e-learning improves retail KPIs

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1 e-learning improves retail KPIs Whether you manage a store or a warehouse, e-learning can increase sales, productivity and skill levels. Smartwork Creative is a design agency that helps organisations and institutions develop their content into instructive and immersive platforms that make measurable changes to behaviour. Research indicates that those retail companies that have implemented mobile learning in the workplace see a direct positive impact on productivity, knowledge sharing and employee satisfaction. 1 This white paper discusses e-learning and its role within the retail sector. More than putting information and quizzes on a website, e-learning makes the acquisition of knowledge and skills more efficient, effective, and appealing for staff. 1. Towards Maturity Sector Benchmark Report

2 Learnings from research Traditionally, retail has had a high turnover of staff compared with other industries. The internet has made bricks-and-mortar shoppers more knowledgeable and has put the pressure on staff to keep pace with consumers. Retail systems are becoming more sophisticated. Companies that create today s best of breed products and services are now introducing their wares more quickly into the marketplace. Education is fundamental. Good retail staff want to be mobile, relevant, selfpaced and have the learning at their point of need. 46% of young employees in the retail sector consider an employer more attractive if they offer interesting career development opportunities, 2 The use of web-based learning management systems allows your organization s training function to keep pace with the market. Web-based training can be used to provide the needed instruction without taking workers away from their daily responsibilities. The paper identifies the top five benefits as (69%) (53%) (50%) (42%) (41%) Complying with new regulations and legal requirements Informing customers/suppliers of new products/services Developing a better qualified workforce Improving customer satisfaction Increasing on the job productivity The 2015 retail sector benchmark, Towards Maturity, conducted in the US, reports that retailers are improving revenue, productivity and behavioural change amongst employees as a result of adopting technology-enabled learning, but there is still more opportunity to be had. 2. PwC, Last Millennials Survey

3 New Zealand businesses who use the internet to train their staff 38% of retailers identify specific business metrics/kpis that they want to improve through learning in partnership with senior management versus 82% on average. We feel that this is a missed opportunity for retail. Arts and recreation Services Argriculture, forestry and fishing By industry, 2014, % of businesses that us the internet (with 6 employees or more). While putting training content online is attractive, in New Zealand retailers with 6 employees or more sit midway in adopting the internet to train their staff. We assume that this is a matter of knowledge and current investments rather than willingness. It should be pointed out that there is ample opportunity to repurpose existing material into a successful online environment. Education has become a critical lynch pin in a company s or organization s worker benefits portfolio. Workers in today s new economy are not as afraid to move to a new position if they feel their interests and career welfare are better provided for in a different environment. Webbased training programs that offer certifications, college and graduate school education, and other important job skills become powerful incentives for an employee to stay. 3 Accomodation and food services Construction Manufacturing Transport, postal and warehousing Administrative and support services Retail trade Wholesale trade Information and telecommunication Rental, hiring and real estate services Mining Electricity, gas, water and waste water Education and training Health care and social assistance Financial and insurance services Proffesional, scientific and technical services Source: Statistics New Zealand 3. E-Learning Benefits and ROI Comparison of E-Learning vs. Traditional Training, Dave Boggs

4 Introducing Instructional Design Instructional design is a performance-based approach to education, which puts the focus on what gets learned, more than on what was taught. Learning goals are established and each student s progress is measured, enabling a focus on long term outcomes for the business. In other words instructional design enables learning to become part of the strategic measurement system of a business. Instructional Design has its roots in the US military in WWII, where it was based on the principles of instruction, learning, and human behavior. Instructional Design applies 5 key phases - analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation - to your content. By 2010 the approach was incredibly mature and started integrating technology, internet, and human-computer interaction. One of the most interesting attributes of Instructional design that it is probabilistic; its methodologies seek to increase the likelihood of educational success, and thereby provide opportunities for the learner to be successful at learning.

5 Experiments in institutional learning in New Zealand show that given the right environment, children work better when motivated and self-directed. For adults this is even more true. Adults tend to be self-directed in that they like to have control over their own learning content and process. Adult learners need to see the direct link of how their learning relates back to their real-life problems and tasks, rather than simply learning theory or academic materials that won t help them on the job. Adults want to learn the information they need to know right away, and are not overly concerned with information they may or may not need down the road. This makes instructional design not just important, but imperative within an adult learning environment. Within the retail sector instructional design has been growing in importance as learners are more widely distributed than in most industries. Coupled with internet based technologies, the flexibility to learn anytime, anywhere is attractive to retail staff and managers. Sending people away to courses is costly and often doesn t provide the necessary feedback on learning as a whole elearning within the Workplace, Peter Guiney

6 Effective e-learning What happens when staff leave and all that expensive training leaves with them and you are left with the need to train their replacement? With e-learning, once you have paid for the content and its mode of delivery, it is there for current and new staff to use usually with very little additional cost per extra user. Most of the world s largest companies now use e-learning as a key aspect of their staff training and development processes. Moreover, retail moves fast! Training needs to move fast in order to enable businesses to compete better. Manufacturers are able to get product out there quickly; e-learning enables staff to learn quickly. In the Towards Maturity study, 57% of retailers see the main benefit from a technologyenabled learning strategy as increasing the volume of learning and reaching more people. Where to start? Certain skills, such as sales and customer service techniques, are often the first to be successfully converted into an elearning platform, as they can be enhanced with quick and low-cost online courses offered from an e-learning platform. Such training can be better than traditional, classroom instruction where the emphasis is on developing knowledge, such as an understanding of consumer rights legislation, because staff can learn at a time and in an environment that suits them, and without distraction from their peers. The advantage to the employer of an elearning environment is 1. There is no need for trips away, which are expensive in terms of time, money and opportunity cost. 2. There is no need to engage trainers for face to face group sessions, which can be expensive and awkward to organise for multiple staff. 3. Material is easily updated as new products come to market, internal systems are improved, and legislation changes.

7 From a learner s point of view one of the key benefits is that it is self-paced, where students can learn at a speed that works for their individual learning style and life circumstances. From an instructional point of view elearning is designed and developed so that content can be chunked into discrete knowledge objects to provide greater flexibility. Students can access these objects through pre-set learning paths, use skills assessments to create individualized study plans. Analysis of existing content and business objectives tailored proposal instructional design elearning best practice design approach assessment of audience needs and required outcomes proven and agile production processes comprehensive review and testing flexible and scalable delivery solutions

8 The role of analytics When it comes to goal-based learning, analytics play a critical part in assessing not only learners, but the learning programme. Learning Analytics also offer online facilitators and instructors a comprehensive look at how a learner is performing, if he/she may need additional help with a particular lesson or subject, and whether the learner is likely to pass an elearning course. Such data can also be used to make educational analysis and predictions that help to determine which learning materials work. This is primarily based upon learner s performance, skill level, and personal interests. For instance, with the appropriate metrics it is possible to assess whether it is an effective design to keep a quiz available after its due date for students to practice and whether the features of an LMS (learning management system) discussion tool facilitates discussion contribution. If you can t measure it, you can t manage it. Peter Drucker Over time, collecting the right analytics means that an organisation will be able to improve the efficiency of its courses both in terms of the time spent learning and the financial investment in its courses. That means more productive time from staff and less cost in training. (This topic will be discussed in more depth in a future white paper.)

9 Smart Learning Analytics also play a larger role within the organisation and that is delivery of organisational strategy, measured by the key performance indicators. While productivity, knowledge sharing and employee satisfaction are three performance areas that an elearning programme can impact, it is important to identify the KPI s specific to your business. Smart Learning is Smartwork Creative s approach to helping organisations and institutions transform their current content into instructive and immersive platforms that make measurable changes to behaviour. Smart Learning specialises in the design and implementation of best practice for organisations and brands to develop scalable, future proof and integrated system architectures that engage stakeholders and share value. Smart Learning takes you on a journey where the destination is to own your idea and integrate your model into the daily lives of your learners. Sharing and educating creates a mutual, reciprocal experience that translates to positive use, repurchase and recommendation.

10 Smartwork Creative Smartwork Creative is a design agency that specialises in Instructional Design; we understand design from the point of view of a consumer of content. With capabilities from HTML, javascript and CSS to augmented reality and animation, Smartwork Creative helps organisations transform their content into engaging, learner-centric, measurable design. Smartwork Creative s learning architecture aims to create a deeper, more meaningful connection with people by applying the psychology of learning and interactive instructional methods to help your organisation form deeper, more lasting connections with customers, employees and other stakeholders to encourage positive, active behavioural change. You can contact the author, Kim Dovey, at kim@smartworkcreative.co.nz (Download document for live link.)