This extended sales team consists of more than 13,000 people worldwide. Instead, the Global e-business Sales Enablement team turned to IBM's Distributed Learning techniques. IBM created an e-business Sales Essentials course of 14 WebLectures. Each student must complete a module and pass a test on it. The system enables students to see which modules they have completed and which ones they still need to complete.
Students are free to select the sequence of the modules.
The entire system is flexible enough to add additional modules and new employees in the future. By using the Distributed Learning approach to educate the worldwide sales force, IBM gained significant benefits. Within 45 days of deploying the e-business Sales Essential course, more than 18,000 IBM employees had signed up for the program. On-line management features enables every manager to track and manage student progress. The system allows students to take the course anytime and anywhere, while eliminating several days of travel.