Faced with training a constant flow of retail staff in such a diversity of talents, Ford opted for online learning approximately two years ago, and while retail is not an environment traditionally associated with e-learning, the company has had some notable successes.
"I think any industry can benefit from e-learning if it is done correctly," Ford says. "We used to have a two day, face-to-face training program which can now be done in a single day. If people can come prepared for their training session by doing the online training first, it heightens what they get out of the face-to-face session."
The Rebel University consists of 12 interactive modules ranging from point-of-sale training to specific sports modules and management training, and the results speak for themselves.
"The stores where the staff use Rebel Uni the most are the ones that have the best growth," Ford says. "It has already paid for itself in terms on initial outlay and realistically most of the work now involves updating the modules so costs are minimal."
However, Ford urges caution, pointing out that the success of an e-learning offering depends largely on how it is managed and implemented.
"Companies that do it (e-learning) poorly don't start with the end users. You really need to start with the person on the shop floor and find out what they want and need," Ford says. "Before we write a module we go to the people who work in the departments and find out what questions they are being asked by customers. There is no point teaching them information they won't be using on the shop floor."
The appropriateness of teaching material seems to be of concern at all levels of implementation with Peter Tilton, head of online learning services at the ANZ bank, saying that many organisations fail to implement effective e-learning because they do take time to properly define their strategy.
"The biggest mistake companies make is seeing it as a software purchase and buying a huge suite of IT courseware which leads to a large spend with little utilisation," Tilton says. "We began by trying to identify our core business problems and drivers over the next 12 to 18 months, and focus the training on those areas."
Using Oracle's ASP style e-learning service and working in conjunction with various courseware developers and content developers, ANZ has conducted 158000 courses for 23000 staff and a raft of contractors over the last 18 months.
"The ASP model provides a much more affordable entry point and tangible ROI within the first few months, which in turn has generated a lot of interest," Tilton says.
In fact, e-learning at ANZ has been so successful the bank has commercialised the offering and is actively selling third party training into the corporate market.
From the users point of view, Tilton says ANZ employees and contractors have responded well to online training, especially to the level of control they have over the classes and their ability to pick and choose courses which suit their requirements.
"There is a high degree of interest from people that want a specific type of training," Tilton says. "We are offering a one stop shop of courses they can pick and choose from."
From a managerial point of view, Tilton says online training has enabled the bank to save time and money.
"We can train people within a week of a new product going to market. The rapidity with which we can deploy a training module is remarkable and has some fundamental impacts on the pace of business," Tilton says.
