Strategic Outsourcing

I attend a session this morning on strategic outsourcing of customer education. It was a very interesting session. I actually gained a lot of respect for the companies represented. They really sounded authentic in trying to provide solutions that impact business results. I also related to some of their struggles and experiences.


There are still a lot of issues with customer training and its relationship/impact with/on branding, sales, and customer relations that will have interesting outcomes in the near future. I was surprised that there was no discussion about informal learning and its impact on the this market segment. But in a follow-up private discussion, it was something they recognized.

Two new terms for me... Point of Need - Can't learn everything there is to know about every product at Home Depot, just traing when you need it. and Only As Needed - which is really just the same thing (I think).

However, I didn't get a feel that the corporations outsourcing their customer training was really ready to turn the process over to the customer. It didn't go to that detail, but I got the feeling that they still wanted a formal process, which I understand. However, to stay on top of the changing market, it is difficult to go through a rigourous development cycle. (Man, I wish Blogger had Intrensic Performance Support, underlines for spell checking and the like.)


I am going to a research-based session next... It should be good.