e-Learning Simplified with Eduledge Solutions

Global e-Learning Market is expected to reach $107.3 billion by 2015An Indian E-Learning company, Eduledge Solutions headquartered in Delhi is dedicated to providing interactive and customized e-learning solutions for global enterprises, educational institutions and SMEs. Eduledge Solutions has on-board global corporations like Schneider Electric as their clients - who are highly satisfied with the corporate learning solutions that Eduledge has been developing for them. Jubin Mehta from YourStory.in caught up with founder of Eduledge, Rajat Soni to know more about this venture. Edited excerpts from the conversation:

Rajat, when was eduledge started and how has the growth been so far?

Eduledge Solutions was started in the fall of 2009. I was entering a segment which had been prevalent for years but was still to get its due and there was a huge untapped potential in the corporate learning market, both in terms of clients and in terms of innovations used in the production of an e-learning course. Eduledge is part of the Global e-Learning Market that is expected to reach $107.3 billion by 2015 and if we talk about only the self-paced e-learning products and services, the market reached $32.1 billion in 2010 and revenues are expected to grow to $49.9 billion by 2015.

As a company, we have grown in terms of our expertise, our employees, our clients and delivery standards. The growth has been encouraging and we have plans to enter the packaged content and mobile learning space. We plan a turnover of 3 crores by the end of the financial year 2011-12.

Tell us a bit about yourself and the team at Eduledge.

I have always been enthusiastic about exploring new avenues. Eduledge is a culmination of the skills I have acquired over the years in the field of education, chemicals, investment and creative pursuits. I have always believed that any difficult concept, theory, skill may be learnt if it is taught in a simplified and easy to use format.

The book “The Little Guide to Equity Mutual Funds”, I authored, is a testimony of the easy to understand language used to explain to the reader various technical and non-technical aspects of a mutual fund fact-sheet.

Eduledge is aligned with the same principles of making learning interactive and we have about 20 employees who are responsible for the design and development of e-learning courses and our Dehradun office has about 13 employees who are responsible for the Learning Management Software deployment and maintenance.

What is your target market?

Our target market is the Learning and Development departments of global enterprises and distance learning professionals at educational institutions.

Tell us a bit about your clients.I had planned from the very beginning that Eduledge will always have a select clientele as we believe in quality more than quantity. One of our first clients was Schneider Electric where we earned a positive response for our work and we were recommended to other clients by their Director, Learning and Development. Our clients are leading players in the banking, global energy management, educational institutions, and publishing space.

What technology do you use to make the courses more interactive?

We use a blend of technologies to make the e-learning courses engaging and interactive like Adobe Action Script, Adobe Flash Professional, Articulate, Captivate for instruction designing, simulation development, etc.

How is the content developed? Do you work around with the content provided by the client or develop your own content for them?

Currently, we receive content in the most basic format from the client and then we research and analyze the content from various online and offline sources. Our instructional designers then design the storyboard that is equipped with all instructions with respect to content, interactions, voice over scripts, etc. The work is then taken over by our experienced Graphic Designers who develop animations, interface, and layouts as per the need of the storyboard. Flash Programmers then add life to the e-learning courses by assimilating and inserting the animations, content, voice overs, sound effects, and all the detailing required to make the e-learning course fully functional.

Can you share with our readers’ one of your success stories?

I would like to share our experience with a leading telecom company. It was the most challenging client so far. The challenge was to design an internal e-learning program teaching the executives customer handling skills and other behavioral attributes. This was previously being done by live videos where the customer had to do video shoots of persons in studios, etc. We designed an innovative and cost effective way of developing the same in an animated e-learning format using innovative interactive screens and interfaces. We were glad to provide the client better than what was expected in terms of quality, cost and time.

How does the revenue model work?

For the design and development of e-learning courses, we work on contracts with companies for their current and ongoing e-learning needs. For our Learning Management System, our offering to clients is on a license basis.

As a player in e-learning space, what are the challenges you face?

The market is competitive in terms of leading players in the Learning Management Space entering into the design and development of e-learning courses. We have always achieved the cost-quality balance i.e. delivering a high quality product at a competitive price to the client. This was indeed a challenge that is now our value proposition.

Although e-learning has been prevalent for many years now, it is still at a nascent stage where in certain cases, educating the customer about e-learning from the base level is very important.

More about their interactive e-learning solutions at www.eduledge.in