ibm performance management case study

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Make It Personal: Lessons From IBM on Reinventing Performance Management

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Performance Management

IBM’s chief human resource officer, Diane Gherson, describes how the company overcame cultural as well as technical challenges in revamping its performance management system.

The traditional ways of managing performance simply aren’t working anymore.

To strive for continuous improvement, agility, and innovation, your employees need frequent feedback, ongoing upskilling, and a sharp focus on business outcomes.

IBM recently completed a reimagining of its performance management model to achieve those goals. In this webinar, Diane Gherson discusses the redesign of IBM’s talent and performance management system. She is joined for a best practices discussion and audience Q&A by McKinsey’s Bryan Hancock, coauthor of MIT SMR ’s report, “Performance Management’s Digital Shift,” and Anna Tavis, research adviser to the report.

In this webinar you’ll learn:

• How to align a transformation effort to business strategy.
• How to secure employee buy-in for new ways of working.
• How AI and other new technologies can modernize, personalize, and optimize performance management.

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About the Authors

Diane Gherson is chief human resource officer at IBM. Bryan Hancock is a partner at McKinsey & Company, based in Washington, D.C., and global leader of McKinsey’s client service on talent. Anna Tavis is clinical associate professor of human capital management and academic director of the human capital management program at New York University. Allison Ryder is senior project editor at MIT Sloan Management Review . She moderates the session.

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Reinventing Performance Management

• Marcus Buckingham
• Ashley Goodall

Like many other companies, Deloitte realized that its system for evaluating the work of employees—and then training them, promoting them, and paying them accordingly—was increasingly out of step with its objectives. It searched for something nimbler, real-time, and more individualized—something squarely focused on fueling performance in the future rather than assessing it in the past. The new system will have no cascading objectives, no once-a-year reviews, and no 360-degree-feedback tools. Its hallmarks are speed, agility, one-size-fits-one, and constant learning, all underpinned by a new way of collecting reliable performance data.

To arrive at this design, Deloitte drew on three pieces of evidence: a simple counting of hours, a review of research in the science of ratings, and a carefully controlled study of its own organization. It discovered that the organization was spending close to 2 million hours a year on performance management, and that “idiosyncratic rater effects” led to ratings that revealed more about team leaders than about the people they were rating. From an empirical study of its own high-performing teams, the company learned that three items correlated best with high performance for a team: “My coworkers are committed to doing quality work,” “The mission of our company inspires me,” and “I have the chance to use my strengths every day.” Of these, the third was the most powerful across the organization.

With all this evidence in hand, the company set about designing a radical new performance management system, which the authors describe in this article.

HBR Reprint R1504B

How one company is rethinking peer feedback and the annual review, and trying to design a system to fuel improvement

Idea in Brief

The problem.

Not just employees but their managers and even HR departments are by now questioning the conventional wisdom of performance management, including its common reliance on cascading objectives, backward-looking assessments, once-a-year rankings and reviews, and 360-degree-feedback tools.

Some companies have ditched the rankings and even annual reviews, but they haven’t found better solutions. Deloitte resolved to design a system that would fairly recognize varying performance, have a clear view into performance anytime, and boost performance in the future.

The Solution

Deloitte’s new approach separates compensation decisions from day-to-day performance management, produces better insight through quarterly or per-project “performance snapshots,” and relies on weekly check-ins with managers to keep performance on course.

At Deloitte we’re redesigning our performance management system. This may not surprise you. Like many other companies, we realize that our current process for evaluating the work of our people—and then training them, promoting them, and paying them accordingly—is increasingly out of step with our objectives.

• Marcus Buckingham is a researcher of high performance at work, co-creator of StrengthsFinder and StandOut, and a coauthor of Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World (Harvard Business Review Press). His most recent book is Love + Work: How to Find What You Love, Love What You Do, and Do It for the Rest of Your Life (Harvard Business Review Press).
• Ashley Goodall is a leadership expert who has spent his career exploring large organizations from the inside, most recently as an executive at Cisco. He is the coauthor of Nine Lies About Work , which was selected as the best management book of 2019 by Strategy + Business and as one of Amazon’s best business and leadership books of 2019. Prior to Cisco, he spent fourteen years at Deloitte as a consultant and as the Chief Learning Officer for Leadership and Professional Development. His latest book, The Problem with Change , is available now.

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How IBM revamped its performance management system

For the last 10  years, tech­nol­o­gy giant IBM has been oper­at­ing an annu­al-based per­for­mance review process that will be famil­iar to most organ­i­sa­tions — set­ting of objec­tives in Jan­u­ary, an inter­im review mid-way through the year and then an appraisal meet­ing in Decem­ber cul­mi­nat­ing in a sin­gle per­for­mance score.

Last year it decid­ed to fol­low in the foot­steps of many oth­er well known organ­i­sa­tions such as Microsoft, Accen­ture and Gen­er­al Elec­tric and under­take a com­plete over­haul of its per­for­mance man­age­ment sys­tem. That revamp is now com­plete and its new sys­tem called ​ “ Check­point” has just gone live.

Like most oth­er organ­i­sa­tions who have moved away from an annu­al approach, IBM’s new per­for­mance man­age­ment process involves set­ting short­er term objec­tives and get­ting reg­u­lar feed­back through­out the year.

In an inter­view with For­tune Mag­a­zine , Diane Gher­son, IBM’s Chief Human Resources Offi­cer said that dur­ing the year, ​ “ new things would come along” mean­ing that employ­ees would often no longer be work­ing towards their orig­i­nal annu­al objec­tives. Yet they would end up in an ​ “ irrel­e­vant dis­cus­sion” in Decem­ber try­ing to assess whether they’d achieved those goals they’d cre­at­ed 11 months earlier.

When decid­ing what to do dif­fer­ent­ly, IBM took a nov­el approach and inter­nal­ly crowd­sourced feed­back from its 360 , 000 employ­ees. They received 2 , 000 respons­es from which the con­clu­sion was that employ­ees want­ed more fre­quent feed­back. They also did­n’t want a sin­gle per­for­mance rat­ing with rel­a­tive rank­ings, nor did they want a self-assess­ment process.

So IBM’s new process ensures that employ­ees get feed­back at least every quar­ter. They have also dropped their sin­gle per­for­mance score and replaced it with an assess­ment against five cri­te­ria — busi­ness results, impact on client suc­cess, inno­va­tion, per­son­al respon­si­bil­i­ty to oth­ers, and skills. ​ “ In the old sys­tem, there was one score. Peo­ple [got] sort of obsessed by that,” Gher­son said. ​ “ In the new sys­tem, there are five scores. It leads to a much rich­er, more bal­anced discussion.”

Being a large tech­nol­o­gy com­pa­ny, IBM built its own app to help facil­i­tate its new ​ “ Check­point” process. How­ev­er, most organ­i­sa­tions don’t have vast in-house tech­ni­cal resources like IBM and most per­for­mance man­age­ment sys­tems are still based around an annu­al cycle. That’s why we built our Clear Review app . Now any organ­i­sa­tion can move to a  year-round approach to per­for­mance man­age­ment with reg­u­lar check-ins and real-time feed­back using Clear Review.

To find out how Clear Review can trans­form your per­for­mance man­age­ment, book a per­son­al demo right now via our online demo book­ing sys­tem .

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IBM has decided to reinvent its approach to performance management. The previous, long-standing programme – with its traditional model of annual, top-down goals and a single numeric rating at year-end – no longer matched the dynamic and agile way the company now operates. Working hand-in-hand with its employees, IBM ‘co-created’ a brand new approach through an online social dialogue. The result was ‘Checkpoint’ – replete with quarterly formal feedback conversations, continuous informal feedback and an end-of-year assessment process that rates employees along five separate dimensions.

CONTENTS OF THIS 11-PAGE CASE STUDY

Researched and written by E-reward.co.uk

• Organisation profile
• Who E-reward interviewed
• IBM’s previous programme
• The journey toward s Checkpoint
• The case for change
• Designing the new programme
• A co-creation approach
• Design thinking
• Overcoming scepticism
• Gathering insights and feedback
• Dealing with negative comments
• Amplifying the conversation
• Making changes to the design
• Announcing the new programme
• The launch of Checkpoint
• Checkpoint in practice
• More regular, short-term goals
• Multiple performance ratings
• The five dimensions of performance
• IBM’S digital learning marketplace
• Guiding the feedback conversation
• The year-end assessment and rating
• Continuous feedback
• Feedback training
• Monitoring the process
• Regularly updated milestones and achievements
• Empowered managers
• A positive start

3 Approaches to Performance Management: Google, Betterment and IBM

Some of the biggest names in technology and finance are not just making headlines for innovative advancement in their industries.

Believe it or not, these companies also have unique approaches to performance management leading the way.

Systems created by them for discovering great managers are becoming a trend and technology developed for their employee review purposes are grabbing everyone’s attention.

Thriving in their performance management goals, one thing these three companies have in common is they saw a need for modification, and set out to reinvent the way they manage employee performance.

The results have kept their employees happy while saving their businesses time and money.

Streamline your performance management process with PerformYard. Learn More

Google is an American multinational technology company that specializes in Internet-related services and products. They have what some might say is the world’s most progressive human resource organization. Google calls it “People Operations Practice” and they focus on three main purposes :

• Select and hire only the best fit candidates
• Build a merit based reward/incentive system
• Developing employees to their fullest potential, through coaching, outside training, and through a 360-degree crowdsourced feedback program

Taking a further dive into the way they implement these purposes, we find out that Google has a combination of some traditional HR practices with a new twist. This summary breaks down the performance management process Google is well known for:

• Annual performance review with a mid-year checkpoint
• Monthly performance check-ins that address career development, coaching, personal issues, etc.
• “Googlegeist engagement survey” (measures a vast expandment of topics)
• Annual “Upward Feedback Survey”, similar to 360-degree review where only supervisors are reviewed by their direct reports
• A mildly different form of Management-by-Objectives called OKRs (objectives and key-results)
• “Meritocracy”: compensating people unequally through bonuses, equity stock option grants, and prizes.

Related: Google’s Performance Management Playbook: Inspiration for Your Organization

Betterment is an online investment company known for using technology to yield returns. They do not get paid for certain funds or have any of their own, which gives them their customer centric style. Through the years, Betterment’s HR approach has emphasized a performance management philosophy of constant iteration. Jon Stein, Betterment’s CEO and founder, says the best system is one that changes easily just as your company grows and changes also. What he has learned from several trial and errors can be summed up into a final version of Betterment’s Performance Management System including:

• Betterment added key performance indicators
• This move was meant for overall business performance rather than singular, distinct targets. An example they’ve mentioned is tracking referrals as a key performance indicator to make sure they're headed in the right direction, instead of setting a quota that had to be met.
• They developed a new tier of leadership to facilitate more cross-team partnerships:
• This is a great example of a fast-growing FinTech company revising its performance management to cope, as well as communicate the need for organizational change.
• They called this new management level "pillar leads" that work on cross-functional projects as a unified group.
• They made reporting simpler and more visible for all:
• While every team has a “dashboard”, it is rare for them to instinctively collaborate or deviate from their own personal objectives. The need for more push metrics arose but Betterment wanted to broadcast in a way that was clear, allowing teams to see each other’s progress toward company goals. For instance, they send and email regularly to everyone highlighting current numbers and team metrics as well as posting them up on walls for public viewing. This has also created a common impression that “all hands on deck” to get fellow employees where they need to go.

IBM is an American multinational information technology company, that recently changed it’s 10 year old performance review system for a brand new approach that shifts employee goals throughout the year and involves much more feedback. This change came about because IBM’s chief HR officer noted employees were already doing work differently. The former system, quite similar to many traditional annual reviews, asked employees to set their goals for the year in January. After a mid-year check-in with management, they’d receive a final assessment and a single performance score in December of that same year. According to Diane Gherson, employees entered a variety of situations throughout the year, which meant oftentimes they weren’t even working towards those original objectives. So managers ended up in “irrelevant discussion” during the annual evaluation trying to determine whether the 11 month old goals were fulfilled. What they ended up with was an effort of crowdsourcing ideas from 380,000 employees across 170 countries.

They eliminated some unexpected ideas:

• Self-assessments; the majority of employees didn’t feel it was helpful
• Relative performance rankings; managers would no longer meet with each other to compare employees, rather, the employees wanted more frequent, direct feedback.

The result was an app-based performance review system, they named “Checkpoint”. With Checkpoint, IBM employees will have a performance management program that addresses several key objectives:

• Setting shorter-term goals
• Management feedback on employee progress every quarter (or less)
• Employees will be judged across five criteria in which managers will assess whether they’ve “exceeded” or “achieved expectations” in these dimensions (or if improvement is needed): 1. business results, 2. impact on client success, 3. innovation, 4. personal responsibility to others, 5. skills.

Kudos to IBM for creating an app! There is now no single measure of an employee’s performance like in the old system. Before there was only one score but now there are five. This makes for a much more dynamic and balanced discussion.

Google, Betterment, and IBM remained flexible in their approach to HR practices. As a result, their creativity led them to redesign performance management systems that just weren’t effective anymore. In all likelihood, these practical examples of companies managing performance in their own way prove one size doesn’t fit all but there are certainly great models to glean from.

More Inspiration

These organizations are not the only ones going their own way. These days most great organizations are thinking critically about performance management and coming up with innovative new solutions. Here are a few more examples to help inspire your own strategy.

How Does  GE  Do Performance Management Today?

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IBM Change Management Case Study

Change is a constant in the business world, and organizations that can effectively manage change are more likely to succeed. 

Change management is the process of planning, implementing, and controlling change within an organization to minimize negative impacts and maximize benefits. 

One company that has successfully implemented change management is IBM.

With a history spanning over a century, IBM has undergone significant changes over the years, including the implementation of change management to ensure a smooth transition. 

In this blog post, we will take a closer look at IBM’s change management case study, examining its background, change management strategy, and results. 

Brief History and Growth of IBM 

IBM, also known as International Business Machines Corporation, is an American multinational technology company that was founded in 1911. 

The company was initially formed as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) through the merger of four separate companies: the Tabulating Machine Company, the Computing Scale Company, the International Time Recording Company, and the Bundy Manufacturing Company. 

In 1924, the company was renamed International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). IBM’s early products included tabulating machines, time clocks, and punched card equipment, which were used for data processing and information management. 

Over the years, IBM has evolved into a leading provider of enterprise technology solutions, including hardware, software, and services, serving clients in over 170 countries around the world.

IBM experienced significant growth in the mid-20th century, as it became a leading provider of computers and data processing equipment. 

In the 1950s, IBM introduced its first electronic computer, the IBM 701, which was followed by a series of other computer models that became increasingly advanced and sophisticated. 

IBM also played a key role in the development of the personal computer, releasing its first PC in 1981, which quickly became a standard in the industry. 

In the 1990s and early 2000s, IBM shifted its focus to software and services, becoming a leader in areas such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity. 

Today, IBM is a major player in the technology industry, with a global workforce of over 350,000 employees and revenue exceeding $70 billion in 2020.

Key drivers of change for IBM  

There were three dominant factors that created a need for IBM to implement effective change management processes to successfully navigate the challenges and opportunities it faced.

1. Technological advancement 

Technological advancements have been a key driver of change in the technology industry, and IBM was no exception. In the 1980s and 1990s, IBM faced significant disruption as the market shifted from mainframe computers to personal computers, which were smaller, cheaper, and more accessible to individuals and small businesses. 

This shift threatened IBM’s dominance in the computer industry, as it had built its reputation on large-scale mainframe computers. To adapt to this changing market, IBM had to shift its focus to services and software, invest in research and development to create new technologies and innovations, and develop new partnerships and alliances to expand its offerings. 

Additionally, the emergence of cloud computing and artificial intelligence in the 2000s and 2010s further pushed IBM to adapt and innovate to stay ahead of the competition. These technological advancements required IBM to adopt a more agile and flexible approach to business, with a greater focus on innovation, speed, and collaboration.

2. Globalization 

As IBM expanded its operations globally, it faced a range of challenges related to cultural and regulatory differences across different countries and regions. In order to effectively navigate these differences, IBM had to develop a more flexible and adaptable approach to business, one that was able to respond to local market conditions and customer needs while also maintaining a consistent global brand and corporate identity. 

This required IBM to invest in building a diverse and multicultural workforce, to establish strong local partnerships and alliances, and to develop a deep understanding of local cultures, languages, and customs. 

Additionally, IBM had to comply with local regulations and laws in each country it operated in, which often required significant resources and expertise to navigate. By embracing globalization and developing a more flexible and adaptable approach to business, IBM was able to successfully expand its operations globally and establish a strong global presence.

3. Market competition 

IBM faced intense competition from emerging tech companies in the 1990s, particularly in the areas of personal computing and software development. 

Companies like Microsoft and Intel were challenging IBM’s dominance in the industry, and IBM had to adapt quickly to remain competitive. 

To address this challenge, IBM shifted its focus to services and software, investing heavily in research and development to create new products and innovations that could compete with emerging technologies. 

IBM also streamlined its operations to improve efficiency and reduce costs, while exploring new markets and opportunities for growth. 

This required IBM to be more agile and responsive to market conditions, and to take calculated risks in pursuing new ventures and partnerships. Ultimately, these efforts enabled IBM to remain a major player in the technology industry and to continue innovating and expanding its offerings.

Change management strategy of IBM 

IBM responded to these three drivers of change in several ways, as explained below:

1. Technological advancements

To adapt to rapid technological advancements, IBM invested heavily in research and development to create new products and innovations. It also embraced emerging technologies such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence and developed new partnerships and alliances to expand its offerings.

IBM also shifted its focus to services and software, which helped it to stay competitive as the market shifted away from mainframe computers. Additionally, IBM adopted a more agile and flexible approach to business to enable it to respond quickly to changing market conditions and customer needs.

2. Globalization

To effectively navigate different cultural and regulatory environments, IBM invested in building a diverse and multicultural workforce, established strong local partnerships and alliances, and developed a deep understanding of local cultures, languages, and customs.

IBM also complied with local regulations and laws in each country it operated in, which required significant resources and expertise to navigate. Additionally, IBM developed a consistent global brand and corporate identity while also maintaining the flexibility to respond to local market conditions and customer needs.

3. Market competition

To remain competitive in the face of intense market competition, IBM explored new markets and product offerings while streamlining its operations to improve efficiency and reduce costs. IBM also invested heavily in research and development to create new products and innovations that could compete with emerging technologies.

IBM adopted a more agile and responsive approach to business, which enabled it to take calculated risks in pursuing new ventures and partnerships. Additionally, IBM developed a culture of innovation and collaboration to foster creativity and agility, which helped it to stay ahead of the competition.

Positive outcomes and results of IBM successful change management implementation

IBM’s successful implementation of change management led to several positive outcomes and results, including:

Increased profitability: IBM’s shift to services and software helped to increase its profitability by creating new revenue streams and reducing costs. By focusing on high-margin businesses such as consulting and software development, IBM was able to improve its financial performance and profitability.

Improved competitiveness: IBM’s investments in research and development, partnerships, and new markets helped it to remain competitive in the face of rapid technological advancements and intense market competition. By adopting an agile and responsive approach to business, IBM was able to adapt quickly to changing market conditions and customer needs, which helped it to stay ahead of the competition.

Enhanced customer satisfaction: IBM’s focus on innovation, collaboration, and customer service helped to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. By developing new products and services that met customer needs and expectations, and by providing excellent customer service and support, IBM was able to build strong relationships with its customers and earn their trust and loyalty.

Increased employee engagement and retention: IBM’s culture of innovation, collaboration, and diversity helped to increase employee engagement and retention. By fostering a culture of creativity and agility, and by valuing and supporting its employees, IBM was able to attract and retain top talent, which helped it to drive innovation and growth.

Strong brand reputation: IBM’s successful implementation of change management helped to strengthen its brand reputation and identity. By maintaining a consistent global brand while also remaining flexible and responsive to local market conditions and customer needs, IBM was able to build a strong and respected brand reputation that is recognized around the world.

Final Words 

IBM’s successful implementation of change management serves as a powerful case study for businesses facing rapid technological advancements, intense market competition, and globalization. By adopting an agile and responsive approach to business, investing in research and development, exploring new markets and partnerships, and fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration, IBM was able to remain competitive and relevant in the technology industry. 

About The Author

Tahir Abbas

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Home » Management Case Studies » Case Study of IBM: Employee Training through E-Learning

Case Study of IBM: Employee Training through E-Learning

“E-learning is a technology area that often has both first-tier benefits, such as reduced travel costs, and second-tier benefits, such as increased employee performance that directly impacts profitability.” – Rebecca Wettemann, research director for Nucleus Research

In 2002, the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) was ranked fourth by the Training magazine on it’s “The 2002 Training Top 100”. The magazine ranked companies based on their commitment towards workforce development and training imparted to employees even during periods of financial uncertainty.

Since its inception, IBM had been focusing on human resources development : The company concentrated on the education and training of its employees as an integral part of their development. During the mid 1990s, IBM reportedly spent about $1 billion for training its employees. However, in the late 1990s, IBM undertook a cost cutting drive , and started looking for ways to train its employees effectively at lower costs. After considerable research, in 1999, IBM decided to use e-Learning to train its employees. Initially, e-Learning was used to train IBM’s newly recruited managers.

IBM saved millions of dollars by training employees through e-learning. E-Learning also created a better learning environment for the company’s employees, compared to the traditional training methods . The company reportedly saved about $166 million within one year of implementing the e-learning program for training its employees all over the world. The figure rose to $350 million in 2001. During this year, IBM reported a return on investment (ROI)’s of 2284 percent from its Basic Blue e-Learning program. This was mainly due to the significant reduction in the company’s training costs and positive results reaped from e-learning. Andrew Sadler, director of IBM Mindspan Solutions, explained the benefits of e-learning to IBM, “All measures of effectiveness went up. It’s saving money and delivering more effective training,’ while at the same time providing five times more content than before.” By 2002, IBM had emerged as the company with the largest number of employee’s who have enrolled into e-Learning courses.

Though there were varied opinions about the effectiveness of e-Learning as a training tool for employees, IBM saw it as a major business opportunity and started offering e- ­learning products to other organizations as well. Analysts estimated that the market for e-Learning programs would grow from $2.1 billion in 2001 to $33.6 billion in 2005 representing a 100 percent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR).

Background Note

Since the inception of IBM, its top management laid great emphasis on respecting every employee. It felt that every employee’s contribution was important for the organization. Thomas J. Watson Sr. (Watson Sr.), the father of modern IBM had once said, “By the simple belief that if we respected our people and helped them respect themselves, the company would certainly profit.” The HR policies at IBM were employee-friendly. Employees were compensated well – as they were paid above the industry average. in terms of wages. The company followed a ‘no layoffs’ policy. Even during financially troubled periods, employees were relocated from the plants, labs and headquarters, and were retrained for careers in sales, customer engineering, field administration and programming.

To widen their knowledge base and broaden their perspectives, managers were also sent for educational programs to Harvard, the London School of Economics, MIT and Stanford. Those who excelled in these programs were sent to the Advanced Managers School, a program offered in about forty colleges including some in Harvard, Columbia, Virginia, Georgia and Indiana. IBM’s highest-ranking executives were sent to executive seminars, organized at the Brookings Institutions this program typically covered a broad range of subjects including, international and domestic, political and economic affairs. IBM executives were exposed to topical events with a special emphasis on their implications for the company.

In 1997, Louis Gerstner (Gerstner), the then CEO of IBM , conducted a research to identify the unique characteristics of best executives and managers. The research revealed that the ability to train employees was an essential skill, which differentiated best executives and managers. Therefore, Gerstner aimed at improving the managers’ training skills. Gerstner adopted a coaching methodology of Sir John Whitmore, which was taught to the managers through training workshops.

IBM trained about 5000 new managers in a year. There was a five-day training program for all the new managers, where they were familiarized with the basic culture, strategy and management of IBM. However, as the jobs became more complex, the five-day program turned out to be insufficient for the managers to train them effectively. The company felt that the training process had to be continuous and not a one-time event.

Gerstner thus started looking for new ways of training managers. The company specifically wanted its management training initiatives to address the following issues:

• Management of people across geographic borders
• Management of remote and mobile employees
• Digital collaboration issues
• Reductions in management development resources
• Limited management time for training and development
• Management’s low comfort level in accessing and searching online HR resources

Online Training at IBM

In 1999, IBM launched the pilot Basic Blue management training program, which was fully deployed in 2000. Basic Blue was an in-house management training program for new managers. It imparted 75 percent of the training online and the remaining 25 percent through the traditional classroom mode. The e-Learning part included articles, simulations, job aids and short courses.

The founding principle of Basic Blue was that ‘learning is an extended process, not a one-time event.” Basic Blue was based on a ‘4- Tier’ blended learning model’. The first three tiers were delivered online and the fourth tier included one ­-week long traditional classroom training. The program offered basic skills and knowledge to managers so that they can become effective leaders and people-oriented managers.

In the second tier, the managers were provided with simulated situations. Senior managers trained the managers online. The simulations enabled the managers to learn about employee skill-building, compensation and benefits, multicultural issues, work/life balance- issues and business conduct in an interactive manner. Some of the content for [his tier was offered by Harvard Business School and the simulations were created by Cognitive Arts of Chicago. The online Coaching Simulator offered eight scenarios with 5000 scenes of action, decision points and branching results. IBM Management Development’s web site, Going Global offered as many as 300 interactive scenarios on culture clashes.

In the third tier, the members of the group started interacting with each other online. This tier used IBM’s collaboration tools such as chats, and team rooms including IBM e-Learning products like the Team-Room, Customer-Room and Lotus Learning Space. Using these tools, employees could interact online with the instructors as well as with peers in their groups. This tier also used virtual team exercises and included advanced technologies like application sharing, live virtual classrooms and interactive presentation: on the web. In this tier, the members of the group had to solve problems as a team by forming virtual groups, using these products. Hence, this tier focused more on developing the collaborative skills of the learners.

The tremendous success of the Basic Blue initiative encouraged IBM to extend training through e-Learning to its-sales personnel and experienced managers as well. The e-Learning program for the sales personnel was known as ‘Sales Compass,’ and the one for the experienced managers, as ‘Managing@ IBM.’ Prior to the implementation of the Sales Compass e-Learning program, the sales personnel underwent live training at the company’s headquarters and training campuses. They also attended field training program, national sales conferences and other traditional methods of training. However, in most of the cases these methods proved too expensive, ineffective and time-consuming. Apart from this, coordination problems also cropped up, as the sales team was spread across the world. Moreover, in a highly competitive market, IBM could not afford to keep its sales team away from work for weeks together.

Though Sales Compass was originally started in 1997 on a trial basis to help the sales team in selling business intelligence solutions to the retail and manufacturing industries, it-was not implemented on a large scale. But with the success of Basic Blue, Sales Compass was developed further. The content of the new Sales Compass was divided into five categories including Solutions (13 courses), industries (23 courses), personal skills (2 courses), selling skills (11 courses), and tools and job aid (4 aids).

It also enabled the sales people to sell certain IBM products designed for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) , Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) , Business Intelligence (BI) , and so on. Sales Compass also trained the sales personnel on skills like negotiating and selling services. Like the Basic Blue program, Sales Compass also had simulations for selling products to a specific industry like banking, about how to close a deal, and so on. It also allowed its users to ask questions and had links to information on other IBM sites and related websites.

Sales Compass was offered to 20,000 sales representatives, client relationship representatives, territory representatives, sales specialists, and service professionals at IBM. Brenda Toan (Toan), global skills and learning leader for IBM offices across the world, said, “Sales Compass is a just-in-time, just-enough sales support information site. Most of our users are mobile. So they are, most of the times, unable to get into a branch office and obtain information on a specific industry or solution. IBM Sales Compass provides industry-specific knowledge, advice on how to sell specific solutions, and selling tools that support our signature selling methodology, which is convenient for these users.”

By implementing the above programs, IBM was able to reduce its training budget as well as improve employee productivity significantly. In 2000, Basic Blue saved $16 million while Sales Compass saved $21 million. In 2001, IBM saved $200 million and its cost of training per-employee reduced significantly – from $400 to $135. E-learning also resulted in a deeper understanding of the learning content by the managers. It also enabled the managers to complete their classroom training modules in lesser time, as compared to the traditional training methods used earlier. The simulation modules and collaboration techniques created a richer learning environment. The e-learning projects also enabled the company to leverage corporate internal knowledge as most of the content they carried came from the internal content experts.

IBM’s cost savings through E-Learning

IBM continued its efforts to improve the visual information in all its e-Learning programs to make them more effective. The company also encouraged its other employees to attend these e-learning programs. Apart from this, IBM planned to update these programs on a continuous basis, using feedback from its new and experienced managers, its sales force and other employees.

IBM used e-Learning not only to train its employees, but also in other HR activities. In November 2001, IBM employees received the benefits enrollment material online. The employees could learn about the merits of various benefits and the criteria for availing these benefits, such as cost, coverage, customer service or performance ­using an Intranet tool called ‘Path Finder.’ This tool also enabled the employees to know about the various health plans offered by IBM. Besides, Pathfinder took information from the employees and returned a preferred plan with ranks and graphs. This application enabled employees to see and manage their benefits, deductions in their salaries, career changes and more. This obviously, increased employee satisfaction. The company also automated its hiring process. The new tool on the company’s intranet was capable of carrying out most of the employee hiring processes. Initially, IBM used to take ten days to find a temporary engineer or consultant. Now, the company was able to find such an employee in three days.

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Revenue Cycle Outsourcing Strengthens The Steadman Clinic’s Financial Performance

A long-term foundational working relationship with guidehouse helps the steadman clinic improve operational efficiency, enabling clinical staff to maintain a world-class reputation for orthopaedic care..

The Steadman Clinic—a world-renowned Colorado orthopaedic clinic specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of sports-related injuries for recreational and professional athletes—was navigating the changes of a growing practice. Clinic leadership determined that outsourcing revenue cycle management could help the practice reduce costs and improve reimbursements, while allowing the clinical teams to maintain focus on providing excellent patient care.

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"The Steadman Clinic is dedicated to providing world-class orthopaedic and sports medicine care to thousands of patients each year. By outsourcing our revenue cycle management through a partnership with Guidehouse , our physicians and clinical teams have been able to focus on clinical care and patient experience, while Guidehouse has helped navigate the complexities of revenue cycle management."  

Phase 1 .

Using a proprietary web-based analytics system, the Guidehouse team analyzed The Steadman Clinic’s key revenue cycle performance metrics, including average days in accounts receivable and payment per work relative value unit (wRVU), to identify performance improvement opportunities.

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As The Steadman Clinic continued to expand, the team adopted a new electronic health record with Modernizing Medicine (ModMed). In 2019, The Steadman Clinic integrated ModMed’s practice management system, and Guidehouse provided support during the implementation process, including identifying important differentiators about The Steadman Clinic:

• As a world-renowned provider in orthopaedic surgery, The Steadman Clinic surgeons perform a large number of unlisted procedures (about 50 per month, or 5% of the total surgical case volume)
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Following system conversion and stabilization, the Guidehouse team monitored and analyzed The Steadman Clinic’s key revenue cycle performance metrics, including average days in accounts receivable, aged accounts receivable, and clean claim rates. Through process improvements and working with physician teams and clinic staff, the team was able to help drive significant improvements. 

After implementing the initial revenue cycle management solution in phase 1, the clinic realized:

• 21% increase in monthly cash collected
• 16% increase in payments per wRVU
• 28.5% decrease in total accounts receivable
• 35% decrease in average days in accounts receivable

Following the implementation of ModMed and other innovations in phase 2, the clinic experienced several notable improvements, including:

• 19% reduction of days in accounts receivable (average of 9.3 days within 12 months)
• 15.8% increase in cash collections ($11.2 million) within 12 months
• 7.2% reduction in total accounts receivable
• Clean claim rate that consistently exceeded 95% within 6 months

Despite performing a significant volume of unlisted and high-complexity surgeries, The Steadman Clinic continues to see improved revenue cycle performance with support from the Guidehouse collaboration, enabling physicians to continue to focus on care instead of collections.

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