CASE STUDY

When Ericsson ushered in a new era of companywide simplicity , the goal was to position the Swedish networking and telecommunications firm to become a leader in 5G and other emerging technologies – by making it easier to be a customer , supplier or employee .

In response to this new business imperative , the Global Learning & Development team recognised that learning at Ericsson had become increasingly complex , relying on multiple platforms including an LMS , webinar tool and several content libraries . This resulted in a perplexing stew of six entry points to learning . Workers had more than 15,500 disjointed learning items and no effective way to access learning on a mobile device .

“ We were lacking any form of system strategy ,” said Peter Sheppard , Head of Global L & D Ecosystem . “ We needed a one-stop shop .”

The learning team needed a solution that could pull together the disparate elements of the Ericsson learning technology infrastructure and at the same time align employee development with the company ’ s new strategic direction . L & D called this new ecosystem strategy ‘ Learning Made Easy ’.

Solution : Empowering people with Degreed

Working with IT and HR , the learning team searched for an LXP to bring the Learning Made Easy vision to life . After shortlisting and testing three solutions for functionality including personalisation , content curation , mobile capabilities and analytics , Ericsson chose Degreed based on those factors as well as its AI , overall user experience and implementation support .

Next , the learning team strategically piloted Degreed among its own members as well as the Ericsson IT group and the Market Area North America organisation , extending access to more than 5,000 people . IT was necessarily discerning about adding new technology to the company ’ s ecosystem but encouraged by how employees in all pilot groups embraced Degreed .

With a business case in hand and proof points from the pilot experience , the learning team sought approval from HR and IT for a global Ericsson launch of Degreed . “ Return on investment had to be demonstrated ,” said Sheppard . “ This meant surveying pilot participants and identifying clear and achievable hard and soft savings . These included reduced search times and faster development of new learning journeys .”

Once learning leaders secured final approval to rollout Degreed globally , internal champions helped people navigate the new solution while a comprehensive Marcomms campaign included videos , news articles , email communications to all employees and online onboarding sessions . Perhaps most importantly , Pathways created in Degreed focused on critical skills for each part of the business , especially 5G , to immediately begin connecting learning with strategic business priorities .

64 INTELLIGENTCIO EUROPE www . intelligentcio . com