Beauty Systems Group, Division of Sally Beauty Holdings Inc., Selects Vuepoint Learning System for Their Product Training Initiative
New York, NY- Beauty Systems Group a leading distributor and seller of professional beauty supplies in the United States, has chosen Vuepoint Learning System (VLS), a comprehensive software suite that enables companies to create, deliver, and manage learning, to carry out their product training initiative. Only three weeks after selecting VLS, Beauty Systems Group will have a branded learning portal due to Vuepoint’s rapid deployment process.
Beauty Systems Group sells and distributes professional salon beauty products to licensed cosmetologists and salons through a distributor network of stores and a direct sales force. The company sought an all-inclusive e-learning solution where vital proprietary product and brand knowledge could be assembled, delivered as training to their sales force, and learning effectiveness correlated with business performance. Vuepoint met all of these requirements with an efficient single solution in VLS that has been proven effective with several other category leaders.
Vuepoint will bring training at Beauty Systems Group to a whole new level. In combination with an already robust existing training program, VLS will allow training to be delivered faster than ever before. VLS will be used by the company’s entire field sales force to share knowledge about new product offerings, and to regulate sales practices across a distributed team. With over 9,500 products for hair, nail and skin care as well as a full range of salon equipment, thorough product training is an integral part of success at Beauty Systems Group.
“We have a unique training challenge within Beauty Systems Group. Our outside sales force of more than 1,000 commissioned consultants reps brands from almost two dozen manufacturers, with literally hundreds of new products every year. Up-to-date product knowledge is crucial. This is our first e-learning venture, and Vuepoint is taking all the fear out if it,” said Frank Ferry, Senior Director of Training for Beauty Systems Group.
“This is yet another example of how Vuepoint is empowering the sales channel by putting a corporation’s knowledge to work for them,” said Michael Backman, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Vuepoint.
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Vuepoint’s Client Community |
December Virtual Forum - A Preview of VLS 5.5
As the year comes quickly to a close, we look forward to a new year with new possibilities. For Vuepoint’s client community, 2007 will bring the launch of Vuepoint Learning System (VLS) 5.5 with improvements to existing features, and several new capabilities. At this month’s Virtual Forum held on December 7, 2006, Vuepoint’s manager of Product Development, Kamran Zahid, gave attendees a sneak peak of the new version of VLS and answered questions about the new features and capabilities that users can anticipate in Administrator, Portal, and Content Creator.
Zahid first demonstrated how VLS 5.5 Administrator will be revamped and able to cater to user’s personal needs now more than ever with new features like Outlook integration, enhanced HTML support, and ecommerce. Admin users can send and receive meeting requests, as well as purchase courses through VLS.
Many enhancements have been made to the Portal in VLS 5.5. Administrators can now customize portals for users, add new portals, and delete old ones. Search options have been enhanced as well: before users could only search for the course name, now users can search course objectives, course descriptions, audiences and event name fields, and results can be filtered as commanded by the user. Once results are displayed, courses can be launched or purchased from the search results page. Most importantly, the VLS Portal is now Section 508 compliant, a government standard to make websites more comprehensible for users with disabilities.
For course developers, Content Creator has been upgraded in VLS 5.5. Course developers have the ability to create and upload their own page templates in 5.5. Zahid exhibited all of the new features relating to task lists for Content Creators; task lists can now be created where project managers can assign tasks to team members. Progress on assignments can be tracked and notes can be added pertaining to specific jobs. Project managers can set priorities for each task listed so that projects are completed on schedule.
Zahid was only able to demonstrate several of the new features of VLS 5.5 within the one hour virtual forum, but he listed several other new features that would be added as he closed his demonstration. To see the list, the recorded presentation and the notes please visit our client forum website http://clientforum.vuepoint.com/.
Our Virtual Forum is held the first Thursday of every month. If you are interested in presenting at one of our Virtual Forums, please call our Vuepoint Offices at 1-888-883-7646 and speak with Mary Grace Sauve. You can also contact Mary Grace via email at msauve@vuepoint.com. To view recordings of past Virtual Forums, please visit http://clientforum.vuepoint.com/.
Follow Up: Benchmarking Forum
Several members of Vuepoint’s Client Community, including Brightpoint, The Hartford, Mercury Insurance, Motorola, Toyota France and Wisconsin Public Service, have expressed their interest in joining a Benchmarking Forum focused on Corporate Learning as a follow up to November’s Virtual Forum. Chuck O’ Keefe, Director of Performance Learning Services for NACCO Materials Handling Group Inc, shared his insight into the practice of Benchmarking during last month’s virtual forum. As he explained, Benchmarking is the process of “comparing your performance against the practices of other leading companies for the purpose of improving performance.”
O’Keefe will further explore the practice of Benchmarking with those interested at this follow up forum to be held in January. It’s not too late to sign up if you are interested, and O’Keefe welcomes your input as it relates to your objectives and goals for this conference. If you are interested in joining, please visit our Client Community site at http://clientforum.vuepoint.com/, call Vuepoint’s New York office and speak with Mary Grace Sauve or you can email Mary Grace at msauve@vuepoint.com.
Announcing Forum Live March 2007
Please save the date: Vuepoint will hold its next forum live March 13th-15th at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. Please attend our upcoming Virtual Forum on January 11th for additional details!
New Year’s Resolution: Lean Thinking in 2007, Getting Started!
New Years Resolutions: every year we make them and quickly break them! However, becoming a Leaner organization is a goal that Vuepoint always values, and the best way to help other organizations with the same goal is through sharing the knowledge that Vuepoint has used to grow in their Lean Thinking journey. In the last Inside Vue, we introduced the concept of Lean Thinking, and explained the core philosophy ‘less is more’: by eliminating waste we can add value to customers overall experience. Much like any ideology, there are central values on which Lean Thinking is built, examples of how Lean Thinking is transforming businesses every day, and tools that you can use to perpetuate the Lean Thinking philosophy throughout a company. To better understand Lean Thinking, we will first take a look at the pillars of the idea; Value, Flow and Mastery.
The first principle of Lean Thinking is Adding Value. One might say that this is the ultimate purpose of Lean Thinking, to transform action in your organization from routine, to processes that add value to your customer’s experience, and exceeds their expectations. In order to do this, individuals must approach their work with the mindset that the organization exists to create value for their client community.
In order to add value, an organization must Create Flow. Flow is created when a company builds strong positive relationships with their customers, and they seek to truly understand the needs of those customers. When there is an open dialogue with the purpose of improvement, companies have a clearer understanding of what will add value. Creating flow also means eliminating waste, and waste is easily eliminated when your company is only engaged around processes that are directly addressing the needs and wants of the customer.
The final principle is Achieving Mastery. Individuals within a lean organization are driven and encouraged to strive for their personal best, and to look for ways to continuously improve their work, product, and the customer’s experience. Mastery is achieved when mistakes or oversights are used as learning experiences, and group members are encouraged to solve problems creatively, and by working through a problem from the source.
Look at the following table, and answer the questions honestly as you think about your company or organization. This will help to determine how ‘Lean’ you already are!
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VALUE |
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Our workplace has a ‘customer centric’ culture. |
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We strive to exceed our customers’ expectations |
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We truly understand the needs and the wants of our client community |
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FLOW |
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We communicate frequently, openly and directly at our workplace. |
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We try to engage our employees in our processes and utilize their strengths. |
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We review our processes frequently to make sure that our customers are getting optimal value |
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MASTERY |
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Our employees are constantly striving to improve through intelligent risk taking and honoring individual diversity |
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We try to solve problems by getting to the root of the problem |
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We try to learn from mistakes and failures for the future |
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