Freemantle Media, one of the largest international creators and producers of programme brands in the world, sought HR software to manage its 3,000 employees. Read on to learn how Ciphr Training was implemented within the company.

Fremantle is currently using HR software from specialist providers, Computers In Personnel (CIP), to manage its people, data and HR needs. Fremantle’s Susanna Long is responsible for world-wide training and development. Her global responsibilities mean that she is supporting the needs of over 3,000 staff worldwide.

The challenge
In a busy HR and training and development operation, it became clear that some of the processes needed to change to meet the training needs of its employees.

Fremantle is an organisation that is committed to its people and the development of their skills. Despite an eight strong team of HR professionals using a mixture of manual processes and Excel spreadsheets to hold data, the team sought a better way to manage and oversee its training offering and to document the progress of its human capital, its employees.

Training databases and processes required flexibility and needed regular updates in order to assess and analyse the progress of individuals and teams. Changes to the process would allow for more online training programmes which could be delivered with ease and be simple to manage.

The solution
Before a new system was selected, Long met with three providers. Following CIP’s appointment she comments: “The team and I needed a solution that was flexible, simple and easy to use. Unlike some software solutions, CIP’s Ciphr Training has lots of functionality and I can see its potential to grow and develop with us as we increase programmes of learning in the future.”

She adds: “Choosing Ciphr came easily to the team and I for a variety of reasons including CIP’s reputation as a company that understands HR needs and has HR expertise. The provision of ongoing support is very appealing to our organisation and the ability for the software to link to other HR software programmes made it a compelling offer to select them as a provider.”

The benefits
The relationship began in February 2005 and within five months the new system was live and operational. Ciphr Training allows Long to analyse skills gaps in her workforce and ensure employees are trained to perform their job roles to the best of their ability. The move from manual processes to Ciphr Training ensures Long can calculate the cost and benefit of training and to report on the return of investment of training and development programmes with a view to align it to the bottom line of business.

Long and a colleague have attended CIP training courses to gain a greater insight into the functionality of the software. So far Long has calculated that the introduction of Ciphr Training reduces the administration of Fremantle’s training provision by 50%. This is equivalent to half a person, a resource that can be used to help develop HR initiatives, think about wider issues such as communications and new training or support more strategic work.

Long reports to Fremantle's HR director who sits on the board, Ciphr enables her to use its extensive reporting capability to review Fremantle's training programmes. All employees have comprehensive training records and Long is able to produce country reports for the senior management team.

“CIP’s training solution was and continues to be user friendly which is exactly what we sought,” comments Long. “Prior to selecting Ciphr Training, we used a number of manual processes and held data on Excel to manage over 30 courses. With a number of additional courses now on offer, Ciphr Training has been a smooth transition and works well to meet our needs.”