I now work for a competitor. CU is a joke. It never comes up in competitive sales situations, because faculty see right through it: a cheap money-grab that ends up with students paying $120 for access to an eBook! Normal eBooks are about $40, and they deliver without the broken and clunky MindTap "gift wrap." Faculty and students do that math: you'd have to be taking 3 or more courses using Cengage each semester to even break even with CU, and there is no way to predict which product will be used in which class at the time of enrollment. CU has been a gift to us competitors, as has the whole pile of Hanson-generated waste.
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Have fun begging for your jobs...2020 is right around the corner!
I’m with cengage and spend my days commenting on this site since CL is a complete sycophantic train wreck.... what’s your point?
Yes, you voluntarily left for a far better industry, doubled your salary, and spend your days commenting about Cengage on this site. Got it!
Yes, the company is so successful that it’s merging with its largest competitor because it can’t stop bleeding cash. And I didn’t get knocked off of anything...I left the junior varsity organization known as Cengage and more than doubled my salary in a far better industry. Frankly, anyone left at Cengage is there because they can’t hack it elsewhere. No one would willingly take pay cuts and bonus-less years if they had a choice. And please spare me the “mission based company” nonsense. You work at a company owned by private equity, not the Red Cross.
It is shocking to discover how many adults in the United States are incapable of hearing and integrating the truth and hence reality into their lives. You can show them the financial reports and the statements of the CEO and they will scream “racist, microagressor!”, in response to being shown reality.
@10Z0aC5G-5epu it is statements like yours that motivate people to apply the Kool-Aid drinking tag to the current generation of Cengagers. We speak of promoting critical thinking in most every book produced, and yet it seems the workaday Cengage employees are not even sure what that means. Let's set some thing straight by setting opinion aside and let's look at some facts, shall we? First off, EVERYONE is aware of sales results because they are reported out to the public by Michael Hanson, every four months, like clockwork. Do you not even read or listen to your own CEO's report to the outside investor community? "Significant increase in takeaways and Digital Units" is flat-out false. Or, at least, it is at odds with Hanson himself told us a few weeks ago. Hanson indicates that print sales are down (another) 11% last quarter - and most interesting of all - DIGITAL units are down 6% for the quarter. This tells us a couple of things: Cengage is selling LESS digital units today than they were last year, and IF there has been a "significant increase in takeaways" then these were matched by an even greater loss of existing base, because the overall sales result was down by double digits last quarter. In fact, Cengage sales have been down - in units and in revenue - by double digits each and every quarter Hanson has led this organization - for the last seven years! This is why so many 100's of people are laid off each and every year, by entire branches are closed down without warning. The company is shrinking - they are selling less units and making less dollars each and every quarter - without fail. If revenue is down, then you HAVE to reduce headcounts accordingly, because Apax demands a dividend each year. As it stands, @10Z0aC5G-5epu, you are simply regurgitating the same feel-good language offered up consistently to the Sales Force and other low level employees, while at the very same time your CEO is reporting the opposite story to the public. Go online, locate an earnings call transcript or recording, and spend an hour listening to Hanson's public statements. Chances are strong you will be switching from Kool-Aid to adult beverages as a result, but at least you will be dealing with reality.
Sounds like you got your feelings hurt on the fall from the totem pole you referred to. You're making false statements about sales results you know nothing about. Of course, because you got knocked off the totem pole you were supposedly so high on. True statement: Significant increase in takeaways and Digital Units as well as high double digit activations increases.
"CU has only been available for 13 months so how did you have an opinion about CU 2 years ago? Almost 1.5 million subscriptions sold in 13 months saving students an incredible amount of money."
Listen here, low level rep. I worked in product development for many years and had a front row seat to the delusion. Customer needs were consistently ignored for whatever "flavor of the year" management was pushing. That's why everything the company has put out has been an abject failure....it doesn't resonate with the customer because it doesn't meet their needs. MindTap? Overstuffed software with a bunch of bells and whistles instructors never asked for. Leadership thinks CU is solving a problem....but its just boxing instructors into the same digital solution they never asked for.
The @10Z0aC5G-1lmz response is typical of the usual brainless, koolaid blind belief Cengage asks and demands of its employees. 1.5 million in 13 months, huh. Boy, that's a big number - that must mean success, right? How about quantifying that number a little bit? Hanson doesn't bother to do this and chances are that the data is completely unavailable, but 1.5 million means NOTHING on its own. How does this compare with comparable print/digital units prior to CU? Were you selling more or less units before than you are now? How about revenue? Yay for delivering an "incredible amount of money" in savings to students, but doesn't that also mean that you and your company are earning "an incredible amount of revenue decreases" over 13 months? Are ANY of these 1.5 units representative of takeaway business? How much? One key bit of information Hanson shares on a quarterly basis is the % of sales unit and revenue decrease Cengage suffered each particular quarter. These past quarters have been the same as all quarters reported over the last seven years of Hanson's leadership: double-digit losses in both units and in revenue. The shrinkage continues, despite the "impressive" sounding 1.5 million units moved. In other words, 1.5 million units is indicative of failure: if CU were a massive success, we would be seeing an INCREASE in units sold year over year, wouldn't we? The truth is that this McGraw merger is being pursued because CU has been a massive failure and current leadership is out of idea. Remember: to truly "change the way the world learns" you first have to have a substantial amount of people USING your product - not fewer and fewer learners each and every quarter for seven years running.
What are you talking about, cu was publicly announced 18 months ago. You weren’t aware 24 months ago because you’re rather low on the totem
CU has only been available for 13 months so how did you have an opinion about CU 2 years ago? Almost 1.5 million subscriptions sold in 13 months saving students an incredible amount of money.
I remember teachers and students were demanding books since after 7 years of digital homework they discovered it was a loser in the classroom. Apparently, e-Learning doesn't facilitate learning in the classroom, go figure. So, as a result I started pushing eBooks inclusive access successfully and was mocked by my DM, but now it seems to be the only product offered of any value to students, parents and professors.
When I worked at Cengage product development always focused on what management wanted rather than what the customers want. I guarantee no student or instructor asked for expensive digital subscriptions, but that's what leadership wanted and that's what they are trying to force on the market. Guaranteed failure.