Ever since there have been businesses, there has been a push to find the ‘best way’ to teach and train employees. The latest technique to gain prominence is the idea of social learning, which contends that people learn best within a social context. In other words, people operating within a group learn through marking observations and modeling behavior they witness within that group. It’s an intriguing concept and, apparently, one that has caught on.

According to a new research report from talent management cloud solutions provider Saba (News - Alert) entitled “State of the Industry Study: A Pulse on Social Learning,” 65 percent of business decision makers are using social learning technology. This is based on a survey of more than 500 such decision makers at companies in various industries and of different sizes.

“As companies adapt to today’s new world of work, it’s now more important than ever that they focus on connecting people and content with social technology,” said Emily He, senior vice president of marketing at Saba, in a statement. “Based on the results of this study, a majority of businesses are already leveraging social learning to foster a culture of collaboration and innovation. As a leading provider of social learning technology, Saba is committed to helping organizations to develop their most important asset, their people.”

Other findings from this report include that nearly half of respondents feel that greater success is achieved through increased collaboration and communication between management and employees. Meanwhile, close to two-thirds of organizations are motivated to use social learning to “support a culture of learning.”

Indeed, the reaction to social learning technology seems to be overwhelmingly positive — at least, once the new system is up and running. Challenges with adoption and uptake by employees seem to be the primary roadblocks in the way of social learning achieving broader use.