Leader in France, major player on the world market, BNP Paribas handled the switch to e-learning with ease. Below is an account of the various phases that the banking corporation went through so that today the 82,000 employees in 80 different countries can learn online.

"Our employees find PROGRESSION to be very user-friendly, simple and effective." Philippe Nazzaro in charge of setting up self-paced learning for dekstop applications

Industry: Banking Context: Setting up a Training Intranet Solution: PROGRESSION® on workplace computers and in a dedicated learning lab Products and services used: PROGRESSION® for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, in French and English Consulting Tutor training Technical support Benefits: Accurate skills and needs analysis Response tailored to individual needs Learner satisfaction

"Before adopting PROGRESSION®, each year we brought in a huge number of employees from all over France for 2 or 3 day seminars at the Training Centre in Louveciennes and we also brought in outside service providers" recalls Philippe Nazzaro, in charge of desktop applications and Internet. BNP Paribas was having problems related to employee travel expenses and the complexities of managing the necessary time off. "One obvious fact: travel expenses and managing time-off were significantly increasing training costs. What's more, the classes were not tailored to individual needs; beginners ended up in seminars with much more experienced people, resulting in a great deal of wasted time for everyone involved."

A progressive move towards e-learning

In-house, the Training Department started looking at the issue in 1998, by first studying self-paced learning: "We took it one step at a time, because e-learning requires a major change in attitudes. We looked at the products on the market, and finally decided on PROGRESSION® in 1999. We decided to start with off-line learning from CD-ROMs. But by 2000 we had developed our own in-house Training Intranet and we really began using online training for desktop and other applications, using only iProgress content. The goal is now simple: any BNP Paribas employee, whether in Paris, London, or Hong Kong, should be able to learn from his or her workplace computer," explains Philippe Nazzaro.

In practice, for the time being the corporation still has two learning centres in Paris equipped with some fifteen PCs each for the use of employees in the Paris branches and the central management offices. All other BNP Paribas employees can now follow self-paced learning courses from their workplace PCs using PROGRESSION® in French or in English.

Getting management level personnel involved and publicizing the availability of courses

The procedure for setting up an e-learning system is simple: in each office, the training managers first validate the learning courses. They provide access to PROGRESSION® for the skills analysis and the courses. They then track each employee's progress over time. "But before getting there," he goes on "we had to publicize the availability of the courses and get the corporate training managers involved. For example, we went to the Main Offices of our French branches and held numerous informational meetings, and we are continuing to publicize the Training Intranet and the products provided there. We send out news flashes on Training (in-house and outside the corporation) on the new online products…"

The method seems to be working. "Our employees find PROGRESSION® to be very user-friendly, simple, and effective. These positive results have encouraged us to explore the e-learning avenue to an even greater extent." In the near future, BNP Paribas is planning to put Management training on the bank's Training Intranet. Clearly, PROGRESSION® has paved the way for bigger and better things.