More than two thirds of the organisations fail to evaluate their training schemes. In order to boost a performance companies must implement evaluation processes that are aligned with business strategy.

John McGurk, the CIPD’s advisor for learning and talent, said: “Without any sort of evaluation, an organisation’s coaching initiatives are left vulnerable to both financial and resourcing pressures, which could be particularly dangerous in tough economic times.”

Market research and consultancy firm for the training sector Pardo Fox released its index of the UK’s top 50 IT training companies in 2010.

Howard Teale, general manager of Indicia Training, claimed the report highlighted the “surprising ability of small firms to compete with their larger counterparts” as many of the larger providers had seen sales drop, while a number of smaller ones had seen turnover and clients numbers grow.

“Research has shown large companies’ fees for popular courses can cost up to 20% more than their smaller counterparts. The less costly providers claim this is due to them having more flexible terms and conditions,” he said.