Saarbrücken/Brussels, January 2007 - Knowledge is power in the new economy, and the EU research project PROLIX is developing innovative approaches to managing this key resource. PROLIX links skill-set management with business process optimisation.
The PROLIX project approaches a very specific, but nevertheless important problem - that of tailoring structured content to an individual's training needs as part of a business process optimisation plan.
"Right now, most learning issues are dealt with by the human resources department," says Volker Zimmermann, CEO of eLearning company IMC and coordinator of the PROLIX project. But HR is not necessarily the best department for this function, Zimmermann believes. "Company-based learning needs to be embedded in business needs, so when a company changes its processes or procedures, the employee-training required to execute the changes can be developed in parallel."
He cites the example of a Formula 1 pit stop, where everyone knows exactly the task they must perform to fulfill the ultimate goal - optimised parallel tasking to ensure the best result in the least time. Using the F1 analogy, the PROLIX system can help give people the skills they need to fulfill a task efficiently. The system will deliver the exact skill-set required to execute a new, optimised business process, in, for instance, the order-processing department.
"We analyse what new skills each individual needs to learn to execute the new process - what we call the skills gap - and then their training is tailored to fill that gap," Zimmermann says, "so that employees learn only what they need to know".
He believes that this type of initiative is essential if Europe is to become more competitive in the eLearning market. Currently Europe's top three eLearning companies make €30m in revenue, but the US top three make €500m. By targeting eLearning to business needs, he believes Europe can catch up.
Business is listening. Already some of Europe's biggest corporations, like BT and Klett, are directly involved in the project. Now Coca-Cola says it is interested, too. Zimmermann notes that Prolix would like approaches from new partners like these, anyone who could really benefit from the work. The project will run until December 2009.
PROLIX takes a commercial approach to a concrete and structured business need. The project addresses the most important knowledge needs in modern enterprise: just-in-time production, top-tier knowledge discovery and skill-set management for business process optimisation.
