As one of the largest UK employers, with a 100,000-strong workforce, BT has managed to improve the cost and delivery of its training using elearning technology.

The telecoms provider has increased its reliance on online learning, with 70 per cent of all training now delivered electronically.

And by removing the cost of equivalent instructor- and classroom-based courses, BT has saved in the region of £12m on its annual training budget.

The benefits secured by BT suggest that more large organisations would be well advised to introduce elearning.

Recent research would seem to imply that many are looking to do precisely that, with 2004 being the first year that firms increased spending on elearning applications, according to analyst Research and Markets.

Total spending on elearning software hit £577m last year and it is estimated that the market will grow by a further 6.4 per cent this year.

Christina Humphrey-Evans, BT Retail elearning consultant, says the telecoms company spends some £50m every year on training its staff in corporate procedures, ensuring compliance with changing government regulations or building individual employee skills.

‘We spend a large proportion of that online with elearning-based training because of its speed of delivery, effectiveness, accessibility, trackability and ability to manage centrally, as well as its flexibility and the consistency of messaging it can deliver,’ she said.

The bulk of BT’s electronically delivered training consists of compliance courses – generic IT and networking skills for desktop PC proficiency, for example – and bespoke programmes, such as those it develops to be able to launch new marketing programmes quickly.

Humphrey-Evans says accessibility, via the company’s web-based intranet, is very important. ‘Our staff are widely distributed across the country and abroad, including our contractor workforce,’ she says.

But Humphrey-Evans also says that accessibility is not enough to guarantee the success of any elearning strategy. ‘Identifying and responding to different needs throughout BT, and having a decent support and communications structure, are essential,’ she says.

‘For example, we have also been running Freedom to Learn roadshows for three years now. It is a matter of being there to answer any questions and maintain a human face to the training opportunities.’

The strategy has certainly paid dividends over the past three years, because the amount of training that BT delivers through its elearning resources has risen by 40 per cent, and now stands at 70 per cent of the company’s total training provision.

The eXperience training programme, for example, shows how the company’s use of elearning has developed.

It was first launched in 2001 to a BT business unit of 35,000 employees, with the aim of building general awareness of emerging technologies.

Humphrey-Evans says eXperience set out to tackle concerns about the level of employee awareness of internet protocol technology (IP) – and to link back into BT’s global business strategy.

‘But we ended up customising it for different areas of the business because it was so popular, which also meant it was very quickly followed by a number of other courses, such as Understanding the eCustomer or BT Business Sales eXperience,’ she says.

‘And what would have taken at least 18 months to deliver using traditional methods saw 20,000 staff trained in just 12 weeks.’

Humphrey-Evans also says the foray into electronically delivered training courses taught the company a good deal about the minimum technology infrastructure needed to ensure that all staff could access the training.

‘We had to make sure everyone had the right kit, in terms of compatible PCs, with enough memory and the right soundcards for downloads,’ she says.

BT has continued to expand its elearning programme, making 1,700 courses available to all staff.

‘We wanted to make elearning available on demand,’ says Humphrey-Evans. ‘So we also managed to win over managers – and now, no line manager authorisation is needed.

‘And we have found that elearning saves people time, saves BT money and makes us a more efficient organisation.’

Most recently, BT has introduced LearnBT so that up to six nominated friends and family can have limited access to more general training areas of the site.

The project covers courses such as managing your money, digital photography editing and other areas that are focused on more general home computer use.

Peter Kelly, BT Academy organisational learning manager, says the company has combined elearning with the human resources (HR) function through the establishment of the BT Academy, which is accessible to employees through the online HR-based BT Portal.

‘Since BT Academy went live in 2001, we have had 1.37 million enrolments,’ he says. ‘With 31,626 enrolments in August 2005 compared with 21,396 last August, the Academy is growing in popularity. Course completions were also up 14 per cent on 2004.’

BT has also evolved its online learning environment by making BT Academy materials searchable.

Ten-minute ‘learning nuggets’ are available so employees can refresh specific aspects of knowledge.

And books on key areas, such as networking technology from supplier Cisco, are available for download.

Kelly says that BT’s future emphasis will continue to be on blended learning that combines classroom-based and online courses.

‘We will be looking at more blended ways of delivering learning that includes more use of multimedia resources and interactive programmes,’ he says.

‘We are also looking at expanding the use of wireless access quite considerably, to tailor to different learning styles. It is still giving people options, but it is no longer knowledge at the point of education delivery. Instead it is delivered at the point of use.’

Why BT believes its elearning strategy is successful

• Identifying and responding to different needs of different BT people
• Senior management buy-in
• Centralised infrastructure and access
• Cohesive approach – setting up BT Academy
• Learning support by providing a helpdesk, portal and FAQs
• Complementary communication programmes, including roadshows, newsletters, learning events and special offers.