case study - imc ag: imc€¦ · case study palfinger 6 palfinger ag requested a suitable tool for...
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Case StudyGlobal leader relies on IMC technology
CASE STUDY PALFINGER 2
Systematic learning with a strong partner
The Solution
Development of a modern and innovative training system to ensure and verify employees’ knowledge in sales and service areas, with IMC, as an ongoing partner, continuing to provide the necessary technology and administation of the system.
The Customer
▪ Palfinger is a global supplier of hydraulic lifting equip-ment and the global leader in hydraulic loading cranes
▪ The company employs 7,000 staff worldwide and has over 30 production locations as well as an additional sales and distribu-tion system (Palfinger partner) with about 4,000 subsidiaries in 140 countries around the world
▪ Turnover in 2013: € 980.7 million
The Advantages
▪ Reduction of the training costs through blended learning approach
▪ Blended learning allows for homogeneous groups in face-to-face training sessions
▪ IMC Learning Suite: highly functional application for a high number of participants
▪ Uniform database for all coun-tries through IMC Learning Suite
▪ Digital certification of staff and partners
The Challenges
▪ Large number of learners, totaling in the four-digit range
▪ Learners had differing levels of prior knowledge
▪ Different languages
▪ Different databases in dif-ferent countries
▪ Requirement for a uniform training system across all countries
CASE STUDY PALFINGER 3
LIFETIME EXCELLENCE is Palfiner AG’s motto. The company stands for top quality in the field of hydraulic lifting
and loading devices. The products of Palfinger AG are characterised by their longevity, their low downtime as well
as their extremely high resale value. Customers should not have to accept any compromises when it comes to
obtaining the most economical, innovative and reliable lifting solutions from a competent, network of service
partner.
Since 2010, the internationalisation strategy has been one of Palfinger AG’s most important strategic operations.
Thanks to the regional organisation structure as well as the autonomy of the business units outside of Europe, the
company meets the various requirements of the individual markets. In addition to the internationalisation, this set
up allows for greater attention to be placed on creating more flexible processes.
You can find more information about Palfinger AG at www.palfinger.com.
About Palfinger AG
CASE STUDY PALFINGER 4
Not every company has such a high standard for its
own products as Palfinger AG. The Austrian Corpo-
rate not only wants to be able to offer its customers
high quality products at all times, it is their goal to
develop solutions that provide excellent value for
money and therefore a great customer benefit.
In addition, the company‘s products should be so
technically advanced that they are treated as innova-
tions on the corresponding markets.
However, it is not so easy to always be at the
forefront when the company‘s own product portfo-
lio ranges from conventional loading cranes to
railway systems to offshore and marine cranes.
Nevertheless, the Salzburg-based hydraulic specialist
has been highly successful: With a 35 per cent
market share and 150 different products, Palfinger
has succeeded in positioning themselves at the top
of the market for hoisting cranes and loading
devices.
Brand values as customer promise
CASE STUDY PALFINGER 5
Those who, like Palfinger, are active in
such diverse markets like the European,
South American and Asian markets face
the major challenge of training their
staff and partners at all locations at an
equally high level. In particular, the
sales and service staff must always have
up-to-date product knowledge to be
able to meet the high demand of
customers.
This cannot be done with a short
training course in this case: The training
requirements of Palfinger’s partners
and staff in the different departments
are too numerous - all stakeholders
need to be regularly trained so as not
to fall behind in terms of product
expertise.
To make matters more complicated,
staff at different locations often have a
different background, which makes
customised offers necessary for each
learner within Palfinger AG and their
partners, which of course must also be
available in the different native lan-
guages of the employees. In addition, it
must be ensured that the learning
success of staff and partners is mean-
ingfully documented so that a state-
ment can be made regarding whether
the methods applied are efficient or
not.
In the past, each Palfinger location had
different databases, where training
activities are logged on-site. However,
the documentation was heterogeneous
and the separate database could only
be accessed in the respective country.
There was no transnational training
approach that included both the staff
as well as the partners of Palfinger.
An e-learning pioneer from day one
CASE STUDY PALFINGER 6
Palfinger AG requested a suitable tool for this
transnational training approach. With the introduc-
tion of IMC Learning Suite, an ideal learning man-
agement system has been found that meets all of
the requirements: A homogeneous database across
countries, administration of face-to-face training and
qualified reports about up-to-date competency
profiles as well as job profiles of staff.
IMC Learning Suite is used in order to train the
roughly 5,000 users at the individual locations of
Palfinger. After the rollout at the first location, 1,000
users were initially recorded in the Learning Suite
who access teaching materials, solve exercises or
interact with other users in discussion forums.
Due to the great interest and the sensational feed-
back from the first users, staff at additional locations
shall now gradually receive access to the system and
new clients will be set up in the Learning Suite
worldwide.
With IMC Learning Suite, training needs are moni-
tored in each individual market. Palfinger is now able
to evaluate what knowledge exists at which loca-
tions and, if necessary, can control and plan for
appropriate measures in due time. This is not only
important for the staff of Palfinger AG, but partners
are also trained about ongoing continuing education
measures. Together with IMC, a partner status
concept was initiated. Partners can obtain the status
of bronze, silver or gold after successfully complet-
ing activities.
This allows for a transparent qualification system
between Palfinger AG and its partners. A central
administration of the global training sessions is also
possible for the partners, whereby the training
administration also takes place directly at Palfinger.
IMC Learning Suite as a new training program
CASE STUDY PALFINGER 7
„The Learning Management System from IMC is the right tool for all of those who want to learn more and acquire know-ledge!“
Balthasar Gwechenberger, Head of Corporate Service Palfinger AG
It is one aspect of the news learning management
system, that Palfinger‘s staff appreciate in particular:
Learning can now take place at any place in the world
at any time. Thanks to the web-based intuitive interface
of Learning Suite, there are no longer any time or place
restrictions that discourage knowledge-hungry staff from
learning.
Palfinger staff can either continue their education in the
designated learning times or at leisure times. It turned
out that there is a great interest in continuing education
within the company, since, as Balthasar Gwechenberger
(e-learning manager at Palfinger AG) reports, that staff
also take advantage of the training offer during their
breaks. Above all, since the business world often proves
to be very stressful and there is not enough time to
continue your education during work hours, many staff
are extremely excited about the possibility of being able
to complete training sessions even after their working
hours.
Thanks to the web-based interface, staff of Palfinger AG
are trained in a more targeted and frequent manner,
whereby a significant increase in knowledge has been
recorded compared to previous training models. Perfectly
trained staff can be a decisive competitive advantage in
such a highly technologically developed market, as is the
case with Palfinger.
Web-based interface as competitive advantage
CASE STUDY PALFINGER 8
The excellent initial response by staff towards the e-learning offering
by IMC is another reason for Palfinger to expand the existing learning
and continuing education strategy towards new topics and business
areas.
The e-learning mix from IMC shall be used in the future for products
from the offshore and marine field. It is also planned to compre-
hensively prepare the system for multi-client use so that a variety of
different users can access the system independently of each other
depending on their individual needs.
In addition, Palfinger plans to pay more attention to mobile learning
and to integrate it into the learning strategy in the long term. Palfin-
ger also plans to give the go-ahead for new projects with IMC dealing
with talent management.
Outlook for other projects
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About IMC
Internationally renowned for our learning technologies we are passionate about creating innovative
and reliable learning solutions that put our clients at the forefront of learning and development.
For 20 years we have been helping organisations to plan, develop and implement professional learning
strategies. Our multi-award winning products and services portfolio includes the Learning and Tal-
ent Management System, IMC Learning Suite, the innovative Electronic Performance Support System
(EPSS), IMC Process Guide, and the intuitively usable authoring software, IMC Content Studio. For cre-
ators of digital content IMC now offers the free cloud service IMC Teach. Additionally, customised and
standardised learning contents for subjects such as compliance learning are part of the IMC portfolio.
Worldwide more than 1,000 customers with over 5 million users in businesses, public institutions and
educational institutions of all sectors and sizes trust in IMC.