By Karine Allouche, Global Head of Enterprise

Today, I’m pleased to share a brand new Forrester study, which estimates that organizations using Coursera for Business for employee training can deliver 327% ROI on their talent investment over a three-year period. The Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) model constructs a single composite organization based on real-world Coursera customer use cases to examine the benefits, costs, and risks associated with professional development investment over three years. The study found:

• $4.85M in total-value savings from deploying Coursera for Business for employee training
• $4.2M savings from time saved using prebuilt Coursera courses and Academies
• $918,000 in productivity gains achieved by building specific advanced skills using Coursera
• The average time to see ROI payback was under six months

Despite accelerating digital transformation, only half of decision-makers at digital businesses report that their teams have the digital skills required for success. Organizations looking to unlock the potential USD$15.7 trillion economic benefits of GenAI will need to invest in role-specific training in these core competencies. As companies proactively increase their investment in employee training in these domains, it is critical to provide frameworks that can be used to measure the return on that investment. 

The report offers an example of these frameworks, providing a deeper breakdown of how these efficiencies are achieved. Forrester interviewed five representatives of organizations using Coursera for Business and aggregated their experiences into a single composite organization: a global multinational business with 55,000 employees and annual revenue of $20 billion. Here’s a closer look at the detailed benefits over three years:

• Substantial cost savings on external certifications. Coursera for Business offers organizations access to over 8,400 courses from top universities and companies, including Google, Microsoft, and IBM, which reduces spending on external certifications by $795,000. 
• Time and implementation efficiencies using Coursera course collections and Academies. The learning team saved nearly two months’ time in creating and curating course content for each Academy or course collection taken from Coursera, yielding a value of USD$4.2 million. Implementation savings were driven by the low upfront costs of deploying Coursera, which were estimated to be USD$41,000. 
• Cost savings in talent acquisition. Employees’ skills substantially advance the more courses they complete. As reskilling numbers increase year over year, the organization reduces the cost of hiring new employees by an estimated USD$407,000.

As businesses face growing pressure to optimize resources and drive measurable outcomes, learning leaders are increasingly tasked with demonstrating the impact and value of upskilling initiatives. I hope this Coursera-commissioned study provides valuable insights into the return on investment generated by professional development programs through our Enterprise offering, highlighting reduced implementation costs, advanced skill sets, and improved productivity. 

Access the full study to discover how organizations across various sectors and regions are using Coursera for Business. To learn more about Coursera for Business, visit coursera.org/business.