Over the years Diageo had deployed a number of e-learning courses to individual markets and in 2007 decided to invest in a centralised training portal named the Diageo Academy to allow all employees globally to access e-Learning, classroom training, virtual classroom, and self development learning materials in a central location.

Diageo Academy access for employees soon spread to over 180 countries and now rolled out globally, centrally funded, and centrally supported, the Diageo Academy is starting to fulfil its overall mission to be “home for all people development in Diageo.” The business units started to see the benefits by consolidating their autonomous systems centrally.

This case study highlights the expansion that took place over time but with it came concerns from busy line managers. While appreciating the vast increase in the number of development options available to them, it was becoming difficult to narrow them down into a manageable list of planned development activities to undertake over the next financial year. 

Diageo & their partner Epic combined to create a unique diagnostic tool to help narrow down the choices and has resulted in high levels of engagement with learners and busy managers. (It also recieved the bronze award for  ‘The most innovative new product or tool in e-learning’ category at the 2008 e-Learning Awards!)

Top tips for e-learning success from the Diageo Academy include:

1. Spend plenty of time testing new courses on as wide a range of computer systems, office locations, and individuals as possible during development of new e-Resources
2. Develop your strategy with the future in mind and remember likely updates and changes to your learning content, IT operating systems, and hardware
3. Establish high levels of stakeholder engagement across all levels before any development work begins
4. Ensure that you establish clear ‘ownership’ and accountability.
5. ‘Expect the unexpected’ by building in contingencies in your timelines

The recently published benchmark report into Driving Business Benefits  shows that mature organisations in the use of learning technologies report higher engagement levels. So how have Diageo achieved that and what exactly is the diagnostic tool? Read on to find out more.....

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