Will Employee Performance Support Systems (EPSS) Ever Get The Credit They Deserve?

While putting the finishing touches on my next post "Talent Management - State of the Union", an interview with Talent Management expert Michael Sabbag, I read a case study which prompted one of my unpredictable thought spirals.

The case study was about a University who implemented an EPSS solution for a new Email & Collaboration environment with fantastic results. The thing that struck me as odd is that you so rarely hear of projects like this. For the purpose of this post, my definition of an EPSS tool is a piece of software (or collection of streams, etc.) that house themselves within a website or application and allow for instantaneous access to concise learning elements (typically a multimedia stream) without ever leaving the application or task at hand. Similar to a help menu but with far more flare.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, it's not easy to visualize so I will provide a little better illustration. Let's say that on your last enterprise email upgrade your IT organization spent a couple million dollars walking users through password resets and why their favorite features are in a different menu now (an extreme example for illustration). This time around, you employ an EPSS solution which embeds small tutorials directly into the application which users can access at that EXACT moment, in a single click. At the same time, the help desk is prepared like a wild west gunslinger to send links to these tutorials in the follow-up email after closing a support call. Finally, on the companies support website is a list of the top-ten support calls and links to the appropriate EPSS module.

Here's another example: A Company which enjoys high web traffic decides to change the user interface. The emails and calls begin pouring in. Support costs start to rise. Had they been forward thinking, embedded tutorials explaining common pitfalls of the new design would be made easily available to the end-user. Or, let's say there is a form or process on that website that is commonly filled out correctly or misunderstood. No problem, EPSS to the rescue.

So back to the question I pose in the title of this Blog...Will EPSS systems ever get the credit they deserve? Why aren't they being more widely adopted? Are there not enough credible solutions out there? Am I just way out of line in thinking that this is an effective set of tools (entirely possible, I thankfully only have one voice in my head so it's tough to debate)?

I do understand that even the term EPSS probably isn't well enough defined to mean the same thing to any two people. I also understand that the entire concept of EPSS is sometimes viewed as anti-training. That being said, I have never seen a case where the ROI from a well thought out EPSS solution was not staggering (primarily in adoption time and decreased support costs).

For those who are believers, or at least somewhat intrigued by my train of thought, I have included a few EPSS best practices that I have picked up along the way;

- Deploy WITH your new software/website/tool, etc. NOT AFTER.
- Communicate the benefits of the new tool early and often.
- Train your help-desk and support staff on use of the product extensively
- Also train these individuals to encourage users to become self sufficient
- Communicate before during and AFTER deployment

Here's an enlightening fact that I found in my travels as well. The average Level 1 support call costs a company roughly $24. The average user uses the help desk 1.6 times per month (this data is from 2005 and may not be entirely accurate). In a company of 5,000 employees this equates to $192,000 per month in support calls. If even 10% of those could be curbed by a well thought out EPSS solution, the savings would run nearly $200,000 per year.

In summary, these tools may be worth looking into. They are not traditional training and have little to do with Learning Management Systems but boosting performance and development is what we're all here for, so I thought it deserved some airtime.

Stay tuned!