Fairytale from the Future: Facial Recognition

For most organizations, the ‘new normal’ is synonymous to ‘remote working.’ Remote working also means remote learning and upskilling being the need of the hour, learning is a vigorous process with us all. But what happens to assessment? Remote assessment is not something we are used to yet. Though there are some instances of remote assessment practices, but they are not fool proof thus not good enough for desperate time like these.

Traditionally, the authentication of the person appearing for the remote assessment was being done through designated username and password, and also two-factor authentication but there’s a loophole. It does not have proof of authentication. Thus, to ensure secured proctoring of these assessments, GCube proposes Facial Recognition, and we implore you that you hear us out as we shall be surely answering all the questions of high cost and accuracy issue.  

As a client posed the problem, we got into action to research the challenge and that is how we arrived at the facial recognition solution to make proctored assessment process seamless and efficient with practically zero imprecision. However, like with technology, facial recognition has been presented with challenges in its capacity but, GCube’s LMS has countered and resolved most of the following challenges by integrating a robust system.

High costs involved in facial recognition: Facial recognition involves continuous clicking and matching of the images with the ones in the database. Every passing second involves 24 frames, so a session of 30 minutes will increase the cost manifold. GCube’s solution counters these exorbitant costs by clicking the pictures of the learner at irregular intervals (which cannot be predicted by the learner) and matching it with the database. In addition, the FR now is offered as a service by providers like AWS and Google Vision so there’s no need to build a separate infrastructure. This way the costs are greatly controlled without affecting training and assessment.

Improved accuracy: Another challenge that used to come in the way of using facial recognition is accuracy. As the current facial recognition systems are trained on larger data the accuracy levels have increased following the very basic principle of machine learning. Of course, add to this the availability of high-end camera equipment at reasonable pricing which has improved the FR technology by many folds.

Privacy – the bone of contention in the field of FR:  For a long time, facial recognition has dealt with the issue of privacy. This has however been solved in the GCube facial recognition suite by matching with the reference image and erasing the rest of the captured data except in case of a discrepancy. In case of any discrepancy below the mismatch threshold of 70% between the uploaded photograph and the snapshot, the following error messages, dependent on the upload will be registered:

·             MF – Multiple Faces Detected

·             OF – One Face Detected

·             NF – No Face Detected

The snapshots which do not cross the mismatch threshold are stored for the proctor or mentor for their approval along with the original photographs the learners have uploaded. The proctor or the mentor can then access the report workflow and deal with them accordingly.

Thus, we have now made Facial Recognition an accessible technology and not a fairytale from the future.  

With over 100 industry awards in learning technologies, G-Cube would love to share more information with you about our facial recognition solution engineered specifically for the learning industry. Please do write to us here.

Making Pharma LMS GxP Compliant

 

A regular admission of our Pharma Solutions team is that they get requests from clients for an LMS which complies with GxP requirement. And it is interesting to see that even with such a large demand base, there are few products that are customized to their needs. While the need is such, traditionally the LMS and the DMS/QMS are maintained separately and the perennial client complain remains that this leads to higher overheads and vulnerabilities in compliance monitoring.

From our exploration as an LMS provider trying to figure out the optimal solution for GxP in training systems, the challenges identified were as follows:

• System maintenance, risk analysis and record keeping
• Regular system checks and a plan for business continuity
• Information security guidelines being followed based on rules of the country of operation
  
  

Based on the same we have a list of recommendations for your Pharma LMS to ensure long term GxP compliance.

System Qualification for IQ, OQ and PQ validation

For a manufacturing unit to claim to be compliant to GxP, one has to have the information of IQ, OQ and PQ and the concurrent validation available for the LMS. and creating a system qualification of the software becomes an important step to ensuring future GxP compliance.

Service Patch Records and Risk Analysis

Like any software, your LMS has to be updated regularly. However, to remain compliant, it is important that records of all service patches and risk mitigation steps are recorded on the LMS to show to Auditors that all possible steps have been taken to avoid major incidents.

System Checks and Business Continuity Planning

The LMS should come with a process for regular checking of the system. It is also required to have alternate documentation available in case of a single point or multiple point failure of BCP.  It is always advisable to store SOP and Quality guidelines in a backed-up server or the Cloud to remove on-premise vulnerabilities to knowledge or break in process. This storage also needs to come with the highest levels of security but should be accessible so work can continue at other facilities in case of one facility being affected by any major incident whether man-made or a natural disaster. There are many different options to select from including but not limited to AWS and Azure. Auditors love a good Business Continuity Plan that is secure and scalable.

Information Security Guidelines

The regulatory bodies are very particular about Pharma companies demonstrating that the InfoSec guidelines related to the country or region. While choosing an LMS it is important to acquire one that has ready documentation available to avoid any kind of non-compliance incidents been reported during a GxP audit.

While these are standard procedures required for the pharma industry, clients face major time loss trying to get these customizations done to their LMS. We suggest being proactive while looking for an LMS, rather than reacting after getting one.   

At GCube, we have 20 years of experience and 80+ industry awards in learning technologies. To know more about products and services, please do write to us. 

Automotive Industry Update: Learning Management Systems Should Be Industry Focused

Hiring an electrician to do a plumber’s job, could lead to someone or something getting zapped. Similarly using a corporate learning management system (LMS) to deliver training to the personnel at your auto dealerships can bring about dissatisfactory results.

To understand the learning needs at an automotive dealership, we looked at the variables that make our auto industry clients’ dealerships unique.

1. Diverse and non-homogenous skills and education of the work force
2. Unrelated departmental goals at first glance
3. Skewed trainer to dealership ratio
4. Lack of structured training before shop floor exposure
5. Unavailability of logical linking of training and performance

Our study suggests that for automotive dealerships the choice of LMS needs to be industry specific in order to overcome these issues. The following key features are what sets the Auto specific LMS apart from the rest of the lot. Read on.

On the job training and evaluation

At most dealerships, a new hire goes from completing their joining formalities to the shop floor directly. Under these circumstances where there is no formal training, it is important to have an LMS which has inbuilt forms, checklists, and tools. This helps mentors or seniors to keep track of everything they need to share with a trainee, and to evaluate a trainee’s performance while on-the-job.

Predictive analysis of individual’s performance to annual sales trends

Almost every role, whether customer facing or not, has an impact on the brand and reputation of a dealership, which ultimately impacts the annual sales trends. Therefore, an LMS which connects trainings attended to performance in their job roles, and then extrapolates that to find trends impacting sales, gives the leadership a way to predict training needs.

Simple user interface for diverse workforce

There cannot be different learning management systems for different departments at a dealership. Therefore, the LMS of choice must have an interface that is easy to use by an undergraduate mechanic with 20 years of on-job experience with automobile engines. With smartphones and tablets, it has become extremely easy to get a knowledge device into the hands of the employees, but the delivery of knowledge must be easy to handle and understand.

Sales and service enablement tools

Customers want great service and at a price point that makes sense to them. Whether the customer is purchasing a new vehicle, exchanging an older model, or getting one serviced, the employees talking to the customers should have knowledge, expertise, and customer service skills. Some things can be imbibed through training, but some things like market prices, loan rates, parts availability, etc. needs a ready interface that provides this information to the employee. An LMS that gives the flexibility to set up chat-bots, comparison charts, and calculators to enable point-of-sale assist is a blessing.

Integration with management systems

Integration with the CRM or dealership management system allows the LMS to fetch performance data and link it to the trainings attended or available. This also creates a visual chart or dashboard to be available to view and manage the extended workforce.

Optimum training resource utilization

When the ratio of trainer and dealerships is not optimal, the trainer has to travel extensively. Having an LMS that can track trainer calendars for availability and scheduling, and other resources such as room availability really helps. The LMS should also have an OTP feature for when the trainer starts a training. It should be able to capture attendance via an app and should also be able to deliver proctored assessments. If the LMS can provide all these insights, then it becomes easy for leadership to track the cost-benefit ratio of this method of training delivery.

In an industry that is in a constant state of flux, being able to empower and enable all the personnel at a dealership to put their best foot forward is essential. The right learning management system can help provide stability to employees and prepare them for handling the changes the future may bring.

We at GCube, have 20 years of experience and 80+ industry awards in learning technologies; and would love to hear your thoughts, queries, and suggestions. Please do write to us.

How to Successfully Onboard New Employees Even During Shutdown

This article articulates the importance of incorporating a robust Learning Management System (LMS) for onboarding new employees amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Using an LMS for onboarding purposes, can maximize efficiency in introducing new recruits to your corporate culture, accelerate job satisfaction, productivity and inoculate against turnover.

With forced quarantine being deployed by governments around the world to control the Coronavirus pandemic, companies have implemented work from home strategy to ensure welfare of its employees. However, a decrease in productivity, employee engagement, and a constant effort to bridge the communication gap, is a genuine concern of working remotely. One of the key concerns is – how to ensure successful onboarding process of new employees, while the workforce operates from home. Since onboarding is a reception phase of an employee who joins the organization, it becomes crucial for any organization to ensure and retain employee loyalty, maximize productive, and minimize turnover rate. For this reason alone, organizations are now deploying modern Learning Management Systems to bolster positive employee experience via virtual onboarding process. 

Understanding Virtual Onboarding

Brookshire’s Grocery Company, which has been awarded, “America’s Best-In-State Employer for Texas, 2019”, by Forbes, achieved 100% acceptance rate by more than 9,000 employees who underwent virtual onboarding and training, using a robust learning management system. Work from home based scenario shouldn’t and mustn’t inhibit employers from providing the best onboarding experience to new employees. Using a learning management system (LMS) for onboarding purpose can maximize efficiency in introducing new recruits to your corporate culture, accelerate job satisfaction, productivity, and inoculate against turnover. 

                              Source: Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success, Talya N. Bauer,2010

Benefits of Using a Robust LMS for Onboarding of New Employees Amid the Pandemic

1. Create a productive corporate culture with amalgamated learning material - With LMS, your HR team has strong control over the message that the organization would like to deliver to the recruits, during an introductory virtual orientation. Whether it is a mandatory compliance training, company’s value-mission-culture learning session, or a general view of its products and services courses, LMS helps in instilling an organization’s core values and goals among new employees, even as they work from home. In a nutshell, LMS helps an employer by converting manual process into a digital format and automate routines, saving money and man-hours.

2. Track and evaluate the learning curve of each employee - LMS can help employers to track the onboarding progress of each employee, with auto-generated reports and advanced analytics, without having to prepare, manage and transcribe to paper forms. By analyzing the assessments, employers can take corrective measures to help new recruits to retain knowledge, by aligning the right onboarding course with their learning needs; all while working from home.

3. Cost-effective technique -A Learning Management System meticulously organizes the onboarding information in an interactive and engaging way, so that it is successfully acquired and retained by the employees. Since its online, it saves the cost of organizing the training session (physical set-up), content creation, and, most important, the logistics of it. In short, you save big, as you onboard and welcome new recruits, while working from home.

4. Ease of use – LMS is an interactive device-based and web-based application that is compatible with an array of mobile devices, tablets, laptops, etc., most suitable for ‘on-the-go’ learners. This essentially means that content or learning modules are presented visually and can be accessed from anywhere and at any time, making it high on accessibility rate. The content for training can be delivered virtually, but in real-time, as per the needs of the organization. Learners also have easy access to notification dashboards. The best part is – user can access the learning material on their smartphones, in both online and offline mode.

GCube Learning Management System

GCube LMS is the proprietary learning management system that supports powerful authoring tools to create interactive content and deliver the relevant knowledge to achieve organizational success. The system’s unique approach to GUI brings information to the fore that helps employees utilize the system faster, and provides measurable ROI through stringent analytics. It is SCORM and Tin Can complain, with customizable and multi-lingual support to cater to the learning needs of your diverse ethnic workforce. To know more, you can write to info@gc-solutions.net.

How does SCORM Compliant LMS Save Time and Mitigate Training Cost by 80%?

SCORM (Shareable Content Object Reference Model)- a global standard for online learning platforms. It serves as a platform that supports communication between online training content and learning management systems. New-age SCORM compliant LMS enables organizations to develop tailored e-learning content for laptops, smartphones, and tablets. It also supports easy uploading and updating of relevant training courses as per the pertinent needs of a globally dispersed workforce
Today, companies from diverse industries realize the potential of SCORM compliant LMS that caters to bespoke learning objectives. Several benefits of SCORM LMS include the following:

• As SCORM is the de facto e-learning standard, it enables the seamless delivery of training courses across multiple mobile devices (both Android and iOS).
• The global standard helps to create as well as repurpose existing content, thereby mitigating overall training costs by 80% and saving effort.
• Content created and delivered through SCORM LMS is adaptable. So, you can easily create and provide tailored content to employees working in-house or at remote locations. Consequently, this supports learning on the go by allowing employees to undergo training at their own pace of time and convenience.
• SCORM compliant LMS supports interoperability features between different software products. You can develop tailored e-learning courses using robust authoring tools, including Lectora, Captivate, Composica, and others.
• Modern LMSs that are SCORM compliant also support automated performance tracking and reporting features. The platform can easily track courses completed, time spent on each course, evaluate individual scores, test results, and so on.

Other benefits of corporate training platforms that are SCORM compliant include the following:

• Accessibility- SCORM content is packaged in a way that you can access relevant training material across smartphones and tablets, ensuring learning anytime, anywhere, and even on the go. SCORM content can be quickly delivered to various locations without any need for installation or reconfigurations.

• Adaptability- SCORM compliant training content perfectly fits the ever-evolving learning needs and performance goals. It is adaptable with multiple mobile devices and for different training groups with varied job roles and preferences.

• Reusability- To move away from classroom-based training, corporate trainers and managers develop SCORM content, which can be repurposed to cater to diversified needs. For instance, an automobile company wants to train its salesforce about the latest products and services. So, the trainer can create short video nuggets or podcasts, which are easier to access and quick to digest. The same content can be reused whenever there is any product launch or upgrade.

Overall, the above-discussed features help to improve employee engagement, bridge skills-gaps, boost workforce performance, and increase business revenues. With digitization, companies from varied industry verticals deploy SCORM compliant LMS to align the right kind of learning for targeted audiences. Modern learning management systems utilize authoring tools to create personalized training content for a globally dispersed workforce. Consequently, SCORM LMSs help to mitigate overall training cost, time, and effort, while allowing to create and reuse the same content within a few clicks. From pharmaceutical and automobile to retail, finance, and others, the implementation of SCORM LMS platforms is evolving at a fast pace. If you want to develop training content to track employee performance, reuse existing content, or want to integrate the system with other vendors, then SCORM LMS can serve as the best fit for your organization.

Fostering Continuous Learning Culture: Shifting Focus towards Implementing New-age Corporate LMS

In today’s fast-paced environment, companies are utilizing corporate LMS platforms to embrace continuous learning culture and remain competitive. For individuals, continuous learning is all related to browsing the web to watch webinars, read posts, or enrolling in a certification program. For workplace culture, continuous learning is about improving employee engagement, knowledge retention, and accelerating organizational performance. Online corporate learning programs cater to the pertinent needs of globally dispersed audiences by enhancing their skills and creating new growth opportunities.

Organizations adopt a continuous learning culture to keep their employees abreast of the latest LMS technology. So, modern LMS for corporate training plays a significant role in creating a learning culture through a plentiful of ways. These include-

• Content accessibility- Anytime and anywhere

To embrace continuous learning, modern LMSs support the availability of personalized training content across different mobile devices- laptops and smartphones. Mobile learning has gained huge traction in the past few years, with the rise of tablets in the corporate world.  Using a mobile LMS, learners can access relevant training material at their own pace of time, while at home, in office, or while on the go.

• Performance tracking- Real-time feedback

The leading corporate LMS providers deliver e-learning solutions to bridge skills-gaps, boost workforce performance, and enhance business productivity. Modern LMS integrates with other enterprise systems such as HRMS, CRM, and others to fetch employee data and create Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Based on the KPI scores, the LMS automatically aligns personalized training for diverse training goals- compliance, sales training, onboarding, and so on. Also, corporate managers can provide real-time feedback to their employees rather than waiting for annual appraisal cycles. As a result, employees can efficiently work on their weak areas continually, thereby saving costs and boosting overall productivity.

• Game-based learning- It can be fun

When training becomes dull and boring, it is essential to introduce engaging gaming elements with e-learning courses. Modern LMS supports the gamification feature by including interactive elements such as scores, leaderboards, and badges. Consequently, organizations embrace a fun-filled learning culture by encouraging employees through rewards, driving peer-to-peer collaboration, and gaining a competitive edge.

• Measuring success- Overall training impact

One of the significant benefits of modern LMSs is to bridge skills-gaps, boost engagement, and measure training effectiveness. By measuring different parameters such as skills metrics, training completion rates, test scores, and more, organizations can measure the overall impact of training on employees. So, this continuous measurement of training success ensures that learning caters to the bespoke needs of all.
A workplace learning culture is not a one-time done practice. With evolving training needs, the learning culture also needs to be continuous as well as personalized. Undoubtedly, continuous learning is reshaping the modern training landscape. New-age best corporate LMS adopts a game-based, mobile-aided, and performance-driven learning approach to provide a dynamic experience that hooks every learner. The traditional training model is falling away, and companies are shifting their focus to deliver training that is on-demand, personalized, and technology-aided. So, a continuous learning culture not only boosts your employee growth and retention but also aids businesses to grow and succeed.

Healthcare Learning Management System

Significance of Healthcare Learning Management System for Engaging Experience

To ensure optimum patient care and stay ahead of the curve, the healthcare industry needs to provide practical workforce training. A robust healthcare learning management system (LMS) helps to manage online learning courses, track employee performance, and boost overall efficiency. This industry must update doctors, surgeons, clinicians, and other professionals with the latest policies, procedures, and compliances. The deployment of the right kind of LMS tools boost workforce performance, increase training ROI, enhance the overall reach and brand value.

With an increasing need to adopt innovative technologies for corporate learning, modern LMS for healthcare is utilized to provide a personalized experience for all. Advanced healthcare learning management system also delivers mobile-enabled courses anytime and anywhere learning. With the advent of new medical equipment, drugs, and medical procedures, the scope of using modern LMS is also evolving. There are multiple benefits of using a learning management system in the healthcare sector. These include:

• Due to the short attention span of new-age learners, robust LMSs are utilized to provide quick to access content chunks across personalized mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. So, this enables doctors, nurses, clinicians, and other staff members to learn at their own pace of time and convenience.
• Online LMS in healthcare sector helps to improve training quality and workforce performance. Furthermore, doctors and nurses prepare themselves to promote patient care and comply with regulatory standards.
• The powerful LMS is 21 Part 11 compliant, which ensures the training platform to secure confidential data. It also generates automated reports and tracks performance at the end of compliance training to reduce manual intervention.

• Simulations in e-learning also aid healthcare professionals to understand complex real-life situations and how to handle them accordingly. These enable clinicians and doctors to become competent enough to avoid mistakes in critical cases.

• Short duration video nuggets on your mobile devices enable learning on the go. Healthcare professionals can access short bursts of information, thereby improving overall engagement, retention, and employee performance levels.

• Modern LMS seamlessly integrates with HRMS, ERP, CRM, and other enterprise systems to identify skills-gaps, collate KPI data, and create performance metrics of healthcare staff. Based on the need-gaps and KPI scores, the LMS automatically assigns relevant training to close those gaps and meet pertinent needs.

A feature-rich healthcare learning management system delivers a consistent training experience for learners with varied job roles- surgeons, nurses, clinicians, and other staff members. Today, most of the healthcare companies are shifting towards adopting technology-aided solutions to train the diversified workforce and stay competitive. Consequently, new-age LMSs serve as a viable solution to accelerate workplace performance, drive knowledge retention, boost performance, and improve patient care-at reduced costs.

Top Use Cases of LMS Tools

Top Use Cases of LMS Tools for Creating Training Courses

With digitization, the need to create effective e-learning courses is becoming evident. L&D teams include different interactivities with training courses to deliver an engaging learning experience. So, this is where comes the significance of learning management system tools to design relevant content which caters to the personalized needs of all. The robust LMS tools facilitate the training experience by incorporating multimedia elements such as quizzes, scores, leaderboards, and more. These also aid to create, edit, review, and repurpose, and disseminate content for targeted learners.

Today, organizations use rapid authoring tools to drive learner engagement, knowledge retention, and overall performance. Whether you are shifting from traditional classroom learning or merely creating interactive e-courses, LMS tools can serve as a viable tool. Different use cases of robust authoring tools include the following:

• Compliance training

Organizations such as healthcare need to stay compliant with the latest industry regulations, new products, trends, and more. They use authoring tools to create and update existing compliance courses to mitigate the costs of time and effort. For instance, games and simulations are incorporated with e-courses to deliver learning in a fun-filled way, thereby improving engagement and knowledge retention.

• Workforce training

Another example of using learning management system tools is to design effective e-courses for internal as well as a globally dispersed workforce. Consequently, it helps to deliver the personalized learning experience for all, thereby driving performance, bridging skills-gaps, and increasing ROIs.

• Extended learning

It is essential to effectively train the extended workforce, which includes vendors, channel partners, customers, sales teams, and other latest company’s products and policies. E-learning tools help to create assessments and demos to ensure that external workforce meets industry standards, perform better, and stay competitive.

• Employee development

Modern corporates deliver training, which is accessible and personalized. So, they design interactive e-courses which drive learner engagement, retain top talent, identify skills-gaps, and drive lucrative outcomes. Companies also invest in authoring tools so that they can reuse existing training content, deliver it to global audiences, and gain a more competent workforce.

The top LMS tools available in today’s market include Composica, Storyline, Captivate, Elucidat, and others. So, based on your pertinent training need, preferences, and other learner attributes, you can choose amongst the popular authoring tools. In today's current scenario, the way learning is delivered for the corporate workforce is also changing. Undoubtedly, there is an incredible rise in the demand for engaging e-learning courses which suits varied learning needs- compliance, sales, onboarding, and more.

5 Crucial Features Supported by Online LMS

Taking Your Business to the Next Level 

The demand for seamless e-learning services and a robust infrastructure to align with personalized training needs are evolving. To effectively train the workforce spread across different demographics, an efficient online Learning Management System (LMS) is essential. In today’s digital era, modern LMSs support improved collaboration among peers, optimal learner engagement and customized training delivery. Most of the organizations understand the need to invest in the latest technologies which focus on boosting learning efficiency, workforce retention and engagement levels.

In the realm to address these challenges stands the need to deploy an online LMS to cater to the ever-evolving needs of all. With the use of latest technologies, workplace training ensures to leave a strong impact on how courses are created and delivered. With changing learning preferences, individual goals are also changing towards team participation and knowledge retention. The key to an effective corporate training initiative lies in the use of modern online LMS supporting the following features:

1. Mobile app support:With the majority of employees working from remote locations, the use of mobile devices to access training courses via mobile apps is also increasing. This approach called as mobile learning includes accessibility of online content, flexibility to download e-courses and access them, when offline. The effective delivery of online courses via mobile learning apps enable employees to learn at their own pace of time and convenience.
2. Social learning:
   
   With the immense popularity of social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other channels like Netflix, the demand for a similar e-learning platform is increasing. As social learning is a vital component, modern LMSs are designed in a way to support effective knowledge sharing, peer-to-peer collaboration and enhanced business growth. This is achieved by using various social tools such as blogs, forums and wikis to share new ideas, raise the competency levels and overall learning uptake.
3. Personalized approach:

Personalized training delivery comprises of two major aspects- setting a learning environment to align with the right learning path and delivering adaptive learning experience to cater to the personalized needs of all. Modern LMS can be customized to deliver different kinds of e-courses as per the learners’ different job roles and preferences, thereby reducing training time and improving overall workplace efficiency.


4. Analytics & Assessments:

The Analytics and Reporting feature supported by the modern LMS helps to track individual performances during the training program. Also, the robust platform helps to simplify the skill evaluation process by uploading assessments and tracking learners’ progress at each level. The online learning platform can efficiently save time and money by enabling learners access updated information without using any third-party applications.


5. Video-based learning: 
   The new-age LMS supports video-based content delivery to engage maximum employees undergoing training on sales, compliance, onboarding and more. E-courses delivered in the form of interactive video nuggets allow the learners to understand the context in a better way. The online learning platform supports video learning feature to ensure the delivery of a continuous and socially interactive corporate training experience.

Online LMS is being used by the majority of organizations to impart the ephemera of training experiences through personalization, collaboration, assessments, video-based learning and so on.