As one of the most recognized and respected brands in the access systems industry, Overhead Door’s founder, C. G. Johnson, invented the upward-lifting garage door in 1921 and the electric garage door opener in 1926. From commercial and industrial overhead doors and access systems to residential garage doors and openers, Overhead Door combines high-quality, dependable products with reliable service to consistently give homeowners and businesses confidence and peace of mind.
Training a diverse and distributed workforce
With more than 4,000 employees at hundreds of locations across the United States, Overhead Door was challenged to ensure every employee received the training they needed to excel in their jobs, plus the development courses they wanted to advance their careers. “About 2,500 of our employees are manufacturing employees who don’t sit at a desk or in front of a computer every day,” says Amanda Reed, Learning and Development Manager for Overhead Door. “So it was critical for us to customize learning delivery for them, as well as for our other employees who can access training more easily.”
Reed, along with her manager, Jody Kelly, the Director of Talent Development, found they were not having much success engaging employees with their existing training content. “It was too long, it wasn’t addressing employees’ specific needs and it didn’t have the modern look and interface today’s learners embrace,” explains Kelly.
Recommended by peers
Reed learned about OpenSesame at a user conference she attended to understand how the company could maximize its investment in its recently implemented Oracle learning management system (LMS). “Another Oracle user was sharing their best practices and experiences, and spoke about OpenSesame and its extensive library of curated elearning courses that seamlessly integrate with the LMS,” she says.
Upon returning to the office, Reed shared her findings with Jody, and they decided to partner with OpenSesame to revitalize Overhead Door’s elearning program.
“The interaction by learners with our LMS has grown by hundreds of percent as compared to before.”
Amanda Reed, Learning and Development Manager, Overhead Door
Exponential growth in learner utilization
The combination of a powerful, integrated learning management system and elearning content from OpenSesame is transforming the way Overhead Door trains its workforce.
As an elearning designer, Reed is most impressed by the modern content, its relevance to her learners, and the broad selection of elearning courses from OpenSesame. “We’ve seen tremendous results with OpenSesame,” she says. “The interaction by learners with our LMS has grown by hundreds of percent as compared to before.”
Investing in employees today and for the future
Sandi Denton, the Director of Human Resources at Overhead Door, appreciates the many more options for courses and learning plans for their employees that OpenSesame provides. “Previously, learners only had access to Microsoft Office courses. Now they have so many elearning opportunities available to them before that wasn’t previously available. And the courses can be taken by individuals on their own, on a mobile device or even on a home computer.”
Overhead Door still conducts some training in group settings, using OpenSesame courses as part of the curriculum, followed by discussions of what was learned and it applies to their individual jobs. “With OpenSesame, we can give employees the best tools for their current role and for their future,” says Denton. “It shows team members we care about their development and want to. give them opportunities. It demonstrates our commitment to helping individuals learn.”
“With OpenSesame, we can give employees the best tools for their current role and for their future.”
Sandi Denton, Director of Human Resources, Overhead Door
Saving time and money with OpenSesame
With a lean learning and development team serving 4,000 learners, it’s critical for Overhead Door that the integration between their LMS and elearning courses is seamless. Reed can log into the LMS to directly access OpenSesame courses, pull them into the LMS, and assign them to learners. What used to take her hours now only takes her minutes, so she can spend more time interacting with various department managers and learners.
“OpenSesame was an easy investment to justify,” notes Kelly. “OpenSesame got us up and running quickly, and customer support is always there to answer our questions. We are saving time and money compared to the content we were purchasing, and we’ve been able to expand our course offerings while doing it.”