The Technology Award is for learning executives who have delivered new and unique applications of emerging technology to employee learning and development.
DIVISION 1: For companies with 10,000 employees or more
GOLD
Moumita Dutta, Senior Technologist, Yum! Brands
Restaurant company Yum! Brands was faced with a challenge: how to maintain consistent, high-quality and standardized training across its 48,000 restaurant locations and for its global workforce of 1.5 million associates in 145 countries. The restaurant industry giant is well known for its brands, KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.
With the help of Saba Cloud, Dutta was able to guide the company in adopting digital badging and gamification as a scalable and engaging learning delivery method for its employees companywide. Eight-hour, instructor-led training courses were replaced by shorter e-learning sessions through Saba, which allowed for more employees to benefit from the training while also cutting costs.
On the Saba platform, Yum! employees onboard and take online programs and specific training courses that are unique to each of the three Yum! Brands. Upon completing a course or class, users earn a digital badge or points.
In just six months, Yum! saw its employee training completion rates go from 15 percent to 79 percent with the help of the Saba platform and gamification. The company is currently exploring additions to the platform to enhance user experience, including more capability in course creation, new reward features and stronger analytics to assist learning and business leaders.
SILVER
Detlef Hold, Global Strategy Lead Knowledge Cycling, Genentech Inc./F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG
Three to four years ago, the most medications Genentech Inc./F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG needed to file per year to health authorities was five to ensure patients were accessing and trying new therapies. Today, the company submits nearly 40. Realizing they were operating at a much slower rate than other companies in the market, they began searching for a solution.
They partnered with the Faster Finding team at Knowledge Cycling, and Hold led the implementation of a new digital learning and knowledge sharing platform at Genentech.
Genentech has data that reveals filing readiness is on the rise, and Hold and his team created solutions that are closing gaps across the board.
BRONZE
Michael Cannon, Senior Director, Red Hat University, Red Hat
Software company Red Hat has grown a lot since its inception, and they expect to grow even more in the coming years. To ensure company expansion continues smoothly, senior leaders knew they needed strong managers.
The current manager development program, M-Series, had been outdated by the rapid growth. Three-weeks of instructor-led training courses spaced over 12-18 months wouldn’t cut it anymore. More than half of Red Hat’s current managers weren’t completing the program.
These challenges were addressed by a complete overhaul of the M-Series program, overseen by Cannon. The result was a program that sped manager development using social learning and technology platforms such as virtual reality and simulation-based learning.
By the end of its first year, participation in the program exceeded the company’s intended goal, with more than 600 people managers enrolled in the program and seeing positive results.
DIVISION 2: For companies with less than 10,000 employees
GOLD
Tim Tobin, VP, Franchisee Onboarding and Learning, Choice Hotels International
Opening one hotel, let alone several hundred hotels each year, can be a complex and tricky process, but Choice Hotels International decided to make a new learning tool that would make the experience not only easier, but also more transparent for its new franchisees.
The span of time between when a deal is struck and when the hotel first opens its doors is crucial, with more than 15 milestones and critical points to meet from start to finish. Feedback initially gathered from new Choice Hotels International franchisees revealed that while they felt supported, the rest of the current hotel opening process was often difficult to follow and left them feeling frustrated. Feedback was also gathered from the hotel opening team.
Building on the company’s existing learning management system platform, Tobin and a solution design team created the Choice Hotels Opening Portal. The portal has been integrated with the company’s learning program, Choice University, and gave new franchisees learning content that helped them through every aspect of the opening process.
The portal went through a two-month pilot period, in which they introduced it to new hotel owners who were starting at the time. The Opening Portal was also introduced to Choice Hotels’ opening services coordinator team through multiple training sessions and shared across franchisee owner boards. Almost 100 new owners started using the Opening Portal in the first month, and this number grows every week.
SILVER
Sabine Lindner, Head of Sysmex Academy, Sysmex Europe GmbH
The challenges Sysmex Europe was facing with its customer education program pointed to a self-paced, online learning solution.
For a while face-to-face training on Sysmex’s products worked, but the spike in product popularity demanded a different solution. Sysmex needed to figure out a way to centralize its training, resolve language barrier issues with customers and address inconsistent messages during product introduction. The company also wanted to start providing further access to scientific information that would help users better understand the products.
Sysmex partnered with Eurekos in part due to their learning management system and a “modern, appealing” experience for users. They designed the Sysmex Academy Portal, which included a personalized user dashboard, social learning communication tools and an entire coursework catalogue of relevant content and multimedia courses.
Lindner, head of Sysmex Academy, said SAO is doing very well. As a whole, the company feels like it’s found a way to successfully be a go-to knowledge provider for users.
BRONZE
Craig Lutz, Senior Manager, USA Today Network
The USA Today Network is known across the globe for its brand, as well as 109 local media companies in the U.S. and Guam. The company was looking for an updated learning solution for talent development in accounting and sales.
Deciding they needed more than just a learning management system, Lutz and his team decided on Saba Cloud. It was a “unified system” that allowed them to load their own content and create workspaces and customized learning journeys for users through the selection of courses and curriculums.
The USA Today Network was able to create a unified learning tool for its account and sales teams. Since launching this new approach, the company has seen an increase in user sessions by 143 percent.
