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Case 3: 3Com
Company Facts and Figures
Industry: Technology
Scope of Services and Products: Provides wireline and wireless networking products
Estimated Number of Employees: 4,615
Year e-Learning Introduced: 1997
Offices and Locations: Offices worldwide, with headquarters in Santa Clara, CA
Estimated 2002 Revenues: US$1.48 billion
Web Site: www.3com.com
Number of e-Learning Programs in Entire Curriculum: Approximately 100
Introduction
3Com Corporation produces wireline and wireless networking products. Their approach is to focus on ease of use and integration to lower the cost of buying and owning 3Com products. 3Com sells its products through a two-tiered sales channel of distributors and resellers. The resellers ultimately sell to various business end-users. Given the rapidly changing nature of technology, 3Com regularly develops training materials to enable its employees to sell and support its products, as well as to help end users who purchase the products. 3Com has also been successful in making its learning materials available to its sales partners, thereby increasing customer service and product knowledge in its sales channel.
Why e-Learning?
3Com selected an e-learning approach to:
Increase product knowledge in their reseller channel
Provide sales partners with a higher level of customer service
Boost revenues by easing the sales process for partners
How Was the Program Aligned with the Business?
3Com operates in the increasingly competitive market for PC and telephony networking products. As such, a key factor in its success has been providing its sales and support personnel with timely training on a sometimes quickly changing product line.The company began providing its own employees with e-learning in 1997. e-Learning was adopted slowly by the 3Com staff, which does not surprise Wendy O’Brien, 3Com’s Director of Education. “It was slow getting going because it is a cultural change to ask people to be more self-directed with their learning,” says O’Brien. “We started by offering small amounts of training online.”
Starting with a selection of purchased off-the-shelf courses and a small selection of custom course- ware developed for the company by outside vendors, the offerings for employees have grown to include 700 purchased courses and approximately 150 custom-developed courses.Some of these courses were mandatory learning in areas such as ethics, various legal concerns and corporate security. As a result, 100 percent of 3Com’s workforce has taken one or more e-learning courses and O’Brien estimates that 25 percent of the population could be described as active e-learners—those who seek out new learning online. As 3Com University grew, the company realized that at least some of the material could be used to aid in educating their sales partners as well. Similar to 3Com employees, these channel partners needed both general product knowledge, as well as information on how to position, sell and support particular products. The result was development of a Partner Learning Center Web site and, ultimately, individual learning centers tailored to 3Com’s largest sales partners. These centers have boosted 3Com’s customer service and increased the potential revenue sales partners, and ultimately improved what 3Com can earn by increasing product knowledge and familiarity in the sales channel.
How Was the Program Designed?
Original Design
3Com has three levels of Focus Partners within its sales channel: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Partners at each level commit to a particular sales volume, as well as a particular level of employee certification on 3Com products. 3Com designed a Partner Learning Center section of 3Com University, called Partner Access, and made it available to the distributors, service providers, and resellers through the 3Com Web site. 3Com is able to develop customized visibility to content on the Partner Learning Center site utilizing CRM system profiling technology. When employees of authorized partners log on to the Partner Access site and click on 3Com University, they are automatically associated with that particular partner. As a result, they see training that is appropriate for a channel partner of their level, Bronze, Silver, or Gold. Because the site is part of 3Com University and utilizes the same learning materials, it uses all the same functionality, including access to the Saba learning management system. The Saba system tracks the enrollment and completion status of partners, employees, and delivers content and records scores. This enables 3Com to provide sales partners with reports concerning employee use of the materials and the partner’s ongoing certification status.In another move to make access more convenient for their partners and their own employees, 3Com also eliminated the need to have certification tests offered in physical classrooms through third-party proctoring services. 3Com offers various certification tests and makes examinations available to partners online. Upon completion of a course or program requiring certification, the system issues a test ticket to the learner, which enables them to access the final examination. These results can also be tracked through 3Com’s education management system (EMS), which is built around Saba and a customer relationship management system. The original partner learning center received a warm reception from the sales channel partners. O’Brien says 3Com’s channel partners welcome vendor-sponsored training and particularly liked the fact that the online option kept their costs low.
Key Business Drivers
Costs are low because content developed for internal employees is leveraged for the Partner Learning Center. Once the site is established, the maintenance cost is low.
Benefits are high, in both improved customer relationships and potential for increased sales.
Continuous Improvement Leads to Mass Customization
Given that up to 150 courses could be made available on the generic Partner Learning Center, it was not long before one of 3Com’s largest resellers was asking if they could get content sorted by their particular needs. This led to the development the first partner-specific learning Web site at 3Com University. Working with 3Com, the reseller assembled a preferred curriculum from the set of available courses. 3Com then created a Web site that featured this curriculum and branded it with the reseller’s logo, look, and feel. A link was placed on the reseller’s intranet portal that connected its employees directly to the customized learning Web site. The reseller could now direct its employees to exactly those courses it deemed appropriate and necessary. Employees saved time because they did not need to sift through all the available courses, and 3Com gained a more satisfied customer who was better prepared to sell its products. All parties knew how things were going, because 3Com’s EMS generated reports that were regularly available to 3Com and the reseller’s management. What’s more, the site could quickly be modified by 3Com to focus on different topics. For example, if the reseller decided to promote wireless networking products during a particular month, the curriculum could quickly be refocused to highlight wireless courses. It did not take long for word of the success to spread. Between showing an example of a customized site at a reseller attended Solution Fair and news of the site spreading among 3Com account executives, there were soon several other Gold level resellers requesting their own customized learning site. Eight sites went live during 2002, with at least four more planned for activation in January of 2003. According to O’Brien, it is an ideal solution for both 3Com and their resellers. “They love it and it’s free,” says O’Brien. “We’ve made it very easy for them. They ask for it, and we build it. We’re able to turn a site for them around within as little as a week depending on the partner’s training requests.” Best practices for implementing a customized partner site in this short time rely on a close relationship between 3Com’s sales representative, the partner, and the partner’s training manager. This relationship affords the opportunity to quickly identify the partner’s training needs. “Partners really like this program,” says O’Brien. “The feedback about the courseware is good, but more importantly, our partners appreciate our more personal touch.”
What’s Inside the Box?
The current set of learning materials made available to partners, both on the general site and on the partner-specific sites, consists of a mix of learning products, all of them 3Com specific. 3Com does not currently provide partners with the off-the-shelf courseware they have purchased for internal use.
The material that is available is provided in a variety of formats. The company offers classroom training and conducts live e-learning events using WebEx software. They also create blended programs that combine self-paced e-learning with live e-learning events or classroom learning. As mentioned, the 3Com University EMS environment is supported by the Saba learning management system, which tracks enrollment, completion and scoring, as well as handling registration for classroom or live e-Learning events. In the future, this functionality may move into one of 3Com’s core business systems. O’Brien feels that organizations considering purchase of a learning management system should also consider using their existing business applications, such as the various enterprise resource planning (ERP) software packages. Often, the latest versions of these packages offer learning management functionality that is sufficient for most purposes while maintaining integration with a company’s primary business systems.
Design Considerations
When designing new content, one step in 3Com’s process involves determining the content’s shelf life. In the area of e-learning, basic product training courses, and other courses that might have a short shelf-life, are scripted PowerPoint presentations that can be downloaded. Courses that would benefit from basic interactivity are created in-house by 3Com’s staff using Vuepoint Learning System tools. These courses can also have assessments attached to them, as this is an integral feature of the Vuepoint Learning System. Courses which would benefit from more sophisticated interactivity or presentation are outsourced to a variety of third-party vendors for development. 3Com is now working with a third-party company to offer learners remote access to a virtual lab that they can connect to over the Internet. Once online, they can practice configuring 3Com network products, gaining valuable hands-on familiarity with the equipment.Most importantly the vendors or software applications that 3Com leverages to deliver their blended learning materials integrate well with 3Com’s education management system.
Development Considerations
When new material is developed, 3Com employees are viewed as the primary audience. Once the course is complete, it is provided to the reseller channel either as is, or with slight modifications to make it appropriate for each audience. A needs analysis is conducted by 3Com’s staff of learning professionals. Basic learning modules, such as the scripted PowerPoint decks or VuePoint courses are developed in-house. More sophisticated learning programs are outsourced. When outsourcing work, 3Com prefers to work with specialized vendors, who provide a particular service. Their experience is that a vendor that claims to do everything, often is more expensive and does not necessarily have the expertise where needed. This approach has delivered a low-cost, low-maintenance learning program for 3Com partners, which provides better customer service, resulting in more knowledgeable resellers, distributors, and service providers.
Media and Tools
Saba’s learning management system provides the repository, delivery, and tracking capabilities for both 3Com and the sales partner learning centers.
WebEx software is used for live e-learning events.
Microsoft PowerPoint is used to produce scripted slide shows.
The Vuepoint Learning System is used for basic learning courses.
Macromedia products, as well as other tools, if they can be proven to be compatible with Saba, are used by external vendors to produce the more sophisticated learning programs.
Online exams are hosted by RWD Technologies.
A virtual laboratory environment is hosted by e-Source.
How Was the Program Deployed?
Overall, the program has required very little marketing “push” on the part of 3Com and has been quickly adopted by the sales channel. Word of mouth recommendations and demonstrations at a 3Com Reseller event began to generate requests from 3Com sales and resellers for more customized learning centers The 3Com account representatives also use the generally available partner learning center as a selling tool when they call on resellers and potential resellers. However, there is as yet no formal recognition in Gold Partner contracts that the partner is entitled to custom learning center. These are developed on an as-requested basis. There are currently eight partner-specific learning centers in place, with at least twice that many to go live by the end of 2003.Marketing of 3Com learning by the partner to their employees is a shared responsibility of the partner and 3Com University. Often, the announcement will be made as part of a 3Com Day at the reseller or through internal e-mail. All partner centers tie into the same materials and EMS that is used by 3Com itself. Partners can select from a menu of reports used by 3Com, or receive modified reports if they are uncomplicated to produce.
Marketing Approach
Partner-specific centers presented to Gold level partners one-on -one or created as requested by the partner
Marketing of the learning by the partner to its employees is the shared responsibility of the partner and 3Com University
Ongoing course participation tracked and reported to partner
What Was the Business Impact of the Program?
Between the general partner learning center and the partner-specific learning centers that are in place, O’Brien finds that thousands of reseller employees have accessed 3Com learning programs. However, given the early stages of the customized learning center program, there are no hard metrics or trends available yet. 3Com senior management supports the program, and O’Brien expects it to become a more formalized part of the Gold Partner agreement. “There’s nothing bad about it,” says O’Brien. “It’s fairly simple to build. It’s a lot of bang for the buck.” She also feels that the program provides many benefits, including increased sales of 3Com products. Says O’Brien, “I think there is the revenue impact, and then I also think there is just the basic customer relationship impact. We’re going one step above what a competitor might be doing for them.”
Summary
Purpose: 3Com launched the Partner Learning Centers to provide its distributors and resellers with product and marketing information. The goal of this program is to:
Increase sales channel knowledge and skill with 3Com products and assist partners with achieving and maintaining certification status
Provide better customer service to sales channel partners
Boost sales of 3Com products
Program Structure: 3Com offers a generic learning center for all of its sales partners. This site contains all 3Com developed training that is provided to its own employees. Gold level sales partners can request a custom designed site. This site can:
Contain those programs of particular interest to the reseller
Be used to focus learning efforts of the partner’s employees
Be updated frequently to present new or different sets of courses as the partner’s learning needs change
Number of Learning Hours per Learner: Varies by partnerTotal Number of Hours of Learning in the Program: Varies by partner Number of Learners:
Thousands of 3Com partner employees have completed courses through the various learning centers.
Completion Requirements:
Determined by partner
Media and Tools:
Microsoft PowerPoint
Vuepoint Learning System courses
Macromedia and other development tools
Deployment Mechanism: Generic and partner learning centers are available to 3Com resellers, distributors, and service providers through a secure section of the 3Com partner Web site. This Web site can be accessed directly from the partner’s internal intranet site if so desired.
Lessons Learned
Consider your business culture when implementing e-learning. It can be tough to move learners to e-learning, particularly among sales and marketing personnel who are people-oriented.
Start small and provide many chances for people to get exposure to the system.
When considering a learning management system, review what functionality might already be available through your core business software. Some enterprise resource management packages include, or are introducing, functionality to track skills, user learning, and learning events. You might be able to avoid buying a separate system to do this.
Do not hesitate to work with multiple vendors to complete a program. Vendors who say they do everything are often more expensive and less experienced where you need the expertise.
