Accelerating the transition to digital learning

How are OEMs adapting their transition to digital learning to meet new consumer demands?

Training requirements and the need to upskill in this new reality are more important than ever. Businesses are looking for more digitalized training solutions to reduce spend and speed up delivery. Already in the midst of a digital transition, OEMs are facing increasing pressure to provide remote learning as the COVID-19 outbreak demands precautions and social distancing.

Manufacturers must find a way to migrate their existing training curriculum and make it accessible 24/7, from any location, without compromising on quality.  Learners expect to access information in one click, therefore OEMs need to integrate existing learning and development systems and their specially adapted curriculum into a single learning ecosystem. And they must have the tools to analyze learners’ performance to continuously improve the overall experience.

By making digital and remote learning relevant for automotive retail, OEMs can succeed in this new reality.

“We have to be open-minded because this technology is changing incredibly fast. We need to have everything in the palm of our participants’ hands.”

From a content perspective, we don’t like to take just one direction, one approach. The blend of animations, videos and people’s reactions on camera is what brings digital learning together.” 

Richard Weinberg, National Training Manager, Ford, Lincoln

Transcript

Podcast Learning Audio

[00:00:00] Tom Ring: [00:00:00] Welcome to the next MSX podcast. Today, we will be talking about the transformation of learning and development in the automotive industry, as it is adapting to the needs and requirements exposed by the new reality. We have a very interesting and experienced set of panelists today with us. And I'll start with Richard Weinberg, responsible for training, compliance and customer experience for Ford and Lincoln amongst other brands in the UAE for Al Tayer Motors. Welcome Richard. 

[00:00:41] Richard Weinberg: [00:00:41] Thank you very much. Good to be here. 

[00:00:43] Tom Ring: [00:00:43] Thanks. We also have Jayesh Jagasia from MSX International, Global Executive Director. Welcome Jayesh. 

[00:00:52] Jayesh Jagasia: [00:00:52] Thank you, Tom. Pleasure to be here. 

[00:00:54] Tom Ring: [00:00:54] Thank you. And Lois Valente , the Director Performance, Learning of MSX international, responsible for the Americas. Welcome Lois.

[00:01:03] Lois Valente: [00:01:03] Thank you Tom. Glad to be here. 

[00:01:04] Tom Ring: Thank you. Now, the business disruption we have recently experienced is something we have never seen before. Certain fundaments of how work is being done are changing. All stakeholders at all levels are facing the challenge of digitizing learning curriculums as both the automotive industry, as well as our society, have quickly had to transform face-to-face and analog into remote and digital capabilities.

[00:01:35] Now this goes for the automotive OEMs, their retail networks, as well as their partners and suppliers. The learning and development space is especially important as the front line, the automotive dealers and their employees need rescaling and upscaling in a digital form with the newest technology, mobile access, and with engaging features and content.

[00:02:00] [00:02:00] Now, the L&D is going through this fast and intensive transformation from a traditional blended approach, consistent of classroom training together with web based training, plus a few other digital tools and aids, into remote and as digital as possible approach. Now let’s start with talking about the latest and hottest trends in the digital learning space. So what makes this digital learning so important? Lois, why don't you start? And in your opinion, who is demanding more of the digital approach? The OEMs or the dealers?

[00:02:39] Lois Valente: [00:02:39] It's really being driven by both, but the dealers are asking for more digital learning opportunities that fit within the human workflow, and that are able to drive their personal business goals. The OE’s are asking for the digital learning because they know within this realm of the new normal that we need to be flexible, we need to have options, and we need to look at what's really being effective out in the marketplace. 

[00:03:10] Tom Ring: [00:03:10] Right. That's true for sure. Now, Jayesh. Where do you see the hottest trends moving?

[00:03:17] Jayesh Jagasia: [00:03:17] I think the move to digital learning and remote learning had already started even before the pandemic hit. And I think the reality of COVID has only accelerated some of those transitions and accelerated them quite aggressively. I think if you look at learning and development from an OEM's perspective or a dealer's perspective, there is obviously a huge cost associated with their staff having to leave their business and go somewhere to participate in face to face training, and digital offers some very serious cost benefits that are extremely attractive to both OEM and dealers, especially at such times of extreme challenge in the business. At the same time, when you look at it from a learner's perspective, it has been very clear now for a long time that the traditional long format learning just does not work for a large number of rules and a large number of use cases. I mean, that's not the way that the brain learns, absorbs and processes information. And as I think we have started to understand how the brain functions and how the brain actually absorbs these things and retrieves information, it is encouraging a big shift in the way we approach L&D as well. So I think some of the biggest trends we are going to see is a further acceleration of digital and remote learning, a larger penetration of consumer grade learning apps that drive a very frictionless learner experience. And these are some things that I would love to talk about more through the rest of the conversation as well. 

[00:04:55]Tom Ring: [00:04:55] Excellent. Very, very interesting points Jayesh. Now Richard, from the retail perspective, and with your experience, how enabled is the automotive industry or your specific OEMs in delivering digital learning? And what precisely are you currently doing in the digital space?

[00:05:16] Richard Weinberg: [00:05:16] So a digital space has become very interesting, especially this year. And I have to agree with Jayesh, we were venturing towards a more broad digital spectrum, but the COVID pandemic has only accelerated that. I think what we look for now is more new technologies, such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and blending that with gamification. We have a very, very connected demographic now in terms of the participants and even from our customer base. So our teams look to become more connected, they like to have everything in the palm of their hand. So for me, what we expect from the OEM is looking at new ways of training our teams, but even potentially training our customers during the sales process, which is something I'd like to touch on a little bit later. But people like things here and now. So for us, it's all about having everything on the mobile, or on a tablet, even laptops have almost being pushed aside in some cases when it comes to training now. And as the world of gaming itself progresses and develops and modernizes, we're seeing a lean towards virtual reality, augmented reality, and blending this with other types of e-learning as well.

[00:06:39]Tom Ring: [00:06:39] When you mentioned augmented reality and virtual reality, Richard, then how do you see the affordability of applying these technologies? Because we know that they are quite expensive and in the learning space, how can they be utilized in an efficient way?

[00:06:58]Richard Weinberg: [00:06:58] Absolutely. I mean, virtual reality, the platform and the development, the equipment can be expensive. The way we're discussing the use of this is primarily with the technical training teams so that they can get more of a virtual hands on experience, but without having to bring the tools and the vehicles to them. But it all depends on the return on investment. We do find that there's a lot of scope and a lot of potential for being able to bring the products, the engines, the transmission to the team. It also helps with things like public speaking because our sales teams, our managers, they have to have a certain level of public speaking and hear in different languages, as we have well over 200 nationalities across the UAE. So virtual reality can also help with things like that. In terms of costs and more efficiency, we've experienced a lot more with augmented reality because we can use things like QR codes or images known as markers to initiate e-learning modules or apps or gamification. But we actually blend our own in house developed content along with animations to give more of a blended and augmented approach to some of the sales experience or some of the pre-delivery inspections done on vehicles and things like that. So it puts our participants in the driving seat or in the heat of things so they get a different experience than just having a presentation or a video to watch.

[00:08:37] Lois Valente: [00:08:37] And I think Richard brings up a really good point about the need to build relationships. And that's one of the challenges with digital learning. When we were working face to face, a lot of the activity that we did with our learners was to help them build a relationship, how to do a role-play, practice their skills, and AR and VR are now being looked at as a way to digitally help that relationship building skill that's so important in our industry with customer satisfaction and customer engagement. 

[00:09:13] Tom Ring: [00:09:13] That's very, very interesting and extremely relevant. Now, when we look upon the success factors and the drivers of digital learning, we know that it's the future. So, what are those factors? Apart from technology that we have been touching upon here already, what are some other factors and drivers that make digital learning successful? And where do you see, where do you see challenges for the integration? Jayesh, with your experience from several global regions, how do you look upon this? Are there different expectations, requirements and maturities between regions? And how can the integration and transformation be pursued?

[00:09:56] Jayesh Jagasia: [00:09:56] That's a really good question, Tom. And I think the answer has a number of components that I’m going to try and lay out, so this might be a little bit of a long answer so do bear with me. I think obviously there are differences between various markets, between various regions, and within the same market often between different demographics of dealer staff, that may work, in the network. So, there are certainly cultural differences, other differences. But what is more important is the similarities, right? And through those similarities emerge these two or three very clear success factors that you need to get right if you need your digital and remote learning initiative to be successful. And those similarities are essentially, you know, any learner of any age, anywhere in the world expects the learning that is directed towards them to be relevant, to be engaging, to be interesting and almost to be entertaining, right? Anything other than that it's very difficult to hold their attention, it's very difficult for learning to work. Now in the old world where we had a captive audience sitting in a classroom being delivered face to face intervention, there was still a lot that the facilitator or the trainer could do on the ground, adapt, see how the participants are responding and then change their approach a little bit. In the digital world we just don't have that kind of luxury. So we don't get too many chances to ensure that people are hooked and engaged with learning. Remember also that these learners are constantly being bombarded with numerous notifications and messages on dozens of other apps on their smartphone, so you are, as learning, you're actually competing for attention with a non-captive audience, so you've got to bear that in mind. The other thing that learners really expect is a learner experience that is smooth and frictionless. Today, you know, the everyday person with a smartphone in their pocket is used to a very high quality user experience on numerous social media apps, and other apps that they use, and they do not expect anything less out of a learner experience interface either. So I think the two key success factors that emerged from this is one, in the way one conceptualizes and thinks about and designs the learning intervention itself - how engaging is it? How relevant is it for the learner? Is it really giving them what they want? Or are we beating around the bush talking about a hundred other things that are not relevant and important to the learner? It has to be very focused, very sharp and very, very clearly defined. And then on the delivery side, the medium by which this learning is delivered has to be extremely slick, very, very smooth, very frictionless, fast, responsive, it has to be something that hooks the learner on. It has to be something that can compete with the consumer grade app that you would download off the app store today. And I think it's important to get both those elements right before, you know, branded OEMs and dealers started investing a lot of money in resource, building a huge library of digital learning content.

[00:13:02] Tom Ring: [00:13:02] So learning has to deliver then a similar, or even better experience and engagement as any social media. Right?

[00:13:11] Jayesh Jagasia: [00:13:11] 100%. 100%. 

[00:13:13] Tom Ring: [00:13:13] Okay. Now Richard, as you are working with digital tools and with new technology already, and you already mentioned AR and VR, in your experience, what is really working well and what is not working well from the digital components and tools, technologies that you have? And how is the digital learning perceived by the learner? So what are the dealer employees saying? Is it impactful? Is it engaging? And what is their feedback? 

[00:13:47]Richard Weinberg: [00:13:47] It's a very interesting question, Tom. And we've seen a lot of excitement with digital learning, but also some apprehension from some users, typically a generation who are newer to technology. But overall we find that engagement is absolutely key. We have seen it become impactful and now people actually look forward to what we can do deliver next. And our OEMs have been incredibly supportive and also looking to evolve technology all the time. So I think what the key factors and drivers for success with us and the OEMs is to ensure that it's engaging. I see digital learning almost like a mobile phone. It sounds a little bit strange but mobile phones these days we almost can't live without. I've seen people have panic attacks when they've left their phone in the room for five minutes, and that's because we like to be connected, but it's because we like to have everything in one place. And what we see from mobile phone providers and app developers, they aim to put every possible tool on one the device. So we've taken a similar approach in digital training. We don't like to have just one direction, one approach. We like to blend animations, videos, seeing people's reactions on the camera, on the screen in front of us, we like to have stories, we even have quizzes and voting within sessions, we have a presenter and then we'll flip over to a customer story or a customer case study, then we flip over to a vehicle and we have a walk around. And sometimes even for example, we'll have a marker, a QR code or an image marker in a showroom on a vehicle in a specific place so that people can go and scan it with their phone and then they get a link to a module or a story or a video. So for us, it sounds quite hectic, but it's actually what really brings digital learning together. People expect to be able to do just as much, if not more than what they believe is possible in the classroom. So for the participants, they very high expectations, there is a sense of impatientness when perhaps technology is slow, we have slow bandwidth on the internet, so people expect things very quickly. From a trainer's perspective, reliability is key and being able to see the reactions of the people as much as possible that we're teaching is critical. 

[00:16:34] Tom Ring: [00:16:34] So it sounds like you have a very robust learning ecosystem Richard, that is working with a modern and cool technology. What's your take on this? How can this be handled and frameworked in a way that it's manageable? Because we talk about so many different technologies and apps. And still we have traditional learning on the curriculum as well. And I bet that every automotive OEM is looking into their curriculums as we speak and looking at ways to digitize that. How do you see it? 

[00:17:14] Lois Valente: [00:17:14] Sure. One of the things that we haven't talked about is what's really one of the key drivers of the digitalization, and that's time. As humans, as employees, we're distracted by all sorts of media, more demands from our jobs and on our time, and a key success to digital learning is respecting that time and providing content that drives the desired behavior of now, right now. What I mean by that really comes from our experience with microlearning. We know that folks have maybe 20, 25 minutes a week to spend on learning, so microlearning targets three to five minutes, or short bursts of content, and that has taught us to really hone our skills when we look to develop some new pieces for our learners and to look at what they need to know and how to apply it, versus the nice to know. And what do they need to know today to be successful to drive those business goals. And that's really one of the key successes to effective digital learning - respecting people's time, helping them do their job today, and looking at what we can do to mitigate some of the high rate of turnover that beleaguers our industry by developing content that skills people up quicker, faster, doesn't require a whole huge curriculum to be completed before they can apply it to their job. And that's really been the exciting part of working with the digital learning formats as all of those elements coming together to help us improve the effectiveness of the learning that's going on.

[00:19:01] Tom Ring: [00:19:01] Right. Now, we all know that theory remains theory unless it's implemented and executed. So, this is not a minor challenge in terms of going from the previous learning approach into digital learning. So let's talk about the transformation and how that works. So, we know that the OEMs and the retailers also have invested a lot of money and time into their learning and development. So, the question is here, I guess, how can this transformation journey be best supported and facilitated? Now, Richard, you’re representing Ford and the Lincoln brands, and these OEMs have surely invested a lot of money over the years and will be doing that in the future as well into learning and development. Now, what would you like your OEM to do more with the curriculum to deliver value for you to help you going to the next level?

[00:20:04] Richard Weinberg: [00:20:04] Well, as Lois said, I think definitely time is money. So the ability to have a lot of information spread out throughout the week or the days, but in short, concise amounts of time is very important. Interactive virtual showrooms and having all of the technology and all of the learning and development in one place, I think is very important. People like to be social about learning as well, so I think having this community element is very important. And another side to this is also, which I've touched on earlier, interacting with customers and being able to actually teach our customers through this type of technology. So one of the features I really love which Ford has introduced is a smart drive. So it's actually an audible interactive test drive that we do with the customer. So we have a sales advisor and the customer in a vehicle, and they can cue different tracks on the vehicles audio system to briefly explain interior features, safety, technology, functionality to the customer. So adds almost a fourth dimension into the whole experience. So, I think in summary, we'd love to see more technology and involving the customers as well. But what's really important is to have everything in one place and be able to talk about it, be able to give open feedback, share success stories and best practice. 

[00:21:36] Tom Ring: [00:21:36] Okay. Thank you, Richard. Jayesh, what are your thoughts on this? 

[00:21:39]Jayesh Jagasia: [00:21:39] I’m very glad that we brought this up because I think it's important to contextualize this transformation of this transition to digital and remote learning in the context of automotive retail. Our industry and our domain is quite unique and a lot of things that other industries do can just be a plug and played in automotive retail. So I think it's important to contextualize. I think point number one is we have to acknowledge and accept that a huge amount of time, energy, resource has been spent in creating legacy curriculum. A lot of that curriculum, which is largely classroom face-to-face instructor led training is actually pretty good, and it would be unfair to kind of ditch all of that and start from scratch. I don't think that is practical, that is pragmatic. I think what is important, what should be a priority moving forward is to balance innovation with pragmatism. We have to look at what curriculum exists within the library of a particular dealer group or any particular brand, and we need to go through a very structured, systematic process of identifying how rich pieces of that curriculum can be brought to life in the digital and remote world. I think we at MSX, we've worked together and we've created what I believe is a very sensible, pragmatic, practical approach to kind of evaluate all of this legacy curriculum that exists in a manufacturer's library, look at it at the level of learning objectives and learning outcomes, and then determine for a particular role holder, any particular learning outcome, what's the best methodology to deliver that learning outcome. And if the best methodology continues to be classroom training, as it will be for a number of specialized technical roles where you can’t expect to teach a technician to change a component on an advocate a hundred percent via digital means. I think it's important to classify some of those learning outcomes contextualized to the role holder into one of three or four categories, and then you would treat those categories differently in the light of how you want to create digital learning content out of that. And I think that's some very interesting work we have done that I would encourage our OEM customers and audience too explore with us. But I think it's important, just as a bottom line, to balance this innovation with a lot of pragmatism and make sensible use of the dollars that are going to be invested in this transition to digital learning moving forward.

[00:24:19] Tom Ring: [00:24:19] Very interesting points, Jayesh. Lois, have you discussed this? Has this been raised by the OEMs that you are working with in North America? How do we go about?

[00:24:29] Lois Valente: [00:24:29] Absolutely. As Jayesh mentioned, there are these huge legacy systems with thousands and thousands of pieces of content and learning that have been invested in already. And we do leverage them. We look at what's already been built and we try to then focus those pieces that we know are effective and relevant to integrate with a digital platform or a digital solution. But the biggest change for me really comes from looking at whether or not the learning is effective. So, some people will learn better in a classroom environment, regardless of the topic. Some people will learn better on a digital platform. And we have a lot of science around that now which is really exciting. For the first time we can take a look at wherever the content exists, apply some big data to it, do this analytics activity and say hey, this is working, this isn't working, let's spend our money on where we know we can get the lift. And that includes the legacy systems that are already in place and matching that up with a huge, you know, analytics platform that can then give us those analysis points and tell us where we need to move forward.

[00:25:52] Tom Ring: [00:25:52] That is very interesting. And I do agree that analytics and also the technology they're in, so artificial intelligence and machine learning, and the ability and much better higher analytics capabilities, will open up new avenues and interesting insights which then will be fed back into the learning process as such. 

[00:26:18] Lois Valente: [00:26:18] Right. So we won't have to pick what platform, the analytics will tell us, the artificial intelligence will tell us what's working and what's not, and where to spend our efforts.

[00:26:29]Tom Ring: [00:26:29] Right. Now we are coming to the end of our 30 minute session here, and I must say that it was really a pleasure hosting this very interesting and engaging discussion, and let me shortly summarize what we discussed here. Now, we touched upon the why, so why is digital learning becoming the new norm? What trends we see emerging, and what are the success factors of digitizing learning and how all this can happen, so in other words, the how. What the challenges are with the transformation. Now, if all of you would capture your thoughts in a couple of sentences, what would be your key takeaways from our discussion today? Why don't you start, Richard?

[00:27:18] Richard Weinberg: [00:27:18] Thank you, Tom. I think we have to be open-minded, always keep updated because this technology is changing incredibly fast. We need to make sure we have everything in the palm of our participants’ hands. New technology excites many, but you have to sell the benefits. And most importantly, never replicate classroom training on a digital platform. I think we just have to always remember to keep that human element.

[00:27:46]Tom Ring: [00:27:46] Right. Jayesh?

[00:27:48]Jayesh Jagasia: [00:27:48] I think Tom, to me, the kind of large takeaway or conclusion from the discussion and otherwise, from what I see around me is, I mean look, first we have to acknowledge that automotive retail training is not the benchmark when it comes to design and delivery of creating better. Other industries that are a couple of generations ahead of us, it's important to learn from them, contextualize what they are doing to our unique domain, our own constraints and opportunities, but we need to move forward. This is, I think the pandemic has offered us as an industry, a fantastic opportunity to really step back, look at what we are doing, is it relevant in the bigger scheme of things? And almost reinvent our learning approach to make it a lot more contemporary, a lot more engaging, and a lot more impactful. And I think if we didn't, as a group, as an industry, make full use of this opportunity, I think we would be being unfair to ourselves and to everybody else out there.

[00:28:52] Tom Ring: [00:28:52] Absolutely. I couldn't agree more on that Jayesh. Lois, what are your thoughts?

[00:28:56] Lois Valente: [00:28:56] Sure. Really, for me the biggest transformation is that learning is no longer a location or an event. It's an ongoing, sustainable engaging activity that has to be thought through at every single opportunity. And that we have to recognize the immediate needs of our learners and give them the content that they need now, instead of two to three years’ worth of curriculum that they may have to go through. It really needs to be focused on what can we get into their hands today to make their lives and jobs easier. 

[00:29:32] Tom Ring: [00:29:32] Thank you guys. As I said, it was a very, very interesting session we had, and also thank you to all listeners as well. And if you are looking for more information or learning and development, please do visit our website, https://www.msxi.com , for more information on the digital transformation. Now, it was a great pleasure. For me to host you today and thank you for participating. [00:30:00]