Thomas Jerpseth, who runs Ericsson University, acknowledges that online training was mostly hype for several years. Ericsson, though, is experiencing real results with its Web-based programs, and he sees enormous potential for the future of e-learning. One of the key drivers behind Ericsson University is the economy. Ericsson, like most companies, is currently under a lot pressure to reduce costs and when your training expenses tally as much as 900 million SEK a year, potential savings are huge, he concludes.

The company estimates that e-learning is responsible for savings of somewhere between 30-40% of its total costs for education. The big savings, says Jerpseth, result from decreased travel costs and significant reductions in the amount of productive time lost to training.

Jerpseth recently agreed to answer a few questions for Focus.

FOCUS: You say that Ericsson saves as much as 360 million Swedish SEK on e-learning. A lot of other companies facing tough economic times are cutting back on all sorts of education. It sounds like Ericsson invests more in e-learning now than a couple of years ago?

Jerpseth: It's important that the savings address "costs related to education." That includes traveling, hotels, etc. Yes, Ericsson invests more.

FOCUS: The savings figures you're quoting are impressive. Have you done a corresponding analysis of the effectiveness of the training? It doesn't do much good to save money if the training is less effective, right?

Jerpseth: You can't say that one method is automatically more or less effective than another. You have to choose the right medium for the particular learning challenge and develop a mix that works overall. But our blended approach is working very well.

FOCUS: Your public relations group seems to be very committed to the education process at Ericsson. Are internal communications and the training organization becoming more integrated in their approach to reaching employees with these kinds of important messages?

Jerpseth: Absolutely. Ericsson University has its own Intranet site and its own magazine, Unique, which is distributed to all employees. Ericsson University also has its own communications manager, who works very closely with the information department.

FOCUS: Tell us more about which training has proven most effective in the online environment? Have you had greater luck with technical training or more conceptual courses?

Jerpseth: Technical courses are easier to evaluate, and it's easy to see if the employee has met the required learning targets. When it comes to conceptual courses you can see how many have taken the course, and by this measure the cashflow course was very successful. The cashflow course [developed by the Gronstedt Group] has contributed to a greater awareness among Ericsson's leadership of how to communicate conceptual questions. Prior to this we relied on expensive events to accomplish these larger conceptual goals.

FOCUS: You say you spend 900 million SEK on education at Ericsson and that the potential to save is huge. How much do you think you can potentially save?

Jerpseth: The savings potentials are in the 30-40% range, I think.

FOCUS: What is the greatest obstacle for e-learning: resistance among employees, bandwidth, the quality of the courses or something else?

Jerpseth: Mindshift. When integrating a new system we talk about "change management." When you change education approaches it's about "mindshift": traditionally it's the boss' responsibility to make sure you have the competence that's required to do your job. Mindshift means that you yourself have to take responsibility for keeping your competencies up to date.