A Lifetime of Learning

From CRM Magazine July 2000

Employees are notorious for forgetting most of what they learn in a typical training course. So, online training can be designed to deliver just enough training, just in time. Online training courses are usually divided into easily digestible chunks and can even be accessed, much like Help on steroids, right from the applications. Learning continues far beyond the initial class.

Knowledge Impact's online training for Clarify is designed to make training not just an event, but support that is woven through the Clarify application. The solution has three parts.

• Part one is a one-hour Web-based training course that gets users started by teaching them basic navigation. The Clarify application is simulated, and trainees can practice the various operations they will have to perform.

• Part two is a performance support module. Someone who is using Clarify and runs into trouble can click on a help button to get a quick refresher. A user who still doesn't feel comfortable can access a five-minute drill session to master the operation. Then the salesperson or call center rep can go right back to the job. No time is wasted returning to the initial training and searching for information on forgotten functions. "This is good for tasks employees don't do that often, where retention isn't great," says Merriman.

• Part three is what the company calls the "InfoWeb." This is a portal to information on the Web or in Clarify documents that will help end users improve their performance. Information such as course offerings and calendars, FAQs, discussion databases, Web-based seminars, leading research, news and events is available on the InfoWeb.

"It is the blending of these three elements that is especially valuable," says Merriman.

Make It Convincing
Online training may seem the obvious choice for your company, but even
e-training cheerleaders admit you may have a hard time selling it, both to your CEO and to your rank-and-file employees. "We have to do a fair amount of convincing to get companies to accept online training," says C3i's McCrea. Interact's Swenson is more optimistic. "Web-based technology is changing, and it is more accepted by students," she says. "One year ago, students would not have accepted online training."

A study by online training expert Brandon Hall may supply you with some valuable statistics in your quest to convert unbelievers. The study, entitled Return on Investment and Multimedia Training, reviewed case studies and online training literature and concluded that there is very strong evidence to support the following conclusions:

1. Online training costs less than instructor-led training. Hall included both the cost of development and the cost of delivery and documented cost savings of 30 percent to 60 percent. Online training's lower costs result mainly from reduction in training time and the elimination of travel. E-training costs more to develop but less to deliver than traditional training. So, Hall says, a positive ROI requires a training population large enough for the savings in delivery to offset the cost of development. In general, online training is cost-effective when you have at least 200 participants, he says.

2. Computer-based training requires less time--typically 50 percent less--than instructor-led training. Hall attributes this time reduction to online training's tighter instructional design, and the option for participants to bypass content they already know and focus on sections not yet mastered.

3. E-training results in an equal or higher quality of learning over traditional instruction.

Training is critical to CRM success. "You may have just spent $5 million on a new CRM system, but if employees don't use it, it wasn't worth the money," says C3i's McCrea. Online training could be the key to a successful implementation.