Burnaby, B.C.-based telecommunications provider Telus Corp. said Tuesday that it has selected an U.S. e-learning company to power an online training initiative for its 28,000 employees.
Telus’ 13 business units will be standardized on Bellevue, Wash.-based Click2learn’s ToolBook software. Telus plans to use ToolBook to “improve readiness” and offer e-learning courses on new services and products for its employees, resellers and partners, Telus said.
After looking at other e-learning content authoring solutions, Click2learn provided the best e-learning publishing power, performance, and “ease of use”, the company said, adding that a successful ToolBook pilot course created by Telus employees to train its call centre representatives on new product offerings was the key to the deal.
One of Telus’ strategic imperatives is investing in internal capabilities, said Jose Dino, the company’s director of e-learning.
“We did our internal requirements first. We took a look at our specific needs around our business needs, (and) our technical infrastructure,” Dino said. “We looked at productivity and cost issues, and decided that Click2learn was the best solution for us.”
While he couldn’t comment on the financial specifics surrounding the licensing agreement, Dino said the tool enables Telus to build online e-learning training courses for its workforce.
He noted that the company sells Internet, hosting, and e-business applications and that is employees can now be better trained when new products and services, as well as internal processes are rolled out.
“We can develop quickly and efficiently for ‘just-in-time’ learning. We can then publish it on the Internet, announce it and target employees in the company,” Dino said.
“Simply put, this initiative is designed to enable Telus employees to share knowledge more efficiently and effectively. This allows work teams or the workforce overall can get up to speed more quickly on mission-critical business programs, for results that impact the bottom line,” said Click2learn spokesperson Sara Britton
In coming months, ToolBook will be expanded to include software simulation authoring and “deeper” integration with Click2learn’s proprietary enterprise learning platform, Britton said, adding that investing in learning is critical in a knowledge-driven economy.
“An organization’s success rides on its ability share the tacit knowledge that exists in the minds of its workforce,” Britton said.
Telus Corp. in Vancouver is at http://www.Telus.com
Click2learn in Bellevue, Wash. Is at http://wwwclick2learn.com