Atos Origin: streamlining training to cut down on administration
23 February 2009
When Atos Origin analysed its UK training activities, the company discovered its staff were wasting time on unnecessary clerical work. Bray Leino BroadSkill was brought in to help automate and outsource training requests, freeing up Atos Origin’s learning and development professionals.
The brief
When Atos Origin, a leading international business and technology integrator, acquired the core IT services activities of SchlumbergerSema, it conducted a review of UK training activities. This identified a need to reduce training administration work, to be achieved through process automation and outsourcing.
The challenges
Employees gained access to training through the company Intranet and the Atos Origin Learning and Development site. However, when it came to external training, this involved filling out a request form that was then processed manually. It took 13 people to handle the work.
The solution
Training administration was outsourced to Bray Leino BroadSkill.Enterprise Study Network (ESN), a web-enabled travel industry style network that links suppliers and retailers, was selected to handle course bookings.
The execution
The ESN front end was linked to the Atos Origin University website to allow the automatic display of a portfolio of courses from the company’s preferred training vendors. Staff can now make bookings directly.
The verdict
Atos Origin saw a reduction in its administration workload from the piloting stage onwards, according to Marie-Pierre Gouaux, learning and development manager. “I have gained time because my team is not focused on pushing paper, so we can put more effort into analysing what we’re doing in terms of training and report back to the business. Because they are no longer bogged down with administration, my team can now spend time looking at ways of working smarter.”What’s more, Atos Origin have gained all these benefits largely for free when you take into account administrative cost savings.
- Atos Origin has annual revenues in excess of 5 billion Euros. It employs more than 47,000 people in 50 countries.
- The company's learning and development staff were processing an average of 30 bookings per day.
- The new system of booking training is automated so that, for example, managers automatically receive an email requesting permission for staff to undertake training.
- The new system consolidates a range of training offerings so that staff can select offerings from preferred providers.
- The new system is having an impact on suppliers too, encouraging them to remove courses from the available list once the last place had been sold.
- The new system frees up staff at Atos Origin to work in areas that add value to the wider business.