Success Profile

Ariba, Inc. Sunnyvale, CA, USA www.ariba.com

Measuring and Improving Employee Competencies to Increase Performance and Customer Satisfaction
BUsiness cHallenges Identify workforce strengths and weaknesses Measure and improve sales and consulting staff competencies Deliver blended online, self-paced and classroom learning Build specialized e-learning for new hires solUtion Ariba deployed Learning Management from SumTotal to assess
talent and deliver highly targeted blended learning to increase employee competencies

We directly attribute the improvement in customer satisfaction to the learning management system We needed technology that would help us assess our employees knowhow and deliver the appropriate learning when we found gaps. Lori Willbanks Senior Sales Training Manager

Fast Facts
Industry: High Technology Countries: USA and Global Users: 1,600+ SumTotal Product: SumTotal Learning

resUlts Boosts employee skills and competencies Increases customer satisfaction Closes gaps in sales forces knowledge Enhances consulting forces expertise MeasUre and iMProve coMPetencies
Ariba delivers sourcing, procurement, and commodity expertise to help organizations optimize their spending processes and supplier relationships. Companies that want to squeeze value from every dollar spent on services, materials and goods often turn to Ariba to help build better contracting, procurement and payment processes. Ariba has grown considerably since its acquisition of FreeMarkets, Inc., an auction-based supply-chain management software firm, and now has more than 1,600 employees. As Ariba grew, its management team needed to identify the organizations strengths and weaknesses, particularly among its sales and consulting staff. The company wanted to build a program for measuring and improving the competencies of its Commercial organization.

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To get there, we employed a blended learning model, a mix of online, self-paced and classroom instruction, designed to increase the sales and consulting teams skill level, while keeping them in the field as much as possible. Lori Willbanks Ariba, Inc.

The skills of the Commercial organization had never been evaluated formally, said Lori Willbanks, senior sales training manager for Ariba. We lacked a window into the skills possessed by our sales and consulting staff. And we needed technology that would help us assess our employees know-how and deliver the appropriate learning when we found gaps. According to Willbanks, Ariba hoped to identify the traits and business acumen that make people in the Commercial organization a success. Knowing this would mean Ariba could recruit people with the right skills, build targeted training for them once hired, and coach them to perform at increasingly higher levels. Ariba started its Competency Development program to create professional competency models for the Commercial organization, and online courses about the products sold by the Commercial organization. The initial challenges of this program were to deploy content creation tools and a learning management system (LMS) to deliver education and assess talent using the Internet.

Blended e-learning to increase skill levels

The goal of the Competency Development program was to ensure that employees in the Commercial organization had the right skills to excel at their jobs. To get there, we employed a blended learning model, a mix of online, self-paced and classroom instruction, designed to increase the sales and consulting teams skill level, while keeping them in the field as much as possible, explained Willbanks. The company deployed the SumTotal learning management system, dubbed AribaWISE, to help measure the Commercial organizations competencies. The SumTotal learning management system (LMS) includes a competency module as well as a program for defining business goals for the organization and measurement strategies for Aribas executives. Ariba used the LMS to analyze responses from the Commercial organization on levels of competency across a range of measures. Within the sales team, for example, the responses showed that the top three competencies were impact, flexibility, and the ability to persuade, while the bottom three competencies (or areas they scored themselves lowest) were product knowledge, business acumen, and organizational acumen. The consulting teams competencies strengths and weaknesses largely mirrored the sales forces responses. After identifying the gaps for the Commercial team, said Willbanks, we created a training plan to improve their skills. For example, to help the Commercial organization better understand Aribas products and solutions, the company quickly designed 20 Web-based courses that covered Aribas solutions. The content for each course was designed to help a sales executive achieve better results. A typical course would outline the business problems our solution would solve, including success stories, Willbanks explained. Each course contained quizzes to check how well a sales person retained the instruction. Along with the 20 Web-based courses, the company licensed 39 off-the-shelf courses to teach leadership principles, business practices, consulting and selling skills.

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About SumTotal
SumTotal Systems, Inc. is the global leader strategic Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions that provide organizations with a new level of visibility to help make more informed business decisions and accelerate growth. Recognized by industry analysts as the most complete solution, SumTotal provides full employee lifecycle management, including a core system of record, from a single provider for improved business intelligence. The company offers customers of all sizes and industries the most flexibility and choice with multiple purchase, configuration, and deployment options. We have increased the performance of the worlds largest organizations including Sony Electronics (NYSE: SNE), AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN [ADR]; London: AZN), Amway (KUL:AMWAY), Seagate (NYSE: STX), Dell (NASDAQ:DELL), and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG). For more information, or to request a demo, please call +1 (800) 881-2546 (US / Canada), +1 (508) 358-1072 (international) or visit www.sumtotalsystems.com

iMProves skills and increases cUstoMer satisFaction

To gauge the effectiveness of the Competency Development program, Ariba tied the results to improvements in customer satisfaction scores since implementing the program. We felt if our Commercial organization took the online solution courses using the LMS, we would see an improvement in their skills, and, ultimately, higher satisfaction among customers, added Willbanks.

Ariba surveyed its customers prior to the launch of courses with AribaWISE. At that time, customers said, on average, the sales executives knowledge of Aribas products was 7.37 in a range of 1 to 10. Ariba conducted the same survey Whitepapers nine months later after launching 20 solution courses. In the second survey, Executive Guide: Impr customers rated, on average, the Management Performance Talent sales representatives knowledge of Aribas through S products at 7.68. Partners, and Custome Compensation Management

We directly attribute the Performance Management satisfaction to AribaWISE, improvement in customer Learning Management (LMS) said Willbanks. And we continue to make improvements to AribaWISE and Extended Enterprise the training program offered to our Commercial team. The company recently Whitepaper Succession Planning created individual learning plans specifically for the sales team each account Building a Business Ca Hiring & Recruiting Management executive will be evaluated based on the completion of his or her plans. As a E-Learning for Externa result, Ariba continues to see improvements in sales efforts and higher satisfaction Go among its customers.

Next Steps
+1-352-264-2800 Contact Us on the Web Submit an RFP Visit the Resource Center www.sumtotalsystems.com

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About Ariba
Ariba, Inc. is the leading provider of on-demand spending management solutions. Its mission is to transform the way companies of all sizes, across all industries, and geographies operate by delivering technology, service, and v that enable them to holistically source, contract, procure, pay, manage, and analyze their spending and supplier relationships. Delivered on demand, its enterprise-class offerings empower companies to achieve greater control of their spending and drive continuous improvements in financial and supply chain performance. More than 1,000 companies, including more than half of the companies on the Fortune 100, use Ariba solutions to manage their spending, from sourcing and orders through invoicing and payment.

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