The telecom industry is one of rapid evolution, driven by technological advancements and a highly competitive market. In this environment, employees must stay ahead of constant updates to products, services, tools, and processes to maintain exceptional service and sales standards. Recognizing this, a telecom leader partnered with TrainingPros to establish a Learning Content Management (LCM) team—a collaboration that has now earned the coveted Brandon Hall Group Gold HCM Award for Best Learning Team.

The Challenge: A Decentralized Approach

Before 2019, maintaining consistent, up-to-date training materials was a challenge. Content ownership was scattered, with updates handled by various stakeholders, including trainers and short-term contractors. This decentralized approach led to feedback highlighting significant issues: inconsistent, outdated, and inaccurate materials that learners found difficult to navigate. For a workforce composed of customer-facing roles—sales agents, field service technicians, and customer care representatives—this was unacceptable.

The Solution: Establishing the LCM Team

In response, the telecom company’s leadership created the LCM team, centralizing ownership of content maintenance. The team includes full-time managers, project managers, and TrainingPros contract instructional designers, providing flexibility and scalability based on budget and workload. This scalable model made it easier to meet diverse needs across 10 lines of business (LOBs).

Key goals of the LCM team included:

• Consistency: Ensuring training materials are uniform across all LOBs.
• Accuracy: Keeping content relevant and error-free.
• Accessibility: Providing employees with easy access to a “single source of truth.”
• Responsiveness: Creating a formal intake process to manage requests proactively.

Streamlined Processes and Cutting-Edge Tools

To address these objectives, the LCM team implemented a series of transformative processes:

• Work Intake and Tracking: A centralized Smartsheet system allows LOBs to submit content change requests, visible to all instructional designers and managers. Weekly updates and status meetings ensure transparency.
• Development and Deployment: Articulate Rise shells house content in the LMS, simplifying accessibility. Custom SharePoint pages with intuitive visual navigation improve usability.
• Metrics and SLAs: Turnaround times and internal Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are tracked, providing data to evaluate and improve workflows. Small-scope assignments saw a 15% reduction in turnaround times, while medium to large assignments achieved an 8% improvement.
• Continuous Improvement: The team conducts regular evaluations to optimize processes, tools, and task assignments. Collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams enhance communication and innovation.

Tangible Results

Since the team’s inception, the LCM initiative has delivered measurable benefits:

• Increased Efficiency: The team reduced third-party labor costs by 12%, partially offset by hybrid roles allowing full-time instructional designers to split their time between LCM support and other responsibilities.
• Faster Onboarding: Cross-skilling curricula for customer service roles reduced classroom training durations by one week, resulting in $24,000 cost savings per training cohort.
• Improved Learner Outcomes: Real-time updates ensure learners grasp concepts quickly and apply them effectively, leading to faster proficiency and fewer field errors.
• Enhanced Stakeholder Confidence: Regularly updated materials provide consistent branding and messaging across all curricula.

A Model for Success

TrainingPros played a pivotal role in this award-winning initiative. By providing industry-expert instructional designers as a scalable solution, TrainingPros enabled the LCM team to meet and exceed expectations. 

Southern’s remarks highlight the team’s ongoing commitment to excellence. In addition to regular curriculum updates, the LCM team’s work ensures alignment with evolving legal and regulatory standards, mitigating risks and enhancing compliance.

Recognition and Future Goals

Winning the Brandon Hall Group Gold HCM Award underscores the value of the LCM team’s approach and results. As the telecom industry continues to evolve, the team remains dedicated to leveraging new learning technologies, enhancing processes, and upskilling designers to meet future demands.

Conclusion: 

This partnership exemplifies how a well-structured collaboration between TrainingPros and corporate teams can create meaningful, scalable, and award-winning solutions. It’s a model of how investing in learning and development leads to measurable success—for employees, stakeholders, and customers alike.