Press / 2004 / 4th June

InfoBasis Enterprise Skills Infrastructure is the engine behind Microsoft’s Skills Assessment for Organisations

Leading skills management solutions provider InfoBasis is chosen by Microsoft Learning as the preferred supplier for its skills assessment solution

London, UK, 7th June 2004 – InfoBasis Limited, a leading provider of skills management business solutions, today announced that its InfoBasis Enterprise Skills Infrastructure (ESI) is being utilised by Microsoft Learning as the application to underpin its Microsoft Skills Assessment for Organisations. Microsoft Learning, the training arm of Microsoft, launched Microsoft Skills Assessment for Organisations during May 2004, and will be rolling it out to English-speaking Microsoft Certified Partners for Learning Solutions, who can license this product and add it to their current offerings to help customers better identify their technology readiness needs.

As full-service independent training companies, Learning Solution partners investing in the Microsoft Skills Assessment for Organisations will be able to offer clients a skills audit, which assesses staff capabilities and readiness within an organisation. Learning Solution partners can then diagnose areas in which individuals need training and provide each customer with appropriate Microsoft learning products based on the outcome in the prescriptive learning plans, which can be aligned to an organisation’s business objectives and models.

Nigel Euling, Product Manager at Microsoft Learning, said, “We chose to work with InfoBasis because their skills management solution is well established in the industry and meets our business and customer requirements"

“The skills needed to handle today’s technology implementations have become highly specialized across organizations and the IT professionals within those organizations. Having the ability to assess each individual’s skills relative to their job role or the projects they may be working on is critical in managing their skills development and the success of these projects. Learning Solutions partners are now able to better consult with customers and offer more precise, tailored training solutions” said Lutz Ziob, General Manager of Microsoft Learning.

The solution will be hosted on Microsoft.com and its roll-out will consist of a staged approach where different levels of CPLS partners are signed-up at different phases. Microsoft Skills Assessment for Organisations will be available to Gold Learning Solutions partners first, but by the end of 2004 Microsoft hopes to have over 200 Learning Solutions partners licensing the product.

“It is great recognition for InfoBasis as a company, as well as our technology and expertise in the skills management arena, to have been chosen by the biggest software company in the World. We are delighted to be selected as such an important partner for this Microsoft product,” said Ashley Wheaton, CEO at InfoBasis. “We are sure that Microsoft Skills Assessment for Organisations, with InfoBasis’ technology and comprehensive feature set, will provide genuine benefits to all Microsoft Certified Partners for Learning Solutions and customers that have access to it.”


For further press information:
Donald Taylor
Tel: +44 (0) 1235 540 140
Fax: +44 (0) 1235 534 869
Email: donaldt@infobasis.com

For sales enquiries:
John Cooke
Tel: +44 (0)1235 540 140
Fax: +44 (0) 1235 534 869
Email: johnc@infobasis.com

Microsoft Gold Certified Partner: Data Management Solutions, Business Process and Integration