Essay: What is e-learning

Abstract:

Since the introduction of e-learning an odd twenty years ago the field has been growing tremendously in importance and in the role it plays in corporate learning. Companies that are able to implement e-learning in an efficient way reap great benefits from doing this. These companies are able to train more of their employees, do it at a lower cost, have a better ability to track and measure the impact and even obtain better learning results than through traditional learning alone. However many organizations are struggling with the introduction of e-learning and they are unable to reach the results that they are aiming for. This can be due to a number of reasons, but one of the main aspects is a lack of acceptance of change and a disbelief in the effectiveness of e-learning as a tool of delivering knowledge. The organizations that are successful in the implementation are taking a number of measures to ensure that that e-learning is well greeted. The measure that this work is looking at, is the role of internal marketing in this process? In the research we will try to determine if internal marketing is an effective tool in introducing e-learning, determining what actions are used, what works and what does not. Further complication that Global organizations are facing is the cultural differences that they encounter around the Globe and how these should be dealt with.

The research was conducted based on previously published case studies, literature on the subject matter and on a number of interviews conducted with various Global companies that have gone through the processes and we try to learn from their experiences. Based on the findings we propose strategies and considerations concerning internal marketing that a global company should consider when rolling out e-learning on a global scale. Due to the great access I had to Allianz organization they are being used as a specific example.

1. Introduction:

1.1. Scope and reason for researching the role of internal marketing in the context of introducing e-learning

A majority of global companies have been introducing e-learning as a way of training their employees. The reasons for doing so are many, but in most cases it can be said that e-learning has the potential to effectively transmit knowledge in an organization at a lower cost than traditional learning, such as class room sessions and training labs. However many large companies are not satisfied with the results of their investment in e-learning. The process of implementing e-learning can be long, costly and cumbersome. If we look at the example of Allianz (a global, decentralized insurance provider headquartered in Germany ), they initiated an enterprise wide e-learning initiative 5 years ago and so far only 7 of their entities decided to adopt the corporate solution, while other entities have either decided for a solution of their own or no e-learning at all (Arikal, 2009, personal interview). There are a number of different steps and tools that an organization should take under consideration to ensure the results that they aspire for. In this report I will specifically look at one driver of the e-learning change process, and that is internal marketing.

Exhibit 1:

What is the role that internal marketing is playing in a company’s chances to become successful in its implementation of e-learning? Is it useful? Towards what stakeholders can it be used and what are the specific marketing strategies and tools that are used? In this work I will look at global organizations in particular. They are facing some additional difficulties when compared to companies who are based in a single country. A global company has to take under consideration the cultural, technical and regulatory implication of operating in a multi-country environment. And adjust the marketing message and delivery methods accordingly. The focus of this paper is to explore a subject area and give recommendations, rather than to test a theory. It should serve as a useful guide for global companies who consider using internal marketing in driving the introduction of e-learning.

We also need to understand the context of e-learning, change management and internal marketing in an international environment. As a result an overview of these areas will be included. In order to achieve this, the first step will be to have a look at the definitions, theories and implications surrounding these areas. However this is not an attempt to give a detailed assessment of these concepts. More focus is on the internal marketing plan of e-learning for a global company and assessing the role and usage of internal marketing in the implementation of e-learning.

1.2. Overview of the research approach

The research question for this paper was: How is internal marketing playing a role in the implementation of e-learning in a global organization and what can be done to make certain that it is effective? Research was based on two different hypotheses: Internal marketing is playing an important role in driving the introduction of e-learning and that internal marketing has to be adjusted to local conditions and be individual centered to improve the effectiveness. In assessing the role of internal marketing and its role in driving the introduction of e-learning in a global organization the research will make use of several sources of information:

Theoretical studies, frameworks and definitions on:

• E-learning,
• Change management
• Internal marketing.
• Interviews with global companies.
• Empirical case studies of representative organizations and anecdotal case studies.
• Surveys and quantitative research performed by e-learning institutions.

Theoretical Studies, frameworks and definitions:

Based on this information a clearer understanding of the context in which the conclusion is made should materialize. In order to understand the role of e-learning, we first need to know how it’s defined and the general accepted function that it is playing in an organization. The same goes for change management and internal marketing. There are however different ideas on what’s important within each area and for the purpose of this report scope, only an overview of the main points will be brought up.

Empirical case studies of representative organizations:

This research will look at several cases that have been written to assess organizational marketing strategies for increasing the chance of acceptance of e-learning. A multitude of companies around the world have used internal marketing as a tool to or driver of e-learning introduction. And researchers within the field have looked at what the companies do in particular. It must though be said that in most cases it is the success stories that are getting published rather than the failures. It could possibly be that some internal marketing tools that are successful in certain companies are failing in other instances, and this must be taken under considerations when forming conclusions. Not much has been written on the implications that a global company is facing when using internal marketing across the country borders and this is a limitation.

Interviews with global companies:

Over the course of the research, several interviews with global companies were undertaken. The interviewees have positions in the management of e-learning, human resources and specialists in online training. With their experience they have gathered insights into the pros and cons of internal marketing as a driver of e-learning. To add to that, they are in a position to give specific examples of what was done in their organizations and explain how that impacted the situation. It must however be said that none of the interviewees had performed any hard measurement of the impact of their marketing efforts, but rather had qualitative explanations of the outcome.

Additional research that should be made to get a better picture of internal marketing in relation to e-learning is surveying the perception of the different stakeholders. This would give a clearer idea on the effectiveness of internal marketing in the eyes of the intended targets to the campaigns.

1.3 Main arguments and key findings

In this work I believe that there is proof that internal marketing can play an important role in the introduction of e-learning. Many international companies use it as a way to drive their e-learning initiative. It can be helpful in creating management and employees buy-in and as an instrument in changing the learning culture and the perception of e-learning. On average quite small sums are dedicated towards the marketing of e-learning. It is by no means the only avenue that a company can go to gain acceptance and create demand for e-learning, many pieces in the change management puzzle need to fall in place to ensure the success of the introduction. Different stakeholders seek different results from e-learning and everyone wants to know “what’s in it for me” before they accept it as a new way of learning. What a divisional manager wants out of e-learning is quite different from the learning needs of a salesman in the organization. The cultures of which they are a part plays in on how likely they are to accept it. Or at least has an impact on how the marketing campaign of e-learning should be designed to ensure maximum effectiveness of the message. The resistance towards e-learning can be quite strong and overcoming this resistance to change can take time and lots of effort. Companies should have a clear strategy for their internal marketing of e-learning and start it at an early stage of the process to create awareness of e-learning. At this stage it is important that management and trainers are getting onboard, so they serve as an instrument in further marketing towards employees. The marketing campaign can not only be a one-time thing, but the messages should be repeated over and over in different channels to gain acceptance. Since companies in general only have limited resources for promotion of e-learning and therefore has to be innovative and make best use of those limited resources. The marketing itself can take many shapes and forms and is communicated through a number of different channels.

2 The concept of e-learning

2.1. Definition of e-learning

E-learning is defined as education and training delivered by an instructor or self-paced from a curriculum database stored on the enterprise local area network (Berry, 2000). Or in a broader sense refers to any distance-learning mode other than a correspondence course with printed material (Mantyla, 2001). E-learning has so far been adopted both by the educational system as well as a large number of corporations. However the spread varies when different regions and industries are compared. In the US an average of $ 1,075 per person were spent on training expenditures or 56.2 billion USD (O’Leonard, 2009, p.2-3). The percentage of the spend that is directed towards e-learning varies, but over 50% of the corporations in the United States spend more than 20% of the learning budget on e-learning.

Exhibit 2:

Some companies consider e-learning to be a hype; just a way of putting PowerPoint presentations on the web without much learning coming out of it. If these companies would look a bit deeper they would discover that e-learning does not only consist of plain click and play PowerPoint presentations as perceived by people who are less familiar with the area. Within e-learning there are several different types of learning:

When e-learning was first introduced most of the courses delivered were transmitted as web lectures based on plain information. As time progressed more and more of the e-learning that was provided to learners became interactive and in many cases part of a whole learning experience where e-learning and face to face training is blended together. The area of e-learning is continuously evolving and becoming more about collaborative learning, especially with the recent developments in web 2.0, examples of which is corporate social networks and Twitter. E-learning is in advanced companies becoming an integrated part of the whole talent development and performance management area.

2.2. Benefits of e-learning

First of all it must be pointed out that in today’s highly competitive environment learning / training “is a critical tool in achieving the organization’s overall strategic goals” (Sullivan, 2002). Various studies have shown that e-learning (either in combination with traditional learning or even on its own) can be even more efficient than traditional delivery methods. Kaplan accounting students who attended their online training last year had an 8% higher pass rate than the ones who were attending class room classes (Naughon , personal interview, 2009). And a meta-study on learning performed by the US department of education gave an answer that is along the same lines (Bakia, 2009). E-learning also enables an organization to provide courses to a larger group of employees in a faster way and thereby spreading knowledge in the organization to a potentially larger number of people and presenting the organization with an opportunity to become more effective and efficient. In addition there have been numerous studies and cases published that are showing that e-learning have great potential to deliver great return on investment if it is done properly. One example is comes from Verizon who managed to get an ROI of 62% (Tai, 2005, p. 241) in the second year after introducing e-learning from travel and time reduction alone, but if the increased revenues generated from an increase in customer facing time is included then that number jumps to 1,343% (Tai, 2005, p. 241). Savings can be found in terms of:

1. Time

2. Cost avoidance

Time: in a sense that the employees need to spend less time attending courses and traveling to a location. Instead they can spend their time performing their work tasks and through that increase the revenues of the company. Cost avoidance is mostly taking the form of reduction in travel costs, but also through reduction of rent for training facilities etc. These hard benefits does not even take under consideration the intangible benefits that are resulting from well implemented e-learning, benefits such as increased employee motivation and retention, better internal communication, reduced time to market and better customer service. As a result a company can achieve higher sales. An example of this is If in Norway, an insurance company, where the employees who took an online sales certification course achieved 30% better sales results than the colleagues who had not done so (Mattsson, 2009, personal interview).

The purpose of this paper is not to go into detail into the pros and cons of e-learning, in general it is accepted that e-learning has potential to provide great benefits to an organization if it is done well. Therefore an organization should be able to justify the introduction of e-learning if they don’t already have done so.

2.3. The challenges of introducing e-learning

It is quite natural that there is some initial resistance against e-learning within both the workforce and the management. Most people are used to classroom training from their early years of schooling and that has been the preferred way of learning for centuries. E-learning is not assigned the same importance as the traditional one and people are comfortable with their traditional ways. One illustration of this is from the Office of the Clerk of the Superior court in Maricopa County, Arizona who “decided to allow registration for classroom courses over the internet. 30% of the registrants refused to go to the website to register while another 20% printed out the registration form and mailed it” (Sullivan, 2002). On the other hand training can be seen as kind of a perk to the employees. “Off site training represents a welcome departure from the daily routine, especially if the training requires travel to a different location.” (Sullivan, 2002) And many employees prefer to keep this perk.

Part of the blame must however fall on the departments who are launching the e-learning initiative. “Companies have generally neglected to promote the benefits of e-learning to their employees and played down the fact that a shift to e-learning represents a large organizational cultural change. It needs to be demonstrated to employees that that e-learning is not about cost-savings, but more about delivering improved training benefits to individual worker.” (van Dam, 2004, p.90). This is still by no means the only reasons why employees and managers alike don’t accept e-learning. In a survey made by the American Society for Training and Development they looked at the different obstacles that a company is facing in the process.

As we can see there is a wide variety of obstacles that e-learning has to overcome before it gains acceptance. And to increase the complexity another layer is the different stakeholders and how they perceive different areas in the subject of e-learning. Different stakeholders assign more or less of an importance to certain points in the list. Cost and time committed is more of a concern for the management, quality of the program is more of a concern for the employees while everyone is affected by the corporate culture. “The way we do things here” is naturally a hard obstacle to overcome and the least tangible to tackle.

Based on research from Insync Training (Fagan, 2006), a provider of online training, there are 10 category areas where an organization needs to focus their attention to be successful in changing the corporate culture in favor of e-learning. These are: publish requirements and set expectation ahead of time / establish relevance / provide continuous encouragement / assessment / organizational support / management mandate / rewards and recognition / success stories / design for learner success / continuous internal marketing. Later in the work the last point will be dealt with in more detail, but as we can see there are numerous challenges that need to be dealt with and steps to be taken to tackle these. For all-purpose it can be said that “without top management support, any e-learning initiative will not succeed” (van Dam, 2004, p. 96). According to the President of the Allianz Management Institute, the upper management of Allianz is not likely to accept e-learning as a part of their training, instead they rely on traditional class room training (Neckermann, 2009, personal interview). If this is the case in an organization then it is not likely that the employees will assign much value to e-learning as they follow the example of the leaders. Resulting from this is that a large part of Allianz organization has yet to properly adopt e-learning. Another part of the challenge is that content should be fun, meaningful and interactive in order for employees to take up and accept e-learning. Initially there might not be much competence how to create such content. If the only type of courses that are delivered through e-learning is plain mandatory compliance courses then it is not likely that employees will get excited about e-learning. But if they see that a value in voluntary courses then they will.

The variety of different cultures around the globe, the varying degrees of acceptance of technology and technological development also poses a challenge to the introduction of e-learning. Although: “the importance and impact of national culture on the uptake of e-learning may be reduced over time as the globalization and localization of e-learning content becomes more widespread” (van Dam, 2004, p. 94). The older generation in the workforce is getting “phased out” and a higher percentage of the employees will be used to working with online training and more accepting of e-learning.

3. Introducing change in a Global Organization in general and e-learning in particular

3.1 The challenges of introducing change

When first introducing e-learning or may it be any other change initiative the organization “must deal with people’s fundamental resistance to change.” (Sullivan, 2002, p. 3) One classical example of a huge change that has occurred across most organizations worldwide in a fairly recent time is the introduction of e-mail. Today hardly anyone would argue that e-mails is impeding the way business is conducted, but initially there was a resistance against the switch usage and still today some people insist on printing out their e-mails for storage. So these change initiatives can take a lot of time and effort. People’s fears and anxieties over change can be very hard to overcome. This can be summarized in Mike Hammers’ quote “the soft stuff is really the hard stuff” (Dublin, 2006) Employees have their habits and the willingness to change those depend on the individual mindset. Another aspect to resistance to change is security. In the case of e-learning this could be exemplified in the trainers who are worried about his or her job when e-learning is introduced.

An additional facet of change in a global organization is that it can be hard for a sub-entity to make system changes without the support of the main organization. This is however not the case in highly decentralized structures.

3.2 Theoretical change management frameworks

As an introduction to change there are 2 main approaches. One is that change only occurs occasionally and as a response to external forces, such as technology, competition, social trends etc. The other view is that change is required continuously, that change is the natural state of a company. One widely adopted framework for the first approach is Lewin’s 3 step change model.

This model is saying that a company first has to unfreeze the current situation / behaviors than change them and finally refreeze. Unless the third step is taken there is a great risk that the organization will fall back into its old behaviors. The main focus of this research is to look at changes in global companies and in concern to their learning processes. Even though the pace of change is picking up in this area with the introduction of web 2.0 and knowledge management tools I would argue that change in this area is more following the pattern of occasional change rather than continuous (if you’re not looking at details). As I interviewed several entities in the Allianz structure many of them requested a learning vision and guidelines from the head office (personal interviews). This is a sign that change is not too frequent, at least if you look at it from a high level. Based on that I would claim that Internal marketing has a role to play here as a driving force to redirect behavior in the unfreezing phase.

According to Robbins’ and Judge there are three actions that a change agent can take to make the firm a learning organization:

1. Establish a strategy
2. Redesign the organizational structure – make it flatter
3. Reshape the organizational culture – there is a need for openness and risk taking in the organization and the managers need to lead by example.

These strategies with exception of the third step are however outside our scope as we are focusing on internal marketing, but they are important ingredients when establishing e-learning as a way in the total learning mix. And the reader should be aware that internal marketing is by no means the only instrument for enabling a change towards acceptance of e-learning. When a company considers learning to be crucial they generally are more willing to adopt new learning techniques, as is the case with GE or IBM,

3.3 Who are the stakeholders when introducing e-learning

When introducing e-learning there are several stakeholders involved in the process. A communication strategy should be introduced for each of these groups to ensure the acceptance for e-learning. Each group has got their own agenda when it comes to e-learning and this should be taken under consideration.

Exhibit 6: Stakeholders when introducing e-learning

Influence
Interest	Weak		Strong
Weak	Employees Outside Stakeholders /suppliers for example		Top-Management
Strong	Trainers, HR		Local Management

In the initial stage it is very important to get the management on board as they serve as an example for the employees. They are also the ones who have to budget for the initial outlay of money to set up the e-learning systems and processes. The next stage is to get the trainers convinced. If they don’t provide good content courses and training to be delivered through e-leaning the whole initiative is likely to fail, as employees will be turned off on e-learning if the content is plain and boring. If that is the case it can take a long time and effort to change that perception. The biggest stakeholder group is naturally the employees and without their involvement and support the whole initiative is likely to turn into a “white elephant.” The communication process is however not a staged one where one group is convinced and then forgotten about, communication needs to be continuous. “Change communications consist of three stages: inform, involve and integrate. But rather than having a start and an end, they reinforce a cycle of activities” (Dublin, 2006).

3.4. The cultural and age aspect of the change process in a global organization

For most people, the corporate culture in which they operate is not their main cultural influence. Maybe the most important influence is the country culture that they are a part of. How people think and act is certainly much influenced by it. “Resistance to change will be influenced by a society’s reliance on tradition. Italians, for example, focus on the past, whereas Americans emphasize the present. Italians, therefore, should generally be more resistant to change efforts than their American counterparts are” (Robbins, 2008, p. 279). A layer below that, individuals are a part of subcultures. One of these is the corporate culture, but it is also be music, sport or whatever kind of cultures that individual is a part of. In some instances the different cultures could be conflicting and then it is up to the individual what values will rule in and in what particular situation. If an individual for example is a part of an online gaming culture and at the same time a part of a corporation who resists e-learning, his or her thoughts on e-learning are likely to be more accepting and open than most of the colleagues, which might cause conflict. A framework that can be used to analyze different nation cultures around the globe is Geert Hofstede’s classical framework.

Different aspects of this framework could potentially have an impact on the adoption of the willingness to change to a new ways of learning and I will give some thoughts on how that can be applied to the introduction of e-learning:

Uncertainty Avoidance:

If a culture is comfortable with uncertainty and as a result is relaxed about taking more risks, then it might be that they are more prone to adopt new technologies. In this kind of context e-learning could be seen as an exhilarating new opportunity. In our research we saw for example that Russian companies were very eager to adopt e-learning (Gerasimova, 2009, personal interview). Russia is a country which is on the high risk side on the uncertainty avoidance scale. While in Germany, which is on the other side of the scale e-learning is not welcomed as wholeheartedly as they are more risk averse in general.

Power Distance:

E-learning is to a certain extent empowering the employees, since they can educate themselves by getting the knowledge they need to advance on their own and in their own time. In a country where equality is high, e-learning should be well appreciated. And more of a pull strategy of introducing that change could possibly be adopted. In a country which scores high on status, such as Spain, e-learning could also potentially be accepted, but the way of implementing it would be more of a top down autocratic approach. Here mandatory courses might be more accepted.

Individualism:

In an individualistic country people are more used to do things on their own, want to have more influence on their own career path and decide themselves what and when they want to do their training. E-learning has the potential to give them that option. This fact should make people more accepting thereof. If e-learning were to be introduced in a collectivism environment then it is more important to involve the group in the design of the courses and possible do more blended learning to increase the chance of acceptance.

Work/Life Balance:

In this area cultures that are focused on work, there certifications associated with the e-learning would be important and the test aspect would be as well. It is probably a good idea to point out the linkage between e-learning and career development in the advertising of e-learning. In life focused countries, it could be important that the communication of e-leaning that it is focused on giving a message that it frees up more time for the employee. While at the same time making sure that management dedicates time in the schedule of the employee during the workday for e-learning, so that people don’t have to sit and do their e-learning at home during their free time. In IBM it is perfectly accepted that the employees should complete their e-learning during the evenings (Tai, 2005, p.155). This might not be something they should advertize in a country that values the free time, such as in the case of Sweden

A global company that plans to introduce e-learning on a worldwide basis should reflect on these cultural points in the way they are communicating and implementing the change towards e-leaning. It is however my belief that people in general are more acceptant to cultural homogeneity when they are online. The web environment was very Anglo-Saxon influenced from the start. And as people from other countries started using the net they came to accept the lack of cultural adaptation to a certain extent (even if web content is becoming more and more localized). The culture might also have a determining factor on the timeframe for change. “Societies that focus on the long term, such as Japan, will demonstrate considerable patience while waiting for positive outcomes from change efforts. In societies with a short term focus, such as the United States and Canada, people expect quicker improvements and will seek change programs that promise fast results.” (Robbins, 2008, p.279)

The demographics of the workforce in the various regions within which the company operates should also be analyzed. In general a younger workforce is more open to technology and more comfortable using e-learning as a tool. In the future it might even be that the younger generation will demand e-learning, since that’s now part of their school experience (Moehrle, 2009, personal interview). According to Skill Soft there is already a real disconnect between generations in concern to e-learning (Walton, 2009, personal interview). The marketing message should adjust to this fact. If the workforce is older, then more focus should be placed on how simple it is to use and get them to try it out, while this may not be the issue for a younger workforce. They are more interested in seeing how it can help their career and that it is fun to use. If we once again turn to Allianz as an example, their average age of the workforce in Europe is above 40, while the in the US it is in the thirties and for Asia and other developing countries the number lies somewhere between 25 and 30 (Arikal, 2009, personal interview). The marketing message therefore does not only have to be adjusted to the country cultural difference, but also based on the age group that is targeted. The key is to communicate with the different division of the company and become aware of the situation that they are facing. The change process and the communication should be as much personalized as possible, but there are off course only limited resources and this must be taken under consideration as well. The resources should be directed where they are needed the most.

3.5. Gaining acceptance for e-learning

Traditionally much of the focus when introducing e-learning was aimed at the technical issues; however that might have been a mistake. The technical part off course has to work and make it as easy as possible for the user, but getting people on board is the real challenge. According to Allianz Singapore, at the end of the day, e-learning should be interesting, knowledge sharing and interactive programs. From an organizational perspective, acceptance depends on the culture, extent of openness in the employees toward e-learning and the value in the programs offered through e-learning. (Lim, 2009, personal interview) Many pieces need to fall into place when introducing e-learning, some companies just look at it as a cost saver, but focus should be on the environment change (it is not about metrics such as ROI). The emotional side-effect is important (Gupta, 2009, personal interview). And maybe one of the most important aspects of this is to show all stakeholders what they have to benefit from e-learning. The message should be specific to each group as roles, culture and needs differ throughout an organization. When they do sign up and try it out e-learning has to deliver on that promise.”This may seem simple, but you need to give customers what they want, not what you think they want. And, if you do this, people will keep coming back” (John Ilhan, owner of an Australian cell phone warehouse chain). It does not matter if the customers are external or internal, the outcome if you provide them with something useful, they will keep on buying.

It is important to start the marketingprocess prior to the deployment of the actual system; so that the stakeholders are partly ready when the change actually comes. During this initial stage of e-learning it is central to get the support form senior management. If a managing director can be persuaded to complete a course and if their experience was pleasurable, then the e-learning agent should encourage the managing director to visibly support the initiative and give his / her endorsement. An example where the opposite happened was in Mondial US, where technical problems with the system resulted in that after the completion of a course the system did not recognize it as completed. Unfortunately that resulted in little or no support from management. (Johnston, 2009, personal interview)

“Change is not one event but a journey. Psychologists Dennis Jaffe, Cynthia Scott,and Glenn Tobe developed an excellent model to explain this that is based on their work and the work of noted psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Learners making the transition to e-learning find themselves going through a four-phase change journey: denial, resistance, exploration and commitment. A well-designed implementation strategy ensures all e-learners — and managers — are supported through the early phases, so their frustrations and discomfort with a new way don’t overwhelm them.” (Dublin, 2006)

This quote shows us that planning of the introduction of e-learning is crucial. A step by step approach to introduce e-learning was recommended by many of the people that were interviewed in the research. That ensures that people familiarize themselves with the system and the initial investment is not too big. After the initial stage the agents of e-learning cannot rest on their laurels. Once some acceptance has been reached, then the organization can move on to the next stage. Change is coming slowly in most global organizations and one way to drive these changes is to use internal marketing.

4. Internal Marketing as a tool for introduction of e-learning in a Global Organization

4.1. Definition of internal marketing

Internal marketing is a tool or change driver that a company has to its disposal to communicate with the employees. One definition of internal marketing is stated as follows: “The process of eliciting support for a company and its activities among its own employees, in order to encourage them to promote its goals. This process can happen at a number of levels, from increasing awareness of individual products or marketing campaigns, to explaining overall business strategy” (http://www.marketresearchterms.com/i.php). Another definition comes from Rafiq and Ahmed (2000, p.456) who define internal marketing as: “a planed effort using a marketing like approach to overcome organizational resistance, to change and to align, motivate, and inter-functionally co-ordinate and integrate employees towards the effective implementation of corporate and functional strategies in order to deliver customer satisfaction through the process of creating motivated and customer-oriented employees.” Initially much of the focus on internal marketing was on improving customer orientation and customer satisfaction. During the eighties internal marketing became a buzz word and it has been increasing in its importance as the employees are more and more seen as the most important resource of the modern corporations (Varey, 2000, p.28).From the analysis of the key conceptual and empirical literature five main elements of internal marketing are identified (Ahmed and Rafiq, 2000). These are:

1. Employee motivation and satisfaction.
2. Customer orientation and customer satisfaction.
3. Inter-functional co-ordination and integration.
4. Marketing-like approach to the above.
5. Implementation of specific corporate or functional strategies.

For using internal marketing in the sense of introducing e-learning the 4th and 5th steps are used. Internal marketing is unsurprisingly linked to traditional marketing in the communication channels and forms that it takes. It can however take many shapes and forms, some of which are unique for internal marketing:

As we can see in the table above the internal marketer have a multitude of marketing channels available to them. The initiative taker can use a mix of different channels to make the communication stronger and more efficient. And the channel mix choice should be made in respect to the target of the marketing. Some of the training managers who were interviewed during the course of the research pointed out that it is not enough only having a short burst of marketing, but it has to be an ongoing communication between the e-learning organization and the individual employee for the internal marketing to be an efficient way of communication and make an impact. If the organization is successful in its internal marketing it could lead to improved performance in the external environment, especially when it comes to service companies where customer care should be the focus.

4.2. What role does internal marketing play in cultural change?

First of all what is corporate culture? It can be defined as “the values, processes and encouraged behaviors in an organization. The way things are done around here.” (www.business2000.ie/resources/Glossary_C.html). As pointed out in exhibit 4, a lack of culture to support e-learning is one of the main challenges that the introduction of e-learning is facing. World leading companies such as Ericsson and GE have a long tradition of being learning organizations. (Rico, 2009, personal interview) This makes the introduction of new teaching methods such as in the area of e-learning much easier, but what if a company is not at that stage? What can internal marketing do to change the culture? “If culture signals the path valued by the organization, it is up to the individual to follow or reject that path” (Hill, 1995). Internal marketing is one way for a company to signal a path and “the literature review on internal marketing has showed that it can be used as a means of persuading individuals to embark on the different programs that an organization aims to pursue” (Kelemen, 2007, p.748). If the internal marketing function works effectively then managers do not have to do as much to persuade the workers to do e-learning courses, but instead the employees will demand more of it; classic pull strategy. It is worth to once again mention that it can not only be a onetime effort, but an ongoing process. It takes time for fundamental changes in the corporate culture to materialize. A credit union “developed a 3 year marketing plan to create awareness of e-learning and bring about acceptance of this new learning opportunity.” (Elearning Magazine, January 13, 2009) Eventually they managed to achieve an 80% usage without making e-learning mandatory, so at least from the outside it seems like the long term commitment to internal marketing was a success.

There is more evidence in literature that internal marketing can be effective in motivating employees to change their behavior other than the example mentioned above. As in all aspects of marketing it can be hard to ascertain the results of a marketing campaign. “However, work in this area is limited, but Ahmed and Rafiq (1995) show how an adapted services marketing mix approach was successfully used by a financial services company to implement a major change in marketing strategy. Managers, therefore, need to carefully examine which marketing techniques are appropriate and how they are going to adapt them for their organization as not all marketing techniques can be applied without adaptation to the internal market.” (Ahmed and Rafiq, 1993)

4.3 Internal marketing in an international context

A large number of leading international companies have introduced e-learning across their entire organizations. These include companies such as Deloitte, GE, IBM and McDonald’s. And they are just representing a small sample of companies that try to build up and expand their e-learning capabilities. By the very definition a global organization is operating across country borders and as a result of this is getting exposed to different cultures. Unfortunately there is a lack of sensitivity about the importance of the implication that this is causing. As previously discussed, cultural differences do matter in change management and internal marketing is no exception to this rule. The marketing strategies should be adjusted accordingly. However “only 25% of companies considered cultural differences when introducing e-learning” (Edmundson, 2009). In e-learning the ambiguity of knowledge (Alvesson, 2004) may be a critical point for the adaption of e-learning to the local context and if this is not done, then it is not hard to imagine that this potentially could cause tribulations when e-learning is rolled out and marketed across the globe. The most obvious difference is off-course the language barrier. A global organization may officially have English as its corporate language, but at least in lower levels the proficiency level might not be very high. (Dirks, 2009, personal interview) Therefore the marketing as well as the content should be translated into the local language to get a better effect. For a multinational organization this could potentially result in plentiful languages translations. Unfortunately it is not a question of plain translation; See M. Munter (1993) identified 4 different additional problems related to language difficulties in cross cultural communications.

1. Barriers caused by semantics.
2. Barriers caused by word connotations.
3. Barriers caused by tone differences.
4. Barriers caused by differences among perceptions.

An international organization should be concerned about these 4 problems for adjusting the marketing message when marketing outside the home market. If this is not done the communication could send the wrong message or something could be lost in translation. If an organization is lucky there is at least no harm as a result, but in the worst case the harm could be detrimental. Companies are spending billions of dollars to adjust their external marketing campaigns to the local culture and the implications of operating in an international environment are well understood, so why should internal marketing be immune to cultural differences? In the previous section some aspects of cultural customization along the lines of Geert Hofstede’s framework were discussed. To further illustrate the issue, Irene Krapp of Allianz France discussed an example of a diversity course. If the material surrounding it, pictures examples etc., does not fit into the French context then the employees will not take it serious. The ethnical situation that people are facing in Paris is very different to that the people in the head office in Munich are accustomed to (2009, personal interview). I would make the assumption that the same goes for marketing efforts. On the more practical side the internal marketing of e-learning should weigh up the technological differences that exist. The computer park in some parts of the company might be antiquated and internet penetration rates low.

Source: Internet World Stats – www.internetworldstats.com/Stats.htm based on numbers from September 30, 2009. Copyright ©2009, Minwatts Marketing Group

In Africa for example there is a problem with the bandwidth and it can be very expensive if you want to have the same connection speeds as we are used in the Western world (Heartly, 2009, personal interview). The designing of both the content and the marketing of e-learning has to be adjusted accordingly. It might not be a good idea to do very bandwidth capacity intensive messages such as videos and interactive advertising, since it will take too much time to download and people will give up in the process. On the other hand in jobs where the employees use their computer all the time “they may not want to learn at them. Volvo hit this problem with their Financial Service Staff”.” (Blass, 2006, p.143) The computer familiarity and usage levels therefore need to be examined. Secondly, the marketing must comply with local laws and regulations in order for it not to cause any legal issues. As an illustration, Lukas Neckermann of Allianz pointed out that there are complications in Germany with the transferring of assessment results of the individual employee through the internet (2009, personal interview). The marketing team for e-learning should in this instance consider addressing the labor union in order to reduce their doubts on e-learning in addition to those of the individual employee.

4.4. Applying internal marketing to the introduction of e-learning

In a survey performed by Expertus the average internal marketing budget (for the 75 training leaders that they surveyed) was only $0.43 cents per employee and only 15% of the respondents had a formal marketing plan. (Murrell, 2008) Unfortunately I could not consult any corresponding research for other countries or regions. In general it can be said that the US has got the lead in e-learning, so it is likely that the numbers are similar or worse in other regions. Following from this information we can see that this is an area where many companies do not put too much focus and efforts. According to Martin Moehrle, former Chief Learning Officer of Deutsche Bank, one of the mistakes that Deutsche Bank made when they first rolled out the system was the lack of internal marketing. How then could companies use internal marketing in the introduction of e-learning throughout the organization? Below is a ranking of the most effective marketing activities that are used in relation to promote and create awareness for e-learning.

Exhibit 10: Percentage of Respondents who View Marketing Activity as Effective

Source: Murrell, 2009

As we can see the non personal channels such as a mention in the company newsletter is not very effective, when compared to more personal communication such as personal e-mails, phone calls and management recommendations. There are some additional lines open to the internal marketers in comparison to what is normally used in consumer marketing. Examples of these are management recommendation, webinars and workshops. These channels lie closer to the target than do normal marketing avenues such as newspaper, magazine or radio ads. That gives the internal marketing a higher potential to make an impact as people tend to put more trust in communication when the sender of the message is closer to them as a person; the closer the better in terms of likelihood of causing a reaction. It is important who is sending the message of e-learning. For example “if the CEO in a worldwide organization with offices and plants everywhere proclaims his positive attitudes towards e-learning, few will pay serious attention to that message. People – managers and their employees – pay attention to whomever they think has the most power over them” (Dublin, 2006)

Just as the case is in consumer marketing the message that is sent out through the internal marketing has to be presented in an exciting and appealing way for it to have a higher chance of making an impact. Some companies have in fact been very innovative in their marketing and we’ll see some examples of this in section 5. On key step in the introduction of e-learning is to create an identity for e-learning in the organization. “It is very important for motivation and marketing that the initiative has clear branding and identity, whether it is a logo, image or name, to raise the profile and perceived value of the program.” (Dineen, 2004, p1) When we connect our thoughts on internal marketing to those of consumer marketing this is not hard to understand. Just about every product or service has got a brand and consumers in general don’t put much value on a generic product, so why shouldn’t e-learning initiatives within a company have the same? External e-learning companies such as Kaplan or Skillsoft have understood this, but it is generally not the case when companies market it internally. One illustration of a company who does make use of branding for their e-learning initiative is Verizon, who used the catch name “Net Learn” and “now it it’s by far the most recognized name in Verizon” (Tai, 2005, p.200) It should not be too hard for a HR or training department to invent a brand name, so that is an easy step to take to raise awareness for e-learning. Another example come from Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, their brand is: e-knowledge Suite and the slogan “check in 24×7, check out a Unique Learning Experience” (Dublin, 2006, p.56)

As already mentioned several stakeholders have an interest in and influence over the likelihood of success of the e-learning implementation. There interest and concerns are several, but if you look at it in a broad sense I will summarize the concerns of the internal stakeholders as follows:

4.4.1. Upper Management

The upper management is concerned with the strategic fit that e-learning has got with the organization. They need to know that e-learning is aligned with the business needs and organizational priorities. Can e-learning strengthen the corporate identity, communicate corporate vision, best practices and initiatives, improve knowledge and talent management process and like in the case of Allianz improve the change management process? The marketing towards this group should illustrate what e-learning can do in terms of enabling a competitive advantage for the company. This can be done through aligning the initiative with other strategic programs, provide business cases and success stories, initiate pilot project etc. Off course they are also concerned about the financial implications, so the internal marketing needs to justify the time and effort that will be spent on the implementation.

4.4.2. Divisional Management

Divisional management on the other hand is more concerned with the gains that can come out from an investment in e-learning and that employees spend less time away from their ordinary work. Most of the companies that were interviewed pointed out that a strong business case backed by solid numbers and justifiable assumptions goes a long way in convincing the divisional management. But they do also need to understand that e-learning is an effective way for people to learn. According to Vivan Mattson of If Insurance, when they first introduced e-learning it was a hard sell, but as they let the managers experience the programs and saw the effect that sales courses had on their sales people they were eventually won over (2009, personal interview).

4.4.3. Employees

The most important question that internal marketing need to address when communicating with this group is to show the employees “what’s in it for me.” It could be a message of saving time or ability advance in the career ladder, the fact that e-learning can be accessed 24/7 or any other benefit, but the message need to be learner centric and repeated over and over (Kevin Kruse, founder of e-LearningGuru.com). In addition many employees might be unfamiliar with e-learning and need to get acquainted with it and getting to understand how it can be beneficial for them. And “the reality is that formal learning isn’t an everyday occurrence, so it’s important to consider that it’s not just what you do, but also what message you convey and how. That’s why ongoing marketing program must keep learners acquainted with the most basic how-to and why part of their training” (Osberg, 2005).

The actual marketing itself can be done in a number of ways, through e-mails, telephone calls or even through posters, in exhibit 8 we saw an extensive list. It is important to notice that an organization should not be too laissez-faire about e-learning, but should be proactive (Landiscrina, 2009, personal interview). One approach is to hold a launch event to generate interest and excitement and an opportunity to demonstrate the system. If the e-learning system is set up well and have good functionality then eventually word of mouth should materialize. A good example of this is Facebook. No one ever came and forced people to use it. When peoples friends and family started using it they became interested and signed on to see what it was about. Same can be applied in the workplace; once someone discovers the usefulness of e-learning they will tell their colleagues. The timing of the marketing effort should also be considered. Participants are most interested in learning before and after their performance review for example.

4.4.4. Trainers

Trainers could potentially be concerned that e-learning will marginalizing their importance in the organization and at the very least change the way they work, requiring them to expand their skill set. If a trainer is dead set on class room training it would be beneficial with a demonstration of how e-learning works, “they have to see it in order to get a feel for it. That’s why demos are critical. (Who moved my training, 2003) In Allianz Switzerland the training manager had a disbelief in e-learning for soft skills training and as a result she isn’t pushing for an introduction of e-learning. (Brunner, 2009, personal interview) If she could be convinced that a blended approach is more effective than face-to-face training on its own, then it is likely that she would try convincing the management to introduce it. There is a need to guarantee the trainers that e-learning will not replace them, but rather compliment the work that they are doing and show them that e-learning in combination with ordinary training improves the quality of training. In most companies trainers will also be involved in the production of content, so they in turn should get some training in this field and expand their skill set. In the next section I will look into more detail how companies have used internal marketing can address each of these concerns.

4.4.5. Other Stakeholders

By definition external stakeholders should not be a target to internal marketing, but in some cases external stakeholders are given access to a company’s internal e-learning systems. This would for example be the case in Allianz Italy where insurance agents use Allianz e-learning to do compliance courses that regulators demand them to complete (Landiscrina, 2009, personal interview). If this is the case, then the internal marketing tools that can be used for external parties and synergies thereby be achieved in adopting the very same campaigns externally. Why reinvent to wheel?

4.5 Limitations of internal marketing as a change management tool

A quote from Rebecca Ray, senior vice president and director of training for America Skandia gives us some insight in the one of the main limitations of internal marketing; “Oh, you can lead the horses to water. But holding their heads under to make them drink is a little problematic, especially in the workplace” (Who moved my training, 2003). Often internal marketing can be quite shallow, a few posters and ads in the company newsletter won’t change people’s behavior. The internal marketing must go deeper than so. One challenge that it faces on the way is the mountain of information that each employee in a modern organization is exposed to, which in turn forms a risk that the individual employee misses the message. The “total amount of communication that an employee is exposed to is 2.3 million words or numbers over a period of 3 months.” (Cotter, 1996, p.89) And to make matters worse, managers according to Cotter tend to under-communicate cultural change messages such as a switch to e-learning, which causes a stalled transformation (Cotter, 1996, p.85). And in addition it should be said that the impact of internal marketing is localized, it is not a companywide phenomena, which makes the situation more complex for it to make a lasting impression. According to Burkitt and Zealley (2007), “the challenge for internal marketing is not only to get the right messages across, but to embed them in such a way that they both change and reinforce employee behavior”

As in external marketing, the determinants of the impact can be somewhat arbitrary and depend on a myriad of reasons. In the worst case it can even lead to resentment between the employee and the organization if the message transmitted through the internal marketing and the values of the employee are too far away from each other. People aren’t easy to predict, Man Andreasen of Georgetown University said on this matter, “not only do you need to understand how they perceive e-learning and training in general, but you also can’t foresee how they’ll react to your marketing efforts.” However some research have been able to prove that overall internal marketing can be effective in changing the behavior of the stakeholders within the company. Carruna and Calleya (1998) found that in their sample of managers from a retail bank that there was a significant but weak (R2 = 0.185) positive relationship between internal marketing and organizational commitment. Although the importance of internal marketing ideas is widely recognized by academics and practitioners alike, there are few models for practicing internal marketing (Gilmore and Carson, 1995).

5. Cases of internal marketing application to e-learning

Below you will find an initial outlay of the marketing / communication strategy of Allianz’s introduction of a companywide e-learning solution. Allianz is a multinational decentralized insurance company operating in 70 countries with about 150,000 employees with annual revenue of almost € 92 billion in 2008 (Allianz annual report 2008). The company previously, tried to introduce an enterprise learning management system, but was not entirely successful. Now they have some alternations to the plan, and their thoughts are along the line of what I would recommend. Good practice is for example announcing in advance that the e-learning is coming, that periodic updates are given and understanding the importance of getting buy-in from management. (Brandon, 2006, p.3)

Exhibit 11: Allianz e-learning marketing strategy

Source: Allianz Internal Document

This plan may serve as a good skeleton what needs to be done to ensure a successful implementation. Over the next couple of sections I will give examples of what other companies have done in particular within internal marketing to put meat on that skeleton and make it come alive.

5.1. Internal marketing to upper management

In the insurance industry the skill level of the employees is crucial, as the talent pool in the company is their main source of competitive advantage like in most service sector. If the employees in the organization can be further developed quicker, better and at a lower cost this should be a strong selling point. The management in If insurance saw and grabbed this opportunity 5 years ago after the training department made this a case to them, to them it became clear there was a clear strategic reason for e-learning (Jakobsen, 2009, personal interview). One way of marketing e-leaning towards the upper management as I see it is to introduce a Chief Learning Officer. That move indicates that the organization takes learning seriously; this is the case in IBM, where the CEO Lou Gerstner took this step when he hired a CLO to unify IBM’s learning community (Tai, 2005, p.127). The other way to go is to make a strong business case to involve upper management (Rico, 2009, personal interview). For the top management of a global company the accuracy and reasoning behind the numbers are very central. When Deutsche Bank was to “sell” a blended approach of e-learning to their top management they took help of Deloitte to get higher credibility in the numbers that they were presenting. The team of consultants had the experience and reliability to provide the decision makers with the assurance they needed and the new approach was given the go ahead (van Dam, 2009, personal interview).

Based on my research, a predicament that I saw in the Allianz, was that they did not use e-learning at all in the training of the top management. When this is the case you can’t expect that they will show much support for the e-learning initiative and give management recommendations, since they then are unfamiliar with the concept. IBM and GE are examples on the other side of the spectrum where e-learning is used extensively in their top management training. (Tai, 2005, p.79-84) These organizations also manage to have very strong culture of learning and openness to new learning methods.

5.2. Internal marketing to divisional management

The general consensus in the interviews on what seems to be most convincing and effective in marketing towards this segment, is to present business cases for the introduction of e-learning. Deloitte is an organization that is run as a franchise organization where each country entity has great independence. In order to market e-learning towards and convince them to adopt it the central organization had to build a business case for each single one of their 140 entities. This effort turned out to be a success and e-learning was introduced across the organization (van Dam, 2009, personal interview). Allianz on the other hand more went for an approach where they were trying to market the learning management system rather than the benefits (Arikal, 2009, personal interview) and the uptake on e-learning was not as satisfactory. If a global organization is more centralized then there is less need to convince local management, since the central organization can impose e-learning on them. However they need local management support to gain management recognition for the marketing towards the employees. In communicating change, “walking the walk” can be the most powerful change drivers. Talking about globalization and then directly appointing two foreign executives would be one strong example (Kotter, 2002, p.92). And if translated to the e-learning context an illustration could be that the office has a room dedicated to e-learning and the manager spends time there taking courses.

The launching of a pilot program is an internal marketing tactic to prove the benefits that e-learning can generate a positive return on investment. In Kerry Group e-learning was first launched as a pilot project aimed towards the finance function. The investment was minimal, in the $50,000 range, but the company managed to save over $380,000 on Excel courses alone in reduced course cost and traveling etc. (O’Dwyer, 2009, personal interview). That certainly makes a strong case for rolling out e-learning on a wider basis and can be used in the marketing thereof. Comparing the results of entities that have e-learning with those who have not can also be an efficient way to encourage usage. In Toyota Motors Europe the main e-learning agent went on a road show to skeptical dealers to show the a graph that compared the sales results of different outlets and the time their employees spent online and it showed that there was a direct correlation between the two inputs (Fister Gale, 2008). After the financial crisis it has become easier to convince management about the need for e-learning due to the cost benefits. Companies can no longer afford expensive face-to-face courses to the same extent and e-learning is more and more seen as a good alternative. Direct communication and getting the divisional management involved is another important tool when reducing their resistance to e-learning, but it seems like it often is overlooked. In Citibank Latin America division, the manager of an e-learning project “delivered a thirty minute kick-off presentation. The presentation included what the e-ETM project is and is not and a description of the three components: Lessons, Cases, Tour” (Cortes, 2002). According to Skill Soft, a company should run specific managers programs so that that they become familiar with the system (Walton, 2009, personal interview). If they see that it works they are more likely to promote it through their subordinates and as we have previously seen, management recommendation is one of the most effective ways to market e-learning. The message should be repeated over and over and through various channels. One approach used by Black & Decker was to demonstrate the learning portal at major meetings (van Dam, 2003, p.). That shows that the organization really put importance in the matter and it is a quick way to reach a lot of people in a more personal way.

5.3. Internal marketing to employees

Many companies use an approach when they are not trying to push e-learning on the employees in order to avoid resentment. Instead they try to create a pull method. Verizon for example “didn’t make a single course mandatory. They just built it and encouraged employees to go through the experience. The voluntary approach was largely a success and they soon reached the 50% penetration level in the enterprise” (Tai, 2005, p.199). Companies have many options to create a pull strategy though internal marketing. More traditional ways include advertising in the weekly newsletter, promotion on the company intranet, direct marketing or posters in the hallways. Many of the companies that were interviewed over the course of this research use these instruments, companies such as Deutsche Bank, Ericsson. This can be done more or less extensively. GE goes for an extensive approach and publicizes its library of e-learning courses during the week called “Learning Week” each year. During the whole week, GE publicizes corporate as well as business specific courses (Tai, 2005, p.99). The most important message should, as previously stated, be answering the question “what’s in it for me” The message should be easy for the employees to grasp, be direct and exemplify the value that e-learning is brining and the employees should be given the opportunity to ask questions if needed. Kotter is pointing out one of the keys in communicating change is to “keep it simple “all jargon and techno babble must be eliminated. (Kotter, 1996, p.90) There is a “Need for a successful PR program using examples that provide immediate value to the users.” (Brandon, 2006, p.23)

However marketing of e-learning can be more innovative than just using the basics and consequently cause more of a buzz around it. In Allianz US in addition to the traditional marketing they were for example using treasure hunt games, where the employees had to go onto the e-learning system to find clues. This created awareness of the system and made the employees familiar with the user interface and showed them that the single sign on function was working (Hall, 2009, personal interview). Another example comes from Steve Dineen of fuel Group suggest an air mile type of scheme where the trainee get bonus points for completed courses that can later be exchanged for vouchers (Dineen, 2004, p.2). And at Cisco the employees put up “police crime scene tape” with a message along the lines of do not disturb, e-learning in progress message (Galagan, 2002). Just because the target of the marketing is internal does not mean that the marketing shouldn’t be as creative and powerful as external marketing. The limitation is that the e-learning agents are not marketing experts, but they do have an opportunity to consult the marketing department in the design of the campaigns. In STMicroelectronics: a champion in the sales and marketing division of the company has taken the lead in developing internal promotion of the e-learning program. (van Dam, 2003, p.129) If the e-learning agents do succeed in attracting employees to try using the system and they in turn like the experience they are likely to start promoting it. In the words of Jeff Bezos ”If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.” IBM considers:

“word of mouth as a very significant means of marketing e-learning. When Basic Blue was first rolled out, the first managers going through it used very little of the e-learning part of the program. They used it sporadically. As a result some students did the work and many did not. Some came prepared and some didn’t. But as word of mouth spread once they went through the lab, at the end of the week long experience they would say, I wish I had known how valuable that e-learning is and would have been to me I would have done it much better. And they go back and they send that message out to the rest of the people who are still working through that first phase.” (Tai, 2005, p.149-150)

When they get the message it must be easy for the employees to access e-learning. Some companies set up computer stations dedicated for e-learning if some employees don’t have access to computers while performing their daily work. Home Depot provided computers to each store dedicated for e-learning; the program was such a success that they raised the number of computers from 1 to 3 per store (van Dam, 2003, p.163). This is a strategy that might be of special interest in some developing countries where computers are not as common. It is also important to give the employees freedom to do the courses when they have time and without being disturbed by their colleagues. In my interview with Declan O’Dwyer he pointed out that the Kerry Group provided headphones to all the employees with a workstation. One of the reasons for doing so was to enable people to take online courses without disturbing the coworkers around them, but the other reason was to increase awareness of the e-learning initiative. In some instances they even gave small cash bonuses for employees who completed a course set (2009, personal interview).

For employees external accreditation for modules can be very attractive. They are able to use these once they decide to leave the company in order to obtain a new job. Companies such as Deloitte and Price Waterhouse Cooper have modules that are accredited by accounting organizations (personal interview). In the internal marketing towards finance people this message could be clearly communicated as it gives part of the answer to “what’s in it for me.” In Austrade: “E-certificates at competency and advance competency level in IT skills were offered so people had something to strive for. And a price awarded for the first person in the office who completed their certificate.” (van Dam, 2003, p.237) A sort of reversal of this tactic is used by Wachovia, the American bank. They use accountability as a marketing tool. Their e-learning system track all the employees undertake and provide the transcripts to the senior management. It sort of forces them to take a lot of professional development courses if they want to look good in the performance review. (Who moved my training, 2003) A warning to this approach is that it can probably not be used in Europe due to the strong unions.

5.4. Internal marketing to trainers.

In the Citibank example mentioned above not only the employees were targeted, but also the trainers were targeted by the marketing campaign. It was designed to ease the concerns that e-learning replaces traditional training and pointing out that it is a supplement. The CD ROMs were partly for them and served 2 purposes:

1. It provided a short tour of the e-learning program for learners
2. A call for action to make the program a success

They were also trained in how to market the initiative to the rest of the employees and how to coach them during the launch period (Cortes, 2002). The importance of involving trainers should not be overlooked and the communication should start at an early stage. They know better than most about the training needs of the local employees and that information can be of great value when marketing and designing e-learning in their specific context. Toyota Motors Europe brought in key members of each country’s training staff into the head quarter for a 3 day training session on how to use the system and the authoring tools. “It was part of the change management process” (Fister Gale, 2008). As the e-learning is rolled out it is good if the trainers are given training in how to run and design e-learning classes, GE does precisely this (Tai, 2005, p.261). When the system is up and running the subject matter experts, who are involved in the content development, should be recognized for their contribution. (O’Dwyer, 2009, personal interview) That will show employees that it is part of the new learning regime and not just an add-on to traditional training. Then “get your subject matter experts to help you spread the word about the online learning initiative. Keep in touch with people who are excited about training. Have them share their experience and talk about it with other departments, supervisors and employees. Remember – word of mouth is one of the most powerful ways to spread the news” (Murrell, 2006). The trainers can function as effective grass root supporters of the initiative. Trainers tend to listen to other trainers, so the communication between them can be an important marketing tool. In Allianz a virtual learning center was introduced. The virtual learning center consists of a 4 learning experts who discuss important matters in learning while other trainers sit in and partake in the discussion. If some of their discussions are centered on e-learning knowledge then awareness of it might increase (Landiscrina, 2009, personal interview). Both GE & IBM perform monthly calls between trainers and up to 700 trainers participates to involve and inform the e-learning community within the company of the progress of e-learning.

Conclusions

6.1. Summary of the research findings

After doing the research for this work I conclude that internal marketing can have an impact on the chance of success in the implementation of e-learning if it is done right. Internal marketing works a driver of change; this has been proven in research and it has the ability to “unfreeze” the current values / behaviors. Internal marketing is however not the only measure that a company has to take to ensure that e-learning is well received. The technical and content aspect must be well delivered as well, especially if the company wants the usage of e-learning to become an integral part of the learning. There is a need for a well thought through internal marketing plan when launching the e-learning initiative. The marketing campaign should start at an early stage to create awareness and be repeated over and over for a longer period of time to ensure that the message has come through. Initially it is a good idea to create a brand name for the e-learning program in order to create awareness and it serves as a vehicle for future marketing communication. The change agent for the e-learning initiative needs to design different communication strategies towards the different stakeholders in the organization. And they have various channels available to them and the best way is to use a well designed channel mix, the occasional poster or mention in the company newsletter won’t do much in the way of changing behavior. As a general rule it can be said that the closer and more personal the channel is to the target the better. If these initial steps have been done well, then the appearance of “word of mouth” marketing should make marketing process easier. Even if that is the case there is a need for continuous internal marketing efforts to ensure acceptance of e-learning. Most companies do not dedicate many resources towards this area and that is a mistake. Due to the limited resources the company needs to make best use of what it has it at its disposal. The e-learning agent should take help from the external marketers within the company when they are designing their campaigns in order to make them more creative and efficient. There are several good internal marketing practices out there for a company to consider. I would also suggest a separate marketing budget for e-learning, so that there is no competition between financing either content creation or marketing on the other hand.

One of the key messages that I want to deliver in this work is that the internal marketing message should be as individualized as possible. The perfect answer to the “what’s in it for me” question is potentially different for almost every individual in a company. A manager is more concerned about the benefits for the company while the employee might be more concerned with the career development aspect of e-learning while another group of people really appreciate that freedom of taking the course according to their own schedule. It is important to point out that it is crucial to get the support from management at an early stage to increase the credibility and secure resources for the future internal marketing efforts. And management is usually won over by using the business case tool in the internal marketing. If e-learning can create more value and use less resources than traditional learning and this message is credible then they should be on board.

Not only does the role of the person and the corporate culture affect the answer to this question, but also the country and sub culture of which the employees is a part, as well as the demographics, the technical and regulatory environment, For a global company this can make the it very difficult as they possibly operate in a numerous countries and cultural environments. The agent of e-learning should make an effort to adjust the message accordingly, but naturally it is impossible to make completely individualized marketing of e-learning. The company has to find a balance on how much customization is worth doing. Is the improved effect of the marketing justifying the extra efforts and cost that it takes to individualize the message? A good approach that I would suggest is to let the local e-learning agents to handle much of the local marketing, since they are more aware of the culture and needs of the stakeholders. They do however need to get some training and assistance in how to do internal marketing effectively.

6.2. Limitations of the analysis and conclusions

First of all little or none of the research subjects were the final user of the e-learning. The interview subjects were either in HR, training or experts in e-learning. They have their idea of internal marketing in the area of e-learning, while the perception of internal marketing with the targets might be different. A campaign that the e-learning agent was proud of due to innovativeness might not actually have been that effective in improving the acceptance of e-learning. Many of the research interviews were conducted with Allianz. As a company they are a bit specific, since they are much decentralized and each unit is operating very independently. According Irene Krapp formerly working for Allianz France, many of the entities within Allianz sees head office initiatives with a sense of suspicion (2009, personal interview). And much of the training that they deliver is driven by regulation and product development (which are local). Therefore the internal marketing efforts are perhaps even more localized than for other global organizations. Almost all of the organizations that were interviewed had implemented e-learning a number of years ago, so the marketing campaigns were not that fresh in memory. My suggestions and recommendation on Hofstede’s cultural framework are not backed by any research, but logical conclusions from my side. Another important factor that this work we have not been able to determine is what pillar of the changes process of introducing e-learning is more important. Consequently I cannot conclude where most of the focus and energy should be directed at?

6.3. Suggested future research

As already mentioned, a short coming of this work is that it gives no clear idea on how employees and managers alike see internal marketing of e-learning. Surveying their attitudes would be a beneficial contribution. Then we would have a better understanding on the effectiveness of internal marketing and the efficiency of different marketing channels. More quantitative research should also be performed to determine if internal marketing has positive effect on the introduction e-learning and changing the stakeholder attitude towards the subject matter. Preferably this can be done across different industries and even in the international context. A before and after situation analysis is maybe be even more interesting