Talking point: Languages for business
Fleur Doidge asks if language e-learning software might be a useful add-on for resellers looking to boost their margins
A vendor survey promoted at the big Bett education technology show in London this week focused on language e-learning packages for schools.
Packaged language software has long been popular with individual leisure and business travellers, complementing or even superseding the Berlitz cassettes and pocket phrasebooks of yore, so could the channel profitably expand this market to business customers?
The survey, performed by Vanson Bourne for manufacturer Rosetta Stone, found that 94 per cent of the 500 private sector business leaders at companies with at least 500 staff across the UK and Germany that responded saw at least one advantage in using e-learning techniques to boost intra-organisation language skills.
Donavan Whyte, EMEA vice president for enterprise and education sales at Rosetta Stone, says the business leaders believed there was a need to improve second-language skills among their employees.
"Language learners need a consistent method of training that takes them from beginner right through advanced and which is flexible enough to deliver course content to match individual need," he said, noting that e-learning packages could help do that.
Europe's five largest companies already used Rosetta Stone's offerings, for example, for employee language training. Meanwhile, survey respondents said that e-learning was cheaper, faster, and effective - not least because employees did not have to travel to their lessons.
"Sixty-six per cent agreed the future of language training lies in e-learning and 40 per cent say they believe it is a more effective way of learning," he said.
"Eighty-two per cent [of respondents] are using hybrid training models within their organisation. The fact that 63 per cent say employees need to improve their language skills lets us believe the current models do not work effectively."
Whyte said that 86 per cent claimed they would "consider" an e-learning platform for language skill development.
Are businesses muting themselves? Rosetta Stone thinks so, citing further statistics which suggest that as much as 87 per cent of British and German executives "rely" on more than one language within the organisation but the employees' language skills are inadequate.
"Seventy per cent agreed that language skills are not taught to a sufficient standard," the company said in a related statement. "Proficiency in employees' native language is not enough to be successful in a global organisation."
Seventy-nine per cent of business-leader respondents said that second-language skills improved customer relationships; 68 per cent said it would boost employee productivity; and 72 per cent said second-language skills could increase sales.
Whyte noted: "Communication is key to virtually every aspect of business, from acquiring and retaining customers to improving employee engagement and performance. At the most basic level, business can't happen without communication. This is even more of a truism in today's era of globalisation."
The UK portion of the survey found that German, French and Spanish were the most useful languages for English speakers working in UK businesses, while German respondents listed English as the most useful option, followed by Spanish and French.
Some industries and sectors obviously have more critical need for multiple-language proficiency than others - such as healthcare and wholesale. However, retail, transport, distribution, and IT also rated highly on the "languages desirable" scale.
Rosetta Stone's survey echoes the semi-regular claims of business lobby organisation CBI that a lack of second-language skills in the UK is restricting business expansion in some ways and therefore ought to be prioritised within HR development.
The CBI/Pearson Education and Skills Survey 2014 said that more firms are demanding language skills to help them break into new markets. European languages remain in "high demand" and emerging-economy languages such as Mandarin, Arabic, Polish and Russian are becoming more popular, it said.
Sixty-five per cent of companies in its survey identified a need for foreign language skills, which it also said is likely to increase as the UK pushes to increase overseas trade and investment. Forty-one per cent said foreign-language knowledge could benefit their specific business, not least in helping build relationships abroad.
Just 35 per cent of business leaders in the survey said their company had no need for foreign language skills.
Katja Hall, deputy director general of the CBI, says the EU is still the UK's largest export market, while China and Latin America have been growing strongly, providing more business opportunities over time. A company that can communicate in the local language of clients, customers and suppliers across the globe can have a major advantage.
"It has been a worry to see foreign language study in our schools under pressure, with one in five schools having a persistently low uptake of languages," Hall says. "The jury remains out as to whether recent government initiatives can help spur a resurgence in language learning.
"Young people considering their future subject choices should be made more aware of the benefits to their careers that can come from studying a foreign language."
What do channel companies think? Could foreign-language software and e-learning platforms be a useful addition to the portfolio? Let us know.