Case Study

Top Energy Company Bolsters Compliance with Innovative Learning Technology

Case Study

Top Energy Company Bolsters Compliance with Innovative Learning Technology

ExpertusONE Cloud LMS improves global training adoption while reducing costs.

Challenge

In a 2010 poll of Fortune 100 companies, 68% of learners graded their LMS at a C or below. It’s a problem plaguing the industry today – and one of the United States’ largest energy companies was facing the exact same issue.

Despite a heavy annual investment in training and development, the company’s Saba-based learning management system was at times unreliable, inefficient, and ineffective. In fact, multiple business units had created peripheral LMSs, SharePoint sites, and blogs as their own quick fix.

Gaining Full Compliance

Because full compliance with required employee training was critical to the organization’s continued growth and profitability within the energy sector, a complete transformation of its learning technologies and compliance program support was needed, including:

  • An upgrade to its LMS architecture and the outsourcing of all hosting and level 3 support.
  • Creating a learner-friendly graphical user interface (GUI).
  • Adding an ad-hoc analytics reporting tool.
  • Establishing a scalable, easy-to-configure, long-term platform that could keep pace with the company’s global learning needs.

Reestablishing the COE

“This organization wanted to reestablish its Center of Excellence as a world leader in learning and was seeking a fast, cost-effective way to drive the adoption/use of its learning platform,” said the PeopleONE Director of Business Consulting.

“PeopleONE was the easy choice because we were the only vendor who could do it all – provide the service and technology to overhaul their entire compliance training activities.”

Solution

The energy company already had a productive four year project history with PeopleONE. And as a leading learning technology and managed services provider (specializing in the design and support of learning processes for global organizations), PeopleONE was the logical choice to address their growing compliance needs.

Innovative, Holistic Technology

Working as a team, they first set out to diagnose why learners and business units were unhappy with the old LMS. And then, they developed a holistic technology solution that would:

  1. Upgrade and support the energy company’s existing learning infrastructure; and
  2. Incorporate a single, intuitive, easy-to-navigate GUI for its worldwide learning audience.

Infrastructure improvements/services included:

  • Saba upgrade, domain restructuring, training, hosting, and level 3 management
  • Expanding SAP Business Objects to learning management
  • Data warehouse hosting
  • Email notification mapping
  • Training administration governance consulting

As for the graphical user interface, the organization chose to use PeopleONE’s innovative social learning platform – ExpertusONE, which provided:

  • On-demand, 24/7, worldwide access to all ILT, VILT, and eLearning.
  • A simplified approach to finding, taking, and managing training – to add value and bolster learner participation.
  • Ad-hoc reporting with dashboard views for unparalleled data availability, customizable reports, guided learning paths, advanced analytics, and Web metrics.

Short- and Long-Term Adoption Plan

Additionally, PeopleONE created a change management plan and defined long-term best practices to bolster the new learning portal’s immediate and future success. “We wanted to simplify how employees get the information and training they need – bringing them into full compliance – and improve their day-to-day work performance,” the director explained.

Results

In just six months, the energy company launched a complete technology solution that improved user adoption of training and reduced costs:

  • $8.5 million net present value
  • 110% average annual rate of return
  • $5 million in savings over the next three years
  • Significant reduction in help desk tickets and static report creation requests

“PeopleONE completely overhauled our user experience,” said the company’s Director of Learning. “Searching, selecting, and taking training is now a highly effective, streamlined process. Our click rate is down, our find rate is up, and we got instant global buy-in.”

Unprecedented Access

With ExpertusONE, company managers now have unprecedented access to business-critical compliance reporting. As soon as they log in, their dashboard shows who’s in compliance and who’s not – plus it tracks each learner’s progress and when their certifications are due to expire.

Another way the organization grew productivity and cost effectiveness is in the upgrade, consolidation, and outsourcing of its learning management technology. They were able to:

  • Force consolidation of peripheral LMSs for better compliance control.
  • Reduce system downtime for improved content availability.
  • Outsource IT hosting staff to save costs, training, and hassles.

Indispensable Resource

“They now have an enhanced, company-wide tool to superiorly manage, record, and deliver training,” the director concluded. “Managers have immediate access to the important information they need, and learners have a simplified experience to help them do their jobs better. The new learning portal has proven to be an indispensable resource for the company’s ongoing compliance success.”

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