Learning Technologies in the Workplace Award Winner 2002: Cisco Systems Canada Co.

Cisco’s model of employee learning is well suited for companies with a geographically dispersed employee base. Companies that recognize the value and importance of employee learning and development can learn from Cisco’s e-learning success.

Document Highlights

A leader in networking for the Internet, Cisco pioneered the use of the Internet to offer training, manage finances, sell products and provide customer support.

Using the Internet as an effective communications and networking tool, as well as a core skills-development tool, was a key to Cisco’s success. The company recognized that traditional classroom training was ineffective because: it could not be delivered on an as-needed basis; was not cost effective; was limited in terms of its accessibility; could not be scaled to meet the needs of Cisco’s global employee base; and it simply could not keep pace with the continuous development needs of the company’s sales force. Through on–line and on–demand multimedia training and development programs, Cisco was able to offer its employees a breadth of learning initiatives.

Since the use of the Web permeates nearly every aspect of an employee’s business and job functions, employing its own e-learning solutions has enabled Cisco to develop and deploy training quickly and effectively to employees and partners around the world, on an ‘anytime, anywhere’basis.

This case study looks at the:

• objectives;
• activities;
• innovations;
• barriers;
• solutions and outcomes;
• impacts and benefits