Leveraging Training through Technology

For a business operation, a great deal of what happens on the field is determined by how equipped its field managers are. In our case, our Wealth Managers (WMs) at KGFSs (Pudhuaaru, Sahastradhara, Dhanei) are the primary interface in our endeavour to ensure access to finance.  Complete, continuous and accessible training therefore is a crucial ingredient in sharpening their skills at all times.

While the current training process involves a 24-day induction training and regular schedules of refresher training, this trainer-led effort with a lot of manual intervention provides a lot of challenges especially as it involves a lot of paperwork. To top this, there is no centralised repository that the WM could be directed to in order to stay updated on happenings and changes relating to products offered, processes and our USP of Wealth Management.

To bridge this gap, we hit upon the idea of an online learning management system which would be a one-stop shop for all learning needs featuring – product modules, process modules, Wealth Management modules, e-test and e-certification, storage of all training related information of each employee which later on can be factored into Performance Management of the respective employee.

Importantly this centralized learning environment will ensure consistency among learners, thus promoting web–based training that encourages self and participative learning, thereby, reducing trainer’s intervention for all training programs.

From ideation to fruition, it involved a lot of research in finding a suitable platform that could be customised to suit our training needs. The search was on to finalise a platform that is robust, user-friendly, easily customisable, secured, is being widely used across top companies with proven records and also a platform which is compliant to training standards like SCORM.  After 6 months of research, we decided on “Moodle”- a popular and prominent, free and open-source e-learning software. Moodle’s ease of installation, features and the level of customisation that could be done to it made it a perfect fit for our needs.

Learning Management System Architecture

Customised into 3 local languages (Tamil – Pudhuaaru KGFS; Oriya – Dhanei KGFS; Hindi – Sahastradhara KGFS) and in English, the learning management system would be a comprehensive tool that in its first phase would provide:

•    E – Learning on all products/processes and concepts of Wealth Management
•    E – Certification for all products/processes
•    Scheduling of training programs and maintaining repository of training data
•    Quiz and score management
•    Training dashboard automation: online extraction of training data – employee/geography wise
•    Automated mailer notifications for users
•    Feedback automation with effective reporting
•    Video based training on key aspects for better understanding
•    Internal chat for clarifying queries instantly
•    Discussion forums for knowledge sharing

Customised homepages of KGFSs (Click on image to enlarge)

The system would make it mandatory for the WMs to pass through the different certification programs on the various products, processes and concepts of wealth management. Also the system would update the training manager/CEO of a particular geography with macro and micro level information as regards the training status and the needs of the local staff so that they can evolve their training efforts.

The system will be live soon with the above-mentioned features. Improvisations and enhancements are planned in Phase II that will also include animated learning on all products/processes and concepts of Wealth Management, which will supplement the current modules.