XpertLearning has been delivering online Learning, Talent and Performance systems for the past 10 years in Oman. It’s ironic that there has been significant growth for us since we established an office in Muscat.
I say ironic because in our world of online communication, the education of our industry and relationship building still has to be performed face to face.
Our first customers in Oman came from Banking and Finance, Oil and gas and Aviation industry, this is due in the most part to these industry having regulatory bodies ensuring compliance based learning. For example all employees in a bank have to know Anti money laundering and information security. It’s a no brainer for us when it comes to tracking and reporting this has taken place, as we are easily able to track the following.
- Who has accessed the courses
- How many times
- Which courses were accessed
- From where (home or work)
- What was the test scores
- How long did they take
All of this data can be reported in real time so imagine trying to report all this detail back on the old school instructor led training model.
I am seeing more and more other industries now look to create their own compliance around learning & development.
For example Construction will mandate project managers attain or upkeep their PMI and HSE qualifications, Retail and Hospitality and introducing e-learning as part of probationary periods and on-boarding and other industries are mapping mission, vision and values statements to online courseware.
As Oman continues its growth and modernisation we are seeing more organisations coming to us to consult on how to make learning, talent and performance management both automated more cost effective.
Another reason for the increase these days is that the individual has become more adept at managing their own learning and education. Today and quick “google” search and a short “You Tube” video can be a great way for performance support or learning intervention. The challenge with this however is the dirge of irrelevant content and inconsistency in quality, let alone the authority from whence it came
To this end XpertLearning are helping more and more organisations build their own knowledge and talent management portals and corporate/business universities. This way all the content can be disseminated ensuring quality, relevance and context whether it is courseware bought “off the shelf” or custom built.
I am excited about the Oman nationals and their insatiable thirst for knowledge, information and personal development and look forward to assisting both nationals and expatriates in the country to improve their performance as they contribute to the improvement of performance for their respective organisations.
-Paul Michael Gledhill is the Co-Founder and Executive Director – XpertLearning
