A survey by LMMatters in conjunction with TrainingZone.co.uk has revealed the extent to which the economic downturn has impacted training budgets and the use of elearning.

Findings from a new survey have revealed that whilst training budgets have been significantly reduced as a result of the economic downturn, organisations have been unwilling to sacrifice their use of elearning as part of their training and development programmes.

The survey, undertaken by LMMatters in conjunction with TrainingZone.co.uk during May, was designed to cast light on the allocation of training budgets and the use of elearning during 2008 and 2009, particularly in light of the economic downturn.

Despite the majority of respondents stating that there has been a significant reduction in their training budgets, 43.9% stated that the downturn has had no impact on the use of elearning - whilst 47% of respondents who have seen their budget reduced have actually increased their use of elearning.

The most popular driving force behind the respondents' continued and increasing use of elearning included time - with businesses having less time for traditional training methods - as well as financial motivations, and efforts to get more out of allocated budgets.

Overall, the findings point to a notable shift towards elearning. Last year 39% of respondents used 1-10% of their training budgets - but this year over 90% of these people have allocated more of their budgets to it, including 26.7% that have allocated 41-50% of their current budget on elearning.

Elearning will most comomly be used for promoting more self-directed learning and greater use of blended learning according to responses.