Global Soft Skills Training Market – Industry Trends and Forecast to 2029

Global Soft Skills Training Market, By Delivery Mode (Regular/Offline, Online), Soft Skill (Management and Leadership, Administration and Secretarial, Communication and Productivity, Personal Development, Teamwork, Others), End-User (BFSI, Manufacturing, Hospitality, Energy and Power, Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals, IT and Telecom, Retail, Media and Entertainment, Others), Sourcing (In-house, Outsourced), Channel Provider (Corporate/ Enterprise, Academic, Government) – Industry Trends and Forecast to 2029.

Soft Skills Training Market Analysis and Size

Nowadays, soft skills training has become a necessity at workplaces as it can lead to an employee's increased productivity and efficiency. Stakeholders in soft skills training arena have hit the right chord with this opportunity by providing online courses via numerous platforms. Adaptability, growth mindset and emotional intelligence are the highly regarded and wanted characteristics in the ideal candidate, which can easily develop using soft skill training.    

Global cloud-based soft skills training market was valued at USD 23.64 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach USD 59.29 billion by 2029, registering a CAGR of 12.18% during the forecast period of 2022-2029. In addition to the market insights such as market value, growth rate, market segments, geographical coverage, market players, and market scenario, the market report curated by the Data Bridge Market Research team includes in-depth expert analysis, import/export analysis, pricing analysis, production consumption analysis, and pestle analysis.

Soft Skills Training Market Scope and Segmentation

Market Definition

Soft skills are generally referred to as emotional traits of a person such as friendliness, body language, gestures, communications skills, personal habits, optimism and other similar traits. An employee or an employer with good soft skills and emotional quotient is regarded as an ideal person at any given workplace. Soft skill training can be provided with the help of various games, exercises and activities.

Soft Skills Training Market Dynamics

This section deals with understanding the market drivers, advantages, opportunities, restraints and challenges. All of this is discussed in detail as below:

Drivers

• The trend of video-based learning

Growing awareness about the video-based learning technology and its benefits all around the globe is reaping in numerous benefits. This is because video-based learning can offer greater dimensions that traditional system of learning. Moreover, high speed internet will widen the scope of growth and acceptance of video-based learning technology. One of the biggest highlight of video-based learning technology is that it allows recording, rewinding and re-watching options.

• Increased support by the government

Many MNCs are investing in developing economies that offer cheaper resources and employment options. However, MNCs are struggling to find the right talent. This is because of the skill gap. Governments of various developing economies have invested in promoting soft skills development programs to promote FDI.

Furthermore, the factors such as rising urbanization, industrialization and mounting skill gaps in the developing economies have further contributed to the overall market expansion during the forecast period. Additionally, rising focus on and investment in soft skills training programs by the enterprises in combination with rising deployment of cloud solutions in the market are anticipated to drive the market's growth rate.

Opportunities

• Rising technological advancements

Growing focus on deploying technologically advanced innovations such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality is fostering the market's adoption rate. Integration of artificial intelligence with learning management systems can offer advantages such as voice-generated bots, regular module updates and much more. Technologies such as VR and AR can impart real-time soft skill education to employees and offer an interactive communication system simultaneously. This will too carve the way for the growth of the market.

• Increasing trend of digitalization

Additionally, the increasing trend of digitalization further offers numerous growth opportunities within the market. Rising number of platforms such as Udemy, Coursera, Skillshare and many more are offering online soft skills certificate courses. The growing trend of e-learning via modules and assignments will also favor the market.

Restraints/Challenges

• Budgetary concerns and issues

The deployment of soft skill development solutions and systems is quite costly. Using AR and VR technologies and integrating video-based learning technology with the existing enterprise solutions is a cumbersome and costly process. Budgetary restraints in small scale organizations can hamper the growth rat of the market.

• Lack of technical expertise

Dearth of expert knowledge and technical expertise and lack of awareness about the importance of soft skills especially in the underdeveloped economies will create hurdles for the market in regards to the smooth growth in the market value. Further, lack of skilled professionals combined with a slow adoption rate in the developing economies will again hamper the market growth rate.

This soft skills training market report provides details of new recent developments, trade regulations, import-export analysis, production analysis, value chain optimization, market share, impact of domestic and localized market players, analyses opportunities in terms of emerging revenue pockets, changes in market regulations, strategic market growth analysis, market size, category market growths, application niches and dominance, product approvals, product launches, geographic expansions, technological innovations in the market. To gain more info on the soft skills training market contact Data Bridge Market Research for an Analyst Brief, our team will help you take an informed market decision to achieve market growth.

COVID-19 Impact on Soft Skills Training Market

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the market owing to the large scale disruptions at workplaces. Across the globe, more than 195 million people lost their jobs during the pandemic. Europe and other western countries were the worst affected territories and experienced the worst impact on employment in percentage terms. Lockdown restrictions further aggravated the situation for the market in the negative aspect. However, reinforcement of system and scenario prior to pandemic will bring fruitful future results. Also, Skill development via e-learning in the pandemic era has been a ray of hope for the market.

Recent Developments

• The acquisition of Pluma, Inc. was announced by Skillsoft Corporation in June 2021. The company's capacity for leadership development is increased thanks to this acquisition.
• Wilson Learning Worldwide Inc. formed a strategic alliance with Profiling Online in November 2020. Wilson Learning Worldwide's capacity to deliver learning solutions to its international clients is improved by this agreement.
• A top platform for enterprise technology training, Cloud Academy, was purchased by QA Ltd in July 2019 from San Francisco. More than 500 certification courses and 1500 instructor-led courses were added to the company's portfolio as a result of this acquisition.

Soft Skills Training Market Scope

The soft skills training market is segmented on the basis of delivery mode, soft skill, end-user, sourcing and channel provider. The growth amongst these segments will help you analyze meagre growth segments in the industries and provide the users with a valuable market overview and market insights to help them make strategic decisions for identifying core market applications.

Delivery Mode

• Regular/Offline
• Online

Asynchronous Online Courses

Synchronous Online Courses

Hybrid Courses

Soft Skill

• Management and Leadership
• Administration and Secretarial
• Communication and Productivity
• Personal Development
• Teamwork
• Others

End-User

• BFSI
• Manufacturing
• Hospitality
• Energy and Power
• Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals
• IT and Telecom
• Retail
• Media and Entertainment
• Others

Sourcing

• In-house
• Outsourced

Channel Provider

• Corporate/ Enterprise
• Academic
• Government

Soft Skills Training Market Regional Analysis/Insights

The soft skills training market is analyzed and market size insights and trends are provided by country, delivery mode, soft skill, end-user, sourcing and channel provider as referenced above.

The countries covered in the soft skills training market report are U.S., Canada and Mexico in North America, Germany, France, U.K., Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Russia, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Rest of Europe in Europe, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Rest of Asia-Pacific (APAC) in the Asia-Pacific (APAC), Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, Israel, Egypt, South Africa, Rest of Middle East and Africa (MEA) as a part of Middle East and Africa (MEA), Brazil, Argentina and Rest of South America as part of South America.

North America dominates the soft skills training market due to major players in this region and growing awareness about customizable and fast learning programs in corporates and educational institutes. Prevalence of advanced infrastructure and rising deployment of augmented reality are some other important factors determining the dominance of this region.

Asia-Pacific is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period of 2022 to 2029 due to the rising awareness about the importance of good soft skills in employees and employers. Moreover, escalating IT infrastructure in the region rising number of institutions imparting soft skill education will yet again bolster the growth of the market in this region.

The country section of the report also provides individual market impacting factors and changes in regulation in the market domestically that impacts the current and future trends of the market. Data points like down-stream and upstream value chain analysis, technical trends and porter's five forces analysis, case studies are some of the pointers used to forecast the market scenario for individual countries. Also, the presence and availability of global brands and their challenges faced due to large or scarce competition from local and domestic brands, impact of domestic tariffs and trade routes are considered while providing forecast analysis of the country data.   

Competitive Landscape and Soft Skills Training Market Share Analysis

The soft skills training market competitive landscape provides details by competitor. Details included are company overview, company financials, revenue generated, market potential, investment in research and development, new market initiatives, global presence, production sites and facilities, production capacities, company strengths and weaknesses, product launch, product width and breadth, application dominance. The above data points provided are only related to the companies' focus related to soft skills training market.

Some of the major players operating in the soft skills training market are

• The Ken Blanchard Companies. (U.S.)
• CCL (U.S.)
• Hemsley Fraser Group Ltd. (U.K.)
• Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc., (U.S.)
• CEGOS. (France)
• CGS (U.S.)
• New Horizons Worldwide, LLC. (U.S.)
• QA group (U.K.)
• Articulate Global, LLC (U.S.)
• D2L Corporation.
• (Canada)
• Skillsoft (U.S.)
• MPS Interactive Systems Limited (India)
• The Insights Group Limited (U.K.)
• NIIT (India)
• Pearson India Education Services Pvt. Ltd (India)
• edX LLC. (U.S.)
• BizLibrary (U.S.)
• GP Strategies Corporation.
• City & Guilds (U.K.)
• Cornerstone (U.S.)