Case Study: Konica Minolta

 Case Study Konica Minolta Konica Minolta leverages Saba Centra As a leading provider of image information products, Konica Minolta Business to administer mandatory PRINCE2™ Solutions Europe strives to offer products, services and solutions that are certification and project management essential to all areas of digital imaging. A particular emphasis is placed on training for Europe-Wide workforce. document management and business solutions in both office and production environments, especially in the field of colour output as well as related Solution Overview supplies. With a workforce based across Europe, providing solely classroom Optimised print software and services based training was proving costly and inflexible. Challenge LIVEPLACE – A Trusted Partner Konica Minolta required a flexible, reliable and Konica Minolta were seeking a solution to enable them to provide blended cost efficient method of providing harmonised learning and initially approached LIVEPLACE, a trusted Saba Partner training and certification for a Europe-wide since 1999, to advise them of how this could be achieved. After a rigorous workforce. selection procedure Konica Minolta chose Saba Centra. Saba Centra is a leading web conferencing solution for enterprise learning and collaboration, Benefits enabling globally dispersed employees, customers and partners to learn, ƒƒ Enables mandatory certification training for interact, and exchange knowledge online, in real-time. The solution is employees based in 25 Europe-Wide offices delivered behind the firewall and supported by LIVEPLACE. ƒƒ Plays a pivotal role in supporting a blended Konica Minolta Academy learning approach (without it the PRINCE2™ The success of Konica Minolta Business Solutions relies heavily on training could not run) employees completing the necessary mandatory certifications, as well as ƒƒ Provides flexible self-study for 150 employees acquiring excellent customer project management skills. With this in mind, the across Konica Minolta Business Solutions Konica Minolta Academy created a training curriculum to provide certification ƒƒ Allows Konica Minolta to conduct effective and project management training to over 150 employees based in 25 offices group meetings and training, anytime, around Europe. The Academy provides blended learning courses integrated anywhere - reliably and securely with Saba Centra virtual classroom training. The Academy offers various levels of the internationally accredited PRINCE2TM curriculum. ƒƒ Improves customer service through enhanced project management skills training PRINCE2™ (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) is a universally accepted, process-based approach for project management, providing an easily tailored Solutions and scalable project management methodology for the management of all types of projects. Saba Centra The PRINCE2™ courses available from the Academy currently comprise a Foundation certification and a blended curriculum for PRINCE2™ Practitioner level is currently being tested within a pilot group. Previously the PRINCE™ training was held over three on-site training days, however now the PRINCE2™ Foundation course requires between 20 and 40 hours self- study over a 12-week period, depending on the individual participant’s level of English. This provides a more flexible training solution for the participant and a more cost efficient delivery method for Konica Minolta. The use of Saba Centra is an essential component in the certification training programmes, which are generally designed as self-study courses. Alexander Pakulat, Team Manager of eLearning at Konica Minolta Academy, explains: “Long-term courses that use web-based training sessions are very rarely successful unless they also have tutor-based support. The kick-off phase of the PRINCE2™ training where participants initially meet face-to-face and then subsequently in virtual group meetings, gives participants the feeling of being Case Study  Konica Minolta part of a learning group spanning the whole of Europe. This The Future increases employee motivation. Pakulat went on to say “Saba As well as the Konica Minolta Academy, Konica Minolta also Centra also allows participants to contact industry experts uses Saba Centra in other parts of the business. Saba Centra at our company headquarters to discuss training milestones is an essential tool used for conducting internal business in person, and this contributes significantly to the success of meetings. It also plays a vital role in SAP software upgrades. the training course. Furthermore, it is not financially viable to SAP users are quickly shown the new software functionality deliver a centralised on-site training initiative for employees using Saba Centra, ensuring faster knowledge transfer and based across Europe, which also has significant operational improved software usage. challenges.“ In addition to the basic meeting functions provided by About LIVEPLACE Saba Centra, Konica Minolta particularly values the wide LIVEPLACE GmbH is Saba´s strategic reseller and range of application-sharing functions which they use to implementation partner in Germany for Saba Meeting (formerly show participants the online self-study components of the “Centra”). LIVEPLACE has been a web conferencing specialist PRINCE2™ training. The survey function in Saba Centra is since 1999 and has in-depth experience with the product used to check the participants’ knowledge retention. family. Besides sales and implementation LIVEPLACE offers “The webinars ultimately make it possible for participants extensive services to support successful Web Conferencing to follow the training initiative as a self-study course”, adds projects within corporate clients, e.g. session leader training, Pakulat. “A 12-week certification process is more flexible and 1st and 2nd level support hotline and project management tailored individually to each participant, as the knowledge support. The customer base includes blue chip companies gained during the training sessions can be transferred to like Deutsche Telekom, Lufthansa and AXA as well as medium participants’ everyday work on a continuous basis — it is sized companies, federal institutions and training providers. much harder to transfer this knowledge in one go after a Since 2006 the Cologne based partner offers its own Saba three-day seminar”. Centra cloud service. Saba enables organiSations to build a transformative workplace where they can leverage their people networks to become more competitive through innovation, speed, agility, and trust. © 2012 Saba Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Saba, the Saba logo, Saba Centra, and the marks relating to Saba products and services referenced herein are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Saba Software, Inc. or its affiliates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Saba Software (UK) Ltd | Circa, The Ring | Bracknell | Berkshire | RG12 1AA UK | (+44) (0)1344 382950 | www.saba.com cs_konica_minolta_uk_v1 07/12