Utilizing your intranet

SOUR COMPANY PROBABLY HAS AN intranet site, and if so, the site can add tremendous value to your training effort.

The value comes in two packets. The first packet is the wonderful efficiency

* enroll in a training course

* reserve training space or equipment

* access training manuals

* view or update training course descriptions

* view or update training schedules

* survey training needs

* create, maintain and mine a database of training utilization, costs and user satisfaction.

The second packet of value lies in the fact that certain categories of training can be delivered on your intranet site with tremendous cost savings, trackability and consistency. Each of these benefits is significant; the one that gets everybody's attention is the fact that system-based training (once it is installed) costs about i percent as much to deliver as instructorled training.

Having said that, a diluting statement needs to be factored in. It is currently fashionable to assume that all training material can be effectively delivered via computer-based training, and this is not really the case.

Training material that is suitable for computer-based (read "intranet") delivery is linear, factual and quantitative. Regulatory compliance is a good example.

Training material that is not suited for computer-based delivery is conceptual, ambiguous or contextual. "Dealing with price objections" is the perfect example. Training material in this category needs to be fluid, and needs a format that allows participant-generated "what-if" scenarios. The best computer-based training does this poorly, and most training doesn't do it at all. A stand-up trainer is required.

Still, a portion of any training course (and a large part of most) is suitable for intranet delivery. Suppose, for example, that your new loan officers are brought to your headquarters for an eight-day training course. The second half of the course trains in face-to-face selling skills. The first half teaches product knowledge, regulatory compliance and corporate policies. The all-in cost of running the course is $300 per day, per participant.

The entire first half of the course could be put on your intranet, renamed "prework" and delivered for practically no cost. Suppose you deliver the course to 200 people per year-the dollar savings is $240,000 per year.

This is a stunning return on the very moderate time investment of writing the training material into your intranet site.

Is there a catch? Only that the information technology (IT) or systems division of your company must be persuaded to put the training material onto your site in a usable format and a timely manner. In the companies I am familiar with, this is a greater challenge than one would think. But that's another story...