This case study is part a series of resources that teaches IT leaders how to motivate their employees to improve their organizations and learn new skills. More ways to build a team that is experts can be found in the SPOTO resources section.
Kern FCU has more than 20,000 members and assets of more than $200 million. Their IT training and certification requirements are extensive. They are a retail financial institution subject to constantly changing federal regulations. Customers access their services online, more so through social media. The team must keep up with the latest security technologies. Training can be difficult when you have a small staff and are far from the nearest training center.
Kern FCU’s SPOTO training is cost-effective and convenient. It allows them to keep up with the latest technologies without having to sacrifice manpower.
Convenience, quality, and value
SPOTO was chosen by Kern FCU because of its extensive training library and convenient format. They can now train year-round on all the technologies and processes they use, for less than a single-topic training bootcamp. Leif Davisson, Kern FCU’s information systems supervisor, said that other training options were not sufficient to meet their needs. “We had ‘Lunch and Learn’ presentations from vendors, however, they are sales-focused and not complete. We had previously used another online training company, but their catalog was very limited.”
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Kern FCU’s IT staff can now train on hundreds of topics whenever they want and, with the SPOTO app – anywhere they want. Davisson believes that his team is spending more time because of the quality and availability of training. “My team enjoys the training and I see more training outside work than I did before. It’s more popular than I thought. Recently, while I was in Idaho, I was able watch Linux+ training from my laptop.
Support for Success
Training is more than great content. Davisson and his team make full use of the SPOTO features to motivate, reward, and support learners. These include daily training reminders and video-level lab exercises files. Transcender(r), practice exams are also available. This allows team members to identify areas of their knowledge that they need to develop further.
Davisson also noted that his team is motivated by the variety of quality training and supplemental material. This motivates them to train extensively and develop their expertise. “You can lead horses to water, but you can’t make them drink.” SPOTO is a great choice because it offers so many options that everyone will find something that ignites their passion. People will learn more if you give them options. With this training, there is no bad choice.
Incentives and Motivators
Davisson believes that investing in training is an investment for the team’s future. You have to give people the tools they need to do their job. Training can be paid for now or when it is really needed. He offers employees four hours of training per week and requires them to take two certification exams each year. When employees pass the exams, they are reimbursed for testing expenses.
Davisson, a manager, uses the reporting tools in their SPOTO subscription to keep track and assist his team members with their training progress. “If you measure an activity it becomes a priority. So I keep track of how much training each employee has received. If they are a little behind, we can talk about how to fix it.