Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2011 - (Page 39)

thought they would and then you read the qualitative metrics about how you kept people off planes, got them back to their territories faster and how much more appreciative the learners were, coupled with how much you saved; it’s a pretty amazing story,” said Kern. Credit for these high metrics goes in part to Pfizer’s willingness to learn from Wyeth, which it acquired a few years prior. While Pfizer was already heading in the direction of virtual training, it was able to effectively leverage Wyeth’s online training best practices to accelerate its launch and make it a success. “As people look at the evolution of the overall pharmaceutical business model, they re-examine all aspects, including training,” said Schanze. “Therefore that allows you to make change that before was not possible.” The training team looked at all aspects of its training program following the timeline of an employee’s career pathway. Any kind of application training that used to require classroom training as it relates to products was converted to the virtual platform. The onboarding application classes are currently in this format, but the advanced classes will follow suit and be added in the near future. This analysis has prompted them to re-evaluate the basic knowledge points and how to deliver those aspects. “This is not the death of classroom training. It’s important to see where this delivery methodology is the right choice and see where you can go without degrading any of the applications or metrics,” said Kern. There is cost savings right away but there is a need for a blended approach. For product training, it was a great story where we can leverage the virtual classroom.” Through a blended approach, Pfizer is offering different delivery methods to meet the training needs of its employees and the business. The product sales training makeup is currently 90 percent online; with 50 percent e-learning, 40 percent live virtual training and less than 10 percent training in the classroom. Regardless of the delivery method, the quality of the content and participant interaction has not been sacrificed with this shift. Pfizer is utilizing Adobe Connect to allow the participants to interact and communicate with the instructor and other attendees. Everything that would appear in the live classroom is now in the virtual classroom. “Virtual training is going to evolve and be the centerpiece of how people learn,” said Schanze. Attendees are happy not to travel, stakeholders are happy with the metrics and the business has found an innovative, compliance-focused and economical approach to take training to the next level. “This has changed training at Pfizer forever, at least how we do sales training with products,” said Kern. “It would be like going back to horse and buggy versus the car.” Michelle Eggleston is associate editor of Training Industry Quarterly e-magazine. E-mail Michelle. Training Industry Quarterly, Fall 2011 / A Training Industry, Inc. ezine / www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ 39 http://www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ http://www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ http://www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ http://www.trainingindustry.com http://www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ http://www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2011

Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2011
From Where I Sit: Back to the Basics
Table of Contents
Ad Index
The Learning GPS
Work that Stretches: The Best Teacher
The Promise and Peril of Social Enterprise
Technical Training: How is it Different?
Companies Press 'Play' on Training Games
Redefining the 'e' in e-Learning
Essential Components for Effectively Training a Global Workforce
Five m-Learning Considerations for Your Talent Management Strategy
Instructional Design: Learning Meets Technology
Improving Training: Thinking Like a Game Developer
Casebook: Pfizer: Moving Product Sales Training Online
Why is Mobile Learning Not More Popular?
Tweet Suite
Company News
Closing Arguments: The Three T's

Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2011