Skillsoft Launches New Platform Features, Content, and Courses to Prepare the Workforce of Today with Skills for Tomorrow

Offers Learners Free Access to Award-Winning Percipio Platform for 30 Days

BOSTON – September 22, 2021Skillsoft Corp. (NYSE: SKIL) (“Skillsoft” or the “Company”), a global leader in corporate digital learning, today announced it is launching a series of innovative, new platform features, content, and courses to enable organizations to build a future-fit workforce and give learners the tools they need to achieve their full potential. Skillsoft is offering all interested learners 30 days of free access to Percipio, the Company’s next-generation learning platform, so they can experience firsthand Skillsoft’s comprehensive suite of premium, proprietary, and vendor-authorized content, extensive course library, and learning modalities.

Rapid shifts in the nature of work and the workforce – due to the emergence of remote teams, digital-first strategies, and global disruption – have made skills transformation more critical for success than ever before. In fact, according to a 2020 McKinsey Global Survey, 80 percent of executives are experiencing skills gaps in the workforce. The new capabilities and products that Skillsoft is launching will enable organizations to enhance upskilling and reskilling initiatives, deepen their talent pipeline, keep pace with evolving business needs, and meet pressing skill gaps.

“The pandemic has accelerated shifts in the workplace that were already in motion from advances in technology. In response, companies across industries are rethinking their talent and skills pipeline, both internally and externally,” said Mark Onisk, Chief Content Officer, Skillsoft. “Skillsoft is meeting organizations where their needs are, with learning solutions that address new skills around cloud, cybersecurity, and data and content that reinforces leadership agility, workforce safety, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Today’s launches, which reflect the integration of Global Knowledge’s content and solutions, further advance our ability to close skill gaps and provide learners with immersive, personalized learning experiences.”

Following Skillsoft’s June 2021 acquisition of Global Knowledge, Skillsoft benefits from one of the broadest and deepest technology & developer offerings in the corporate digital learning industry. As a result, Skillsoft customers can now access a combined offering of nearly 28,000 contact hours of instruction, including a blend of virtual and on-demand courses, instructor-led training, hands-on labs, and real-world challenges, and coverage across more than 170 technical certifications. The Skillsoft technology & developer library includes mission-critical, vendor-authorized content through Skillsoft’s partnerships with many of the world’s largest technology companies, including Microsoft, Cisco, Amazon Web Services, and others, as well as expert-authored original content, across six key areas: cloud, cybersecurity, software craft, programming, data, and IT infrastructure.

Enabling the Skills of a Future-Fit Workforce and the Jobs of Tomorrow

To meet accelerating demand for new skills and abilities in the workforce, Skillsoft is focused on continually enhancing its content offerings and solutions to equip enterprises and talent with a future-fit skill set. With this in mind, the platform features, content, and courses announced today include:

  • Sharpen Cloud Skills in a Safe, Scored Environment: Skillsoft Challenge Labs, delivered in partnership with Learn on Demand Systems, provide teams with safe and genuine AWS or Microsoft Azure cloud environments to practice and master newfound skills. These scenario-based, hands-on, scored learning experiences enable technologists to “learn while doing” and are designed for varying experience levels. Topics include hundreds of AWS, Azure, and hybrid deployment labs, with Google Cloud Platform, security, data, and developer-focused topics coming this year.
  • Emphasizing Storytelling and Connection in New DEI Curriculum: Skillsoft’s new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion In Action curriculum is designed to be impactful, inspirational, and experiential, enabling organizations and their employees to nurture and sustain a culture that appreciates and champions diversity, equity, and inclusion. Highlighting real stories, Skillsoft seeks to inspire and empower individuals, while guided facilitation and discussion prompt reflection and building new, informed perspectives. Through raw, first-hand accounts of discrimination and bias, these courses help turn a mandatory compliance activity into an opportunity to build empathy and understanding and achieve true and sustained behavior change.
  • Embracing the Changing Nature of Customer Service: Skillsoft is adding eight new customer service courses created to equip customer service representatives (CSRs) with the skills needed to understand customers on a deeper level, create positive engagements, and drive positive outcomes. Developed in partnership with NueBridge, a global consulting and advisory firm focused on customer experience, these courses use a scenario-based approach to maximize learner engagement and retention, and are intended for both new and seasoned CSRs.

“In today’s skills economy, there is a heavy focus on individual skills, rather than the needs of an individual or a team’s complete learning journey,” said Jim Lundy, CEO, Aragon Research. “Together with Global Knowledge, Skillsoft provides the blended and experiential learning resources needed to nurture comprehensive learning journeys beyond simply piecing together a collection of hard skills.”

To learn more about the 30-day trial of Skillsoft’s Percipio platform and award-winning content, including top courses for Leadership & Power Skills and Technology & Developers, and this opportunity to build future ready skills, please visit www.skillsoft.com/percipio-trial.

Skillsoft will discuss today’s platform and content enhancements, along with other ways the Company is building on its enterprise learning solutions, at Skillsoft’s Perspectives Unleashed 2021 event tomorrow, September 23, 2021. For more information on Perspectives Unleashed 2021, please visit https://www.skillsoft.com/perspectives2021.

About Skillsoft
Skillsoft (NYSE: SKIL) is a global leader in corporate digital learning, focused on transforming today’s workforce for tomorrow’s economy. The Company provides enterprise learning solutions designed to prepare organizations for the future of work, overcome critical skill gaps, drive demonstrable behavior-change, and unlock the potential in their people. Skillsoft offers a comprehensive suite of premium, original, and authorized partner content, including one of the broadest and deepest libraries of leadership & business skills, technology & developer, and compliance curricula. With access to a broad spectrum of learning options (including video, audio, books, bootcamps, live events, and practice labs), organizations can meaningfully increase learner engagement and retention. Skillsoft’s offerings are delivered through Percipio, its award-winning, AI-driven, immersive learning platform purpose built to make learning easier, more accessible, and more effective. Learn more at www.skillsoft.com.

Investors
James Gruskin
james.gruskin@skillsoft.com

Media
Caitlin Leddy
caitlin.leddy@skillsoft.com