CLIX takes off

Saarbruecken/Sevenoaks, November 2009 – IMC AG is now offering its Learning Management System (LMS) CLIX as a “software as a service” (SaaS) solution. In contrast to the traditional on-premises licensing model, in which customers purchase the software and operate it within their own IT infrastructure, CLIX SaaS is provided on a subscription basis by IMC AG as a hosted solution over the Internet. Initiation, implementation and maintenance of the system in the customer’s own IT infrastructure are all omitted. Licences do not need to be purchased in advance – instead, billing only takes place based on the actual number of courses booked. “Therein lies the innovation of our solution,” explains Dr Wolfgang Kraemer, Chairman of IMC AG. “We are strongly committed to the ‘pay-per-use’ concept and offer a transparent pricing model, which is published on our website. With this openness, we are the industry pioneer and the first in the LMS area to quite purposefully move ahead in comparison to the competition, because we are convinced about the price and performance of CLIX SaaS.”

CLIX’s move into the digital cloud is therefore more than just another offshoot of the CLIX family, which so far comprises CLIX Enterprise, Campus and Start. With CLIX SaaS, IMC meets many customers’ market demands. “For many companies, in tough economic times, complex, time-consuming and costly LMS integration with many individual adjustments is no longer a viable internal option,” explains Kraemer. “A high-performance standard system like CLIX SaaS, which is fast, flexible and convenient to use, fits their needs better. The low operating costs, which start at one euro per course booking, make CLIX SaaS a real alternative, even for smaller companies or open-source supporters.” The only system requirements for CLIX SaaS are Internet access and a browser. Kraemer has no fears that the cloud-based CLIX could cannibalise traditional CLIX versions. “Large companies and international groups, as well as universities, always place great value on an LMS that is tailor-made for them. In addition, IMC CLIX, as an ASP solution, also offers a customised infrastructure.”

The advantage of flexibility
Regardless of whether long-term educational programmes are cut back; or project-related training needs arise in the short term; or if, during the upturn, a new educational trip is incorporated again: with CLIX SaaS, training managers are able to react instantly to changing conditions. The scenario in which a platform set up for thousands of employees is then only used by a fraction of them is a thing of the past, as far as CLIX SaaS is concerned. Only the course bookings which are actually made are paid for. “When it comes to their vocational training, CLIX SaaS give companies the necessary flexibility to compete successfully. It couldn’t get much simpler, more transparent or more effective,” says Kraemer.

Data security is given top priority
Anyone aware of their data being outside their own IT infrastructure quite rightly raises the question of security. “More than 300 IMC customers worldwide have great trust in our learning solutions. With CLIX SaaS, therefore, it is natural for us to explicitly guarantee the protection of customer data. This is made possible by the high-performance structure of our network, scalable from the bottom up. Data is secured against unauthorised access and also undergoes a daily backup,” explains Kraemer. CLIX SaaS is offered in Standard, Professional and Premium versions with different service bundles.