AMD. Social learning management system speeds up sales process. Overview. IBM Software Case Study

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1 AMD Social learning management system speeds up sales process Overview The need AMD needed to quickly develop an approach to educate, arm and support its worldwide sales team with the information, expert support and insights it needs to do its job effectively in the most cost and resource-efficient way possible. The solution AMD implemented our social learning management system IBM Kenexa LMS on Cloud as part of a larger program called SalesEdge. The benefit Reduced the time sales staff searched for content from 8.5 hours per week to 5.5 hours per week Exceeded its first-year goal of 60 percent overall training completion rate by 5 percent Resulted in 76 percent of the sales staff indicating that knowledge gained during the training helped them become more effective on the job AMD (NYSE: AMD) is a semiconductor design innovator leading the next era of vivid digital experiences with its groundbreaking AMD Accelerated Processing Units (APU) that power a wide range of computing devices. AMD s server computing products are focused on driving industry-leading cloud computing and virtualization environments. AMD s superior graphics technologies are found in a variety of solutions ranging from game consoles, PCs to supercomputers. website: Technology advances in the computing industry are at a breakneck speed. Companies must continually update existing versions of their technology and launch new, innovative products to keep up with competitors and provide end-users with ways to work faster and more efficiently. Each day, AMD s technology touches the lives of millions of people who use a computer, laptop or notepad. AMD had an especially busy year in 2011, launching a series of business-critical new products into a very competitive marketplace. AMD kicked off the next era of vivid computing with the launch of the world s first Accelerated Processing Units (APU). AMD s new APUs are used with 11 of the world s top 12 notebook manufacturers, and the company has already shipped more than 30 million APUs, making it the fastest ramping product in AMD history. Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung and Toshiba use the technology. In addition, AMD launched the fastest single graphics processing unit (GPU), a low-power platform used by mobile devices and notebooks, and two processors designed to support highly virtualized workloads in an energy-efficient manner.

2 Solution components: IBM Kenexa LMS on Cloud The challenge: arming sales staff with needed content To gear up for the launch of so many business-crucial products, AMD needed to quickly develop an approach to educate, arm and support its worldwide sales team with the information, expert support and insights it needs to do its job effectively. This approach also needed to be done in the most cost and resource efficient way possible. AMD created a sales enablement team and tasked it with the challenge of educating its global sales staff about the new products. Members of the team were identified and hired, and the basic infrastructure to support training and communication initiatives was developed. AMD s sales team was forced to be inefficient and waste time that would be better spent in front of potential customers because we did not have a centralized online infrastructure where it could access the latest training, marketing assets, sales tools, and collaborate with experts and peers, said David Stachura, Global Sales Enablement Manager for AMD s Customer Group University. Building one location for sales to easily access all this information 24/7 was our top priority. While AMD s sales enablement team was building its infrastructure, 4 specific challenges were identified: AMD s sales people spent too much time searching for information on the company s products, programs, and on competitive intelligence as they prepared for meetings with customers. AMD did not have a central location that housed the various information the sales team needed it was forced to utilize 39 separate internal websites that contained collateral materials. Since AMD lacked a central location for sales content, the company had no way to measure what was being used or collect feedback on what information was most useful and what needed to be added. The group s communication process was completely decentralized. What little communication that did reach the sales people was often confusing and contradicted other messages. Product training processes were not consistent across the various product lines, and there was no accountability and no planning as to what training needed to be done or was required. There was no process in place to scale training across the entire global organization. AMD surveyed its sales force regarding its current learning program and discovered its sale team learned best through collaborative work with teams, conversations and meetings with peers, various sales tools, networks, and formal training. As a result, AMD needed to change the way it delivered training and find a system to support it. 2

3 After studying the challenges, AMD s sales enablement team decided to launch a robust enablement program called AMD Customer Group University (CGU). As part of the buildup to the program launch, the CGU group built and maintained a single online location called SalesEdge for CGU training program delivery, AMD sales presentations, marketing collateral and competitive intelligence as well as access to expert and peer knowledge and insight. In addition, the group created delivery product training in order to raise the competency of the AMD sales force for each product line. This enables the group to deliver product training by using a new CGU program planning approach that integrates the input of key business units, marketing and sales stakeholders. The group also aimed to increase customer contact and create real-time metrics on CGU programs. This will enable AMD executives to make informed, data-driven decisions. AMD established several operational and metrics-based goals for CGU for the first year. The group s challenges included: Reduce the time it takes to search for product training, sales/marketing content and answers to product-related questions by at least 10 minutes per week. Consolidate, produce and program communications into a consistent, scheduled format. Develop detailed quarterly curricula for each AMD product line and support each new product launch. Achieve overall training completion rate of 60 percent. Develop written procedures and process for all CGU activities. The solution: going social to teach staff AMD chose IBM Kenexa LMS on Cloud to assist the CGU in creating learning opportunities for its sales team. Our social LMS is a robust, configurable solution that integrates social networking, collaboration and knowledge sharing capabilities as well as interactive elements that enable users to rate learning content and share their experiences. The IBM Kenexa LMS on Cloud solution was the only platform that completely met our requirements to integrate best-in-class training management and robust content management and wrapped with social collaboration tools all in one place, Stachura said. In order to reduce the amount of time the sales staff needed to search for the right content, CGU needed a system to consolidate the information from 39 existing product marketing and sales intranet sites within the company. As a result, the group designed a special intranet site geared toward providing quick access for the sales staff. Information was condensed to 6 pages (based around 4 existing product lines) and had a flat navigation structure. 3

4 SalesEdge also housed the social LMS, which was used as the sole location for online training programs. The social LMS was reconfigured to better support multiple CGU program tracks and deliver more detailed metrics. Our social LMS also contains learning management functionality to administer, document, track, report and deliver content and courses in support of classroom, online, mobile and social learning. In addition, the solution makes sure users are continually learning by blending both formal and social learning into a single social learning management system that includes networking, collaboration and sharing capabilities, as well as interactive elements that enable users to rate the content and share their experiences with others. The results: Quick success with social LMS Once AMD launched SalesEdge, company leaders deemed the program a quick success. The initiative s pressing need was to create a program that reduced the time it takes sales staff to search for product training, sales-related content and answers to product-related questions by at least 10 minutes per week. Based on previous surveys, sales staff used to spend 8.5 hours each week looking for content. Now, sales staff spend an average of 5.5 hours on SalesEdge per week. Over time, this saves the company valuable resources and enables the sales staff to spend more time face-to-face with customers. AMD also exceeded its goal to have an overall training completion percentage of 60 percent. After the first year, more than 65 percent of all training was completed. Metrics and analytics are extremely important to our success, Stachura said. IBM Kenexa s social LMS solution allows AMD to not just track training, but to gain a deeper understanding of the marketing assets, sales tools our teams use, how they rate them, what questions they have, what they search for basically a full picture of what they do and find useful. When we add the social collaboration metrics we can measure user engagement, too. This ability enables us to make sure we are quickly responding to sales needs and focusing on what works in the field. This is our competitive advantage. AMD also surveyed its sales staff to determine the effectiveness of using a Social LMS. The survey found 76 percent of the staff indicated the knowledge learned using SalesEdge during training helped them become a more effective sales person. And nearly 80 percent of users were happy with the overall performance of the program. For more information To learn how to build a smarter workforce, visit: ibm.com/social-business 4

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