As one of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource- saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of systems for power generation and transmission as well as medical diagnosis. Siemens in the USA employs approximately 80,000 people throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
“Training is our future,” says Richard Voorberg, Vice President of Global Services Operations, Power Services for Siemens Corporation. “Technology is getting more and more complex, so we need to have employees that are more knowledgeable and able to add the most value to our company and our customers.”
30%
increase in elearning usage since implementing OpenSesame
Challenges for the learning organization
“Elearning is a critical part of developing employees in large organizations like Siemens,” says Casper Moerck, Learning Technology Manager for Siemens Corporation. “We are trying to solve infrastructure issues surrounding energy and healthcare globally. Keeping up with those challenges requires a strong learning organization that knows how to deliver for its employees and its customers.”
Some of the challenges Siemens Corporation was facing with its previous elearning initiatives were managing the multiple vendors required to offer the range of courses the company wanted to provide, the varying quality of the courses themselves, and a lack of service from the elearning course providers. “In addition, we had to really be very involved with the integration of each vendor into our learning management system (LMS), Saba, which took a great deal of internal resources,” adds Moerck.
Expert curation
With a highly dispersed learner base and self-funded learning organization, the more support the Siemens Learning Campus team can obtain from its vendors, the easier their jobs are. OpenSesame collaborates with the Siemens team to find, select and evaluate the elearning courses they need as well as assists with improving elearning utilization.
“We have seen more efficiency and productivity with OpenSesame, as well as a 30% increase in usage of our elearning program.”
Lisa Lang, Head of Learning Campus, Siemens Corporations
“I like the fact that they aggregate content from best-in-class publishers,” says Lisa Lang, Head of Learning Campus for Siemens Corporation. “They look at each discipline, area or topic that we need to cover within our catalog and find the best courses and publishers, so we don’t have to do the work ourselves.”
Streamlined integration
The company moved to OpenSesame three years ago, taking advantage of the seamless integration with Saba LMS. “The integration with Saba was a strong selling point,” says Moerck. “And managing OpenSesame courses within Saba is easy thanks to the API integration. When you’re able to integrate a new elearning vendor into your learning platform within a couple of months, that says a lot.”
Saba LMS integration makes it easier to quickly add elearning courses to the Saba LMS catalog. Siemens can preview courses, read reviews, and research publisher information before purchasing any course from OpenSesame. Once purchased, new courses sync instantly from OpenSesame into Saba. “OpenSesame is a long-time partner for us,” says Phil Saunders, CEO of Saba. “We’ve been working together for many years. This is two best in class companies coming together to deliver real solutions for our customers. Siemens is trying to deliver a modern, effective, and agile learning experience for its employees. Saba, together with OpenSesame, delivers that on point.”
30% increase in elearning usage
Finding and deploying courses is only part of the training program journey. Elearning utilization continues to be a key metric for any learning and development initiative, validating that learners are utilizing the courses you have made available. “We’ve seen a 30 percent increase in usage of our elearning program since implementing OpenSesame,” notes Moerck. “I see people benefiting from our elearning programs on a daily basis. We are providing value to both to the individual learners and to the company.”
Furthermore, connecting business results to training is paramount for any organization to recognize a return on investment on training. “We have seen more efficiency and productivity with OpenSesame,” says Lang.
“I see people benefiting from our elearning programs on a daily basis. We are providing value to both to the individual learners and to the company.”
Casper Moerck, Learning Campus US, Learning Technology Manager
Training is our future
“The beauty of Siemens is you can stay with one company for your whole career and have a dozen different jobs,” says Voorberg.
In order to facilitate and support Siemens employees to advance their careers, the Siemens Learning Campus is providing the tools they need to develop the skills required for their next job. With OpenSesame, Siemens Corporation is able to offer a modern, effective and agile learning experience for all of its employees.