Edited by Margery Weinstein
EMC Corporation noticed two trends occurring in corporate education:
- Informal learning
- Learning as a service
As a result, it created EMC EduCare, value-added informal and service-based learning to support EMC storage and information infrastructure solutions for its customers.
EduCare addresses the business challenge that training within most organizations often is treated as isolated events rather than an ongoing process. This “event” approach does not connect, reinforce, and leverage learning to solve critical business issues. Transforming training into a continuous learning process by applying coaching, development, and productivity resources optimizes learning investments. Implementing a managed development process accelerates skill readiness and improves the confidence and ability to apply learning to meet real-life performance requirements.
Value-Added Services
The EMC EduCare Learning Pack Offering is an annual corporate membership ($25,000) that provides a portfolio of key value-added services, including an EMC Education Consultant (ESC) who works closely with storage and data center management to understand business objectives and challenges. The ESC conducts interviews and training needs analyses to develop customized training and development plans.
EduCare’s learning services are accessed via EMC’s Community Network (a social community platform). Benefits of the services include direct access to instructors and interaction through Ask the Expert sessions that focus on customer-driven topics, and a comprehensive portfolio of EMC virtual labs enabling real-world experience in a safe, seven-day/24-hour non-production environment that includes lab guides and use cases. Social media provides opportunity for peer- and expert-driven discussions. In the second year, more than 50-plus customers and 300-plus participants are participating in EduCare communities.
Customer-Focused Dashboard
EMC says measurement of the value customers receive through EduCare is critical. Each month, consumption data for customers is measured and organized via a customer-focused dashboard. Each element of the EduCare offering is assigned a value, summarized in the report dashboard, and utilized in a conversation with the membership lead. By promoting the value the customer is receiving early and often from its EduCare membership, EMC has seen consumption levels increase and, thus, renewals for the service.
For example, one typical EduCare customer, a major computer manufacturer, has capitalized on its membership and realized a 10 times return on its initial investment by aggressively participating in EduCare offerings. “Importantly, helping our customers to gain more value from learning using EduCare allows us to capture, measure, increase, and report ROI to our customers,” EMC says. “This is unique for ‘informal learning’ offerings.”
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