IBM sees trend in workplace training move from grudge purchase to proactive investment in human capital

With 2 000 e-learning customers in 55 countries and growth in 2001 in its eLearning division of 80%, IBM sees customers moving from viewing workplace training as a grudge purchase towards understanding that it is an investment in human capital - a source of competitive advantage.

IBM eLearning customers include Acer, American Airlines, Banca di Roma, LG Electronics, the New Zealand government, the Norwegian Department of Defence, Sony Europe and Daimler-Chrysler in SA.

Says Howard Stafford, IBM SA`s learning services manager: "In SA, we have legislated the need for workplace training in the Skills Development Act.

"But workplace training and education is also becoming a boardroom issue in the rest of the world, as service and product delivery become progressively more automated.

"The differentiator in an automated product or services environment is people.

"If employees cannot add value they utterly negate a company`s investment in equipment and systems.

"Organisations are finding that the fastest, most effective way to skill and upskill people is to use e-learning technologies."

South African organisations have been slow in moving from traditional adult education systems to e-learning.

"Corporate connectivity infrastructure has been focused externally, not internally; on customer-facing functions, not on staff," says Stafford.

Even so, South African organisations are spending considerable sums of money on workplace training - without getting a measurable return on investment (ROI).

IBM`s ROI on its own staff training and education, through e-learning, has been consistently over 2 000% for the past three years.

Stafford says executives tend to focus on costs - such as man days lost to training or expenditure on venues, delegate travel and accommodation, trainers and training material.

"They`re irrelevant unless we know whether the training is having a measurably positive impact on the bottom line. Is productivity improving, is customer satisfaction increasing, are we beating competitors to market, are we selling more?

"Getting the right answers to these questions means looking at workplace training as an end-to-end, continuous process and not as a series of piecemeal interventions focused only on bringing staff up to speed on new products or new technology.

"Training strategy should aim for consistency of employee behaviour.

"MacDonald`s gets it right. No matter where you are in the world, you know exactly what to expect when you go into a MacDonalds. That kind of consistency is missing from most South African organisations."

Consistency is achieved through training in the so-called soft skills - how to handle customers, how to conduct performance appraisals, how to run a meeting - via a blend of electronic and physical training environments.

"Electronic and physical options each have specific benefits.

"For instance, electronic facilities cost-effectively enable employees to control their rate of learning by allowing them to access information, take interactive online tests and benchmark their experience and knowledge in chat rooms and conference calls.

"But face-to-face contact is vital in training.

"Ironically, e-learning processes maximise the benefits and reduce the cost of face-to-face training, too.

"For example, by enabling people to qualify in their own time with easily accessible and affordable electronic material, e-learning processes mean that all delegates arrive at face-to-face sessions with the same level of knowledge. Therefore, workshops that used to take, say, 10 days need only take three.

"And management control of training costs is easier - if you haven`t qualified you can`t go on the course and you don`t incur costs of venue, travel and accommodation and days out of the office."