Gilbert

CD-ROMs Drive Consumer Action

After a fairly short respite, America Online is back to sending its famous (or infamous?) CD-ROM discs.   These CDs “drive” new users to AOL, making it easy to get started.   AOL signups dropped dramatically when AOL slowed, and eventually stopped, their CD-ROM campaigns. But signups immediately picked back up when the discs hit the nation’s mailboxes.   What does this mean to you and me?  

AOL’s CD-ROM experience proves that putting something tangible in the hands of the consumer has a certain power. In fact, AOL’s founder has been heard to say that the CD-ROMs were the number one reason AOL went from small time to big time, “There’s a reason why every person in America is getting bombarded with these things….They work!”

While advertising hits us from all directions all the time, it’s hard for any one ad to stand out and harder still to get the consumer to do something about it.    But put a product sample – or a CD-ROM – in my mailbox; and I can’t help but be curious about what it does.   In fact, if you make that CD-ROM in credit card size, I just have to put it in my computer to see what happens!  

AOL is probably the best example of the use of CDs to encourage computer users to “go online.”   The Internet has generated many new ways of marketing, e-mail being in the forefront.   But e-mail has lost a lot of appeal due to overabundance, a la spam.   Putting a sample product in consumer hands still works and that’s how the CD-ROM is perceived.

CD-ROMs in the Energy Business

Apogee Interactive’s been providing the power of CD-ROMs to its clients for some time. We call most of these CDs “drivers” because they are often used to drive customers to hidden web sites for special information and functionality. But their objectives can vary,

from providing a major information source on commercial/industrial segment energy use (see http://sdreo.apogee.net ) to program introduction and enrollment systems (http://disc.apogee.net/bpa_cd/ ).  

One such mini-disc CD we produced contains considerable content on Touchstone Energy® homes and drives the customer to a customized Apogee Residential Calculator.   Once there, the customer information is captured and sent daily or weekly back to the sponsoring utility for follow-up or market research purposes.

Time and again we have found that combining online functionality with a CD-ROM driver makes the promotion of the programs and services offered doubly effective – and increases program participation.  

Smaller is Better

We’ve also learned that while you can put a great deal of information on a full-size CD, it is far better to produce a credit card size (CCCD) or a mini-disc size.  It’s the novelty factor!  

One client had us produce both sizes. They ran out of the credit card size discs quickly but still have full-size discs on hand. We concluded two reasons for this:

1) The reps handing the discs out were eager to show the credit card size editions to their customers, and

2) Customers asked for them when they saw others had them!  People were curious to see how they worked due to their odd size and shape.

Let the Web Do the Work

We also discovered it’s far more efficient and cost-effective to place a minimum amount of content on the actual CD and integrate it with the website.   Here’s why:

All dynamic elements can be updated instantaneously on your website without having to reproduce the CDs.

Enrollments, sign-ups, surveys, etc. can be immediately databased from the website for ease of use and tracking.  

Customer interest and activity generated by the CD disc can be immediately determined by running an analysis of your site traffic before and ask the disc distribution. (Other than coupons, no other advertising form can provide this exact measurement.)

 It’s less expensive to produce the CD if you allow your website to do the “heavy lifting.” A full-function CD with multiple animations and applications could run $100,000 while a brief yet enticing “overview” CD with links to the website might run $5,000. And that includes design, content, writing and graphics!  

So you see, product advertising comes in a new form.   And providing a needed service with easy access is always a winner. Let CD-ROM drivers give easy access to your customers. Call us and we’ll help you get started.

Learning & Training Week Highlights

Known as one of the largest events in the training industry,      Learning & Training Week ’03 drew nearly 5,000 attendees to   Washington DC’ s brand new convention center April 28-May 1.   Attendance was dominated by the healthcare, military, and education sectors, but Brenda Williams (senior training analyst with FPL) and I (Susan Gilbert, president of Apogee) found ourselves right at home with our fellow speakers and attendees: We all grapple with how to make new training techniques work in today’s workplace.

What Brought Us to D.C.

In our joint presentation at the conference, “Training & Certification Achieved with Blended Learning,” Brenda and I shared how we delivered energy auditor training and certified more than 200 FPL customer service representatives in the Spring and Fall of 2002, using a blended solution.   Click here for the complete presentation.

                                                          Brenda Williams, FPL (left) & Susan Gilbert, Apogee Interactive

Keynote Speaker Practiced What He Preached

If you look really closely at this picture of the  general session, you might be able to tell that the top-billed speaker and distance learning guru Elliott Masie is not really there. Instead, practicing what he preaches, he joined the session seamlessly via projection screens and lead the panel discussion with ease. The room was so large, most had to squint to see the six panelists Elliott interacted with . In fact, if he hadn't made a point of telling everyone he was speaking from his home office, some would have never known the  difference.

Here are some of the key points from this session:

More Personalized, Job-Integrated :   When Elliott bought a new set of cooking pans from an online retailer, he received an e-mail a month or so later letting him know they had noticed he did not buy a certain style pan. Since that pan was on special that month, they wondered if he’d like to purchase it.  

In his view, this experience encapsulated where business and training are headed: more personalized and adapted to fill just the voids a person has. Training will be highly personalized and more integrated into the job rather than something an employee goes and does separately.

Instant Access, Not Memorization:   The panelist from the US Department of Defense used this example to express his vision for training. “Today, a soldier uses a handheld device that allows him to look up words so he can communicate with Iraqis, but in the not too distant future, the soldier will speak into a device that translates his words into the appropriate language.”  

Training is evolving from having people memorize material to enabling them to access just what they need when they need it, fast-forwarding over the training step to doing it for them.   This means less emphasis on knowing it and more reliance on knowing where to get it. It means delivering training assets directly into the job environment.

Another speaker made the same point with this story: An older doctor chided his younger counterpart for using a Palm Pilot at a patient’s bedside to look up and enter care information.  The young doctor replied, “I was reassured that it’s alright to do this by a priest who assured me that he is never far from his Bible.” While the priest knows the Bible’s text very well, he doesn’t try to keep it all in his head.  

Delivering training at the point of need was a strong theme throughout the conference. One speaker labeled this phenomena: embedding instructional design into the job.

Don’t Practice on Customers.   Simulations were repeatedly praised as an exceptionally good training technique, especially when the gaming aspect of competition is brought into play.   The healthcare panelist made the point by saying, tongue-in-cheek, they’ve found it best not to practice on patients.   Better to learn in a lab or succeed on a simulator before trying something new with a patient – or customer.

At Apogee, we’ve found the same to be true and have created numerous online learning simulations covering everything from handling customers on the phone, selling energy solutions in-person, auditing a home, specifying a distributed generation system, managing risk, trading electricity, and managing a utility as a business.

Summary

I found the conference to be an excellent source for new ideas as well as reinforcement of what Apogee’s been about for the past 10 years – increasing training’s effectiveness with just-in-time electronic training and simulations. At Apogee, we began with CD-based media then migrated quickly to Web-enabled media. And although we’re a pioneer in this field and now have a decade of experience, it’s clear that eLearning continues to be in an ongoing, evolutionary state.  

I encourage all of you to submit ideas for next year’s conference or at a minimum look into attending (www.LTImagazine.com).   If you don’t subscribe to their free newsletter, here’s the link to get enrolled (www.advanstar.com/subscribe/elrn/).   It will keep you posted of calls for papers and meeting schedules.

Web Audit Sets Stage for eStrategy

With its website nearing 5 years of age, Warren Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation (WRECC) in Bowling Green, KY, knew it was time for a “next generation” site. The cooperative had been adding interactive capabilities such as e-billing, online bill review and payment, and online enrollment for long distance telephone services over time, but it needed a comprehensive approach. WRECC engaged Apogee Interactive’s eBusiness Assessment service to help develop and set a new eStrategy in motion.

WRECC wanted to increase its understanding and use of additional website options and determine where it should focus resources on further eBusiness investments. After hearing winning website strategies employed by energy companies from around the U.S. at Apogee’s Annual Web Workshop last fall, WRECC’s Rick Carroll tapped Apogee to provide an evaluation of its current eBusiness capabilities, relative to key success factors employed by other cooperatives and utilities.

“ We wanted a third party to give us an unbiased evaluation of our website and tell us what was good, what could be improved and options that could be utilized to enhance the site in such a way that it would provide the tools and applications that will benefit our members,” said Carroll, key program coordinator for WRECC.

Three Key Assessment Elements

Commencing with a series of key management interviews to set direction and purpose, Apogee developed a comprehensive review of WRECC’s current eBusiness situation, along with a scorecard based on industry benchmarks.   Apogee’s evaluation first focused on these three elements:

Content – The main differentiator among utility websites, distinguishes high performing, frequently visited sites. Includes design, navigation, purpose, readability, usability, interactivity, and more.

Functionality – The necessary component of all websites. Should provide a positive browsing experience. Includes compatibility, speed, data entry, document downloads, email, external links and more.

Governance – Behind the scenes criteria such as maintenance, feedback, promotion and strategy.

The assessment then went on to rank and rate each of these areas in great detail relative to WRECC’s purposes and industry best practices.

Results Fuel Strategy

The resulting analysis provided a roadmap of actionable recommendations to help guide WRECC’s next steps. Specific activities are already underway to help implement the highest-priority suggestions, which were discussed and outlined in a workshop with WRECC’s management team.

WRECC’s Rick Carroll states, “ We knew the evaluation was objective, because some of the areas Apogee suggested that could use improvement were not even products or services they offer.   We have total confidence in Apogee and their professional team.”

            Gary Dillard (left) and the WRECC management team

            review the results from the ebusiness Assessment

If you’re ready for a professional evaluation and review of your website and eBusiness activities, contact us at 770-270-6501.

Joel Gilbert Addresses DOE Vision Session

Joel Gilbert, CEO of Apogee, recently addressed a very select group of senior executives and government officials on the future of the national electrical system.   This “Vision Meeting” was hosted in Washington D.C. by the U.S. Department of Energy.  

For perhaps the first time, demand response was formally included with equal status alongside the issues of generation, transmission, and distribution resources. And, Joel was asked to present the overall strategic role of demand response and to participate in the brainstorming sessions that followed.

Joel emphasized that "consumer demand response (where customers reduce electric demand during times of high market prices and/or system reliability events) represents a diverse and robust resource and can be a vital element in the operational security and cost management of our energy infrastructure." He urged participants to factor this potentially environmentally friendly resource into the nation's blueprint of policies, programs and technologies needed to improve the country's aging electrical system.

The conference marked the first step in the DOE's national effort to strengthen America's electric delivery system, as directed by President George W. Bush. Under Secretary of Energy Robert Card tasked the attendees to identify priorities for a national vision for the U.S. transmission system. Results from this 1½-day session will set forth the guiding principles for additional brainstorming sessions slated for this summer to develop of a roadmap of technology solutions for the nation's transmission infrastructure.

Joel also emphasized that while demand response can be a lower cost and operationally superior resource than supply side options (because demand response is "already delivered"), the boom-bust economic valuation cycles in regional energy markets work against energy companies trying to offer stable, long-term demand response programs. These cycles also dissuade customers from participating in such programs.

Joel introduced a "regional demand response reserve bank" model that would use a longer-term risk pooling mechanism to stabilize valuations and aggregate significant demand response, enabling it to be actively traded against supply side alternatives.

"The demand response reserve bank facilitates the creation of a large resource that system planners can deploy much like they access other power supply resources," Gilbert said.

Similar in concept to capital markets which use asset tagging to securitize loans, this reserve bank would purchase a portfolio of proven demand response in return for combination fixed plus pay-for-performance rewards to participating customers, Gilbert explained. These proven blocks of aggregated long-term demand response enable the underwriter to structure liquid market-facing agreements.

“The meeting participants seemed genuinely interested in and supportive of the reserve bank approach,” commented Gilbert. “However, concerns about supply-side planning issues tended to dominate the discussions.” Gilbert also noted that, not unsurprisingly, DOE’s primary long-term focus remains on identifying and implementing research and development projects.

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