The E–Learning Age awards, organised by e.learning age, recognise excellence in the development and delivery of eLearning. The 2013 awards have seen more than 200 entries across 16 categories from organisations across the world. The shortlist which has been produced by E–Learning Awards’ independent judging panel, co–ordinated by the eLearning Network and chaired by Tony Frascina, lists Upside Learning as one of the shortlisted entries for ‘E-learning team of the year’ on behalf of Vocollect & Upside Learning.

The demand to create updated courseware for its latest products and services had led Vocollect to collaborate with Upside Learning for the design and development of its courseware. Upside Learning’s in–house team of 4 Graphic Designers, 4 Instructional Designers, 3 Programmers, 3 Quality Analysts, managed by an able Project Manager, along with Vocollects training team consisting of 2 project managers and 6 curriculum developers, came together and formed a team called ‘Gemini’. Since its inception, Gemini has enabled Vocollect to meet and exceed its objectives time and again.

The winners of the 2013 E–Learning Awards will be announced at the Gala Evening on 7 November at the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square.

About E–Learning Awards

Since 2005, the E–Learning Awards has recognised and celebrated excellence in all aspects of eLearning. They are open to anyone worldwide and attract entries from across the world. The 2013 awards have 16 categories with the results being declared on 7 November at the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square.

Upside Learning has recently welcomed The Digital Group (T/DG) as its channel partner for UpsideLMS, its best value Learning Management System. With this partnership, The Digital Group will be entitled to sell and support UpsideLMS in the US and Australia.

Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey and with offices in India, Fiji and Australia, The Digital Group is a prominent player in providing information technology solutions, management consulting, and web development services amongst other allied services. With the addition of UpsideLMS to its product offering, T/DG will be able to provide a robust learning management platform to its clients and help businesses across the US and Australia to manage their training activities efficiently.

“I am pleased to welcome The Digital Group as our channel partner for UpsideLMS,” said Amit Gautam, Director of Technology Solutions and Co–founder, Upside Learning. “We believe in delivering our solutions with the most localized approach and having a well renowned company like The Digital Group onboard with us, will provide just that.”, he added.

About The Digital Group

The Digital Group is a premier provider of information technology services with extensive expertise in all facets of software development. With capabilities at all points of the software life–cycle, it can provide support from concept to development to operations. With its headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, it was incorporated in 1999 with offices in US, India, Fiji and Australia. TDG’s Services & Solutions delivery capability is anchored in an integrated set of core competencies that span, people, processes and technology coupled with practice competencies in System Administration, Web Software Engineering, Enterprise Applications, Enterprise Integration, E-Learning, Corporate Compliance and Legacy Migration.

To learn more about The Digital Group, log on to www.thedigitalgroup.com

Upside Learning has been recognised as an emerging contender in the UK market by European analyst, Elearnity’s, recently launched 9‒Grid™ models for Learning Management Systems and Bespoke eLearning Development. The 9‒Grid, a new and unique insight into the European (EMEA) learning and talent market, rates UpsideLMS, Upside Learning’s multi award‒winning Learning Management System, as a ‘Solid Performer’ and as a ‘Potential Challenger’ in the bespoke eLearning development market.

The model is based on the independent analysis and insights from Elearnity’s corporate research network of over 150 organisations and aims to demonstrate the relative value of providers and solutions available in the market. The model considers the five areas of Performance, Potential, Market Presence, Total Cost of Ownership and Elearnity’s analysis of future performance and potential.

The UpsideLMS, rated as a “solid performer”, is seen to have significant potential in the UK market and is currently seen as a tactical solution for eLearning deployment and for organisation with more homogenous needs. The analysis recognises Upside Learning as an “innovative learning technology provider” who is constantly developing “its LMS solution”.

The “potential challenger” rating for Upside Learning’s bespoke eLearning developmentservices takes into account Upside Learning’s portfolio of “globally developed content using a wide variety of techniques ranging from simple rapid authoring through to simulations and mobile apps.” And goes on to mention the lower TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) based on “a heavy focus on offering good value for money as well as innovation.”

Full commentary on UpsideLMS can be found in this report http://www.elearnity.com/downloads/9-grid/9GridLMS20130801.pdf and on Bespoke eLearning Development in this http://www.elearnity.com/downloads/9-grid/9gridbespoke20130801.pdf

Amit Garg, Director and Co‒founder of Upside Learning, expressed his delight on being included in the 9‒Grid models by saying, “Elearnity’s 9‒Grid model builds on years of its independent vendor analysis and hundreds of its corporate research network conversations. To be included in the analysis for both Bespoke eLearning and for LMS, including positioning and commentary, is a great milestone for us. It also helps us see some independent observations and ‘perceptions’ of our LMS and content offerings.”

About Elearnity’s 9‒Grid™ Models

The 9‒Grid™ builds on many years of Elearnity’s independent vendor analysis and hundreds of its corporate research network conversations. Unlike other analyst tools, such as Gartner’s Magic Quadrant and the Forrester Wave, 9‒Grid™ is focused on the UK and European corporate market rather than the US. It is designed for HR not for IT ‒ hence the use of a 9-box model.

The 9‒Grid™ for LMS and the 9‒Grid™ for Bespoke E-learning Development can be downloaded from here ‒ http://www.elearnity.com/9-grid.html

Upside Learning has recently appointed Jeevan Joshi as its Director of Client Solutions for Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Jeevan will manage and promote Upside Learning’s portfolio of eLearning solutions in the APAC region.

An experienced practitioner of technology based learning and human capital systems, Jeevan has over 16 years of work experience in Australia and New Zealand, out of which 14 have been in the Learning domain. His strategic and “hands on” approach in assisting organisation to understand, design, deliver and improve technology enabled solutions has made him a sought after consultant and thought leader in the eLearning space.

Jeevan is the founder of Learning Cafe (www.learningcafe.com.au), a respected and fast growing community for corporate learning and development professionals in Australia. He is a regular speaker on the conference circuit on emerging trends and the smarter execution of learning and collaboration for business results, and speaks at LearnX, AITD and ACEC amongst other conferences.

An MBA (HR) from XLRI, India and a master in Biochemical Engineering and, Jeevan has worked in a variety of roles across various industries and companies including PricewaterHouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, IBM and Deloitte.

Amit Garg, Director and Co‒founder of Upside Learning, who also guides the Custom Learning Solution team, commented, “We are confident that Jeevan, with his extensive experience and expertise in the eLearning domain and his knowledge of the APAC learning industry, will strengthen our leadership team and also expand our business in the APAC region. We are also pleased to extend our support to Learning Cafe and be a part of a community that thinks and works towards improvement of learning in the workplace.”

Upside Learning will be participating in the soon to be held 2013 AITD National Conference as a Silver Sponsor. This participation marks the company’s debut at the prominent learning event, which is also the region’s largest conference for Learning & Development (L&D) and Human Resource Development (HRD) professionals.

While Upside Learning will be exhibiting its wide range of solutions and services at AITD, its key attraction would be an insightful learning session, titled ‘Designing eLearning for iPads (tablets)’, which will be delivered by Amit Garg, the company’s Director of Custom Learning Solutions & Co–founder, on 11^th April at 1.30 PM AEST. Through this session, attendees can learn about designing eLearning on iPads (tablets) and the best approaches and practices in ‘mEnabling’ existing eLearning courseware or creating new content for iPads or tablets.

Attendees can get a taste of the company’s innovative Custom mLearning Solutions, including eLearning solutions for iPads (tablets), and UpsideLMS, its best–value Learning Management System at stand #22. Complimentary copies of ‘Designing eLearning on iPads – 10 Bright Ideas’ will also be available at the stand

AITD National Conference is scheduled for 10^th & 11^th April and will be held in Melbourne, Australia.

As a forerunner of eLearning solutions for workplace learning, Upside Learning has always supported organisation, individuals and initiatives that espouse the use of technology for learning. Recently, the company has extended its support to Learning Cafe, a community of experienced Learning professionals in Australia and New Zealand.

Founded by Jeevan Joshi, an experienced practitioner of technology based learning and human capital systems in Australia, Learning Cafe was established to generate quality discussions which are not influenced by sales messages. It is hinged on 6 focus areas or categories, namely Effective Learning, Learning & Performance, Learning Trends, Learning Technology, L&D Capability and Blended Learning. Its contributors include some of the renowned learning and development professionals and thought leaders in Australia and New Zealand ‒ Bob Spence, Peter Davis, Ryan Tracey, Rob Wilkins, Mike Collins and Jeevan Joshi. Learning Cafe also organises the Learning Cafe UnConference and webinars for professional development.

Jeevan Joshi commented, “Learning Café is pleased to be supported by Upside Learning who has encouraged innovation in Learning and the growth of the Learning profession.”

Upside Learning, a leading provider of world–class learning technology solutions, celebrated its 9^th anniversary on 7^th April. Commemorating its achievements over all these years, the company has used one of the latest web design techniques – motion parallax scrolling – to highlight its 9 Glorious Years of Learning in a unique and stunning way.

Co–founded in 2004 by Amit Garg and Amit Gautam, Upside Learning has emerged as a prominent and leading provider of innovative learning technology solutions to organisation across the world in a brief span of 9 years. The last year too has been quite successful for the company. It recorded over 125% growth for its best value Learning Management System, UpsideLMS, and a staggering 97% YOY growth for Q1–Q2 in FY 2012.

Drawing on its partnerships with several leading companies, Upside Learning extended its presence and learning portfolio in many new regions across the continents during the last year. To strengthen its presence in the UK and Europe further, the company established its independent office in the UK and appointed a Director–Client Solutions for Europe.

On the solutions and services front, Upside Learning introduced custom eLearning development services for iPads and other tablets, and mEnablement services for mobile devices including smartphones and tablets. It also integrated Tin Can API, a latest compliance standard, into its proprietary courseware framework for custom learning solutions (for desktops and mobile devices).

Underlining the company’s commitment towards delivering value were awards. Upside Learning won two Brandon Hall Awards; a silver for Upside2Go, its revolutionary mLearning platform, and another for one of its Custom Learning Project, totaling its award count to more than 30.

The company also marked its presence at several premiere learning events like ASTD ICE, AITD National Conference, CIPD HRD, LearnX, mLearnCon, ASTD TechKnowledge, Learning Technologies etc., where it participated in various capacities; as an exhibitor, showcasing its wide range of solutions and services, and as a session presenter, delivering learning sessions. Webinars on topics like Mobile Learning, eLearning on iPads and Learning Management System were conducted throughout the year, while two free eBooks – one on LMS Switching and other on Mobile Learning – were published in November and April 2012, respectively. Recently, the company also released an infographic explaining why mobile learning is the future of workplace learning.

Upside Learning has recently appointed James Rasmussen as Area VP Sales for Americas. James will be responsible for managing and growing Upside Learning’s sales operations and business development in the US region.

An experienced sales leader, James has more than 20 years of success in developing high performing salespeople, sales teams and sales channels in the eLearning and enterprise talent management space. Most recently, James was the Region Sales Leader at HRsoft, prior to which he was VP, Sales Development at Richardson and Senior Sales Director at Kenexa. Some of James’ key specialties include Enterprise Learning & Talent Management and Complex Sales Development. He has the ability to forecast, plan and execute in a dynamic market‒ a skill he has honed over the years in the Sales and HR domain.

Amit Gautam, Director and Co‒founder of Upside Learning, who also oversees the Sales operations in the US, commented, “James’ experience, perspective and leadership will be instrumental in growing Upside Learning’s business and presence in the US. I am confident that he will be able to steer our sales team in the right direction.”