In a tough financial environment it is now even more important to understand the implication of major investments in your intranet and to ensure that every dollar spent will reap a greater ratio of rewards both tangible and intangible to the organisation.
The Intranet Benchmarking Forum can help you build your business case using our valuation model which has been developed with financial analysts and IBF members.
Your intranet is integral to providing e-learning and online training services to your employees. It can provide:
· Employees with the ability to select applicable courses, both bespoke and 3rd party.
· Training and e-learning courses delivered on-line.
· Management may access the systems to create training plans and monitor progress.
If you are making a business case to provide enhanced facilities for your e-learning delivery and management you should be considering all the following aspects:
| TANGIBLE BENEFITS | Examples for e-learning and training |
| 1. Revenue generated - This is cash generated for the organisation which is a direct result of the implementation. | Sales of discounted e-learning courses to employees families, advertising revenue from suppliers. |
| 2. Cost savings – These are real cash savings that will be derived from the planned improvement. | Savings in printed materials. |
| Savings through bulk purchase of certain on-line and e-learning training courses – which could be up to 30 – 90% of the cost. | |
| Savings in reduced need for face-to-face training including property costs. | |
| Consolidation and streamlining of training sites and processes across the organisation. | |
| Savings achieved by replacing outsourced activities, such as Training Helpline, with on-line resources | |
| 3. Time savings – Many financial accountants are sceptical of time savings which can be translated into cash so any analysis of time savings should be linked to specific tasks which can be measured in terms of time both before and after the improvement. | Significant time saved by employees finding the right information and completing courses. Managers also save time processing quarterly training reviews and monitoring progress. |
By analysing and using real examples (rather than a guess) you are less likely to meet opposition on these justifications. You should also consider applying a certainty factor to your calculations.
INTANGIBLE BENEFITS
These are areas that will show benefits for the organisation but can’t be directly translated into cash. Again, using any of these as a measurement requires that data is captured before and after the improvement. Most organisations conduct satisfaction surveys which are qualitative and general in nature. The surveys will need to be redesigned to provide specific and quantitative feedback on each individual area of improvement i.e. how long does this task take you Has the specific application improved your working life?
1. Employee satisfaction – you may be able to directly attribute increased satisfaction with a specific improvement to your training systems. You may also be able to claim a share for the benefits of employee satisfaction such as employee retention and cost savings on recruiting and employing new staff.
2. Reduced carbon footprint – reducing the number of miles travelled by individuals to external training courses will obviously help to improve your emissions rating. Reducing the volumes of printed training materials can be accurately tracked and forecasted.
3. Improved health & safety – it is generally acknowledged that completion rates on specific health & safety training is low. By making access and monitoring easy, the likelihood of completion is higher.
