Now that the economy has bounced back a bit, more companies are thinking
about training. Arlington-based
Plateau Systems can
take companies from contemplation to action, with software that keeps
employees performing at their peak. Chairman and CEO Paul Sparta chatted
about knowledge, surviving the downturn, and grooming some assets.
Why do you feel there's a need for your software?
Today, executives within large organizations are recognizing that
traditional methods to enhance human performance are substandard.
They're difficult to deploy, don't have a central repository, lack
business intelligence and they're hard to update. Meanwhile, their
associated costs like travel, rental facilities, paper-based manuals,
and so forth, are significant.
This environment has spawned the need for enterprise solutions that take
a more strategic approach to maximizing human potential. Our solutions
span all functional divisions within an organization, offering a single
but flexible mechanism for knowledge transfer.
How does the software work?
From an end-user perspective, the software is simple to use. Its
Web-based interface is an intuitive portal, offering students, managers,
and executives alike access to course catalogs, professional development
histories and requirements, and business intelligence. Which enables
them to evaluate the impact of knowledge transfer on specific business
objectives such as sales quotas, safety requirements, and customer
service targets.
During the recent economic malaise, training was cut from many budgets.
What kind of effect did that have on companies?
Sadly, an economic downturn is when human performance management is
critical. Companies must get the most out of their existing employees.
In a serious downturn, when layoffs are required, remaining employees
are asked to backfill, performing job responsibilities left vacant.
Even in a moderate downturn, when layoffs aren't required, the business
environment still becomes more competitive. Companies are competing for
a shrinking market; everything counts. Employees must be more
knowledgeable and efficient than they've ever been.
In 2001 and 2002, when the economy was at its worst, many savvy
executives recognized this problem--the need to elevate human
performance vs. the inability of their existing knowledge management
methods to do it cost effectively. This fact signaled a "buying event"
for enterprise human performance solutions like ours. In 2001 and 2002,
when most other companies' revenues were shrinking, Plateau's revenues
actually grew by 100 percent annually!
What do you think are the biggest challenges right now for companies
that want to provide employee development and education?
I think the biggest challenge for companies wanting to provide employee
development and education is a mindset change at the senior executive
level. Let's be honest; human performance management has never been a
boardroom topic. Until recently, the title of Chief Learning Officer
didn't even exist. More and more organizations, however, are realizing
that the greatest assets they have are their people. And now, with
enterprise human performance management solutions, these assets can be
groomed and developed like never before-resulting in greater
productivity across the entire organization.
In order to capitalize on this opportunity, though, organizations are
going to have to adopt a more strategic approach to employee
development, an approach that will require a mindset change for most
senior level execs. Operations executives will have to sponsor this new
approach, encouraging their department vice presidents to define the
associated business processes. Information technology executives will
then have to sponsor and oversee the deployment of enterprise
performance management solutions to enable it.
What do you like best about what you do?
I love to visit our clients. There's nothing more redeeming than seeing
our solutions being leveraged across an entire organization, enhancing
literally thousands of employees' performance-helping them do their jobs
better.
do you know a local company we should cover? Let us know about it.
Send your local profile candidates to emillard@computeruser.com.
