spaces learning workforce optimization - case study

Spaces Learning Workforce Optimization Solutions (Copyright © 2021 Toolwire, All rights reserved) 1 | P a g e

Case Study Global Professional Services Organization Workforce Optimization (WFO) Solutions


Together, Toolwire and Avaya have built an integrated Workforce Optimization Solution that positively impacts overall operational efficiency by:

• Decreasing operating costs by reducing overall recruitment efforts (leveraging digital recruitment) and increasing onboarding efficacy

• Future-proofing the workforce and increasing the speed to productivity • Increasing client and employee satisfaction while reducing employee turnover

Toolwire has been a strategic skilling and enablement platform for a Global Professional Services (PS) organization for more than 15 years. The successful digital transformation of their workforce and processes is the result of this partnership. Spaces LearningTM unified our client’s content, then incorporated collaboration + immersive experiences to support their global growth and expansion by enabling personalized skilling at scale. In today’s skills economy, each team, each employee, each skill is part of an agile, ever-changing, responsive, and adaptive skills matrix. That is the essence of workforce optimization. In this case study, Spaces Learning addresses the Top Four Challenges of most growing organizations:

1. Difficulty Finding the Right Talent & Inconsistent Onboarding 2. Upskilling & Reskilling of the Virtual Workforce 3. High Turnover of Contact Center Representatives 4. Providing the Right Technology and Tools for Remote Workers

Let’s explore each of these challenges and Spaces Learning’s solutions in greater depth. We will use this Global Professional Services client as a proof point.


1. Difficulty Finding the Right Talent & Inconsistent Onboarding Talent Management is a core and strategic business function. Talent Management drives business growth in the current marketplace-led environment. Similarly, “HR technology” has become mainstream business technology. In the same vein, “Learning & Development” is no longer an ancillary business function. Adapting to a rapidly changing work and business environment is key to the success of any organization. Employees are the greatest asset of any organization, and in any large organization, there can be a high level of competition for employees between competing companies. Training must be viewed as an investment in the future, and that your employee assets will provide critical differentiation by developing world-class products and services. The training investment offers opportunities for career growth and success. When properly executed, this creates an incredible business advantage. The battle for talent is fiercer now than it has been over the last two years. Hiring the best candidates using tangible metrics and creating training plans that align with career path planning and business needs have a long-term positive impact. The Spaces Learning platform innovation adds value here as well. Toolwire has developed a “Scaffolded Interviews” methodology and framework for this Global PS organization. They onboard approximately 30,000 people annually. That means Interviewing ~2.5x that amount. That has been a time-consuming and expensive process that does not always have the desired results.

This new approach allows the organization to identify the best candidates during the interviewing process quickly. This core talent application is a coordinated, iterative process that tests both hard and soft skills. Performance and improvement are measured and tracked. They can set parameters to automatically disqualify candidates that lack the desired skills at any stage in the process.


The Improved Evaluation Path Flow operates as follows:

1. Digital Recruitment efforts increase the volume of inbound CV’s and applications 2. An initial overall automated qualification process is conducted on candidates that appear to

meet the qualifications for a specific role 3. Automated soft skills evaluations go deeper to score specific vital attributes for each role 4. Automated hard skills evaluations go deeper to score specific vital attributes for each role 5. A situational assessment using a combination of video assessments, scenario games, and

human assessment via video 6. Remediation Loop – Personalized Learning Recommendations

Each stage builds on the skills that have been validated in the previous stage and identify skills gaps and disqualification criteria. The approach demonstrates the understanding by the individual of the role and duties required for success, their adaptability, and their ability to communicate effectively. It is an iterative process where the final step is a joint evaluation by the candidate and HR that helps assure that only the best, most qualified, and most interested candidates receive employment offers. This process allows our client to quickly and efficiently hire the candidates with the best skills, greatest potential, and quickest ramp to productivity. The process is more than just a recipe for success. Spaces Learning guides the process from start to finish to ensure maximum benefits and the best outcomes. Onboarding efficiency is improved due to the alignment between each new hire’s understanding, aptitude, and attitude with the duties and responsibilities for each role. It allows the process to focus on the areas of employment that provide the most significant business benefits. One of the main benefits is reduced turnover, as this initial alignment fosters the onboarding process that leads to better employee performance and customer satisfaction.

2. Upskilling & Reskilling of the Virtual Workforce Our client’s L&D team is an in-house organization committed to agile and accelerated learning that helps its “work at home” (WAH) employees perform to their full potential. The focus of the L&D team is on upskilling and reskilling. Spaces Learning delivers over two million minutes of training globally per month, including:

• Hands-on experiential learning • Synchronous Instructor-Led Training • Asynchronous on-demand training • Video Assessments

Spaces Learning labs provide hands-on learning opportunities in a safe and regulated environment that has the additional benefit of being cost-effective for large-scale use. Currently, there are more than 100 different experiential labs in use based on specific hardware and software requirements. These allow each employee to hone and improve their skills in the flow of work.


This organization uses video assessments to improve soft skills. Learners can leverage AI for Auto-Analysis scoring to receive immediate feedback to encourage additional practice on that skill before sharing it with anyone else. Videos are later placed under peer review to promote a culture of helping other employees or are reviewed and graded by a mentor for assessment. The L&D team utilizes a Personalized Learning approach that begins with Simulation games, then moves to assessments, which drive the personalized curriculum for each topic and associate. The training culminates with external third-party assessments and certification. The overall result of establishing the Upskilling and Reskilling Program has produced these meaningful outcomes:

• 62% improvement in technical competency • 41% YoY Increase in skills engagement • Pass rates improved by 58%, providing the opportunity to bill a more highly skilled staff at

higher rates based on their increase in skills mastery, impact, and effectiveness. Employees are the greatest asset of any organization. Improving the skills of proven and loyal employees increases the organization’s speed to productivity and future-proofs the workforce to allow the organization to respond to new needs and unforeseen changes.

3. High Turnover of Customer Experience (CX) Representatives One of the follow-on benefits to screening potential talent and providing an effective Onboarding program is a dramatic reduction in turnover. But in a global organization with multiple CX Centers geographically dispersed around the globe, communication skills and cultural diversity play a significant role in a teams’ effectiveness across boundaries and cultures. With the demand for employees to work from home, employers must adapt to ensure all employees, including remote employees, feel included and have the skills and tools to be successful. Communication has become increasingly important. As such, the right tools and strategies in place are critical to ongoing business success. Successful onboarding of employees is not a checklist type of activity. It is an engineered process that is ongoing. Most importantly, responsibilities span the new hire, their manager(s) and trainer(s), and their peers. A successful onboarding strategy includes content (information), application (opportunities to succeed or safely fail to learn from), and communication - continuous coaching and mentoring. The ultimate goal is to impact behavior to achieve the desire results and outcomes. A recent collaboration project with this Global PS organization began with these core principles in mind. The program leveraged Spaces Learning to provide the virtual training tools, content (instruction), facility role-playing, conduct synchronous meetings, and support scaffolded coaching and mentoring. The audience primarily worked from home in various locations across Asia. The company provided a mentor for the project. Part of the mentor’s and technology’s role was to support accountability, and clear expectations were set accordingly.


At the highest level, the project aimed to improve client/customer communications and relationships and ultimately make each employee more successful in their role. Following are two core business goals:

• Align employee interests and skills to projects and engagements that enhance business outcomes

• Improve awareness and sensitivity to cultural differences leading to increased relatability and effectiveness

In summary, the program’s targeted skills and competencies were:

• Emotional Intelligence – Cope with emotionally stressful situations more intelligently • Presentation Skills – Present data using stories • Communication Skills – Conduct calls and meetings more effectively • Culture & Diversity – Adapt to different

cultures and learn to co-exist

The following highlights some of the features and benefits of the seamless integration of Avaya SpacesTM video and collaboration capabilities with Toolwire’s Spaces LearningTM:

• Virtual Classroom sessions empower the community and the “human element” among learners

• Video Assignments – Video coaching and assessment provides feedback from peers and mentors to improve interpersonal skills

• Mentoring and Analytics – Mentors monitor employee progress weekly and followed up as needed if an employee is falling behind on expectations

• Key Course Takeaway Noted by Mentor - Discussion forums, mentorship, and video assessments accelerated change management with “shy” learners by providing a safe, collaborative environment for discussion and questions

This project exemplifies how learner designers can employ agile approaches to create online learning experiences that “close the cognitive learning loop” in a way that engages learners and directly addresses strategic business needs. During the project, employees spent roughly 50% of their time acquiring knowledge (Micro-Learning Resources) and 50% discussing and applying lessons (Video Practice).


Employees were very satisfied with this project and, in the process, built a new community of peers to support each other.

• 92% Agreed and 8% Strongly Agreed that the solution (platform + learning materials) increased their competency in Emotional Intelligence, Communication and Presentation Skills, and cultural awareness

• 71% Agreed and 29% Strongly Agreed that video assignments helped them feel more comfortable and confident about their interpersonal skills

4. Providing the Right Technology and Tools for Remote Workers

Spaces LearningTM SaaS platform combines asynchronous on-demand digital learning (Toolwire) with seamless synchronous video conferencing and collaboration tools (from Avaya SpacesTM) to create a fully integrated, engaging virtual classroom. This cloud-based platform has been purpose-built for upskilling and re-skilling in SMB to Fortune 500 enterprises for teaching, learning, and collaborating from anywhere, at any time. Training Industry awarded Spaces Learning as one of 2021’s Top 20 Learning Experience Platforms (LXP). These innovations in collaborative, experiential learning provide technical skilling for critical 21st-century digital topics while high-tech employees work from home. This rapid, remote re-skilling has the dual benefits of allowing employees to transform their careers while enabling companies to maintain their competitive advantage. Further, experiential assessments ensure the new skills are retained and productive.

Modern experiential learning approaches provide the recall and reinforcement needed for long-term knowledge retention and tacit knowledge creation. Spaces Learning incorporates those modern features, enhanced by AI tools, in a fully integrated and cohesive digital learning environment that supports synchronous and asynchronous training. Our platform is robust, flexible, and extensible enough to meet global enterprises' current and future needs.


Spaces Learning has become the collaboration platform of choice for organizations of all kinds that have successfully adapted to remote learning and hybrid work models and are adopting immersive collaboration permanently for a competitive advantage. Together, Toolwire and Avaya enable the future of learning – a combination of advanced, cloud-based AI and a composable client-less architecture for an exceptional and engaging user experience. Summary The power of any Talent Cloud is only as strong as the alignment of its skills-mix to required competencies and roles. Targeting the behaviors and skills gaps that lead to measurably better performance and results is essential. And, doing so in a way that is engaging, personalized, and collaborative leads to the creation of skills and the transfer of knowledge required to achieve operational efficiency. The four cornerstones to a successful talent framework are:

1. Finding and effectively onboarding the right talent 2. Upskilling and Reskilling efforts to future-proof the workforce and increase the speed to

productivity 3. Minimizing turnover to retain the investment in talent that results in higher client satisfaction 4. Providing the right technology and tools to a distributed workforce that facilitates learning in

the flow of work Spaces Learning provides a collaborative, experiential learning platform for efficiently and effectively delivering 21st-century digital skills and assessments at scale in a remote environment. Better learning experiences ultimately translate to better employees and better business outcomes. Together, Toolwire and Avaya build solutions that allow learners to connect concepts and ideas in ways that make them more tangible and longer-lasting.

Contact us to begin your WFO journey with Spaces Learning.

spaces learning workforce optimization - case study

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