WatchGuard Technologies offers integrated security solutions to small and mid-sized businesses that give them protection from viruses and hackers. They currently have 330 employees located primarily in Washington and California. They first started working with Business Training Library in December of 2002. At that time, they started their Lending Library membership at Borrowing Level 4, giving them access to any four titles in the Library at any one time. They also opted to give 25 of their employees access to the Business & Professional Skills catalog from Business Training Library’s e-learning course catalog. In August of 2003, they upgraded their Library membership to Borrowing Level 10 and then again to Level 20 in October of that same year.

Challenges:
WatchGuard was founded in 1996. Eight years later, they're no longer the mom and pop organization that they once were. At 330 employees, and doing their best to promote from within and move to the next level, their growing pains demanded that they develop a real training program. They realized that their individual departments were working in silos as opposed to working together and learning from one another. With management and communication skills as their focus, they began their journey.

Implementation:
WatchGuard opted to take a blended learning approach. They recognized the need immediately to deliver their training program in multiple different formats. The Lending Library has been made available to all employees and specific departments receive access to internally driven classroom training using library resources. They've also given their managers access to web-based courses from Business Training Library. This collection of options came to be known as the "Raise the Bar" program.
Knowing that she was starting from scratch, Kelly Wedeking, Training Manager, knew that marketing the program was going to be vital to its ultimate success. She immediately began her internal marketing plan to make their staff aware of these new offerings. Senior management announced each of these segments to their staff through an all company meeting and then followed it up with an email campaign. They posted the course catalogs and schedules on their intranet. Everyone can view courses there and then they submit their orders to Kelly. Kelly then submits her orders to her Account Manager at Business Training Library.

Initially, they experienced a slow-start. Eventually though, word of mouth moved things along. Kelly began a voluntary monthly video program for managers. This went on for eight months. Those managers, who attended the sessions, immediately saw the value of using video training and began using courses in their own departments. Demand grew from there and they quickly found themselves in a position to upgrade. Once things were up and running, Kelly began spending less of her time marketing the "Raise the Bar" program.

Now, Kelly offers monthly, voluntary "Study Hall" sessions, held in their boardroom from 2:00 to 4:00 time. This "Study Hall" is an opportunity for them to get a way from the phone calls and emails and concentrate on their training and career development. It also gives them an opportunity to work with their peers, ask one another questions and solve problems together. These sessions have worked to bring training to the forefront of their managers' minds.

Benefits:
"The biggest benefit I've received from my decision to go with Business Training Library has been the attentiveness of the Account Management staff. I come to them with these crazy requests and they always seem to find something that meets our needs, " say Kelly.

Results:
"The biggest result of the "Raise the Bar" program on our staff has been the boost in morale. Our employees now know that senior management is behind them," says Kelly. "They now really understand that we're here to support them in their career growth."

WatchGuard has also received feedback from their managers indicating that now they feel that they have the tools to move themselves and their departments on to the next level. "Our biggest goal was to increase our communication skills and we definitely accomplished that. It easy to see in our everyday interaction with one another that we're working together more as a team now, learning from one another and sharing best practices. We've also been able to improve our internal processes, making us all that more efficient," reports Kelly.

Conclusion:
WatchGuard has successfully been able to implement a world-class training program while still staying within a budget that would work for their organization. "We've clearly found a cost-effective and easily accessible method, a big benefit in such a fast-paced environment, to increase our employee training. The best part is the majority of the responsibility of growth is on the employees. They make the decision how and when they want to move forward within the company."