The personnel employed by the companies, moreover the young people who have just graduated from university, are not actually well trained. They are used to learning under the pressure of the exams and they do not have the discipline of the constant learning. However, they are forced to enter production the very second day. Măriuca Talpeş, CEO of the INTUITEXT Division within the Softwin Group, speaks about the obtaining of results through training, when the company does care.

EWEEK: How does the Romanian training market look like?

M.T.: A clear estimation of the overall training market has not yet been carried out, but the one I know speaks about 15 million euro for 2006 and probably the double thereof in 2007. Our information on the e-learning area indicates that an approximate 5% of the overall training budget is spent in the computer learning area, a figure that shall reach 10% this year and the next. The private companies shall allot in 2007-2008 even more than 10% of the training funds to the computer learning. In the West, the percentage has already reached 20-25%. Unfortunately, the Romanian training market is currently very reduced, and so as to make it more clear, I can tell you that while in Romania 15 million are estimated for 2006, in Hungary, with 11 million people, there is a Euro 100 million training market. But there are reasons to believe that the Romanian market shall soon develop and the reasons would be that: the European Union adhesion shall trigger spectacular evolutions in certain areas, secondly the international companies shall enter Romania and shall train Romanian personnel, and thirdly there shall be pressure from the European Union on certain certification types, industries-specific. Hence, in order to comply with the quality standards requested by the European Union, many companies shall have to obtain the certification: the companies, or their employees.

EWEEK: Are you ready for this boom?

M.T.: We believe we are, and I can bring reasons for that. We have started working with the companied in their training issues about three years ago. There are 2 categories of problems. The first one refers to the general training, of the type: learning how to use a computer, learning how to sell better, or learning foreign languages. The second category relates to training problems for the business processes, where a manager has to train the subordinated personnel to better understand a product or a service.
We offer solutions for both categories, though most projects focused on the business training area.

EWEEK: How do you do that?

M.T.: In order to be efficient, training has to lead first of all to the development of new abilities or knowledge, immediately applicable and that are not soon forgotten. Hence, the idea is that of being able to take advantage of all the knowledge gained during the one or two years of training, and of being able, at the same time, to return to them whenever required. We propose to the companies a joint learning method. This year, in London, at the Learning Technologies Conference, which we constantly attend, the training specialists were saying: "Do you know how learning takes place in corporations? About 60% of the knowledge an employee needs is informally taken from the colleagues, on a coffee or simply asking the office colleague". Which is not at all bad, and this learning mixture on web site, from a blog or during a coffee break has become natural nowadays. The traditional training also has its benefits: one can communicate directly with the trainer and he/she can easily understand. On the other hand, the computer brings the information at any time, just when you need it, offers the possibility of practicing as much as desired and, of course, allows the trainer to test the trainee as often as required.

EWEEK: Could you be more specific?

M.T.: Let me give you an example: the pace at which the banks offer new products is of about one per month. The number of employees in a bank is of several thousands. Once a product as launched, it has to be, of course, understood and placed on the market the very second day, of possible. How is that currently done? A simple description is meant to prepare the employees for the future launching. What is the solution we offer? Firstly, we turn that training material into an interactive course, with many examples, divided into small steps, so as to be rapidly assimilated. In each module, the program checks through a test if the concepts were understood. Where there are misunderstandings, the system suggests to the trainee the resuming of the respective concepts. Furthermore, when the product sell is initiated, if the bank clerk is in difficulty, a click is enough to see the answer to be provided to the customer at the counter. Thus, the solution offers safety, reassurance to those who should be familiar with the product.

EWEEK: How many such implementations do you currently have?

M.T.: Currently, in the banking area we have about seven implementations, in different banks, but not all the solutions are of the same type. An implementation example is the manner of testing knowledge. In this case, the company generally faces the following problems: we have a lot of employees and we are not aware of their knowledge level. Or, we want to promote employees, but how do we test them? It is impossible to go to each subsidiary, and have a face-to-face interview. In this case, we have developed sets of test, that may be accessed at the same time by hundreds of people, and the results of which are provided immediately after the conclusion of the test. This, the bank already has a much clearer and faster image of the employees’ knowledge level.

EWEEK: Do you focus exclusively on the banking area?

M.T.: As fields of activity, we are quite involved in the banking area currently, but there is also the Insurance area, because soon, all the Insurers shall need to be certified. The employees of an Insurer have to take a series of certification tests. Most of the companies prefer to train their employees in-house. Another field we have addressed is the military one, where NATO has brought quite a few changes.

EWEEK: And where there is also competition...

M.T.: Which is positive. There is competition everywhere and we welcome that. Everybody chooses a successful strategy: we focus on the customer-orientation when implementing and choosing a solution. Furthermore, our offer is complete, starting the sizing of the hardware and communication infrastructure, the implementation of the training support, the development of a solution to be integrated in the customer’s business process, support in adopting new solutions and up to the final assessment of results. Currently, we are among the 14-15 companies in the world certified on the latest SCORM version, the most important world standard in virtual training. The advantages are numerous. Most of the courses comply with a SCORM version; hence it can be implemented on that platform. Secondly, it allows for the development of courses appropriate for the style and learning speed of each trainee..

EWEEK: What about the costs?

M.T.: Part of the costs is the hardware and communication equipment, but there are no problems here, in general, because the corporations have a solid infrastructure. By all means, our solution is flexible and does not require large infrastructure resources. The price of the training solution depends, however, on the number of simultaneous trainees. But the solution may also be purchased on modules. Currently, we have three modules of the training platform – a testing one, a module allowing individual learning and a virtual class module, supervised by a trainer.

EWEEK: What human resources does the customer need for this?

M.T.: Fist, we work with the IT team so as to understand the existing structure.
We work with the business managers and with the human resources manager, each has specific objectives, and we offer support in attaining them. First, we want to know the work manner of the future trainees, their needs and preferences. If you don’t focus on what the employee want, on the emotions or joys thereof, you will not be able to offer a pleasant course.

EWEEK: To what extent are you interested in the international market?

M.T.: Our corporations training plans are mainly connected to Romania. The international market is model for us and we will permanently be in the area of those developing or certifying the latest technologies. Our solutions shall always comply with the latest international industry standards. We believe that our success is also given by the understanding of the training needs within the companies and of the incontestable value brought by these processes.