Collaborating to Create an Internet Solutions Architecture
Although the responsibilities for managing each of these asset groups at the previous three levelsaccess, applications, and networkmay lie in different departments, incentives should be in place for those groups to collaborate for results. Strategic alignment will not only ensure efficient deployment at the outset, but it may also help create synergy across these assets. The three levels can effectively reduce the cost of maintaining learning tools, improve the entire organization's price-performance value proposition, and identify feature sets at each level that will yield productivity advantages for the organization. Strong collaboration between the IT function, the learning function, and the production function under business leadership is essential for successful adoption. If the network infrastructure group is well tuned in to the learning needs, network managers can justify investment in higher bandwidth by consolidating similar demands from other departments. Communication across these functions can help the organizations reap significant benefits through creation of delivery of useful learning content by leveraging the existing and planned infrastructure investment. To reduce its overhead in disparate competing platforms that coexist within an organization, business leaders should define standards tools and software platforms that an organization may be willing to support. Even though reporting of each of those departments may not lie under common business leadership, at minimum a dotted-line relationship across the distinct functions is necessary to ensure organizational success with Internet learning. Learning managers should be responsible for calling out the preferred tools and platforms based on learner needs and learner analysis. Executive support and incentives for an Internet learning initiative are critical to ensure that learning managers have the necessary voice in decisions that influence the requirements, standards, and functionality of an Internet learning solution. |