Client profileTelstra is Australia's leading telecommunications and information services company, with one of the best-known brands in the country. Telstra offers a full range of services and competes in all telecommunications markets throughout Australia, providing more than 8.5 million Australians with fixed line services and more than 11.4 million with mobile services, including more than 9.3 million 3G services.

Telstra’s strategyTelstra’s business strategy places the customer at the heart of everything it does and has put Telstra on a journey towards creating a truly customer-centric organization. At the same time, Telstra continues to introduce groundbreaking new services to the market and to roll out advanced communications infrastructure.

Telstra’s people are central to its ability to execute this business strategy. Its people need to be skilled in the ever-expanding range of products and services the company provides, which means that ongoing learning and training has to be built into the way the company does business.

Our research demonstrates that talent plays a key role in enabling the sustained superior business results that Accenture calls “high performance,” and that high performers thus consistently demonstrate an innovative approach to achieving excellence in talent management.

How Accenture helpedIn 2006, Telstra chose Accenture to provide Learning Business Process Outsourcing services. Under the guidance of a core Telstra management team, Accenture was tasked with designing, building and operating a central learning and skills development capability, the Telstra Learning Academy. The Academy provides curriculum planning, content development, learning delivery, support operations, technology services and governance processes to more than 23,000 Telstra employees.

Accenture was selected by Telstra based on its delivery scale and capabilities, its experience-based insights into the telecommunications industry; and its proven track record in helping clients achieve high performance through innovative, efficient and outsourced learning services.

The Telstra Learning Academy equips Telstra’s people with the skills and mindset to take ownership, be responsive, reliable, innovative and collaborative, and constantly to strive for excellence. The Telstra Learning Academy seeks to fulfill this goal through efficient and innovative training and skills development, delivered using state-of-the-art tools, methodologies and facilities. It leverages Accenture's global content development and delivery network, providing flexibility and scalability. Specific learning programs targeted to build next-generation technology skills, along with certification processes, support consistent skill development throughout the Telstra workforce in support of its business goals.

Telstra Learning AcademyBringing Telstra closer to its Customers

Content is developed by Accenture's content development centers in Brisbane, Australia, and Bangalore, India, part of Accenture’s Global Delivery Network. Support and help desk operations are delivered from Accenture centers in Bangalore and Chicago, Illinois.

Since the start of the program, Accenture has been helping Telstra migrate its predominantly instructor-led training model to a blended program including more self-paced e-learning to enable broader and more efficient delivery of learning to Telstra's dispersed workforce. The learning model also leverages new and innovative learning technologies such as virtual instructor-led training and podcasting.

Since its launch in 2006, more than 80 per cent of Telstra’s people have participated in Telstra Learning Academy training.

High performance deliveredWith an operating model and strategy that maximizes the linkage between learning and the business, the Telstra Learning Academy makes a positive impact on business performance. It continues to raise the bar with regard to efficiency and innovation in training delivery.

After five years in operation, the Telstra Learning Academy has trained over 90,000 people through a network of more than 200 training venues across Australia. It has developed and deployed more than 1,100 new or enhanced courses and conducted 23,500 instructor-led training days.

“Our people are central to our drive to place customers at the heart of everything we do,” said Richard Coleman, Director Learning and Development at Telstra. “With the Telstra Learning Academy, we are at the forefront of our cultural change efforts. We are faster, more responsive and more efficient.”

Helping improve the customer experienceThe Telstra Learning Academy enhanced the induction process for new Consumer Sales & Service personnel while cutting its duration by five days. Allowing new hires to take live customer calls during training, and having team leaders within their groups to provide coaching during training, is improving speed to competence and making new staff more confident.

The Telstra Learning Academy also provides induction training to Telstra Retail staff. This includes all people from Telstra’s own stores and licensed stores. It aims for an exceptional customer experience every time.

Another initiative to improve the customer experience involved training Telstra’s communications technicians. These employees are often the “face” of Telstra. As they connect, network, repair and maintain communications services, they are often in the customer’s home or business environment. The Telstra Learning Academy delivered an innovative learning program comprising field mobile computing software training, simulations, hands-on scenarios, Web-based training models, instructor-led training and eight standalone application simulations to support the ongoing development of Telstra’s field workforce.

Another key initiative was an “Assess first” program for health, safety and environment training, which helped to maintain critical skills of certified technicians while reducing training times.

Improving efficiency and innovation in training deliveryThe Telstra Learning Academy helped Telstra migrate its predominantly instructor-led training model to a blended program including more self-paced e-learning to enable broader and more efficient delivery of learning to Telstra's dispersed workforce.

Today, the Telstra Learning Academy provides innovative and efficient training and skills development. It uses state-of-the-art tools, methodologies and facilities, online and wherever Telstra’s people are located. After promising pilots, the Telstra Learning Academy will roll out solutions that leverage next-generation video, podcast and collaboration technologies to accelerate learning outcomes.

The Telstra Learning Academy continues to raise the bar on efficiency. Recently, the number of Telstra’s people who attended Web-based training skyrocketed from 5,000 per quarter to more than 14,000 per quarter. The Telstra Learning Academy has also increased efficiency and flexibility, cutting the time to develop courses by 31 per cent and reducing the delivery-scheduling cycle from quarterly to monthly. To increase sustainability, the team also reduced paper consumption through digital delivery of training.

About AccentureAccenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 215,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$21.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2010. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

Copyright © 2011 AccentureAll rights reserved.

Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.

11-0875