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Case Study of a Client in the Insurance Industry
Business Challenge
The CEO's vision in adopting e-Learning for his organization was strategic: to gain competitive advantage over their competitors. The target audiences for this e-Learning project are the 1,000+ employees (i.e. Managers, Executives and Staff) and the 3,000+ field insurance advisors. Besides looking for a different delivery mechanism (over the classroom learning environment) that can potentially yield higher Training Returns on Investments (TROI), the CEO was intended to leverage technology to enhance the time-to-market of the insurance services business.
As they had previously attempted CBT (Computer-Based Training) with little success, the HR Department was skeptical of the CEO's initiative (though unspoken). This provided a huge implementation challenge to us.
The Approach
The organization adopted a phased approach in its e-Learning implementation i.e. to roll-out e-Learning with the internal employees first before extending to the insurance advisors. The reasons were two-pronged; to smoothen the kinks of implementation and to ensure well distribution of implementation effort.
As we were new to the organization's culture, having a smaller implementation population helps to ensure more timely feedback on any change management program implemented. This allowed us to react swiftly and made timely adjustments to our Culture Change Plan to custom-fit the client's culture. Starting out with a smaller population also means that we can better concentrate our implementation effort on driving up the usage for this group of users before extending e-Learning to the field insurance advisors. Our success with the internal employees also acted as a great publicity effort to the field agents as they can now see the benefits of e-Learning within their own organization.
The Implementation Framework - Our Methodology
Our framework comprises the 5C's of successful e-Learning
implementation. They are Content, Culture, Champion, Change Management
and Communication . This is no silver bullet, and while a sound
e-Learning strategy is an important foundational layer, the key
lies in our implementation (the devil is in the details) .
The 1,000+ Employees
Operationally, just-in-time, just-in-need
(24/7) training offered by e-Learning means timely knowledge acquisition
in lesser time (vis-à-vis classroom learning). This means
that employees can improve their skill-sets and competencies in
more areas without having to be physically away from work, thus
improving productivity.
Strategically, the learner-centric model of e-Learning (compared to instructor-centric learning of classroom training) empowers the learners. This is a key human resource differentiator for any organization in an innovation-led economy.
The successful adoption of e-Learning has now affected
a new mind-set in the organization and this was not felt solely in
learning. While the employees have taken a seemingly small step in
adopting e-Learning over the last year, the organization has taken
a huge leap in transforming its workforce to one that is not only
highly skilled, but highly adaptable to the ever changing knowledge
economy.
 The
3,000+ Insurance Advisors
In addition to what have been mentioned
above, the critical difference for the insurance advisors is that
they are the key lifeline of any insurance company.
As time well spent with customers is potential revenue 'spinner', the insurance advisors need to be always on the go. Quite clearly, this leaves them little time to attend training to upgrade themselves as every hour away from work is one hour lesser to generate sales.
Hence, it was a prevailing challenge for our client to bring the insurance advisors to attend training, and the consequence is a lack of new product knowledge, each time when a new line of product is being introduced. Inevitably, this has translated to lower sales as the time-to-market duration is unnecessarily prolonged.
 With
the adoption of e-Learning, the insurance advisors can now enjoy
the flexibility to continue meeting clients (to generate more sales)
during the active hours and yet schedule learning time accordingly
(i.e. e-Learning learner-centric model has effectively provided
the flexibility to support a customer-centric process). The faster
time-to market for any new product launched will provide the crucial
competitive edge in a highly competitive industry.
Please refer to the example quoted below:
E.g. In a traditional classroom training environment, for 3,000 insurance advisors to attend a 2-days classroom training at maximum of 30 participants per class.
3,000 pax / 30 pax per class |
X |
2 days |
= |
200 training days |
The turnover of training for the insurance advisors is very much dependent on the physical infrastructure e.g. classrooms and trainers.
On the other hand, e-Learning allows 3,000 insurance advisors to be trained all at once when the courseware is available on the internet. Moreover, the learners' performance (or non-performance) can be managed by tracking their learning behavior and progresses, and should assistance be needed, help is only a phone call (or e-mail) away. Effectively, depending on the several factors, one of which being the usage policy, e-Learning can improve time-to-market by at least half the time used in classroom training.*
* We are only looking at a small place like Singapore, where traveling time is inconsequential. For country with a larger geographical spread, the return is even more substantial.
Value Delivered
Hitherto, in the first year of implementation, the 1,300+ employees had successfully completed over 7,100 hours of e-Learning comprising 2,100 e-Learning courses. In just the first 9 months of the second year of implementation, e-Learning hours shot up to more than 8,200 hours with almost 2,000 courses being completed (refer to chart below) . The number of courses completed has also increased sharply in the second year of implementation. In just the first 9 months of the second year, the number of courses completed is almost the same as that of the first year (refer to chart below) . The above results are not inclusive of the hours and courses completed by the 3,000 insurance agents whose focus was on the certification courses we have customized for them.
We have received numerous very positive feedbacks from many of our client's staff. The staff is keen to do e-Learning from home in addition to office, and at any time of the day. From a monthly 600 e-Learning usage hours in the first year of adoption to the current average of over 900 hours every month, the organization has made a quantum leap.
The pre and post-course outcome showed a 30-40% increase knowledge transfer (L'Kirkpartrick** Level 1 & 2 training evaluation) . More importantly, the application (L'Kirkpatrick Level 3 training evaluation) of the newly acquired knowledge in their work areas have resulted in improved productivity.
For the 3,000+ insurance advisors, we have successfully launched the customized content for their insurance products and services. The interactivity and instructional design was planned with the target audience and content delivery in mind. The result has been a pleasant surprise (though not unexpected) with the insurance advisors who successfully completed our online courses achieving a high pass rate in their insurance examination (a critical criteria before they are certified to sell the products and services).
** L' Kirkpatrick is a training evaluation model
for measuring 4 levels of training effectiveness:
Level 1 : Learners' reaction and adoption of e-Learning
Level 2 : Learners' knowledge acquisition
Level 3 : Behavioral Change of Learners
Level 4 : Return On Investments
Why Us?
The reasons why they choose COMAT over the other vendors
are due to our reliable services, reasonable pricing, and most importantly,
our experience in implementing e-Learning to many other clients
from the various industries. After the implementation, they are
further impressed by our high level of professionalism and service
quality. Our proactive consultation with the client, thorough execution,
and prompt technical support has enabled the client to implement
e-Learning smoothly and effectively.
A Snippet of the Implementation
 The
launch of this e-Learning project was a major event and the CEO
was there to witness the launch. The buy-in and commitment from
the top management was essential to the smooth initial phase of
implementation.
During the Awareness Creation phase, we did numerous
road-shows prior to the actual launch to increase the awareness
of the e-Learning courses. After the official launch, many sessions
of familiarization trainings were conducted to ensure that the users
are able to navigate through the courses and are familiar with the
functional aspect of the courses.
Continuous communications between our Implementation
Consultant and the Project Leader from the client's side was essential
to the success of this whole project. Our Implementation Consultant
monitored the usage patterns and trends very closely and provided
constant feedback and suggestions to the Project Leader on the results
of each change management program.
Throughout the entire implementation process, we engaged
the help of e-Champions, volunteers within the organization to help
evangelize e-Learning. They played a crucial role in influencing
the users to go online as well as defuse much of the resistance
and fear in the new way of learning.
The managers within the organization played a key
role as well in being the e-Mentors. Not only did this signify the
commitment by the management, it also became a 'push' factor for
the managers to complete the courses as well.
End Note
As endnote, we wish to emphasize that every company
is unique in terms of demographics, culture and policies. Hence,
though the main gist of e-Learning implementation is similar, the
Implementation Consultant still needs an eye for details and make
necessary adjustments to 'custom-fit' the individual needs of every
different client.
For more information on COMAT's e-Learning offerings,
call (65) 6323 7911.
This case study is for informational purposes
only. COMAT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
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