| Staying ahead of the
curve, in the loop, on top of things -- no matter how it's phrased, it all comes down to
one thing: acquiring knowledge. A well-trained, knowledgeable staff can mean the success
of your business. But how do you stay current without breaking the bank? Small business
owners in particular can find the cost of conferences and travel prohibitive. Beyond the
monetary considerations, there's also the time spent away from work. If you need employees
on the job, how do you get them the training they need? Desktop Learning
Electronic learning, or e-learning, delivered
straight to the desktop of an employee through an Internet or intranet connection is the
next wave in business education. E-learning works especially well for call centers, sales
personnel or customer service representatives, because it doesn't take people off the
floor. E-learning can also be individualized and broken up into small segments called
"learning objects."
Unlike
traditional classes, Web-based courses can be custom designed, accessed on demand, and
updated as the need arises. "We've seen great success in call centers in
particular," says Bill Peyton, vice president of marketing at Mindlever. Mindlever designs individualized Web pages
that organize online and offline courses. The programs can track which training has been
completed. One of Mindlever's clients, Charles Schwab & Company, used to have to pull
their call-center reps off the phones for occasional training sessions, but e-learning
allows reps to study at their desks, at their own pace. They can log onto their own Web
page and spend as little or as much time as needed. Supervisors can check on their
progress and update their courses for them.
Features
and Benefits of E-learning
The advantages of this method include the
following:
- Content can be stored and reused by others.
- Improved efficiency. Employees can devote small
blocks of time to learning new skills.
- Mobile learning. Learning can take place anywhere
there is a computer, laptop, or even Personal Digital Assistant.
- Personalization and interactivity.
- Reduced staff turnover. Well-trained employees
are more comfortable in their jobs and less likely to want to leave.
What
the Users Say
Charles Morre, director of customer service at
Borders Group, Inc., was quoted in a Click2Coach
press release: "Our goal was to improve our customer service department's
productivity and quality. Our key requirement was to find a solution that would interface
directly with the agent's desktop and would also provide training for increased agent
productivity and empowerment."
Richard Otto, Charles Schwab's project manager
for Web training programs, says, "Because of the size of our course offerings and the
number of Schwab employees that use the system, learning object reuse, and the ability to
provide on-the-fly needs-assessment-based training are critical. Mindlever provided one of
the best solutions to meet our needs."
JC
Penney uses e-learning for formal training. Managers no longer have to go to headquarters
for classes. In the past, the company could only afford to train 10 percent of its
managers per year; now it's 100 percent.
Hyundai Motor Company in Fountain Valley,
California, used to store training manuals for five separate divisions in one location.
Now, the manuals are online and individual divisions decide which modules to assign to
their employees.
Breaking knowledge down into small, chewable
bites seems to be the key to a successful e-learning program. Clark Aldrich, e-learning
analyst at the Garner Group, says, "The next battleground in e-learning will be for
control of the smallest chunks of content, those that capture individual moments of
understanding."
A
Sampling of Providers
Click2Coach,
Mindlever, and a company called Knowledge Impact offer "canned" courses as
well as authoring tools for designing your own programs. According to Bill Peyton, what
used to be called just-in-time learning is shifting to just-enough-learning because time
alone isn't everything.The best programs can monitor phone calls, emails, and Web chat,
and give supervisor the opportunity to evaluate and score online. Reports can be generated
automatically at each level.
IBM takes
PowerPoint files of 25 - 40 slides which can be merged with the customer's own audio via
regular phone lines to create a "Web Lecture" that can be distributed across a
company intranet or via the Internet.
Types
of E-learning
Virtual classrooms. Companies
can broadcast video or audio over the Internet to their sales staff. Participants can
raise their virtual hands if they have questions or comments. They receive all the
benefits of attending a class or seminar without leaving home -- or their desktop. Virtual
classrooms are used by many real universities. Vcampus and Eduprise specialize in university v-classrooms.
Online Content. Whether it
consists of previously published materials like "How to Use Microsoft Word" or
client-designed content, it looks like one continuous learning experience.
Company-specific programs can be managed, organized, and delivered in a fashion tailored
to the skill level of the participant.
Third
party content. Think of this as book publishing. Companies license their products
as a way to deliver materials to large numbers of people without taking them from their
workstations.
Many companies who have tried e-learning are
unwilling to revert to standard lectures and conferences. They believe that they made the
switch "just in time." |
