When a company looks for a training provider, the price often becomes the deciding factor — especially on public tender platforms, where cost may be listed as the primary or even the only selection criterion. In such cases, the system may automatically award the contract to the cheapest option.
But focusing solely on price — without analyzing the full picture — can lead to hidden costs and serious setbacks. Instead of saving money, companies might end up spending more in the long run. Worse, employees may feel frustrated by poor-quality training and demotivated by the wasted effort. After all, language learning, especially English, isn’t just about grammar and vocabulary — it’s about psychology, motivation, and personal growth.
For many professionals, deciding to improve their English takes deep internal commitment. It’s that powerful “This time, I’m doing it for real” moment. A poor choice of provider can break that momentum.
So what should HR professionals actually look for when choosing a corporate training provider? Drawing from their real-world experience, Vitaliy Vasiliev, CEO of Yappi Group, and Iryna Lyalenko, Head of Client Relations at YAPPI, share practical insights for making the right call.
When a company needs to purchase a service, it usually follows one of two paths:
The first option often seems easier and less resource-intensive, which is why it’s more commonly used. However, it comes with challenges: operators may submit proposals late, or present overly polished marketing offers lacking real substance. In this case, the quality of your tender request or comparison table significantly impacts the relevance and clarity of the responses you receive.
Once the proposals are in, the company typically evaluates them through several key departments:
The direct stakeholder (e.g., the department head or HR) may emphasize quality and relevance, while the procurement team’s goal is to minimize spending and secure the most cost-effective option. At this stage, the most persuasive case usually wins.
Let’s take corporate English training as an example. As HR, you may clearly understand the value of investing in quality language education — not only for skill development but also for employee motivation and engagement. However, to get buy-in from procurement and leadership, you’ll need to make a strong, evidence-based case for the cost.
Of course, most companies consider basic factors like price, range of services, provider reputation, and client reviews. But some critical elements often go unnoticed — and they can make or break your training initiative.
✓ Provider specialization
Here’s your first essential tip:
If you’re looking for corporate English training, choose a provider that specializes in corporate English. Simple, right? Yet it’s one of the most overlooked points during the vendor selection process.
When evaluating dozens of providers, it’s easy to get distracted by impressive portfolios. But beware: if a provider offers English for kids, conversational courses for adults, Hindi lessons, and corporate English — chances are, their programs are generic and not tailored for the specific needs of a business environment.
Such a “one-size-fits-all” approach often means the content is adapted only slightly for different audiences, making it difficult to customize for your company’s industry, team goals, or communication context.
✓ Training program flexibility
Another essential factor to consider from the start is the structure and adaptability of the training program. It’s important to know whether the provider can tailor the curriculum to your employees’ specific needs.
A green flag:
Want to know if a provider is more than just a smooth talker? Ask them to modify their proposed program. A reliable training provider will adjust the curriculum before the training even begins, and will show you what the learning experience actually looks like.
✓ Teachers
Consider their experience specifically in teaching business English to corporate clients in group formats. If a teacher has 10 years of experience, but only with school children, they likely won’t be a good fit for your employees — especially not for your company’s top management.
Also pay attention to the teachers’ certifications. It’s important to understand that the services of professionals who invest thousands of dollars and a great deal of effort into self-improvement and developing their professional skills cannot be cheap. In addition, it’s important that the provider has its own system for improving the qualifications of its teachers. Don’t hesitate to ask what that system looks like and how it works. If such a teaching center exists, the provider will gladly share the results of its work.
Find out what kind of contracts the provider has with its teachers:
Do they have stable workloads over a long period, or are they recruited only for specific projects (i.e., just to launch a group)? This is a key point. To select a teacher who suits your needs in terms of level, specialization, and experience — and to ensure an equal replacement if needed — the provider must have a well-established recruitment and training system, and cooperate with a large pool of trusted teachers.
If you are considering hiring a teacher without going through a provider, weigh the pros and cons. Yes, it will be cheaper. But such a teacher may not always be able to adapt the program to individual company needs. That requires specialized expertise and technological solutions to organize the learning process effectively. Not every freelance teacher has the ability to present material in an interactive digital format, so they often rely on free available resources (e.g., Liveworksheets with PDF textbooks). That’s exactly why major schools have whole development departments for this.
A teacher must have a clearly structured curriculum, which is usually based on a textbook. Therefore, they can’t modify it completely — doing so would break the course logic. In this case, you can only count on the use of additional materials.
✓ A learning platform
Today, this is a must-have, as a learning platform significantly accelerates, simplifies, and enhances the overall quality of the training process. And we’re not talking about simply using a video conferencing tool for online lessons — we mean a fully adaptive platform with an interactive textbook and a personal student dashboard.
A tip:
I can recall a case where a provider successfully passed the client’s technical requirements and even won the tender. However, during the actual training process, it became clear that they had no learning platform, no proprietary textbooks, and no qualified instructors. So here’s the lesson: Don’t just check whether a provider has a certain tool — evaluate whether it meets your needs, and whether it offers the right functionality and flexibility. Otherwise, you might end up in a situation straight out of the “expectation vs. reality” meme.
A learning platform also requires ongoing support and maintenance. For example, at YAPPI, the yCloud platform is continuously developed by a dedicated team. This department is responsible for improving, adapting, and regularly updating the platform. The company has already invested over 25 million UAH into yCloud and continues to develop it — allocating a monthly budget line specifically for its upkeep.
If a provider invests in their platform only once every five years, then — considering today’s pace of technological change — it may already be outdated before the next update is even released.
✓ The textbook matters
To ensure that learning delivers real value, the textbook must be not only modern and interactive, but also aligned with international standards. For each English proficiency level— from A1 to C2—there should be a separate textbook developed according to the CEFR framework. This means your employees aren’t just going through a random set of lessons, but are following a clear, structured plan for the entire level, with a defined understanding of what skills and knowledge they should gain by the end of the semester.
Keep in mind: developing a textbook is a collaborative effort involving authors, editors, and learning designers. And beyond the initial writing, the content must be regularly updated to stay relevant, engaging, and even appealing to the most demanding learners.
✓ The team behind the product
Some may argue that part of the work can easily be replaced by AI. But in reality — no matter how advanced the technology or skilled the developers — 60–70% of a successful training product still depends on the expertise of the human team defining the vision and delivering the work.
So, how can you assess a provider’s professional capacity? Start by asking about the team’s structure and responsibilities. Look for details like:
As an HR professional, understanding these roles gives you a complete picture of the provider’s capabilities and long-term reliability.
A tip:
Find out what the provider’s reputation is on the job market. What do former employees say about working there? What feedback do other HR professionals share about their experience collaborating with this provider?
✓ Client contract duration
Another key indicator of a provider’s reliability is the average length of their contracts with clients. Take a moment to compare this with your own company’s average training engagement. Then, ask the provider for their numbers.
For example, the average contract length at YAPPI is 5 years, with some clients renewing for nine consecutive years. In some cases, companies pause their training temporarily — only to return later with new groups, ready to continue their learning journey.
✓ Extra perks that make a difference
Free conversation clubs, grammar workshops, make-up sessions, and even fun quizzes to track progress — these seemingly small extras can say a lot about a provider’s mindset. They show that the provider genuinely cares about the client experience and is committed to helping learners achieve real results.
Think about it: if a lesson costs, say, 300 UAH, how much of that actually goes to the teacher? Would a certified teacher agree to work for that amount? And is there anything left to pay the rest of the team (if there even is one)?
Program and textbook development, reliable and user-friendly learning tools, a team of experienced teachers and professionals, and personalized support throughout the training process all require resources. Most importantly, they justify the investment.
A red flag:
Sure, in some cases, a provider may offer discounts to clients. But if they start lowering prices already at the public auction stage, trying to compete solely on cost — you can be certain they’re simply aiming to acquire as many clients as possible. And that inevitably affects the quality of service.
As we mentioned at the very beginning, trying to save money on training can sometimes result in twice the loss if the provider turns out to be the wrong fit.
A company selects an English training provider for its employees and signs a contract to launch ten groups.
After the first lesson, one group of students requests a new teacher. That’s not unusual — providers should anticipate such scenarios. However, in this case, the school responds that a teacher replacement is not possible.
Another group quickly realizes that the school is unable to adapt the training program to their professional needs. The material offered doesn’t reflect their work context, so the employees refuse to continue the training.
How do we know about this case? The company had to start the selection process all over again — this time, more thoroughly — and eventually turned to YAPPI. We successfully launched the training, but the lost time, employee motivation, and potential revenue missed during that period could not be recovered. Aside from these issues, companies can lose money in other ways — for example:
To avoid such risks, the contract should clearly outline:
Pay attention to the provider’s flexibility and client-oriented approach in this regard.
A tip:
Ask about the mutual responsibility between the provider and the teacher. Not only should the school guarantee a replacement if a teacher is unavailable, but the teacher should also bear some responsibility for leaving the project mid-course.
A reliable provider will always hold a welcome session for the client to walk them through the platform. Don’t skip this opportunity — use it to clarify everything before signing the contract or launching the training.
And finally, one of the most valuable steps in a tender process is a demo lesson. It can answer most questions about the training approach and help you evaluate the real quality behind the proposal.
So, you’ve found a provider who checks all the boxes — but there’s one concern: the price. Don’t worry. Here’s a checklist of arguments you can use to justify the investment to your procurement team. We’re confident that the number of boxes you tick will speak for itself.
