Market Watch

Training & Development, March, 2001 by Donna J. Abernathy

A 2000 Training magazine industry report pegs formal training budgets in the United States at $54 billion. According to International Data Corporation, the corporate training market stands at $66 billion and will continue to increase steadily at roughly 5 percent per year. Says W.R. Hambrecht Co e-learning analyst Trace Urban, "Though $66 billion is a big number to play in, the real thing that has people excited is a number that would be much larger than that."

Traditional classroom training still reigns supreme, but there's rising investor interest in Web-based training. According to IDC, the market for

Web-based corporate training will increase from the current $2 billion level to $11.5 billion by 2003. The pumped-up interest is fueled, in part, by recognition that training extends into other realms-such as educating online customers and distributors about products and services-also known as customer focused e-learning.

Source Upside magazine