The ELearning Fieldbook [Electronic resources] : Implementation Lessons and Case Studies from Companies that are Making eLearning Work نسخه متنی

Case 4:Wachovia Corporation

Company Facts and Figures

Industry: Financial Services

Scope of Services and Products: Complete banking services, brokerage services, asset management, wealth management, and innovative products for individual customers

Estimated Number of Employees: 84,000

Year e-Learning Introduced: 1997

Offices and Locations: Offices throughout the U.S. and more than 30 international offices; Headquarters in Charlotte, NC

Estimated 2002 Revenues: US$19 billion

Web Site: www.wachovia.com

Number of e-Learning Programs in Entire Curriculum: 600+

Introduction

Learning new processes and procedures quickly is key for the employees of one of theUnited States largest financial services institutions. When Wachovia Corporation needed to rollout a new proprietary software course to hundreds of users across the company, they faced several challenges. First, Wachovia had to comply with government regulations that every account had to be reviewed once in each calendar year. Therefore, Wachovia had to train all trust administrators, portfolio managers, and their staff in a short period of time so that accounts could be reviewed prior to year end. Second, the training budget was shrinking. And finally, as this new software would change the way people work, because the paper process was completely eliminated and now automated, a collaborative and interactive environment was needed to effectively facilitate learning.

Since approximately 1997, Wachovia, a full-service financial and retail brokerage company, has implemented e-learning as part of their overall learning strategy. “We do 3 to 3.5 million hours of training per year,” says Scott Sutker, Vice President for Advanced Learning Systems at Wachovia. “And 50 percent of our learning is non-classroom.”

For non-classroom based training, Wachovia uses media, such as CBT, WBT, CD-ROM, self- study workbooks, conference calls, satellite, and video. In addition, Wachovia also uses a live e-learning tool developed by Centra. In the case of creating training for the new software program, learning leaders at Wachovia decided that using the Centra tool would be their best solution for developing and delivering the course, Client Servicing Automated Regulation 9.

Why e-Learning?

Wachovia selected an e-learning approach to:

Train hundreds of people in a short period of time to meet government regulations

Reduce or eliminate travel, telecommunications, and facilities costs associated with classroom learning

Bring together geographically diverse groups of people to interact and learn in a highly collaborative environment

An online virtual classroom solution can provide “many features that mimic live classrooms, including real-time collaboration, feedback, breakout rooms, and evaluations.” says Margaret Magner, Wachovia’s Director for Professional Development for the Retail Investment Group. After the course was designed and developed internally, one online facilitator trained 800 employees from all over the United States within a three-month period—and no travel was involved for anyone.

How Was the Program Aligned with the Business?

The framework of Wachovia’s learning organization is evident in their mission statement.

We are strategists who provide learning and development solutions that drive business results.

Wachovia’s training organization is a combination of centralized and decentralized training teams. It is decentralized to provide business unit expertise and focus, and centralized to increase efficiency and reduce redundancy for the entire corporation. The decentralized business unit training teams conduct needs analysis, performance consulting, and job-specific training delivery. They also provide the core of a Learning Council, which consists of training leaders from each of Wachovia’s six major lines of business.

Wachovia’s centralized teams research, recommend, procure, design, develop, and coordinate training products and services. The centralized unit, known as the-learning Strategy Group, also coordinates and conducts extensive post-training effectiveness and ROI measurement to ensure optimal learning effectiveness and business value.

In this case, a business unit was implementing a new software system and changing work processes in a major way. With the new automated work process, Wachovia could:

Ensure that all trust accounts that required a review would actually receive a review

Ensure that people involved in the process were adhering to the department’s policies and procedures

Save the corporation an estimated $1.5 million in paper costs alone

The business unit leaders met with the central Learning Strategy Group to identify the learning need, and the central group then determined the media platform, course objectives, timelines, and design of the course.

Key Business Drivers

Rapidly training all trust administrators, portfolio managers, and their staff to understand an in-house system application that combines imaging and workflow systems into one automated process, the benefits of the automated process, and their role(s) in the process

Complying with Federal regulations that govern trust departments to meet an annual review deadline

Updating employees’ customer service skills, which are integral to the bank’s success

How Was the Program Designed?

The Client Servicing Automated Regulation 9 course is designed to be delivered as a 90-minute live e-learning event on the company intranet, as part of Wachovia’s Virtual Campus. Using the Centra authoring product, instructional designers created a highly interactive course, which included real-time audio, application sharing, custom developed content in PowerPoint, polling questions, an evaluation, and an assessment. Then using the Centra virtual classroom application, an instructor could schedule and offer the same course as many times as needed and still be able to tailor the live session to a particular audience.

The focus of the course is to introduce trust administrators, portfolio managers, and their staff to a new in-house system application and process, demonstrate the benefits of the new process, providing guidance as to their role(s) in the process. The course contains:

An introduction to an in-house designed application that combines two previously separate systems to be accessible through one automated process

Information about who will be impacted by the automated process

An explanation of the expected cost savings by using the automated process as compared to the previous 182-step manual and very paper-intensive process

Messages about other key benefits for the new process, including being able to ensure that people involved with the process were adhering to the trust department’s policies and procedures

Media and Tools

Live audio, application sharing, custom developed content in PowerPoint, polling questions, an evaluation, and an assessment (all designed within the Centra authoring tool)

Real-time Web collaboration sessions, presented using Centra’s virtual classroom application and accessed through Wachovia’s internal learning portal

How Was the Program Deployed?

Wachovia’s corporate-wide learning portal, called the Learning Connection, provides access to training and education for all employees. The Learning Connection was created from the marriage of legacy Wachovia’s Center for Learning and legacy First Union’s First University. Courses range from new-hire orientation to senior management mentoring, from technical training to macroeconomic investment strategies.

Learners can access the library of courses, class schedules, their grades, and the Virtual Campus all from the Learning Connection.

Marketing Approach

Reminders sent to employees and their supervisors via e-mail

Successes from the pilot test used to market the training in the organization

Wachovia delivers the Client Servicing Automated Regulation 9 course as a live e-learning event through the Virtual Campus (see Figure 12-3). In the initial rollout, about 800 employees had to complete this course within a specific time period to meet federal mandates. These employees were contacted by e-mail and scheduled for specific online sessions. Typically, 15 to 20 learners at a time participated in an instructor-led live e-learning session from either a PC at their desk or one located in a multimedia center in their office.

Figure 12-3: Wachovia Corporation’s Virtual Campus

At the end of the course, learners must complete an assessment. Results are sent to a database, and a multitude of reports can be run based on the course. Wachovia is in the process of implementing a more robust learning management system to better manage certification and regulatory compliance.

What Was the Business Impact of the Program?

Approximately 800 employees completed the course in the initial rollout. Since then, online instructors have delivered the course to an additional 500 people, and are continuing to conduct monthly classes for new users and as a refresher for current users. The cost savings was an important impact of this program. An estimated $425,000 that would have been spent on travel, room cost, and other classroom-related expenses was saved by conducting online training sessions.

An evaluation is included within the course to capture feedback from learners. More than 90 percent have given favorable ratings.

Another benefit of the online training is the time savings. For classroom training, participants often would travel for more time than the class would last. “That’s pretty inefficient,” says learning generalist Karen Thompson, Assistant Vice President and Trust Officer at Wachovia. “And our data shows that the learning is equal to that of the traditional classroom, if not more effective.”

Learner Perspectives

"Very interesting format. Easy way to reach many in various locations."

"I enjoyed this type of learning process. Time was used to good advantage taking the course in the office."

"This was an excellent introduction into the automated Reg. 9 process."

"This course was expertly presented and an excellent way to cover a new and technically demanding subject."

Summary

Purpose: To introduce a new propriety software and process to trust administrators, portfolio managers, and their staff so they would:

Understand the benefits of the automated process versus the paper/manual process

Understand the new workflow and their role(s) in the process

Comply with Federal regulations

Adhere to departmental policies and procedures

Program Structure: An e-learning module delivered as a real-time online instructor-led session that included:

An introduction to an in-house designed application

Information about who will be impacted by the automated process

An explanation of the expected cost savings by using the automated process

Messages about other key benefits for the new process

Number of Learning Hours per Learner: 1.5 hours

Total Number of Hours of Learning in the Program: 1.5 hours

Number of Learners: 1300 to date

Completion Requirements: Primary learners are required to complete the course to meet an annual review deadline.

Media and Tools:

Audio

Custom-developed content in PowerPoint

An assessment and evaluation

Application sharing

Deployment Mechanism:

Live e-learning delivery via the corporate intranet

Lessons Learned

Ensure that you have support from senior management.

Build a working relationship with IT.

3Gain buy-in from decision makers that e-learning is effective.

Keep your focus on making an impact on business and on real business issues.

Start small and do pilot testing.

Communicate successes and demonstrate ROI to show the rest of the organization that e-learning works.

Select the right media tool for what you are trying to accomplish.

Familiarize the participants with transition from classroom learning to a virtual class. Discuss the differences between classroom learning and a virtual class, as well as the etiquette for virtual classes.