LMS Leaders
October 13, 2008
A look at three recent learning management innovations that make the business of training easier for companies and learners alike.
By Sarah Boehle
With all the chatter lately about the "integrated talent management capabilities" of Learning Management Systems (LMSs), it's not surprising that many other innovations now taking place in the learning management space occasionally get lost in the shuffle.
We wanted to give them their due, however, so we started searching for standouts. Our selection criteria were simple. Innovations had to be relatively recent. They had to solve real problems that LMS and Learning Content Management System (LCMS) users traditionally have bumped up against. And the innovations had to demonstrate clear benefits to companies and their end users. Here's a look at three companies (and end users) that fit the bill:
Search and Learn
Web 2.0 technologies such as wikis and blogs are all the rage these days, particularly in the learning arena. Problem is, most LMSs and LCMSs traditionally have separated formal, structured learning (i.e., e-learning and classroom training) from informal, user-generated Web 2.0 content such as corporate wikis, blogs, and discussion forums.
"Companies are running into trouble because they can't incorporate informal learning into their LMSs," says industry analyst Bryan Chapman, who is chief learning strategist at Chapman Alliance LLC in Utah and an associate of Brandon Hall Research in Sunnyvale, CA. "So they are forced to create separate content silos." According to Chapman, this segregation of content invariably creates time-consuming redundancies for users, who are forced to search two separate databases—their LMS/LCMS, as well as their company's intranet—to find out whether training or information pertaining to their area of need already exists.
Thankfully, the tide is changing, and a slew of LMS and LCMS vendors have begun to extend their platforms in ways that allow learners to search both types of content simultaneously.
OutStart—a Boston-based LCMS vendor that was one of the first to offer this type of integrated search functionality—takes this innovation a step further. In addition to allowing learners to conduct one search from a single window and find all of the information and training—formal and informal—that exists within the organization, the company's Participate, TrainingEdge, and SellingEdge offerings (which are tailored for general use, training professionals, and sales personnel, respectively) also enable learners to contact "Super User" experts, who are pre-identified by the company, on a given topic.
If a learner's question can't be answered by accessing already existing content, she can click on an "Ask the Expert" button and enter her question. The system then automatically distributes the question via e-mail to all Super User experts attached to the topic. These e-mail exchanges are saved within the system, so they show up in future searches, too.
This capability is having a big impact at ExactTarget, an Indiana-based software company. Before implementing OutStart's SellingEdge earlier this year, the company's sales reps routinely inundated the sales support staff with the same, complicated questions about the firm's product and service offerings.
Since implementing SellingEdge, Ryan Warren, ExactTarget's solutions consulting group director, estimates the number of questions requiring a formal e-mail response from sales support has decreased by 80 to 87 percent per week on average. Repeat questions have decreased dramatically, too, he notes.
Best of all, SellingEdge is helping Warren's team to better anticipate learner needs. "We can see what the hot topics are based on how many people are accessing particular conversation threads, the number of threads that are added to conversations, and how many times certain conversations and topics are viewed and searched. In response, we're able to be more purposeful with our curriculum development by developing our formal training courses based on the hot topics we uncover within SellingEdge. The metrics provide us with a window into user needs that is far more efficient than any survey."
"Secret Agent" Software
EXSell Training Solutions LLC in Aliso Viejo, CA, leapt into the learning arena four years ago when it received an urgent call from Ameriquest Mortgage Company. At the time, the residential lender faced 480 class-action lawsuits for unethical lending practices. The U.S. Attorney General had stepped in, demanding the lender take steps to ensure that all of its customer-facing employees act in compliance with state and federal regulations at all times—or be put out of business.
The custom LMS EXSell subsequently built for Ameriquest— and since has implemented elsewhere—created the verifiable paper trail the Attorney General sought, and ultimately reduced the mortgage company's class-action settlement from $500 million to $336 million.
The system, which merges traditional LMS functionality with some James Bond-like twists, typically works like this: Pre- implementation, EXSell conducts a full audit of a company's legacy training, as well as a human capital evaluation of the highest-grossing salespeople on staff, then combines its findings with any ethical and regulatory guidelines governing a company's industry to create a "24 to the Floor" training program featuring up to 24 hour-long Web-based learning modules.
Next, a custom LMS built on a Microsoft SQL backbone is installed and integrated into all of the other systems within the organization. "We tie ourselves into everything, including lead management, loan production systems, PeopleSoft, and other HR systems…even the security card readers employees use to enter and exit the building," says EXSell CEO Jamie Allen.
Once the LMS is installed, all customer-facing employees must complete the 24 to the Floor program within one to two days. A week or so later, employees log on to the system as usual and begin taking calls. Soon thereafter, they are passed a lead through the company's lead management system. The lead looks like any other lead, but actually directs employees into the EXSell Incognito mystery call center, where a qualified actor covertly screens each rep by asking questions and taking notes on the rep's performance relative to topics covered in the 24 to the Floor program. The goal? To determine whether employees are, in fact, adhering to ethical lending standards and sales best practices. "Our professional scriptwriters equip the callers with an elaborate back story, and we change our characters frequently to avoid being unmasked," says Allen.
Within 30 seconds of a mystery call ending, an e-mail is sent to the rep's supervisor or manager with a PDF of the test. If the employee didn't perform up to snuff on certain aspects of the assessment, the e-mail includes specific action items and work plans—such as one-on-one coaching or retaking specific 24 to the Floor modules tied to areas the employee didn't do well on during the call.
Companies also can use EXSell's recently released Infinity 8.8.8 product to automatically recalculate a rep's learning path through the 24 to the Floor program based on his or her performance on a mystery call—without manager intervention. "When the rep goes back to work the day after taking the test," says Allen, "he logs in to his learning portal and receives a message saying, 'Hey, Bob. Your learning path has changed. You need to retake modules 9, 7, 2, and 3.'" Once Bob has retaken those modules, he's placed back into the mystery call cue again—and the process repeats itself. "The idea is to test and train each rep to 'infinity' throughout his tenure with the organization," says Allen, "so every employee knows everything he needs to know."
Finally, if testing results red flag an employee for unethical behavior (e.g., telling someone she can fake tax returns on a loan application), EXSell's new Incognito 2.0 High Security Edition product shuts the employee down. "Some unethical behaviors are grounds for immediate dismissal—in which case the system locks you out of all production systems, immediately shuts down your security card, and doesn't allow you to enter or exit the building," says Allen. If an ethical infraction is less severe, reps are barred from receiving any further customer leads until the issue is resolved.
Until now, says Allen, most of EXSell's customers in the banking and mortgage industries have turned to the company when they are in trouble. Now, EXSell's goal is to show companies how the system can help them to avoid legal and compliance issues in the first place. "It's about being proactive rather than reactive, which makes much more business sense," says Allen, especially given the foreclosure debacle currently sweeping the country.
The Perfect Blend
Anyone who's used a traditional LMS to track, administer, or register for blended or certification training knows what a hassle doing so can be. Administrators and managers usually have to enter any task-based and on-the-job (OTJ) learning components associated with such programs into the system manually—and send out countless reminder e-mails to help learners stay on track. Learners often face a time-consuming registration process because they're forced to enroll in each course individually.
Thankfully, several LMS vendors now offer functionality designed to address these issues. In February, for example, Saba in Redwood Shores, CA, released a revised version of its Saba Certification Module. Learners using systems outfitted with the module can enroll in all of the courses tied to a particular certification or blended learning program in one fell swoop. When they log in and register, the LMS automatically schedules the courses based on prerequisite requirements and sequencing protocols assigned by the company, then enrolls the employee in every course she needs to complete to satisfy the requirements of a given learning program.
This course registration information is added automatically to the employee's personal success plan, which includes a course roster and a checklist of various to-do's. Over time, "to-do" reminders are generated automatically by the system and sent out to learners.
The module also automatically integrates and manages formal, informal, and OTJ components of blended learning. "Employees can log in and indicate they have completed various required tasks. Deep linking embedded in the system then generates a note that's sent to the manager, who can approve and verify the information in bulk by using a one-click approval button, or approve items on a task-by-task basis," says Saba VP of Marketing A.G. Lambert. "The manager also can edit the employee's record if he or she finds any errors."
These capabilities are producing rewards for Mitel Networks Corporation, a telecommunications company based in Ottawa, Canada. The company has used Saba since 2001 and recently integrated the revamped certification module into its system. The new module makes registration quicker and easier—which translates to sales reps who now are more willing to register for and complete training, says Lynn McCormick, senior manager of training development at Mitel University.
The new module also is making the administration of blended learning easier for McCormick's team, particularly on the assessment front. "Our dealer certification programs include leader-led, virtual, self-study, and interactive Web-based training. For the first time, we have the ability to attach an online test to leader-led and virtual classes, and the system automatically will score the assessments and report the results back to us without our having to even look at the tests. That means less work and administration on our end, and more consistency for our learners."
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