Avoiding the pitfalls

Cynics amongst you will no doubt be asking, “So if ASP’s such a good option, why isn’t everyone using it?” A good question indeed. The fact is that the early days of ASP were dogged by concerns about security, reliability and performance, concerns that are gradually becoming resolved. One company that has been able to overcome the concerns is virtual classroom provider Centra, who have more than 180 active ASP customers, including, in the UK, Cadbury-Schweppes, Exel Logistics and Axa.

Case study: ASP gets Delta flying

By implementing an ASP solution with leading learning management system (LMS) provider Pathlore, Delta Air Lines was up and running with its e-learning programme in an amazing six weeks. By selecting Pathlore's hosted LMS offering, Delta were able to leave Pathlore to handle all tasks related to the management and administration of their e-learning environments, making it possible for them to deploy e-learning programmes quickly and effectively.

“Offloading the management of the LMS to Pathlore allowed us to focus our attention on our employees and further develop the content and strategy behind our e-learning programme,” said Don Bolen, general manager, training technology/video services for Delta Air Lines. “In today's competitive business environment, organisations need scalable, flexible learning solutions that can be implemented and managed with minimal effort.”

The initial phase of Delta's program included the use of the Pathlore LMS registration, scheduling and tracking features to facilitate an enterprise-wide course on business literacy. This instructor-led simulation workshop was designed to enhance the business acumen of Delta employees by detailing the company's business processes and the ways in which employees can make an impact on the company's future success.

Delta also will use Pathlore LMS to deploy blended-learning programs consisting of online and instructor-led courses, many of which meet US federal regulatory requirements. Future training initiatives include skills management, corporate compliance courseware, a content repository and a variety of professional development opportunities.

With Pathlore's hosting services, the LMS is installed and maintained on secure, high-availability servers in a full-service hosted environment that includes data backup and recovery capabilities. Customers have a variety of access options, including Internet VPN and T-1 connectivity. Customers can use the full range of LMS features to manage their e-learning initiatives efficiently, including web-based training administration and management, self-service registration, and delivery of standard Crystal Enterprise LMS reports. Pathlore's hosted solution also provides customers with the option to move their LMS in-house seamlessly at any time.

“Pathlore LMS supports our decentralised training environment, which enables pilots, airport customer service staff, ticket agents and other employee groups to receive specialised training unique to their job responsibilities,” said Bill Kline, chief learning officer at Delta Air Lines. “With its scalability, flexibility and quick installation time, Pathlore LMS was the best selection, and we expect the rollout to generate enthusiasm from all involved.”

Lawrence Whittle is VP for Europe, Middle East and Africa: “Security issues are now much less of a problem. All ASP traffic through the firewall can be virus checked in the normal way and proprietary information can be SSL encrypted if need be. As long as the ASP uses the very best hosting facilities – and Centra uses Sprint and Cable & Wireless – then the security arrangements are likely to be as good as they can be, probably better than any internal network.”

Another concern is that ASP traffic will place too heavy a burden on the organisation’s Internet pipeline. Says Whittle: “Any customer needs to make sure they have adequate bandwidth available, given the amount that the ASP facility is going to be used, although there is no reason why this should be a problem. In fact some regional offices can have better direct connections to the Internet than they can obtain on their intranet running on their wide area network.”

Peter McLintock is e-Learning Director for Global Knowledge. He admits that ASP solutions can meet with firewall constraints or Internet volume restrictions, although these barriers are clearly being overcome, as some 60% of their sales of self-paced e-learning content to enterprises is now hosted. “Hosting content internally can increase performance but a lot depends on the technology put in place by the service provider. We have a contract with Akamie, an expert in content distribution which provides facilities for major media players such as CNN. Akamie cache media-rich content, such as audio, video and Flash on their network of 13000 ‘edge servers’ placed all around the Internet, thus ensuring the best possible performance at any time of day.”

McLintock believes that the ASP customer gets as good a deal as one who is hosting their own content: “With our hosted system, which is based on our Knowledge Pathways LCMS, each customer has their own work space on the system and can set up any number of user groups or locations, which allows us to provide detailed reports. It costs our customers no more if we host the content than if they do, and they can choose from a variety of payment models, including a simple ‘pay as you go’”.