purchasing services and Trainers Village's free-agent trainer placement service into its Web-based training exchange during this year's second quarter. The Graduate Group provides online and Internet-based directories of 40,000 European course offerings through the National Training Index (NTI). The NTI enables subscribers to research and purchase training offerings in subjects ranging from basic business processes to corporate IT and executive management.
In addition to its corporate customers and subscribers, the Graduate Group also contributes 30 years of training industry knowledge to the TrainingNet executive team. Graduate Group founder Paul Buckley will remain as CEO of the U.K. subsidiary. Buckley acquired the National Training Index 20 years ago and built it into the UK's largest repository of training resources information. Prior to starting Graduate Group, Buckley worked at U.K. Publisher Haymarket Group as publishing director for business titles, which included Accountancy Age, Campaign, Computing, Management Today, Marketing and Personnel Management.
Management guru Robert Heller, Graduate Group chairman and shareholder, stays on as a director. Heller, founding editor of Management Today business magazine, is the author of more than 30 best selling management books on both sides of the Atlantic. His latest titles are "Riding the Revolution: How Businesses Must Transform Themselves to Win the E-Wars," and a forthcoming book on Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Other senior executives at the Graduate Group joining TrainingNet include IT Director Jeff Thomas; Sales Director Ian Hambly, who joins Graduate Group as a result of the Trainers Village acquisition; Finance Director Barrie Lailey and Editor Christine Whitehead. Their combined years of training industry experience will help TrainingNet reach its goal of providing corporations the widest array of training resources and management tools for broadening their employees' knowledge and skills.
"The most valuable asset of any organization lies in the skills and knowledge of its work force. Successfully developing this asset is the greatest challenge employers face today," Buckley said. "In the United States, TrainingNet has invested heavily in developing customized Internet solutions and software that enable corporations to plan, buy, evaluate and record their employees' training activities. We will soon be able to offer this in the United Kingdom, alongside access to our large database of training programs. The result will save our clients a great deal of time and money, and help them move more quickly to a position where they can effectively promote, cost and monitor the personal development of their staff."
About the Graduate Group
The Graduate Group, based in London, England, U.K., is the creator and owner of the National Training Index, the U.K.'s most comprehensive guide to business training courses, multimedia packages and in-house consultants. Since its founding 30 years ago, it has been referenced regularly by the HR/training departments in more than 1,000 major employer organizations. The NTI's database contains more than 40,000 course offerings from some 2,000 training providers. For more information, visit the company Web site at trainingindex.co.uk.
About Trainers Village
Trainers Village is a Web site designed to give any company involved in sourcing IT training a simple, cost effective and more controlled method of locating trainers. Its online database contains more than 1,600 freelance independent trainers specializing in all areas and products. The site offers subscribing corporates the ability to search for and contact directly all the trainers and will allow a much more flexible system of filling your trainer requirements. For more information visit the company Web site at trainersvillage.com.
About TrainingNet
TrainingNet is the number-one business to business e-commerce marketplace for skills training and professional education, with the most comprehensive selection of all brands and forms of training, including classroom, on-site, and online training, books, videos and CD-ROMs. Through a partnership-oriented strategy, TrainingNet is making its marketplace accessible where professionals already go for career development: corporate intranets, the career sections of high-traffic and business and professional-oriented Web sites, and TrainingNet's own public Web site. The company is headquartered in Billerica, Mass., U.S., with technical operations in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, and regional offices in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Raleigh. For more information, contact TrainingNet at (978) 671-7500, or visit their Web site at trainingnet.com.
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