Pharmaceutical company has the prescription for success

Article Type: Notes and news From: Industrial and Commercial Training, Volume 45, Issue 2

The British affiliate of a global pharmaceutical company has opened e-learning to its field-based employees.

Daiichi-Sankyo UK staff can gain access to up-to-date e-learning, discussions and performance-support resources through their mobile devices.

“In order to compete successfully as an organization we have asked our commercial teams to acquire vast amounts of new skills and knowledge in a short space of time,” said Terry Petersen, commercial director. “Our Seminar Knowledge Center has been fundamental to achieving this, by empowering every individual in the company to manage his or her own learning in an innovative and dynamic format.”

The Seminar Knowledge Center is a web-based e-learning-management system that is compatible with mobile browsers such as those found on iPhone, iPad and Android mobile devices. Alternatively, Seminar Knowledge Center users can use a companion native “app” for the iPad and iPhone to gain access to the e-learning materials, discuss the course with other learners, browse course resources like videos, PowerPoint presentations and podcasts, follow Twitter feeds and connect with other delegates via LinkedIn, Chatter or other social networks.

Course creators can use popular tools like Seminar Author, Articulate Storyline or Screenr to create their structured e-learning content, and then blend in YouTube clips, web links, podcasts and other supporting resources.

At Daiichi-Sankyo, structured-learning courses are supported by a range of documents, as well as audio and video materials. The company has also integrated external feeds from Ashridge Business School, as well as offline resources such as books from the company’s learning and development library.

Daiichi-Sankyo also wanted to promote collaboration in learning, and the Seminar Knowledge Center has helped it to harness social media to facilitate this. Trainers can combine Facebook-style discussion areas, learner-profile pages and Twitter feeds appropriate to a specific topic.

All Daiichi-Sankyo staff has personal online profiles, and each course has associated discussion threads moderated by a subject-matter expert.

“The Seminar Knowledge Center is an essential element of our new way of working,” said Daiichi-Sankyo managing director Simon Clough. “It is driving behavior change that is fundamental to our success in the new National Health Service – crucially that of empowering staff to take responsibility for their own learning to ensure they have the right skills to add value to the NHS, our customers and their patients.”

The e-learning system includes tools for creating, reviewing, delivering,tracking and selling e-learning courses, quizzes and surveys.