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Introduction
Keeping the Approach Flexible
Interacting with In-house Test Users to Fine-Tune
Training
Responding to Regulatory Agency Requirements
Measuring Success on Multiple Levels
Creating Additional Revenue Stream
Introduction
When Cambridge, MA-based Bio-Rad Laboratories launched its latest
spectrometer technology in 1998, the Spectroscopy Division decided
to broaden its target market from extremely knowledgeable PhD
spectroscopists to less sophisticated lab technicians.
Anticipating increased demand on its technical support staff, the
company decided to include computer-based training with each
product it shipped. Having no in-house staff experienced in
producing training, Bio-Rad turned to ASG Multimedia for the
expertise to create the tool it needed.
"We had a very short timeframe," recalls Ellen Miseo,
Software and Microscope Product Manager for Bio-Rad Laboratories
Spectroscopy Division. "Originally, we were looking to ship
our Excalibur spectrometer and Merlin software in six months. We
chose ASG Multimedia because of its reputation for delivering
quality projects under tight time constraints. Their insights into
the benefits of a multimedia solution convinced us to embrace this
state-of-the-art technology. It's a decision that has benefited
both our support staff and our customers."
Keeping the Approach
Flexible
Miseo particularly liked working with ASG Multimedia because the
team came to the project with no set rules of how they had to
develop the training program. "I've worked with other
development houses in the past," explains Miseo, "and
they were very rigid about the way they wanted to do things. ASG
Multimedia's attitude was more accommodating. If we needed to
present some of the training material in a particular manner,
they'd figure out a way to do it." Miseo also appreciated
that oftentimes ASG Multimedia took the lead, suggesting more
creative and effective ways to present specific information.
"There was a lot of give-and-take," insists Miseo.
"It was very much a cooperative effort."
Interacting with In-house
Test Users to Fine-Tune Training
ASG Multimedia worked with Bio-Rad through the entire
Excalibur/Merlin development cycle. "Seeing the evolution of
the Merlin software was quite helpful," states Andy Gelbert,
President of ASG Multimedia. "Bio-Rad kept bringing us
in-house technicians to test the product and interact with the
training. The feedback not only helped Bio-Rad refine the software
they ultimately released, but it helped our team see where the
stumbling blocks were in the training program so we could refine
it as well. This collaborative approach is fundamental to our
development philosophy."
The multimedia computer-based training CD includes screen shots of
the application as well as animation to simulate how the program
operates. ASG Multimedia also recommended two highly interactive
features: "Try It" and "Show Me." The special
"Try-it" feature allows users to test their knowledge of
the software. The "Show Me" feature gives users an
opportunity to direct the training program to demonstrate a
particular operation that they are having difficulty mastering on
their own. "System users are telling us that they're finding
these particular features indispensable to them," reports
Miseo.
Responding to Regulatory
Agency Requirements
In the industries served by Bio-Rad, lab technician turnover is
typically high. This presents a challenge to customers in
regulated industries like pharmaceuticals, who are required by law
to demonstrate the competency of their staff. In response to this
need, ASG Multimedia incorporated a certification feature into the
Merlin training CD. When a user successfully completes all the
designated sections of the training program, the system prints a
certificate of achievement that can be submitted to federal
regulators as evidence of the technician's base-level
competency.
Miseo felt that ASG Multimedia really understood the issues facing
of Bio-Rad customers. "ASG Multimedia had the foresight to
incorporate fail-safe features that minimized the likelihood of
technicians circumventing the certification process,"
explains Miseo. "This added tremendous value to the training
piece."
Measuring Success
on Multiple Levels
Bio-Rad has seen a marked improvement in the preparedness of
customers attending training classes since introducing the Merlin
training CD. "Customers come to class already familiar with
the computer and the software," shares Miseo. "We don't
have to spend the first morning going over basics. We can jump
right into teaching them about spectroscopy."
Miseo also notes that the multimedia training CD has reduced Bio-Rad's
installation calls by a third. "We no longer automatically
send a service engineer to install a new spectrometer,"
states Miseo. "Some customers can get up and running just
based on the training CD." Considering that it costs Bio-Rad
over $1,000 a day plus travel expenses to send an engineer to a
customer site, the savings is significant.
Bio-Rad also credits its significant drop in first-level support
calls to the training CD. "We used to have PhD chemists
spending up to five hours a week fielding simple questions about
how to collect samples and perform basic spectral analysis,"
says Miseo. "ASG Multimedia worked closely with us to keep
the training concise and the flow of informationwell-organized.
The CD explains all this information so clearly that we rarely get
those kinds of calls anymore."
Bio-Rad reports that customer reaction to the Merlin training CD
has been quite positive. Their customers say that their laboratory
supervisors are spending less time training their people.
"The Merlin training CD often replaces two days of the
supervisor's time that would typically be tied up training a new
technician," shares Miseo. "Not only can technicians
learn autonomously, the certificate generated after their
self-guided studies provides regulators with objective evidence of
technician training."
Creating Additional
Revenue Stream
Because Bio-Rad plans on marketing Excalibur and Merlin worldwide,
ASG Multimedia designed the computer-based training to be
multi-lingual. As Bio-Rad introduces the products from country to
country, ASG Multimedia can easily add new languages to the
computer-based training.
ASG Multimedia also showed Bio-Rad how increase the value of their
training investment by having it also serve as a sales and
marketing tool. The development team turned the computer-based
training into a self-running demo for use at tradeshows. Miseo
reports that the presentation really increased traffic to their
booth. "The software is different enough from the competition
that the demo was pretty eye-catching," shares Miseo.
"But quite frankly, the narrator that ASG Multimedia chose
for the demo stopped people in their tracks."
Miseo says she enjoyed working with ASG Multimedia because they
kept bringing new ideas to the table. She refers in particular to
a suggestion by the development team to modify the generalized
multimedia training into a customizable training tool Bio-Rad
could sell to their customers. This new product would allow
companies to chain multimedia clips from the spectrometer's motion
camera, extracts from the Merlin software, text, spectra and so
forth, in a specific sequence to train technicians on the standard
operating procedures for a particular instrument. Though the
project hasn't gotten underway as yet, Miseo thinks that its
revenue potential makes it an idea definitely worth pursuing.
According to Miseo, it's precisely this kind of creativity that
makes ASG Multimedia such an asset to its clients. "They do
more than just listen to what we want and turn it into good
ideas," claims Miseo. "They also think beyond the
immediate goals of the project."
Miseo notes that even with the challenge of enhancing content to
reflect a software program still undergoing changes, "The
team brought the project in on plan. Their performance just proved
my initial confidence: that ASG Multimedia is a company you can
count on to deliver even better than it promised."
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