The best employees have always had a vested interest in building their skills but precious little time to train. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and a new way of working gave many employees pause – and the chance to think long and hard about their careers. So, Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones S.A., commonly known as Entel, responded to a disrupted workforce and provided these employees with the digital tools to reskill and upskill.
Today, employees at this leading Chilean telecommunications company enjoy an enhanced learning experience with SAP SuccessFactors solutions. Entel used SAP SuccessFactors solutions to help fully digitalize Entel University, the company’s training program, as the pandemic rocked the lives of workers worldwide. Rather than caving to this disruption, HR leaders at Entel transformed crisis into opportunity and adapted the company’s training formula to the new normal.
“The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the process that we had been developing, causing us to completely digitalize our corporate learning plan,” said Angélica Sánchez, organizational development and learning management analyst at Entel. “Today, the focus is to maintain this trend and concentrate our digital offerings, further democratizing knowledge.”
By providing fully digital learning experiences to a newly remote workforce, Entel empowered employees to take control of their careers during an increasingly uncertain time. Not only that, but remote e-learning courses helped provide structure to employees’ workdays as they adjusted to working from home.
Entel adapted learning content to face the pandemic head-on, developing leadership workshops and trainings focused on supporting employees. These included sessions on increasing productivity at home and best practices for remote collaboration, as well as tips for self-care and overcoming anxiety in times of uncertainty.
“We know that in the current reality, one of the main interests of companies and organizations is to maintain productivity,” said Cristóbal Vergara, a general manager at SAP Chile. “To achieve this, it is relevant to reimagine the processes and invest in distance collaboration tools, technologies to facilitate work, and worker training programs because building a culture of continuous learning reflects that the company is investing in potential and growth.”
Entel’s digital learning journey began in 2016 when the company implemented a learning management system (LMS) from SAP SuccessFactors solutions to help enhance Entel University, a largely in-person education center. The company founded Entel University in 2010 with a face-to-face classroom format that proved to be a constant challenge for learners spread across locations. Not only that, but in-person learning also required a large investment in time and money. The digital LMS helped reduce these costs by initiating self-learning processes and bringing content online, and it offered specialized training tailored to the needs of each employee’s role and specialization.
Then, in the midst of the pandemic, Entel decided to take the plunge and completely digitalize Entel University. It consolidated its entire learning infrastructure on a single platform on SAP SuccessFactors solutions. The solutions helped create a foundation for permanent corporate learning through diverse and dynamic courses that align with the company’s strategy. Employees can easily access topics of interest intuitively organized on one digital experience through their desktop or mobile devices. They can take advantage of a new professional skills program that includes performance management workshops and more. In addition, specialized courses help employees gain new skills in sales, e-commerce, cybersecurity, and customer experience.
At its core, Entel University promotes a new digital culture that emphasizes self-management and continuous learning. In 2020, 3,098 employees took one or more e-learning courses at Entel University for a total of 6,003 completed remote courses – three times more than all of the courses completed in 2019. Entel University will make it easy for employees to continue learning, even after the pandemic subsides.
“For Entel, learning management is in constant evolution, mobilizing the capacities that our company requires in its permanent transformation,” said Sanchez. “That is why, within the next 12 years, the main challenge will be to train talent with an emphasis on the development of digital capabilities and a mentality willing to change.”
To achieve this, the company continues the successful journey it started with SAP SuccessFactors solutions. Entel hopes that its digital training, in addition to future developments in human experience management (HXM), will help reduce employee turnover by improving the overall Entel employee experience.
To learn more about how SAP SuccessFactors solutions can help your business provide effective digital enablement for employees, visit sap.com/lms.