Training Industry Magazine - Summer 2024 - 62

CLOSING
DEALS
CORNERSTONE ACQUIRES SKYHIVE TO
ADVANCE WORKFORCE READINESS AND AGILITY
BY SARAH GALLO, CPTM
Many businesses today struggle to
keep pace with rapid market shifts and
technology advancements - particularly
in the realm of generative artificial
intelligence (AI).
As needs evolve, so do the skills that
employees need to thrive, leading to
a widening workforce readiness gap.
Research by Cornerstone, in partnership
with Lighthouse Research, found that
63% of enterprise leaders surveyed don't
believe their workforce is adaptable to
change. The research also found that
less than half (45%) of employers know of
existing skills gaps and fully address them
in their talent development strategies.
Given the prevalence of this business
challenge, it makes sense that we're
seeing corporate training providers team
up to address skills shortages and drive
workforce readiness.
Let's consider how Cornerstone's recent
acquisition of SkyHive Technologies
Holdings Inc. ( " SkyHive " ) is positioned
to help companies build a highly skilled,
future-ready workforce.
THE " WHY "
Cornerstone has steadily acquired
innovative organizations to help further
establish its position in the market as a
leading workforce agility solutions provider:
In 2020, the company acquired Clustree
and Saba Software; in 2022, it acquired
EdCast and SumTotal Systems, and this
year Cornerstone acquired Talespin in
March, followed by SkyHive in May.
Karthik Suri, Cornerstone's chief product
officer, says that Cornerstone's acquisition
of SkyHive, an AI-powered skills
intelligence platform, made sense for a few
reasons. First, SkyHive's AI capabilities will
help " turbocharge " Cornerstone's own
62
skills engine, which is powered by AI and
machine learning.
It will also help organizations begin the
(challenging) process of workforce upskilling
and reskilling by providing a data-driven
skills structure and increased visibility into
key gaps and strengths. " We found that
this is the right time, at the right moment.
The industry is at an inflection point, and
[the acquisition] perfectly aligns with the
launch of our workforce agility category "
of solutions, Suri says, which includes
Cornerstone Galaxy, its recently launched
AI-powered workforce agility platform.
INCREASING VISIBILITY FOR
FUTURE READINESS
We've established that many companies
struggle to both identify current skills gaps
(and strengths) and to predict future ones.
By parsing through terabytes of global
workforce, labor market and economic
data, SkyHive provides organizations
with greater visibility into emerging,
critical skills they'll need to develop to
stay competitive. It does this by plotting
emerging and existing trends and
mapping them against internal company
data to help bridge the gap between " the
skills desired and the skills held, " Suri says.
Formulating a talent strategy around these
insights " forms the basis of addressing the
workforce readiness gap. "
Through data-driven skills intelligence,
combined with comprehensive talent
development programs, Cornerstone
can point organizations toward " strategic
workforce planning, " Suri says, which is
the key to staying ahead of change.
FOCUS AREAS MOVING FORWARD
Looking ahead, Suri says there are five
" massive innovation opportunities " that
Cornerstone is focused on leveraging:
1. First and foremost, Cornerstone is
focused on providing actionable, skillsbased
insights through its Cornerstone
Talent Intelligence platform.
2. Through its acquisition of Talespin,
Cornerstone launched Cornerstone
Immerse - a suite of virtual and
extended reality solutions, which is
an opportunity to help users deliver
more engaging, immersive learning
experiences.
3. Cornerstone is " committed to
being an open platform, " Suri says.
With Cornerstone Extend, an open
system of partners, integrations and
application programming interfaces
(APIs), users can seamlessly integrate
their technologies.
4. Cornerstone's generative AI tool,
Cornerstone Companion AI, is set to
" completely
reimagine " workflows
for both employees and talent
development professionals, Suri says.
5. Through the acquisition of SkyHive,
Cornerstone remains focused on
delivering " skills transformation
services " that can help bridge
the workforce readiness gap and
drive agility, Suri says.
The pace of change facing businesses, and
the market at large, is unlikely to slow down
soon. However, AI-powered, data-driven
solutions like Cornerstone and SkyHive
can help organizations proactively upskill
and reskill employees to stay competitive
- no matter what challenges lie ahead.
Sarah Gallo, CPTM, is a senior editor
at Training Industry, Inc., and co-host of
" The Business of Learning, " the Training
Industry podcast. Email Sarah.
Training Industry Magazine - Summer 2024

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