Technology and Its Role in Customer Experience

Last week’s focus was on your business culture and how knowing your client, following some basic rules, asking questions, and learning from your past would help you take the necessary steps in creating an open culture that better serves your clients.

Building on that experience, we need to look at the other major factors that influence the customer experience….Let’s take a look at technology and its relationship to customer experience.

Invest in More than Technology
If you read last week’s blog on creating a more open culture, you are probably asking yourself what technology has to do with customer experience—having the latest versions or the quickest machines is great and may even make you more money in the short run—but let’s look at our investments in technology though the prism of the customer experience.

How often do we ask ourselves as we look at investments how we are better aligning our company with our customer’s needs, while improving the workflow of our business?

Seeing is Believing with Rapid Content Development
One of the first “Aha’s” we had at Allen was around the traditional method of developing scripts in a word document—you think it looks good—send out the script to client—they think it looks good—but you reach the online media version of the course and something just does not work… the client experience is marred by unmet expectations and you are forced to compromise on your agreed upon design ideas.

What technology could you invest in that would affect this bump in the customer experience road?

Once way is to invest in technology that allows customers to immediately see their content online to catch issues or problems. Once you start scripting online first, you enhance the customer experience, push difficult issues with content to the forefront, and allow the customer to see the content on the screen. This becomes a strong win win as expectations are met: customers have an easier time working with their subject matter experts and your designers create better workflow with the graphic and media side of the business.

The reality of what a good application of technology can do for us is amazing. Customers see things in the expected modality early on. For your business, it speeds the velocity of reaction with localization and small changes. Often, scripting can be costly to customers. Take away the minutia of experience by addressing it immediately. For instance, if during a meeting, an issue comes up, your designer can change it right there and fix what is necessary. This is rapid content development, but it is not a rapid prototype.

Rapid prototype is when media is designed before content development. That is not what we are talking about here. We have found that rapid prototyping creates many of the problems earlier visualization has come to solve. The basic premise we at Allen believe in, is that good design and content are king… rushing to media before a good design phase will often change the priorities in the design itself and focus more on pyrotechnics then on the needs of the learner and the instructional challenge presented by the content.

Instead, spend time figuring out the content first and speed up the media phase. Combine writing and media phase together, at least initial online scripting, to give customers a true taste before they approve the script—then check to see that this script works well for the online experience your client is seeking. This is rapid content development; it lessens the gap between ideal and real.

A Place for Everything
Another investment in technology is to find a central repository for all the documents you are working with that everyone would have access to. By being able to place all the moving parts of a project online, it alleviates lost faxes, emails, different versions of the same document, etc. Basically, it standardizes the workflow. Creating the technology that allows for this type of online central space takes away the uncertainty and allows for greater visibility and consistency.

By providing technology that helps the customer experience, you also allow for a faster and smoother work flow on both sides. The experience then is about more than just working efficiently with you, but about working more effectively within their project.

Give Your Customers a Choice
The beauty of technology is that you can explore the many ways in which to complete a project: more expensive, less expensive, longer, shorter, faster, media rich, highly interactive, etc. By providing these choices to check off along the way, you give clients the power to trade. You explore options with them and enable them to barter the best choices for their company.

By providing a range of choices, you treat every customer equally. Whether they are a $3000 to a $300,000 client, they need, they must, and they should get the same level of attention.

Without being able to scale and deliver, you aren’t providing the best customer experience. And without the right technology and processes in place, you can’t scale and deliver.

Final Week: Processes and how they add to the customer experience.

Allen Learning Portal Launch

If you’ve been to the site over the past month, you’ve noticed we had some exciting news. We gave you a bit of a teaser about some “new” technology we were launching. Well, now it’s official, no longer a secret: We’re making our Learning Portal available to the public.

With the launch, I thought I’d give our readers some background about this product; some information that goes beyond the promotional web copy found elsewhere on the site. So, a little history…

While we are calling the Learning Portal “new,” the fact is, it’s really not that new. That’s because we’ve had the Learning Portal in place for several years, and actually, it’s been getting strong reviews by analysts like Brandon Hall for at least the last three years. So, why a launch? To understand that, you have to understand Allen’s philosophy.

Way back in 1981, when we first started, we were developing technology for improving the development and delivery of quality and effective training and learning solutions. It’s a fun history that involves hardware like the Apple IIe, videodisc players and standalone kiosks as well as software like Quest and Designer’s Edge. Obviously, in 27 years, technology has changed quite a bit. And many of the technologies we worked with in the past, we don’t now. As changes have come about, Allen has always searched for innovative methods for developing and delivery quality and effective learning.

One thing hasn’t changed, though: our philosophy of creating the most appropriate training for motivating learners. To that end, years ago, we developed a software program called Manager’s Edge, which helped track learner and learning data. Essentially, as a simple tracking tool, it was a precursor to the Learning Portal. We more fully developed a learning portal a few years later at the request of a couple of clients. They were looking for a low-cost, reliable method for gaining core LMS functionality. Our tech whizzes knew they could come up with a great web-based technology that would meet their needs. More importantly, we knew the technology would help the clients better deliver their training.

So we developed the Learning Portal and purposefully kept it low cost because we didn’t want them spending all their budget on data tracking only to have nothing left over for the courseware itself. That wouldn’t be appropriate.

Over the years, more and more clients have expressed wishes that they could get their hands on LMS core functionality, but without the price tag. We’ve been happy to tell them about our solution which we already had in place. In particular, the past year or so we’ve seen a spike in this need amongst our clients. To us, it looked like our philosophy was right—learning organizations need great management tools, but not at the expense of the actual learning and courseware. So it only made sense that we make the Learning Portal public rather than keep it in our vest pocket for special requests.

By the response we’ve gotten so far, we made the right move. Many, many, many of you are looking for this type of solution. So let’s talk. Let us show you how we can help you with your learning management. But more important, let’s talk about how we can help you deliver the best, most appropriate training to your learners. Training that will motivate them and move them. Together, we’re sure we can help. After all, we’ve been doing just that for hundreds and hundreds of companies for nearly three decades now.

Masie Learning 2007 Review, Part 2

It’s now been some time since Masie’s Learning 2007 Conference, and I’m finally getting a chance to review the conference from my perspective. Before today’s post, you got to read a very insightful post from Michael. Michael’s years of experience and expertise shine through in every post he writes (not to mention every thing he does). With me, you get a different perspective—after all, I’m the newbie, and I’m the marketer.

As a newbie, I’ve now logged a year in the industry. Certainly, I’m still a newbie, but I’m definitely feeling immersed. Consequently, I think my perspective on the conference, while very similar to Michael's, is slightly different. One thing the Masie conference is (obviously) all about is what’s new on the horizon, particularly with technology. And that’s an exciting prospect for me. The majority of my background is in marketing technology, and while I’m no “Code Fu” master, I do consider myself at least minimally a geek.

I think the promises of technology to improve functions, work and life are fascinating. At the same time, though, I think technology has a high capacity to too easily over promise. Or at least, often people selling technology over promise. I imagine most readers are shaking their heads in agreement. You’ve been there—we all have—when technology simply doesn’t deliver.

I’ve thought a lot about this over the past year, and in particular since Learning 2007. Now, I hesitate to make mention of this, but I feel it’s necessary: For all the talk of technology in learning, in reality our industry is lagging behind. This doesn’t mean we’re slow adopters (though we may or may not be). It just means that the technology we talk about, the “promises” we get jazzed about, tend to be—ahem—soooo 2003. Blogs, wikis, Flash, et al are, in reality, kind of old hat.

Don’t misunderstand. There’s really nothing wrong with lagging behind. And in fact, there may be a lot right with it. Why? Because while time heals all wounds, time tends to also vet bad technological solutions from the good (and that means not wasting time and money “healing” from implementing the wrong technology). As a result, being slow on the uptake can give us the opportunity to focus on proven technological solutions and avoid being guinea pigs.

Still, even proven technology can overshoot. Ultimately, that’s what I came away with from Learning 2007. Like Michael, I marveled at the young violinist and the crystal clear video that so beautifully allowed me to watch, and imagined of all the practical applications. Yet, I also watched a long session on Second Life, and while it had some “cool factor,” I couldn’t place a realistic and practical approach to it—or at least, I couldn’t see how it offered anything more than a lot of other proven learning techniques offer.

But that’s just me, the newbie. I’ll hold out the possibility that my lack of experience in the industry makes my assessment horribly off base, and I’d love to hear from you if you think so.

Either way, though (and here comes the plug—after all, I’m a marketer), this conference made me see once again why Allen’s value proposition is so strong. We don’t try to sell you technological promises. Rather, we’re very utilitarian in our approach to technology. If it will facilitate the learning process, great! If not, why bother? In the long run, whether in the world of learning or any other, that’s how choosing technology ought to work if we want to avoid empty buzz and unfulfilled promises.

Masie Learning 2007 Review, Part 1

I’m not the best person to write up my reactions to a conference—any conference—if only because I don’t like big groups of people. Of course, conferences are all about big groups of people with name tags and tote bags, scurrying about as though it were the start of a new semester at Learning U.

Conferences, however, can often feel more like Bizarro U. They exist within a work context and most people are there for a variety of work-related reasons. Few are there for avocational or higher purposes, and that’s the twisted part. The (evil?) genius behind conferences is that they create the powerful illusion that they offer more than work; they offer purpose and meaning.

Masie’s Learning 2007 did this exceptionally well, so well, in fact, that it could soften the heart of even the most dedicated cynic. This year’s Masie conference was largely about making a difference—why training and learning matter in the world.

One of my favorite speakers was an expert on the avian flu pandemic. It was a great case study of how learning can create change. The theme of “Learning Changes” was everywhere. In the hall, a non-profit group recruited volunteers for eLearning for Kids, a group that aims to teach basic reading and math to elementary age children. There was also a big push for Malaria No More, promoted by no less than an American Idol. These may have been the most obvious appeals to meaning and purpose, but nearly every session and keynote invited attendees to reflect on their work and to infuse that work with greater significance.

I spoke with one of our clients in the hall between sessions. She told me she preferred the Masie conference, because she learned more here than at ASTD or ISPI. She views this conference as “forward looking.” I kept reflecting on this because I didn’t learn anything new about technologies or their applications to training. The same topics on 3-D virtual environments, Webcasting, and gaming appear at other conferences. What’s different about Masie is the feeling of purpose and community--and that’s vital.

One of the technology demos featured HD video delivered over the web. The application? Well, it was to expand the reach of the Manhattan School of Music so that their teachers can work with kids all over the world. We watched in awe as a talented, young violinist from Spain worked his magic: all of the finger work rendered beautifully via HD video. For that moment, we weren’t corporate training drones. No, we were teachers spreading opportunity and wisdom, bringing beauty to the world, enlisted in a movement larger than ourselves to revolutionize how people learn.

It’s a powerful message and one that perpetuates itself. If we agree that people learn best when they are motivated and that meaning and purpose are good motivators, then one of the most effective ways to teach people at a conference is through that same channel. Of course, I also returned with my shortlist of ideas to improve things here at home, but that list is puny and probably not worthy of the real challenge put forward by Elliott Masie.

iPhone and Mobile Learning

I succumbed to the iPhone hype. I wasn’t going to, but my brother got one, showed it to me, and I was in. Funny thing is, every time I show it to someone, they ask, “Are you happy with it?” Being a first generation product, I know what they’re getting at. They’re saying, “Hey, guinea pig, give me some guidance on whether or not I really want one of those.” Fair enough.

I won’t go into all the details of the ups and downs of the device (including some bugs that my particular device seems to be encountering), but I have been thinking specifically about the iPhone and how it will impact mobile learning.

First off is the obvious – podcasting. When it comes to the iPhone’s delivery of this medium, I think it’s in the bag. After all, the iPod side of the iPhone functions like any other iPod (though the interface is quite a bit sleeker). If you’re thinking of delivering training via podcasting, the iPhone will not disappoint.

Beyond podcasting, though, mobile learning is going to run into some obstacles with the iPhone, many of which happen to be the same obstacles that any mobile device presents.

Following are some of my observations regarding challenges to think about when planning for mobile learning via the iPhone:

Video
While video (like vodcasts, etc.) can be a viable method for the iPhone, delivering video files has some hang ups. First, if delivered as a vodcast, the media must first be delivered to the learner’s iTunes application, where it then is loaded (or “synched”) to the iPhone. As it now stands, this is a cumbersome reality of the iPhone for all multimedia files. I project this will change sometime in the future with the release of a native iTunes application for the iPhone. For now, though, it’s a functionality issue to be aware of, as the process for delivering video media certainly isn’t “on demand” and may involve too many steps for learners to adopt.

Additionally, delivering video via the web to be viewed on iPhone’s Safari web browser is not ideal. First, as I’ll talk about a little further down, iPhone’s version of Safari does not currently support Flash. As a result, Flash delivered video, as found on sites like YouTube, will not work on your iPhone web browser. What’s more, the iPhone does not allow users to save files to a directory on the phone’s drive, meaning a learner can’t download and save a video from the web to their device (or other file of any sort for that matter, as I’ll discuss further).

Finally, even viewing heavy multimedia files like video can be a bit problematic on the iPhone. If a user can access a broadband wi-fi connection, then loading speeds can be acceptable. But when using AT&T’s 2.5G EDGE network (the only option for all iPhone users at this point), they are connecting to the Internet via a (relatively) slow connection, resulting in prohibitively long download times for large files like video.

Downloading Files
Discussing the inability to save video files is directly connected to the next aspect: Delivering documents via iPhone. At this point, it’s possible, given some major caveats. First, file size must be taken into account. As stated above, when relying on AT&T’s EDGE network, download times can be slow. Large files will take a long time to load.

Second, and perhaps most important, files themselves cannot be saved to the device. Yes, you can download and view a PDF in the Safari web browser, but once you close the browser window, if you want to view the PDF again, you must return to the URL and load it again. While not a huge issue at first glance, it is certainly a web usability issue as it goes completely against what users of the web are accustomed to. Plus, it’s simply inconvenient.

Keep this in mind if you’re developing training materials, handouts or other documents for mobile delivery to the iPhone.

Web
As is the case with all web delivery, you have to keep the specs in mind when developing. While web technology continues to become more and more standardized via the major browsers and factors like CSS and AJAX, a wide array of variables still exist. Typically, in e-learning, these factors are mitigated by “controlling” the web delivery, i.e. limiting delivery to a defined resolution on a single version of a single web browser on a uniform platform. This is a time-proven method; but when it comes to the iPhone (and mobile delivery in general), the method must be thrown out the door. While resolution issues are actually handled extremely well by iPhone’s “pinch” touch screen technology, the fact is, you’re dealing with a different browser, Safari, and a different platform, Mac OS X, and chances are, you’ve never dealt with it before in your e-learning endeavors.

I don’t want to be overly dramatic, because Safari is a fine browser, even the iPhone version. And OS X stands on its own for usability, if not for adoption. But the fact is, all web browsers render data slightly differently. Therefore, as you develop e-learning courses that include mobile delivery, you have to face the reality of developing for several browser and platform environments.

For example, non-mobile learners may be limited to IE 6.X, while some mobile learners will be limited to other versions of IE depending on the device they use, and iPhone learners will be limited to Safari. You can develop one solution that works for all three environments, or you can develop three separate solutions. Both options can be done, but both methods involve more programming time and QA, resulting in a greater expense than developing for a single browser on a single platform.

Flash
This is perhaps the biggest obstacle to delivering e-learning via the iPhone. As it now stands, iPhone does not support Flash. Zip. Zilch. No dice. The most widely accepted and implemented technology for e-learning simply does not work on the iPhone. To be honest, I was blown away when I discovered this. While most of my gripes with the iPhone are minor issues that I believe can be as easily overlooked as they can be tweaked, this is one area that has left me scratching my head. I imagine this issue will not be long lasting, but for now, it’s a reality to keep in mind when considering delivering learning via the iPhone.

Conclusion
Now, keep in mind, I do not intend to bag on the iPhone. So far, barring a couple of expected bugs, I’m loving the device. And my belief is that many of the above challenges will be resolved with software upgrades over the coming months and year. But when it comes to delivering mobile learning, the iPhone is just like all mobile devices – challenges exist and must be planned for and addressed.

For a further discussion on the iPhone and learning, you may want to check out Elliott Masie’s initial reaction and thoughts. In the meantime, if you have any thoughts or questions, drop us a line. We’d love to hear from you.