Upside Learning has been included in the fourth annual list of “Emerging Leaders in Training Outsourcing” announced by Training Industry, Inc. on April 7, 2009.

This list recognises the top organisation from the global market that have demonstrated “innovation and excellence” in the provision of outsourced learning services and are now ready to raise their service levels to clients. The aim of this list is to provide businesses, government agencies, and training companies seeking learning solutions outsourcing partners with a short list of skilled, successful, and reliable organisation. This can help them to make more informed decisions and procure high-quality learning services.

Being included on this list is recognition of our experience, expertise, and capabilities as a learning solutions provider. It brings us alongside some of the well known and large training and eLearning organisation from around the world.

It’s no small recognition to have achieved in just five years of operation, and comes on the back of inclusions into Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 India 2008 program and Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2008 program.

Click here to view the complete “2009 Emerging Leaders in Training Outsourcing” list.

On April 7, 2009, Upside Learning turned five. It all began back in 2004, with two entrepreneurs who wanted to set up their own business for providing effective eLearning Solutions. Over a span of five years, we evolved from a 6-person team operating out of a shared office above a bank to a 150-employee organisation providing Learning Solutions to clients worldwide. Today, we are the fastest growing Learning Solutions company in India over the past three years (based on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 India 2008 ranking), and one of the 15 top companies in Training Industry, Inc.’s 2009 list of “Emerging Leaders in Training Outsourcing”.

We have put together a slideshow that summarizes the milestones we have crossed over the past five years, our achievements, and the recognition that has come our way so far.

Click here to view this slideshow on our “Upside Learning Completes Five Years” blog post.

You can also access it directly on SlideShare.

A globally recognized leader in training outsourcing, custom eLearning development & LMS solutions, Upside Learning celebrated its 6th Anniversary on 7th April, 2010. Established 6 years ago as an outsourced eLearning solutions provider, the company has evolved from a small team operating out of a shared office to a 150-employee organization providing wide range of learning solutions to clients globally.

Over the last 6 years, Upside Learning has placed itself in a unique position where its customers can benefit from the wide range of solutions, Upside offers, including custom eLearning, mLearning, rapid authoring, game-based learning, blended learning & learning technologies. Today, admirably, Upside Learning works with a diverse client base varied in size (SMBs and global giants) and business domain across the globe.

Upside Learning has been consistently picking up awards & other recognition every year. It has won 5 Apex Awards since 2006 for excellent work in custom eLearning solutions. It is a proud recipient of the Deloitte’s Technology Fast500 Asia Pacific Program (2009 & 2008) and Deloitte Technology Fast50 India Program (2008). It has also won Red Herring 100 Asia Award (2008) and was adjudged Finalist of Red Herring Global 100 Program (2009). The 2008 Deloitte Fast50 India Program made Upside Learning the fastest growing eLearning company in India.

Many things have changed, but the one thing that has remained constant in Upside Learning’s journey is its way of looking at things, and creating innovative & effective learning solutions. With a constant endeavour to explore new technological avenues, the company has always taken steps to be at par with the ever-changing technology landscape and market, and, besides other investments, has set up a dedicated team for ‘Innovation and New Projects (INP)’.

On its 6th Anniversary, Upside Learning wishes to renew its commitment to the eLearning industry, its customers and other stakeholders, and hopes that it succeeds in its mission of providing effective eLearning solutions to the global community.

Upside Learning has put together a slideshow that summarizes the milestones it has crossed over the past six years, its achievements, and the recognition that has come its way so far.

You can view this slideshow on the Six Years of Innovative and Effective eLearning blog post, or directly on SlideShare.

Upside Learning is thrilled to launch Pune Layar – an augmented reality application for mobile phones that will let users find significant landmarks in and around Pune city. Currently available for mobile devices that run Android version 1.5 and above or the Apple iPhone 3GS, this is the first layer made specifically for any Indian city.

Layar is an augmented reality browser that helps users interact with their location using their phones and receive value added information. Upside Learning has constantly strived to address the multifarious platforms in the technology domain, mobile being one of the most important ones. It is this very commitment, backed by support of its Innovation team that has lead to the development of the Pune Layar.

The Pune Layar allows users to experience an innovative way to explore the city using their mobile phones by helping them find significant landmarks like museums, forts, monuments; buildings & landmarks; restaurants; places of worship and much more. Users can learn about the Point of Interest’s rating (popularity among users), its distance from the user’s current location, time of opening/closing (if applicable) and entry fee (if applicable). These Points of Interests (POIs) are nothing but various landmarks that hold some significance for tourists and the general public alike. Pune Layar connects the various POIs to their respective Wikipedia pages and websites (if available), allowing users to access more information. It also provides users directions to the POI from their current location using Google Maps, just at the click of a button.

Besides this, to help this application evolve and include more POIs over a period of time, Upside Learning has also created a facility for users to add their favorite landmark through a webpage
(http://www.upsidelayar.com/process/addpoi.php), using a smart-phone or a desktop computer. Users can also give their feedback through a Feedback page (http://www.upsidelayar.com/process/feedback.php). This will help the company to further enhance the performance of the application as per users’ suggestions.

One of the important aspects of this application is that it is free .*using the Layar application may incur data charges, please check with your provider*. By no means will the company charge users for searching and locating places, reading information, adding POIs etc. The use of Layar or other Augmented Reality application in the field of eLearning could be profound. Upside Learning’s focus is to use Layar in learning solutions and fully explore its application in performance support solutions.

“We are quite excited to share this application with the world. Developed first time for an Indian city it provides an opportunity to experience Pune city just like a local.”, said Amit Garg, Director of Content Solutions at Upside Learning.

Founded in 2004, Upside Learning celebrated its 7^th Anniversary on 7^th April, 2011. Over the past seven years, the company has grown from strength to strength. From a 6 member team to 150+ professionals, today it is a global leader in Custom eLearning Development, Learning Management System and Mobile Learning Solutions with over 12 awards and recognitions.

The last year was quite eventful for the company as it witnessed many proud moments and also achieved many firsts in its 7 year journey.

Among the firsts were – launching of a new corporate identity emphasizing the company’s ‘you-centric’ approach, and its focus on growth through learning and performance. Another was the development of India’s first Layar for an Indian city. Pune Layar, an augmented reality application for mobile phones, was developed by the company’s Innovation and New Projects (INP) which allowed users to explore the city and find significant landmarks using their mobile phones.

It was a proud moment for Upside Learning when its flagship Learning Management System – UpsideLMS – won 3 Brandon Hall Awards (1 Gold & 2 Silver) under the 2009 Brandon Hall Awards for Excellence in Learning Technology. Making this win truly exceptional was the fact that UpsideLMS was the only product to have won three awards, more than any other product. Furthermore, it was named as one of ‘The top five emerging LMSs’ in Chief Learning Officer magazine and later was included in the ‘2010 Top 20 Learning Portal Companies’ List by Training Industry.

The year also saw the company adding a new product to its solutions and services portfolio. Upside2Go – a revolutionary platform for mobile learning designed to cater to the unique needs of the mobile workforce – was launched in the US and the UK market.

2011 has been a year of events for the company. A Brandon Hall Research webinar, sponsored by Upside Learning, on ‘How to Select the Right LMS for Your Small/Medium Business’ kick started the new year, followed by expos like ASTD TechKnowledge 2011 and CIPD HRD 2011 where the company was a sponsor and exhibitor respectively.

As the company enters its 8^th year, the focus on expanding its operations across the globe would be further underlined. This has already been highlighted by the appointment of a Sales Director for Europe region. Besides this, strengthening its solutions and services portfolio would be another significant focus area for the company.

Upside Learning recently concluded a great show at CIPD HRD 2011, an HRD conference and exhibition. Held on 6^th and 7^th of April 2011 at Olympia, London, the event saw 4000 visitors from various disciplines including training, L&D, OD, leadership, coaching and more. Not only did the company bag appreciation from these visitors, but the company’s booth (#500) too bagged the runner-up award in the best stand category. The stand was chosen from amongst 155 stands at the show.

Upside Learning’s stand was conceptualised and designed by the company’s internal marketing and design team. The aim was to create a space that not only reflected the company’s branding and image, but also made the visitors feel welcomed. The highlight of the stand was a life-size cut out of the company’s latest mobile learning solution – Upside2Go – along with its mascot, which attracted eyeballs and garnered curiosity.

The award criteria for the best stand were based on two key elements – Stand and Staff. The ‘Stand’ was judged on the basis of:

• Clarity of message for product/service on offer
• Use of branding to promote overall organisation
• Quality of materials/ resources available to customer
• Use of space/ shell to create inviting/ appropriate atmosphere
• Use of techniques/ tools to entice customer to stand

While, the ‘Staff’ was judged on the following:

• Skill of staff in attracting customer to stand
• Knowledge – industry, organisation and product
• Approachability
• Efficiency of enquiry – both customer and company focussed
• Overall professionalism of team – appearance and attitude

Speaking on winning the award, Amit Garg, Director of Custom eLearning Solutions at Upside Learning, said, “We had planned and prepared well for the event, but the award for the best stand truly came in as a surprise!”. Further, he added, “Overall, it was a great show. We had some rich interactions with the visitors. I am positive that this event will be a perfect beginning to our Europe focused growth strategy.”

Simon Meager, Sales Director for Europe, who was present at the event with Amit, commented, “The 2 days at the show were full of learning, connecting and new ideas. We ensured that all the visitors at our stand were well entertained. I’m now eagerly looking forward to meet some of them in the coming weeks.”

Come May 22^nd, Upside Learning will participate in the world’s largest training association’s annual expo – ASTD International Conference and Expo 2011 (ASTD ICE 2011). Every year, this premier event welcomes over 8,000 professionals, from various walks of learning and development, from more than 70 countries across the globe.

Featuring more than 250 educational sessions from industry-leading experts and a world-class expo filled with the latest products and services from top suppliers, ASTD ICE 2011 would be bigger in scale as compared to its February counterpart, where Upside Learning was a silver sponsor. The company hopes to repeat the success it achieved earlier at the February event in this May event too.

Attendees at ASTD ICE 2011 can look forward to experiencing Upside Learning’s entire range of award-winning solutions and services at the company’s booth (#649). These would include some of the latest offerings in Custom eLearning Development and Mobile Learning. Besides this, visitors can also explore UpsideLMS, the company’s multi award-winning, best value Learning Management System. They can get a firsthand view of its 160+ features and learn how these can benefit their organization in delivering training in a cost-effective and efficient manner.

Furthermore, visitors can interact with the team, gain practical insights and ideas on the role that eLearning can play in building a strong training function, and discuss their learning problems and requirements. As learners continue to seek knowledge beyond formal modes and turn to newer technologies, the Upside Learning team will also demonstrate the value of these new technologies and suggest solutions on how they can be leveraged to make learning more effective.

One of the major attractions on display would be the company’s latest revolutionary platform for mobile learning designed specially for the mobile workforce – Upside2Go. Launched at ASTD TechKnowledge, within a short span of 3 months, Upside2Go has won appreciation for its innovativeness and effectiveness, specifically in addressing needs of the mobile workforce, from some of the biggest corporates in the US and other markets. It has also been recognized as ‘Best New Product Debut’ at the same expo by an independent ex-Brandon Hall consultant. Visitors can get a firsthand experience of this revolutionary product and can also see it working in live environment.

“ASTD ICE 2011 would be very significant for us in enabling direct engagement with potential clients and gaining a better understanding of how we can help them.”, said Amit Gautam, Director of Technology Solutions at Upside Learning. Further, he added, “We are excited to demonstrate some of our latest offerings to professionals and experts alike from workplace learning and development domain.”

Upside learning’s representatives will be present at booth number 649 throughout the event. To pre-arrange a meeting with a member of the Upside Learning team, send an email specifying your preferred time and date to sales@upsidelearning.com.