arvato Expands Digital Business Solution With Microsoft Learning

GUETERSLOH, GERMANY and REDMOND, WA--(Marketwire - Jul 9, 2012) - arvato, an outsourcing service provider based in Guetersloh (Germany), and Microsoft Learning, Redmond (US) are expanding their partnership in the Courseware business. For over 14 years, arvato has supplied Microsoft Learning Partners in the EMEA and APAC regions with required training materials, and has managed all business-critical processes related to Online Order Management, Production, Finance, Distribution and Customer Care. This cooperation is expanding to North and South American territories, now with a fully realized digital business solution.

Given the progressive digitization of the education sector, from now on, arvato will deliver comprehensive digital services for Microsoft Courseware. These services are comprised of three new offerings: Publishing Community, Courseware Marketplace and Digital Textbook Reader.

The Publishing Community encompasses the establishment and management of a largely automated online platform for creating course content. The Courseware Marketplace includes worldwide sales and the electronic and physical distribution of training materials. The Digital Textbook Reader application comprises the management of course content in the ePub format. This new solution makes it possible to integrate content such as comments by the instructors or the learner's own notes in the digital books, and share them with other course participants. Digital services for these three elements will bring Microsoft to the cutting edge of this market.

"Devices like smartphones and tablets are revolutionizing the education market and call for new and innovative ways to provide content," explains arvato Hightech EMEA CEO Frank Schirrmeister. "With the groundbreaking new services we developed for Microsoft Courseware, we meet and exceed the customer demands. Our globalized, digital partnership targets to win new customer groups by providing precisely what they want and need."

"We are thrilled with the Courseware Marketplace that arvato has developed which provides digital courseware publishing and distribution in order to deliver a better learning experience. The new platform enables virtual and blended learning experiences, and offers fast, continuous content updates," said Lutz Ziob, General Manager for Microsoft Learning. "Moving to a single, global online marketplace enables Microsoft to better support customer demands for more innovative training delivery models with greater flexibility." 

The new services, which arvato will be unveiling tomorrow at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, will be available to users in the EMEA region shortly. Soon thereafter, users in APAC, North and South America will have full access to the digital training materials.

arvato Hightech EMEA offers comprehensive services and solutions to its business partners in the electronics, high-tech, telecommunications and industrial sectors, including warehousing & supply solutions, sourcing and postponement, reverse logistics & repairs, transport management, spare parts logistics, ecommerce solutions, marketing services and digital services.

With over five decades of experience and an impressive global footprint, arvato Hightech EMEA continues to create added value for its customers and ensures that they are well equipped to meet the challenges of their respective markets.