ON24 Launches Virtual Training Platform

Leading Virtual Communications Provider Announces Virtual Corporate University 

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – May 16, 2012 – ON24, Inc., the leader in webcasting and virtual event solutions, announced today a new virtual training platform that is a first-of-its kind solution for corporate learning. Designed to facilitate an engaging and interactive learning experience, the ON24 Virtual Corporate University (VCU) provides efficient delivery of online training – to any device, anytime, anywhere in the world. Particularly well suited for large enterprises and global companies, the ON24 platform facilitates institutional knowledge transfer, peer collaboration and social learning, enabling organizations to build a more effective workforce while reducing the disruption and cost associated with in-person training.

With support for centralized, functional and geography-specific training, the VCU features virtual auditoriums for company-wide presentations and virtual classrooms for collaboration and instructional sessions. For “one-to-many” presentations, the virtual training platform enables live webcasts such as town hall meetings and large-scale executive addresses. The social learning tools encourage learner interaction and collaboration, including integrated social media sharing, blogs, forums and group discussions, complementing the multitude of systems that make up the fabric of today’s “social business.”

Additional features of the virtual training platform include enterprise integration, allowing connection to Learning Management Systems and collateral/document repositories, while training measurement functionality highlights key metrics such as attendance, number of discussions/chats, documents downloaded and time spent in the virtual environment – providing meaningful insight into learner participation and completion rates. Its enterprise-class security ensures that only authorized individuals have access to the environment, and its “roles” feature allows companies to customize the experience and training for a learner’s position within the company. Finally, ON24’s VCU includes geography-specific virtual classrooms that enable country/market localization, with the ability to “toggle” between as many as 15 languages.

“With our innovative new virtual training platform, ON24 has developed an engaging training solution that serves global companies even more effectively,” commented Sharat Sharan, CEO of ON24. “The ON24 virtual learning solution gives the end user unprecedented access to online educational content while enabling employers to scale virtual training quickly, share institutional knowledge more effectively, and save time and cost versus live training.”

Built on ON24’s robust virtual communications platform, the Virtual Corporate University provides employees with a choice of learning methods that enables them to learn in the ways that work best for them and to more effectively perform their jobs. The VCU supports a variety of corporate educational initiatives and programs, including:

• New Hire Onboarding – delivering an engaging, effective and consistent onboarding experience for new hires and enabling a global orientation process.
• Leadership and Management Development – flexible access to online training content, so managers can more conveniently fit training into their schedules.
• Sales /Employee Training – with an emphasis on new products, services, policies and skills, as well as providing direct access to subject matter experts for technical Q&A.
• Partner Training – informing partners about products, services and new technologies and programs. The VCU environment also provides a channel for timely partner feedback.
• Client Education – driving participation in new product and service training while enabling customers to discuss common issues and share best practices.

ON24 Virtual Training Use Case: Sodexo

An early adopter, the Education Market Group of Sodexo has achieved cost savings and ROI by leveraging the Virtual Corporate University model. A provider of integrated food and facilities management services to educational institutions, the $3 billion Education Market Group uses online training to deliver regular career development and technical updates to its workers.

By implementing the ON24 virtual learning solution for their last winter meeting, Sodexo provided first-time training to new hires and job-specific educational updates to some 4,500 existing employees. Executive presentations and Q&A sessions were enhanced with “Show Your Sodexo Spirit,” a contest that saw employees submit award nominations to reinforce the group’s values and brand message. Sodexo leveraged this user-created content to drive adult learning while increasing attendance, training consistency and engagement – delivering some 59,000 hours of instruction and achieving a cost savings of $1.4 million in comparison to live training events.

About ON24, Inc.

ON24, the virtual communications platform for the global enterprise, provides interactive, impactful cloud-based solutions that drive outstanding results. ON24 offers a broad and innovative product portfolio, including webcasting, virtual events and virtual environments, accessible from any device and supported by robust reporting and analytics. Applications for the ON24 communication platform include demand generation, partner enablement, training, product launches, company town hall meetings and user conferences. More than 700 organizations, including IBM, CA Technologies, Merck, Unilever, JPMorgan Chase, Deloitte, Credit Suisse, Ernst & Young, Amazon and New York Life, rely on ON24. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices throughout the world. For more information, visit https://www.ON24.com.