HE AGE-OLD CHILDHOOD CHANT has finally come true: "No more classes! No more books! No more teachers' dirty looks!" The latest distance training tools allow employees across an organization to receive instruction without leaving their offices.
Like nearly everything else, employee training has found its way onto the Web, allowing the global network, along with corporate intranets, to serve as a virtual classroom. Proponents of Web-based education note that the technology enables organizations to tailor training to individual employee needs while slashing costs by eliminating travel expenses and shortening employee downtime. Furthermore, unlike previous stabs at distance learning, Web technology doesn't require massive investments in leased lines, satellite links or other costly communications technologies.
About 65 percent of corporate training still takes place in a traditional classroom setting, according to International Data Corp. (IDC), a Framingham, Mass., research firm and sister company to CIO Communications Inc. Only 20 percent of training is based on electronic media (including Web-based instruction, CD-ROMs and videocassettes), while the remainder is paper-based, according to IDC.
But times are changing. Employee training via the Web will be adopted by virtually all organizations within the next few years, predicts Marsha Kabakov, director of training channel programs for Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, Wash. "The benefits are clear-cut," she says. "You shave costs, employees get to learn at their own speed and you can easily tailor your training to meet the specific needs of small groups of employees or even individual workers."
The Web-based training market is booming. Such products include PlaceWare Auditorium from PlaceWare Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.; Proxicom Forum from Proxicom of Reston, Va.; Siemens Virtual University from Siemens Business Communications of Santa Clara, Calif.; MeetingPlace from Latitude Communications also of Santa Clara; Microsoft Online Institute; VCampus from UOL Publishing of McLean, Va.; and eRoom from Instinctive Technology of Cambridge, Mass. New products are arriving on the market almost weekly.
Lecture Hall Learning
Web-based training tools can be either real-time or collaborative in design. Real-time products support instructor-led audioconferencing or text conferencing with student interaction. Collaborative tools allow users to access training materials, take tests and share files with instructors and fellow students at their own convenience.
A real-time instruction tool, such as PlaceWare Auditorium, gives students the experience of attending a live lecture where they can see and hear presentations and pose questions. The software allows an instructor to conduct a presentation over the Web using an application like Microsoft PowerPoint and to field questions from students via text or audio simultaneously. Students gather inside a simulated assembly hall, positioned in virtual chairs and rows. Students in the same row can talk to each other, via text or audio, to comment on the lesson or make remarks about the instructor. Like most real-time Web-based training tools, the product requires a 28.8Kbps modem and a Java-compatible browser.
The emergence of Web-based training tools is encouraging organizations to expand and enhance their training programs, says Bill Shott, president of PlaceWare. "Many companies are turned off by traditional training because it's usually a scheduling nightmare," he says. Web-based training makes scheduling classes almost painless, adds Shott. "You're reaching out to people at their own desks, so the logistics are greatly simplified."
Hewlett-Packard Co. is preparing to use PlaceWare Auditorium to train 3,500 engineers worldwide on new product support procedures. "Auditorium will allow us to accomplish the training faster and cheaper," says James Morris, a section manager within HP's customer support organization. "From every angle, using the product makes a lot more sense than gathering everyone together in a single physical location," he says.
While real-time training tools are designed to mimic actual classroom instruction, collaborative offerings tend to resemble groupware products like Lotus Notes. Collaborative tools enable organizations to publish training materials online-slashing printing and distribution costs-while giving employees "anytime, anywhere" access to training information. The technology can also be used to provide self-paced training modules and administer informal tests.
Instinctive Technology Inc.'s eRoom is a collaborative product that's designed to provide a secure, shared workspace on the Web. The product allow users to work interactively with documents. An instructor who intends to work with a group of students on a PowerPoint presentation, for example, simply drags the presentation's icon from a local hard drive onto the eRoom desktop to upload it to the Web server. Once on the server, the presentation becomes available to all group members.
The software automatically tracks versions of pages and keeps multiple copies of documents, which can be viewed by date and time. The manager of a given project can set specific document rights, including "normal," "read only" or "coordinator access." Documents and folders are moved from a local PC to the Web server in standard hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) format.
Bellcore, the Piscataway, N.J., provider of communications software and engineering and consulting services, uses eRoom for several of its corporate training programs. The product allows the company to extend the life of its printed training materials, says Karen Goeller, Bellcore's director of learning support/Internet solutions. "Students can get more value from their training by moving to the Web. Not only can they access the experts within Bellcore, but they can ask questions of each other as well," she says. She adds that the software is also useful for one-on-one training. "The ability to drag and drop documents is a real help. I can invite a colleague in Illinois to work on a document with me, and instead of constantly exchanging e-mails with file attachments, we simply work on the same document within eRoom," she says.
But Goeller adds that collaborative tools like eRoom have their limitations. "An organization really needs both real-time and collaborative technologies," she says. "We use eRoom as our campus, a place students can visit to retrieve reference materials and submit their work. But for live training, we use PlaceWare Auditorium, which supports the real-time interaction that's necessary to convey complicated technical concepts."
Best of Both Worlds
As the Web-based training market matures, products that combine the best features of real-time and collaborative tools are beginning to arrive. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Latitude Communications' MeetingPlace, for example, is a conference server that resides between an organization's PBX/telephone network and LAN/intranet infrastructure. The system works with its user's Web, phone, e-mail and fax resources to deliver audio instruction and text- and graphics-oriented training materials to large or small groups.
MeetingPlace's collaborative features allow organizations to manage and distribute a wide range of support materials, says Glenn Eaton, Latitude's vice president of marketing. "Real-time instruction can't stand by itself," he says. "It's important to have a way of orchestrating and providing the materials that back up what the student sees and hears."
Budget Rent a Car of Lisle, Ill., uses MeetingPlace to train virtually all of its counter staff at nearly 1,000 U.S. rental sites on company policies, problem solving and customer satisfaction issues. Using MeetingPlace, Budget trainers communicate interactively with classes of up to seven students throughout the country. Instructors can talk to the students as a group or offer individual instruction. Students can split into teams to act out hypothetical customer service and sales scenarios.
The technology has allowed the company to shave costs and boost efficiency, says Paul Kasten, Budget's director of training and development. "In 1995, we trained 667 counter staff at approximately $2,000 per person just for travel time and expenses," he says. He points out that audio- and data-based distance learning has decreased the overall training cost to just $156 per student. "Also, we are now able to train a much higher percentage of new counter staff who can't fly due to family commitments and other personal constraints."
Another Web-based training tool that combines real-time and collaborative approaches is LearnLinc I-Net from International Learning Interactive Corp. (Ilinc) of Troy, N.Y. The product can provide audio instruction to groups of various sizes. It connects the instructor to students' PCs via the Internet or a corporate intranet, allowing students to interact with Web-based training content in real-time. The instructor can call on a student when he or she sees an onscreen "electronic hand" raised. The product supports various other teaching aids, such as a whiteboard, a training library, real-time quizzes and courseware authored in Microsoft PowerPoint, Macromedia Authorware, Asymetrix ToolBook or HTML.
Prosoft I-Net Solutions Inc., a Santa Ana, Calif.-based company that provides classroom-based Internet/intranet training, uses LearnLinc I-Net to train its personnel. Prosoft, which teaches people how to use Internet and intranet tools, employs approximately 85 instructors at 42 sites within the United States. With LearnLinc I-Net, the company can train its field instructors as soon as new courseware is ready without having to spend time and money transporting employees to corporate headquarters in Santa Ana, Calif.
Choosing the right Web-based training tool depends on the task at hand, says Bellcore's Goeller. "For informal or update training, a collaborative tool that allows students to work at their own pace may be sufficient. But for new employee training, or for presenting complex material, you'll probably want to provide real-time interaction between students and instructor."
When the Web Works
Slow connection rates and sluggish Web performance can cool some organizations' enthusiasm for online training, says PlaceWare's Shott. "But you can accomplish a lot over a low-bandwidth line," he notes. "Contrary to the perception of some CIOs, it's possible to send audio, text, slides and other training elements over 28.8Kbps lines in real-time."
Latitude's Eaton predicts that Web-based training will gain popularity as video becomes easier to implement. "Right now, Web training tools are mostly limited to text, graphics and audio. When video becomes widely available, we'll really be able to replicate the classroom experience," he says.
But Microsoft's Kabakov says she doesn't think Web-based training will replace other types of instruction completely. "There are some types of training that you just can't do over the Web-like teaching someone how to fly an airplane. But for the vast majority of routine training applications, the Web will win hands down."
John Edwards, a freelance technology writer based in Mount Laurel, N.J., can be reached via e-mail at 70007.412@compuserve.com.
Help Wanted
Finding talented programmers in a highly competitive
market requires both persistence and imagination
Java, intelligent agents, virtual reality and other leading-edge technologies are arriving on the scene at a breathtaking pace. But the changes are also leaving many IS managers breathless as they attempt to find programmers skilled in emerging technologies to fill key job slots.
The problem is that there just aren't enough individuals trained in new disciplines to meet the growing demand of employers, says Stuart Emanuel, president of Interim Technology, a technology staffing and consulting services firm based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He suggests that managers looking to get a project off the ground search inside their ranks for programmers who can be trained in a new technology. "Cross-training is an often overlooked solution," he says. "C++, for example, is not too dissimilar from Java. You can teach Java to your current C++ developers with relatively little effort."
When cross-training isn't possible, managers simply have to look harder, says Mike Baldwin, president and CEO of Virtual Solutions, a database software developer in Irving, Texas. Baldwin, who says he spends over 30 percent of his time recruiting new employees, notes that finding talented programmers in a highly competitive market requires both persistence and imagination. He says traditional search techniques, such as help-wanted ads and professional recruiters, are overused and thus ineffective. Organizations should promote their employment Web sites on Internet search engines and post messages in programmer-oriented newsgroups, Baldwin suggests. "The Internet lets you bring your message directly to developers on their home turf," he says.
Baldwin also recommends that organizations look overseas for programmers. "We've placed immigration attorneys on retainer and now offer in-house English language courses for those new employees who require them," he says. The company is also developing a program designed to teach new skills to younger programmers, bringing them up to speed quickly while providing hands-on experience.
Incentives can help managers attract and retain hard-to-find employees, says Shaun Maine, chief technology officer at Sanga International, a Java software developer based in Burlington, Mass. "You need to offer something that your competitors can't or won't," he says.
Maine says an imaginative, flexible working environment can also help draw skilled programmers to a company. "Any organization can throw money at programmers, but few have the desire or ability to give their programmers creative and intellectual freedom," he says. "If your organization can meet this challenge, it should have no trouble attracting and retaining top talent."
-J. Edwards
Leading Edge
I Want to Know Now!
Your sales manager's best client has just accepted a job at one of his company's competitors. The sales manager would probably like to know about his move for two reasons. First, she can make a pitch to her old friend at the new company. Second, she can make sure to be the first to call her client's replacement and ensure continuity in that company-to-company relationship.
San Francisco-based Inquisit has released a revamped service, also called Inquisit, that is designed to keep employees up-to-date on pertinent news and information affecting their jobs. (Originally launched as Farcast, its interface and delivery methods have been improved, according to the company.) Inquisit's goal is to replace the piles of information stacking up in offices everywhere with electronic data on specific topics that, depending on the level of importance, are delivered to subscribers via e-mail, Web browser, cell phone display or pager.
The cost is $12.95 per month per user for an unlimited number of what Inquisit calls intelligent agents, which are keywords, such as a company name. Inquisit culls information from some 600 information sources, including such varied publications as Airline Financial News, Investor's Business Daily, the Jakarta Post, Jane's Intelligence Review, United Kingdom Venture Capital Journal and English Newswire. Although Inquisit claims the agents are easy to set up and modify, technical support is also included.
For more information, call 415 547-1600 or visit.
Plug 'n' Play Documents
What if you could walk into a bookstore and build your own book from whatever was on the shelves? That's the logic behind Hynet Technologies' combination of document management and electronic publishing technology.
The Digital Library System uses a Web browser as the interface to a document library. Users (or administrators) can compile specific information they need in a digital document, using or discarding chapters depending on their pertinence. For instance, if you were training new employees for your call center, you could compile a manual encompassing instructions on how to use the customer database and basic new employee information. If you were training current employees on a system upgrade, you could create a manual comprising solely new information.
There are four components to the digital library: a search engine for readers, conversion tools for production managers, a linking tool for making data available and a management tool for creating the combined document. All of the components link to a repository that in turn links to a SQL-based database, but reordering the files into different digital documents will not affect the underlying data.
Compatible platforms currently include most recent Windows releases; versions for Sun Solaris and Hewlett-Packard HP-UX are under development. The software supports traditional and simplified Chinese, Japanese and Korean in addition to English. The digital library starts at $50,000, with no royalties charged for documents or CD-ROMs subsequently created. For more information, call 650 637-8398.
Y2K Conversion-Guaranteed
Is this the silver bullet you've been looking for? Cap Gemini America , an IT and management consulting firm, is offering the outsourcing deal of, well, the millennium. It will renovate between 750,000 and 1.5 million lines of Cobol code running under MVS from your Y2K specs for delivery in four weeks, guaranteed. If, within 90 days, you're not satisfied with the quality of the code, according to Cap Gemini, the company will fix it or refund your money.
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