Tata Interactive Systems' Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS) boost workplace productivity
Electronic performance support systems (EPSS) offer the double-edged advantage of increasing workers' productivity while reducing training costs. They free up precious time and resources for innovation, process improvements and employee development.
Not so long ago, new employees were expected to spend several weeks - if not months - learning their way around their organisation before they could become fully productive in their respective roles. Among other things, this process involved spending time in classroom-based training sessions, along with one-to-one interviews with key personnel. All of this was time-consuming for those doing the training - and expensive, in terms of lost working time and productivity, for the workers and their organisation.
Thankfully, technology has provided a more efficient and cost-effective method of delivering induction programmes - Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS). In the view of Gary Dickelman of EPSScentral LLC, a teacher of Performance Centred Design (PCD) courses at George Mason and Boise State Universities' Graduate School of Education and Engineering in the USA, EPSS can result in:
• Workers coming to competency in minutes or hours instead of days and weeks.
• Error and omission rates of no more than one per cent - reduced from 35% or more.
• A return on investment in terms of millions of dollars.
The EPSS and e-learning producer, Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) is helping new employees at leading financial organisations to get - and stay - ahead of the steep learning curve that is typical of the sector. This is resulting in impressive cost and time benefits across the board, allowing new employees to aim for - and expect to achieve - 'week-one productivity'.
TIS's EPSS offers integrated computer-based support, guiding executives at every step of complex operations, providing vital information and speeding up decisions consistently and accurately.
To employers, TIS's EPSS offers the double-edged advantage of actually increasing productivity while reducing training costs. It frees up precious time and resources for innovation, process improvements and employee development. TIS's comprehensive EPSS enables its customers to refocus their energies from 'running the business' to 'growing the business'.
"I see businesses, especially in banking, financial services, insurance and contact centres gaining significant benefits from EPSS," said Manoj Kutty, president of worldwide sales and marketing at TIS. "The front-end executives in these industries usually need to internalise a great deal of information about multiple products and their myriad features, regulations and conditions and draw upon their knowledge in real time, on the job, while transacting processes with customers."
TIS's EPSS integrates all the support that a claims handler, sales executive or customer service executive needs, within a single interface. The systems have been extremely successful at leading global financial institutions - tools including process maps have helped to reduce cycle times and eliminate inconsistencies in decision making; encyclopaedias offer quick and authoritative reference material; calculators help with rapid and accurate claims calculations and real-life scenarios give all of this information a relevant context.
TIS's EPSS goes further, employing human-factor engineering and a high level of compatibility with content management systems. Its EPSS can easily integrate with the third party applications being used by the customers' sales teams.
"Things change so quickly in business today that we must reduce the degree of complexity in workers' jobs," said Dickelman. "It is essential to 'keep it simple' and to allow workers to make decisions unencumbered by technology - which is why EPSS is essential."
"Organisations want to scale up rapidly but, often, can't afford long training periods for the new employees when attrition rates are as high as they are at present," said John Kusi-Mensah, TIS's Worldwide Director of Electronic Performance Support Systems. "EPSS is an ideal solution because, unlike training, it's a job enabler. EPSS acts as a guide, quick reference, and advisor - all rolled into one."
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