The Solution and the Challenge
There is always joy in winning business and probably just like every other business person, I celebrate each victory regardless of value.
In the competitive business of corporate Online Learning, where customers really know what they want before you even get the chance to pitch, winning really does mean that your product/service ticked all their boxes...well, that is you have ticked all the boxes that a training/HR manager laid out in their specification....
The specification of course focuses on the assessment and training required to meet specific project needs or compliance outcomes...but recently, on three separate occasions, with different companies, implementing an agreed solution running off the corporate intranet has run hard into the respective IT Governance team.
This is not a post bemoaning the lack of internal corporate communication or deriding the need for IT security and network management, but in an age when online learning is designed for delivery over multiple platforms, hosted from the Cloud and companies in a variety of sectors adopt BYOD policies, I must confess that I am increasingly bemused to receive "IT Governance" templates designed for Windows based systems, dedicated servers, SCORM compliance and other singular technologies long outdated (well at least a year old!).
It has always been part of my SOP with all clients that get to the pre-proposal stage to ask if they have run their internet/online/intranet usage requirements past their IT team. Now however, I insist on a direct conversation with their IT counterpart so that my proposal can cover any implementation challenges and no one faces any surprises down the road.
To be fair,and in the case of the three customers mentioned earlier, after some weeks of emails, meetings and discussions, amicable and mutually agreeable implementation has been agreed and we are all now good chums with a healthy mutual respect for each others role in furthering the growth of the company, but only because of a quite a bit of give on both sides.
It is clear that as the use of new technology in training (3D with voice etc.) and the application of mobile learning grows, coupled with the variety of platforms, all sides need to consider the impacts and role that corporate IT managers have to play in ensuring that what works actually works. And no, I wouldn't want their job either.
Stating the obvious? Perhaps, but there is a disjoint between what E-learning technology can do for training managers and what their IT Governance will allow it to do. Does anyone already have the solution?
