Fusion Productions - Integrating Meetings, Learning & Technology

Organization

In a world fraught with the threat of terror, natural disasters, computer viruses, and other dangers that can bring down communities, businesses, and government offices in the blink of an eye, there is a recognized need internationally for training in Business Continuity Management (BCM). The field involves careful planning and execution of strategies and procedures for recovering from any variety of disasters that can destroy an organization's ability to function. DRI, International (DRII), headquartered in Washington, D.C, has been addressing this need since 1988 by conducting live, instructor-led certification courses in BCM in all corners of the world. DRII understands that establishing common standards and requirements for individual certification in BCM can only enhance professionalism and effectiveness.

Challenge

As an organization, DRII sets the standards that provide a baseline for levels of knowledge and capabilities in the business continuity industry. Back in 2002 when DRII first looked into doing online courses, the cost of a four-day session that would present its series of nine introductory courses was $2,550 — in registration fees alone. Issues such as cost restrictions, travel restrictions, time limitations, and other factors impede the ability for current and aspiring business continuity professionals to take required certification courses on site, on a set schedule. DRII’s Executive Director at the time, Tom Mawson realized that, "On site courses around the world are not the model of the future." Mawson’s vision to go online for a global audience presented some major challenges. First, DRII's business continuity live courses were designed to draw upon many case studies and examples provided by learners in the classroom. Second, DRII course content primarily incorporates U.S.-based industry examples.Thus, Fusion was faced with these questions:

• How do you incorporate the case studies and lessons learned that are so readily communicated in the live course sessions into a solitary, self-directed mode of learning where there is no face-to-face exchange of experience and ideas?
  
• How do you take a program initially designed for an American audience and broaden its scope to an international clientele?

Solution

In 2003, when the courses went live, DRII was the only certifying organization in the business continuity profession to offer courses online. While that is no longer the case, DRII was years ahead of the competition and was able to reach a global audience by:

• Understanding that business continuity concepts are universal.
• Pricing the entire series of courses at $2,655 – a cost competitive with that of straight registration cost for a four-day live session.

Working with DRII's subject matter experts and Manager of Education Laurence Gration, Fusion addressed the issues of course case study content and international considerations by:

• Transcribing taped live sessions from which to draw case study examples.
• Providing links to articles, templates, worksheets, and other types of resources that online learners can access and download for use.
• Incorporating interactive exercises, such as puzzles and matching games, and imaginative graphics that also help to keep the online courses lively.
• Being sensitive to non-native speakers of English by introducing a less “conversational” tone than is typical for courses for native speakers, and limiting industry jargon and idioms where possible.
• Planning next steps to increase the courses’ international flavor by including more case study examples from international markets.

Results

The nine courses from DRII's introductory series on business continuity planning rolled out in the Fall of 2003, and the response was immediate –especially in the service and finance industries. With no significant marketing effort other than the creation of announcements on DRII's web site, DRII's online courses have been selling widely in the U.S. and Canada, and as far away as Portugal. The customers purchasing online courses include individuals from corporations such as IBM, Halliburton, Dell, Lycos, Ceridian, AC Nielsen, and the U.S.military. The demand for online courses in the business continuity field is so high that courses have been selling in advance, with Fusion Productions working with DRII's subject matter experts to convert content to online format almost as quickly as the live courses are being written.

Within the first three months, DRII recovered over a third of its costs for the entire online learning development program, proving Tom Mawson's point that, “This is without question the most cost-effective medium for preparing for certification in business continuity.”

Since launching the courses, DRII commissioned Fusion to do a complete update of all nine courses in 2006, which included new graphics, new updated links to further course information, new course content, and new testing. 

Best Practices

• Be the first to address the needs of your target audience. DRII is not the only organization that offers business continuity courses, but it is the first to offer them online – putting them at the forefront of global reach.
• Identify where an online course may lack the richness of the live course medium, and find ways to compensate.
  
• View your online program as evolutionary. Being the first isn’t enough. Have a plan to develop your offerings based on target audience needs.
• Constantly update your online courses to keep them relevant.