The first step toward the creation of a winning e-learning strategy is to identify and align with the key business goals and drivers that will enable the organization to succeed, then develop a new vision and strategy for e-learning aligned with the business goals.
Strategic e-learning goals may include a reference to:
Enhance learning capabilities and solutions globally
Provide more learning for employees at lower costs
Decrease time-to-market of new skills
Build world-class e-learning capabilities and solutions
The second step is to develop a business case focused on a request for an investment in selected critical and beneficial e-learning initiatives, for example:
Implementation of a learning management system
Purchase of specific e-learning content and solutions
Design and development of e-learning programs
Launch of live e-learning capabilities
The third step is the development of the business case. To do this effectively, it is important to understand the current learning capabilities and how much is being spent on learning within the enterprise. Unfortunately, many organizations still lack the requisite information systems or do not have the processes in place to track and report on all training and related expenses within the organization. However, a new e-learning strategy can not be effectively developed and promoted without understanding the status quo. Therefore, it is recommended that the first step be an assessment and estimation of total spending on learning.
In addition, most organizations cannot increase their learning budget to implement an e-learning infrastructure. Up-front investments in e-learning need to be compensated by a reduction in operational learning costs. This implies that classroom training and related travel expenses must be reduced. But it has proven to be difficult for companies where classroom learning delivery dollars are managed and controlled at decentralized levels within the organization. These three initial steps are depicted in Figure 2-4.
Figure 2-4: Blitz and Stabilize: e-Learning Alignment with Business Drivers
After approval of the business case, e-learning initiatives need to be prioritized and an implementation plan must be developed, including timing, resources required, vendor/partner selection, investment levels, marketing and change management plans, and risk management.
At this stage it is very important to show the business impact and ROI for specific initiatives. The achievement of all strategic goals may take a few years, and it would be overwhelming and risky to start with all initiatives at once. It is highly recommended to select a limited number of initiatives and try to make progress and achieve tangible successes (quick hits). There needs to be an ongoing dialog and feedback to the business leaders to evaluate projects, validate priorities, and retain funding.
Identify those aspects of your strategy that will immediately prove the value of the e-learning investment to important senior executives in your organization. A solid business case and proven ROI for e-learning initiatives makes executives feel comfortable and will help you to get their support and championship for further implementation and investment.
In the next chapter, we will review strategies and tactics to engage the support of important stakeholders for the e-learning business case.
Enterprises have an increased need to enhance learning.
It is critical to align e-learning initiatives with business needs.
The value proposition for e-learning is very strong.
The business benefits of e-learning include both hard dollar and soft dollar benefits.
Most companies approach e-learning from a cost savings perspective, and this does have an important impact bottom line.
However, sooner or later, all learning functions will face increasing accountability and have to address business impact and ROI.
It is important to develop a new vision and strategic objectives for learning.
Using a Blitz and Stabilize implementation approach offers quick 'wins' and demonstrated impact on the business drivers, enabling e-learning to build the business case.