‘You will (really really)
want everything we show you’
Supermarkets are showing Training and Development
functions what you can do with personalised marketing driven
off Loyalty scheme databases.
Have you wondered why the major supermarkets are so keen to
use loyalty schemes? These schemes undoubtedly lock customers
into repeatedly using the same supermarket to purchase their
weekly shopping by offering credit for ongoing purchases. They
also however go far beyond simply enticing customers to use
the same brands, they are sophisticated marketing tools that
are designed to inform and co-ordinate highly personalised
promotional campaigns.
This is why the promotional flyer delivered to your doorstep
may well be different to your neighbours, the stores will know
that you purchase organic fruit and vegetables and your
neighbour purchases lots of wine and snack foods. The
promotional material will therefore be designed to match your
purchasing habits. This premise is also used to profile any
associated services marketed to you that may also include
holidays, financial services etc. Finally the location, size
and design of any new or proposed store will also be matched
with the demographics (and the known matching purchasing
habits) of the target location, thereby ensuring any new
development has the maximum potential for success.
So from simply recording your individual purchases against
your loyalty account details the supermarkets can:
- profile their marketing material to the
individual, only products that are of interest are
promoted
- enable customers to feel a bond with the
supermarket and its offering; they appear to stock
lots of things I like, they are my type of shop, they
match my lifestyle
- use the information to promote other related
products and services
- even inform the position of new supermarket, which
are located to match specific demographic catchments
areas based on previous purchasing trends.
But what do supermarket loyalty systems have to do with
using technology to help underpin and embed organisational and
individual development?
Because as the above example demonstrates, technology can help
not only automate core processes but also pull together key
underpinning information enabling the whole experience to be
delivered in a far more personal, relevant and powerful way.
When this approach is used to enhance organisational or
personal development, we call this
Technology Enabled People
Engagement (TEPE). Let’s see for example how this works in
practice in a learning and development environment.
Delivering an enhanced development environment using TEPE
enabled technology.
Often technology which is used to help support learning and
development is used in isolated and fragmented ways. These
different processes can include personal assessment, training
needs analysis (TNA), 360° feedback,
learning resource databases, online learning and course
evaluation. These can be delivered using different methods
including paper based systems and software applications. When
integrated online however using your corporate intranet or
extranet, these processes can often be automated and provide
an enhanced personalised environment.
How this approach works in practice? In this example we have
split the development process into six specific stages: Needs
Assessment, Solution Selection, Solution Delivery, Evaluation,
Data Capture and Analysis. In more detail this example works
in the following way:
- Needs Assessment – the need can be
identified using an online assessment tool, 360°
feedback application, online PDP or TNA. This
information is then captured and held against the
individual’s files. It will be used to profile any
solution recommended and the development environment
used.
- Solution Selection – once the need has
been identified this can be used to profile the most
suitable learning solution. This can range from simply
automatically selecting the most relevant training
programme from a database of available solutions held on
your intranet, to building the perfect programme from
modular e-learning elements to meet a specific skill
shortfall.
- Solution Delivery – whether you simply
book a course online and download the joining
instructions or attend a whole e-learning or blended
learning programme online, supporting the delivery of
training using your intranet can significantly reduce
associated administration and speedup the whole process,
captured key information as you go.
- valuation – ongoing evaluation is
important. This can range from simple online happy
sheets to running the original 360° feedback session
again. The important thing is to measure progress and
the distance travelled, this can be from the individual,
team and organisation’s perspective.
- Data Capture – each of the above stages
in the process produces data which when pulled together
produces a unique view of your development process,
ranging from the individual to the whole organisations
perspective. Only a fully integrated approach can
deliver this powerful source data. This data can be used
to populate individual and departmental training
records, capture course feedback and replace over time
all paper based training and development related HR
records.
- Analysis - capturing the data is only
part of the story. Analysing the results and then using
the data to inform your future strategy can be the
biggest benefit of the whole process. Identifying
development needs and trends at the individual, team,
department or organisational level can be achieved. This
information can then be used to optimise any learning
initiatives provided, used to also inform the assessment
process, thereby starting the whole process again.
The whole solution is tailored to the individual, and the
number of individuals who can have the personalised solution
is virtually limitless.
This approach has the following benefits:
- As information is built up relating to the individual, a
personalised online environment is developed which delivers
highly relevant profiled information to the user. This
increase in relevancy builds much higher ownership.
- Information from one part of the system feeds the next
stage in the development process, thereby significantly
reducing the need for data entry. This produces significant
efficiency improvements.
- As all assessment, feedback and evaluation data is
centrally stored and analysed, cause and effect can be
measured and reported on. This can be from the subject’s
perspective (individual, team, company etc) or from the
interventions perspective (course, delivery type, provider
etc). This can provide significant increases in the
effectiveness of any training or development initiatives
delivered. The solution ROI is significantly improved.
As in the example of the supermarket loyalty system, it is
the data produced by this system which enables this approach
to deliver highly personalised, relevant and powerful
solutions. Solutions that not only deliver improvements in
efficiency but also deliver an environment designed
specifically for the individual. This is something that was
not considered possible before the development of this
integrated approach to using intranet technology.
We know where you live has been superseded by we know what you
really like and here is some similar great stuff.
This is only one example of how TEPE can help you enhance your
current organisational and personal development processes in a
more personal, relevant and powerful way. To find out more on
how TEPE can help your organisation contact:
Lynn Joy
e: lynnj@predaptive.com
t: +44 (0)1789 734333
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