One of the UK’s major financial services institutions is to use a novel approach – via mobile performance support delivered to its staff’s PDAs and BlackBerrys – to provide regulatory and compliance-based information as well as key learning points related to data protection.
The mobile delivery system that is making this possible is supplied by leading learning and mobile content management technology provider, Giunti Labs.
The content is being authored and developed for deployment by Eukleia Training, a specialist provider of compliance training services for the financial services sector.
The learners’ test results – returned by Giunti Labs’s mobile learning platform – are being sent and monitored by the institution’s learning and talent management system, provided by partner Cornerstone OnDemand.
Angus Turpin, managing director of Giunti Labs UK, explained that three key issues have prompted this approach:
· Many organisations in the financial services sector – notably retail banks – reserve all of their network capacity, during working hours, for business operations.
This leaves no capacity on the network for the vital e-learning programmes that are needed to keep staff up-to-date with regulatory and compliance issues.
· In order to prevent unauthorised access to confidential information, Financial Services Authority regulations along with bank regulations, prohibit staff from using Bluetooth or other wireless networks with their laptops.
Consequently, many staff in the financial services sector rely on BlackBerrys in order to send and receive email.
· Since so much of their working life is spent doing their jobs under intense pressure, staff in the financial services sector rarely have time to spend even 40 minutes of ‘downtime’ working through an e-learning programme.
“Consequently the opportunity for, and ability to, carry out e-learning in working hours, using the organisation’s network, is severely limited,” Turpin said.
“The answer – at least to three divisions within this major UK financial services institution – is to develop compliance and data protection related learning materials, with accompanying tests; then make those available to staff via a number of mobile learning options.
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“While staff don’t have the time to spend on a 40 minute e-learning course, they can easily find time to take the course in, say, ten minute chunks via their mobile.”
“A further advantage of this system – which, of course, takes up none of their employer’s network bandwidth – is that any changes in regulations will involve altering only one module rather than an entire course.”
