Pressed to cut costs and increase efficiencies, intranet-based employee training is becoming increasingly popular at corporations worldwide.
The new millennium is swiftly approaching, the labor market is tighter than ever, and organizations worldwide are striving to reduce the cost of doing business to deal with the pressure of a highly competitive, global marketplace. One way these firms are effectively competing in today's business landscape is by using their own private Webs, known as "intranets," as corporate communications centers. By creating such hubs, employees who work in the firm's home office, on the road or in remote locations can all reach the company's intranet with a modem, computer and phone link. They upload and download files, read and leave messages, join online chats with other employees, and review the latest company news. These "internal Internets" not only act as powerful catalysts, but they're also very cost-effective for functions like training.
And the trend is growing. Analysts estimate that about 18 percent of corporate printed material - including training manuals, textbooks and handbooks - becomes outdated within 30 days. Through the use of an intranet, documents that are printed and mailed - such as internal phone books, policy and training manuals, requisition forms and marketing materials - can be put on an internal Web server and updated for a fraction of the cost of reprinting material. For the company, it is not only the publishing, but also the updating of information, that leads to savings.
What's an Intranet?
An intranet is, essentially, a Web site that resides safely behind a company's firewall and caters only to its employees. Building an effective, productive intranet requires planning, collaboration and technical work to make it user-friendly for non-technical staff, and to effectively manage the large amounts of information that exist in an enterprise. The intranet has taken its place alongside myriad other communication tools that organizations are using, but it does have its own distinct profile. An intranet is:
Who's Using Them?
Recently, Hilton Hotels Corp. teamed up with Payback Training Systems (PTS) to implement a multimedia training program that would support Hilton's new state-of-the-art reservations system. The outcome? A unique, interactive courseware program to train thousands of employees at Hilton Reservations Worldwide and global reservations offices on how to use Hilton's new reservations system. The courseware will be used in more than 250 U.S. Hilton hotels upon completion of the training program rollout in mid-1999.
A self-paced study program for employees, Hilton's intranet-based training system is interactive, incorporating and simulating real-world situations. John Luke, vice president of front-office operations and systems for the hotel division of HHC, describes the early success of the new multimedia training: "On average, our reservations agents and front-office staff at hotels achieved scores in the 85th percentile in first-time testing, a testament to the effectiveness of the training system. Upon completion of this training process, our reservations agents will be better prepared to provide the best customer and guest services possible. The systems enable Hilton trainees to learn as they work with the actual reservation system. At the same time, management is able to carefully monitor, quantify and track the trainees for follow-up coaching and document results."
Companies overseas are also cashing in on using intranets as training tools. One example is Omnitel, the second-largest mobile telecommunications company operating in Italy, which chose independent training provider Global Knowledge Network to train 1,000 employees over its company intranet. The system's framework enables a broad range of employees - including secretaries and technical professionals - to evaluate their current competency on productivity tools, analyze their training needs, obtain customized instruction plans, and take courses online. One hundred Omnitel employees currently have access to the training, and that number will increase as Omnitel deploys its intranet around the country.
"We needed a way to train large numbers of employees on software that would make them more productive, but we didn't want to diminish our productivity by taking people away from their work to attend training classes," says Antonio Zaffaroni, director of human resources development at Omnitel. Through the system, employees first evaluate themselves through "profiles" of their particular work and through a database of activities, skills, knowledge and contexts that relate to that work. The evaluation lets employees identify competency gaps and receive an instruction plan to fill those gaps. Users can also visit "virtual classrooms" to receive all of the benefits normally associated with classroom training. The virtual classroom uses online chat rooms and conferencing that enable Omnitel to delegate management and moderator functions. One integral feature of the training allows Omnitel to incorporate training material from other sources regardless of the authoring system used to create it. Also, users can either download course modules to their desktops, saving intranet connection costs, or navigate the intranet training materials in a full Web mode.
The Primary Benefits
With traditional employee-training systems, even the smallest procedural change within a certain department can throw a human resources department into a flurry of activity. Time and dollars are spent churning out addendums to costly training manuals, all with the knowledge that those sheets of paper could very well be ignored or misplaced by the trainees. Intranets not only increase the potential for cost savings in this area, but they also open up the opportunity to launch training programs on a just-in-time basis, without having to assemble massive classroom sessions that take people off the job.
"An intranet provides the ability to tailor training to your company's specific needs and the needs of your employees' specific needs, as well," says Ray Smith, CEO of Houston-based IntraMark, Inc., a consulting, development, design and training company that specializes in Web applications.
Through an intranet, group training can also be done without the need to find facilities to house the group of trainees. And since materials are online, travel-related costs can also be eliminated. "All the material is accessible from any desktop," says Forrest Milkowski, vice president of strategic partnering for White Pine Software, Inc., a software developer in Nashua, N.H. "Students that are remote can download material before or after a class to review on their own time. And because the meetings can be recorded and streamed back later, people who missed the meeting can attend later (although it will not be interactive), or a summarized version can be edited from the complete session to create a refresher or overview class."
According to Faith Sloan, President/CEO of San Francisco-based FRS Associates, LLC, a firm that integrates business objectives with Internet technology to create competitive strategic tools, the biggest benefits of creating and using an intranet-based training system are:
Issues to Consider
According to Milkowski, product and sales training are most suitable for intranets because demonstrations, presentations and other computer-based information are often the key portion of the training in those fields. Overall, however, most industry experts interviewed agree that just about any type of training can be adapted for dissemination via an intranet.
"It's a medium that's very open and adaptable for training purposes because it can be very interactive," says Smith, of IntraMark. "Because of this, learning areas like systems, procedures, on-the-job business tools and policy training all work well. On the other hand, I think it would be more difficult to do management training, simply because the subject matter is a bit more nebulous and necessitates more explanation and face-to-face interaction."
Often, the very people who most need training within an organization may not be technology-savvy, thus making intranet-based training daunting, at best. But according to Milkowski, the problem is not as severe as one might imagine. His firm's product, ClassPoint, for example, is embedded in many non-technical installations. He explains: "The key is to use the browser as you interface and hide controls and settings that distract the students. Comprehension is affected if the students are trying to figure out how to use the products while trying to learn. Also, with videoconferencing, the instructor can easily see if the students are confused or distracted and can react to that by adjusting the pace or material."
Smith concurs: "If it's designed properly, an intranet should be very simple to use and should require only the use of the mouse, with very little typing skills necessary. The system is browser-based, and even those who don't use a computer during their work day are becoming increasingly familiar with it through interaction outside of the workplace, such as the Internet."
Milkowski adds that another problem surfaces when a company is not networked, or if it doesn't have desktop computers that are easily accessible to the employees in need of training. "If high-quality audio and video are required (for example, for sign-language lessons), then certainly the quality of the audio in today's products won't be able to meet the need," he states. "Higher-quality systems are available, but they are very expensive and not practical in many situations."
Added Perks
Using an intranet for training purposes also has various hidden perks, including the ease of managing training records through the implementation of a back-end database server. All data is accessible immediately, but may not be effective for subjective employee ratings and/or evaluations, according to Sloan. "In terms of objective rating, it's effective, but as far as subjective evaluations go, I still believe they must be done by a human being," she says. "A computer or knowledge base just isn't the right tool to determine one's oral presentation skills, for example."
As with many technology applications being used in the world today, intranets are also very effective for cultivating communities - in this case, "learning" communities. Humans are social animals that receive a great deal of benefit through interaction with other learners, subject-matter experts and facilitators. Although it may seem an impersonal tool, an intranet can do much more than deliver information from a centralized source; it can provide a means for learners to collaborate with one another and get support from the experts. Take, for example, a Web site on an intranet dedicated to the needs of those people in an organization who are going through a major training program. The Web site brings together a learning community and provides a wealth of facilities for the users to access at their convenience.
Getting Started
The way in which a company implements an intranet-based training system is highly dependent upon whether or not an existing intranet infrastructure is already in place. If a company does have an existing intranet, starting a training site would simply be an extension of the present structure. In other cases, an intranet may be developed from scratch, with training as the focal point for its existence. Either way, Smith says a company's options relate to how the training will be made available. Companies should ask themselves:
Regardless of which approach is chosen, Sloan adds that the intranet architecture and technology should be determined and designed by an information technology professional (Note: Development costs will vary based on the complexity of the program and the solution providers you choose). "It must be done in conjunction with the trainers, human resources representatives, legal representation and potential users," Sloan advises. "There should be a diversity in the team responsible for carrying the effort."
In terms of maintenance and content, Sloan advises companies to delegate the duties of keeping the training site fresh and up-to-date to the trainers and/or human resource staff. In addition, the medium should be well integrated with existing systems, she says, and not be considered a stand-alone entity.
"It is truly imperative that the external consultant not be charged with running the whole show," she cautions. "It's important for ownership to remain in-house. There should be an integrated team of both consultants and in-house staff members. The external consultants also must eventually provide for knowledge transfer to internal personnel."
According to Milkowski, attending a few intranet-related conferences is the best way to get up to speed on exactly what intranet training is all about. "If you're not educated on the pros and cons of it and the nature of it all, your expectations could be off base," he warns. Smith adds: "The closer you align your intranet use with your overall business strategy, the more successful it will be."
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