Podcast 72: Multi-Audience Extended Enterprise Training

EPISODE 72: Multi-Audience Extended Enterprise Training

Patty Costley, Director of L&D at NEOGOV

I often talk about the concept of true extended enterprise training. However, I don’t often cross paths with companies that serve diverse internal and external audiences within a single learning management system. Why is this so rare?

It takes more than a powerful LMS to make this kind of learning strategy work. But what exactly does it take? That’s what I’m discussing today with a practitioner who is walking the talk.

Join me as I explore this topic with Patty Costley, Director of Learning and Development at PowerDMS by NEOGOV, on The Talented Learning Show…

Multi-Audience Extended Enterprise Training – KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Many learning systems vendors say their solution is built for extended enterprise training. Yet, few organizations rely on one LMS for all. If audience objectives overlap heavily, you may be able to streamline. Consider addressing common needs first, then filling audience-specific gaps.

• When a single LMS is the backbone of extended enterprise training, robust integrations are essential. This makes it possible for learning to fit seamlessly into your business and HR ecosystem. It also ensures that your solution can evolve and grow along with your business.

• Meaningful measurement is the only way to know what’s working, and what needs more attention. Start by defining success in your leaders’ terms. Then develop relevant metrics as KPIs.

Multi-Audience Extended Enterprise Training – Q&A HIGHLIGHTS

Welcome, Patty. For those who haven’t heard of NEOGOV, could you tell us about it?

Absolutely. NEOGOV is a SaaS software company with two main divisions:  human capital management, and public safety and healthcare. We offer more than 20 products, with more on the way. On the public sector side, these solutions help organizations manage things like hiring, onboarding, training and performance evaluations. And on the public safety side, it’s things like field training, policy management and accreditation management.

I started about 10 years ago with PowerDMS, which was a small company at the time. Then, almost 4 years ago, we were acquired by NEOGOV. So we’re much bigger now.

I see. And what is the scope of your extended enterprise training mission?

Well, several years ago at PowerDMS, we decided it was time for a scalable customer education solution. Some customers worked the late shift, so they couldn’t attend live classes or meetings during typical work hours. But for us, having the same training conversations multiple times a day, every day, just wouldn’t work.

So we decided to launch online learning through PowerDMS University, which I built from scratch. I operated as The Lone Ranger for a while, recording audio for e-learning courses in my closet.

Wow…

But since that kind of learning doesn’t appeal to everyone, we started building virtual instructor-led courses. It’s really the same thing, but participants are in a sandbox, interacting with the instructor.

Also, we offer an online community, which includes our knowledge base and community forums where customers can ask questions of other customers. It includes interest groups, quick help articles and quick help videos. My team also maintains all of that.

Find out how other companies are achieving more with learning systems that create business value. Get inspiration from dozens of success stories in our free LMS Case Study Directory…

In addition, we have professional services for customers who want more personalized attention that isn’t available in a group format. We scope and quote those services either for remote one-on-one training targeted to a customer’s learning objectives, or we’ll deliver onsite training. In that case, we’ll create a customized training plan with learning objectives and success measures, so we clarify their needs and define what we’re going to deliver in advance.

And another important piece is our certified professional program, so people can show that they’re experts at using our software.

Impressive. Is this just for customers? Or have you expanded to serve multiple audiences in a true extended enterprise training capacity?

We serve a variety of audiences. In addition to customers, we need to train our partners. This includes relationships with accreditation partners who need to understand how all the pieces fit together. And we have resellers who sell our solutions on our behalf. And there are various others outside the organization that need to learn about our products.

And we offer all of these things internally as well. Because if you work for us you’ll probably need to know how our systems work and maybe how to implement them or how to talk to customers about them.

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So, how did you solve this extended enterprise training challenge? Did you decide it was best to serve all these audiences through a single solution?

It was important to us not to maintain content in multiple places. When we chose our first LMS, we made a mistake. We were short-sighted and we found out quickly within the first year.

So we moved to a system that will support us now and five years or more down the road. It also helps us support all those different audiences that are consuming learning content about our products.

And you found a solution that meets all those extended enterprise training requirements?

Yes. We use Docebo for all of our e-learning and virtual instructor-led training. It’s all housed in there. We have some automation set up that helps deliver the content to the right people at the right time. And it has had a really beneficial impact on our business.

It has also made my life a lot easier because I don’t have to remember, “Gosh, I have this course here, but these people over here need the update too.” It’s just there.

I use the central repository, which pushes pieces of content out to the different places that live within Docebo. I set it and forget it. And that’s amazing because I don’t have to hire an LMS administrator. All the automation is set up so when I need to update something, it’s done with only a couple clicks.

Excellent. So you’re able to use the same content for different audiences? Or do you need to modify it?

As we see it, the way the product works is the way the product works. Functionality is functionality — whether you’re an employee, a customer, a reseller or a partner. So to streamline content creation and maintenance, we rely on the same core pieces of content.

But now we’re starting to look at where gaps may be. For example, an implementation consultant may need some small additions to address some nuances. So, we’ll add incremental pieces to appropriate catalogs.

With all these diverse audiences, how do you measure success? What KPIs matter most?

We look at multiple metrics. For example, when we started, time-to-onboard was way too high. That was because we didn’t have a scalable option so people could take learning on demand. At one point, I was booked out 6 weeks in advance. But within the first year, we reduced time-to-onboard by 30%.

That’s great. So, where do integrations fit into your ecosystem? What other systems are helping you deliver the right content to the right people at the right time?…

…For complete answers to this question and more about extended enterprise training solutions, listen to the full 30-minute podcast on Apple Podcasts, on Google Podcasts, on Spotify, or right here on our site.

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