Introducing Learn UP!, the Klépierre Group’s mobile learning app to accelerate and simplify the training challenge

The Klépierre Groupe is a major player in the shopping centre real estate market, with installations in 57 metropolitan areas across 16 countries. Its new communication tag-line “Shop. Meet. Connect” articulates its vision of a shopping centre where “shopping” is just one dimension of the value proposition, a living community where people and ideas cohabit and converge.

In response to the ever-evolving challenges and demands of its marketplace in a climate of ongoing digital transformation, Klépierre University has launched its first mobile training portal. It sees this initiative as a way to modernise its training content and instructional design philosophy, thereby driving innovation and accelerating the permanent upskilling of its 1300 staff.

A mobile learning solution to meet the expectations of Klépierre staff 

Pretty much the first thing that Klépierre Corporate University Manager Betty Abiliou did when she arrived in her job in late 2017 was to conduct a complete audit of her training offer and infrastructure. Combining this with a detailed analysis of the requirements of her internal staff target population, she was able to identify a number of key areas for progress: internationalisation of the training offer, reinforcement of the digital learning strategy and the introduction of new training formats. This led to the Klépierre University team making 3 fundamental commitments:

• Provide Klépierre staff with training programmes of much shorter duration, space those programmes out over time and reduce the time required for staff to access training,
• Internationalise more than 50% of their training offer by end of 2019,
• “Digitalise” more than 50% of the training offer using a mobile learning solution.

Their search for a mobile learning provider led the Klépierre University team to three potential partners. Teach on Mars was their unanimous choice, because in their words “it was the most elegant, user-friendly solution, with the most intuitive navigation and the highest quality learner experience». The option to incorporate Live! functionality enabling use of Teach on Mars activities in a classroom setting and the range of more than 15 different learning activities were extra deal-clinchers.

A perfect solution for spreading a consistent corporate message to populations spread throughout Europe

The new mobile learning solution will be used to communicate the strategy of the company across the entire workforce of 1300 staff, 500 of whom are based in more than 100 retail locations outside France (Spain, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Greece and Turkey). In such a context, it was essential that the training programmes, which are delivered by a large team of in-house trainers featuring a broad range of profiles, be based on a common core offer representing around 80% of the total catalogue. This was designed to facilitate consistent communication and promote a compelling and coherent presentation of the brand.

The Klépierre University therefore set about designing a series of training programmes on universal themes that are relevant for all staff: themes such as digital transformation, shopping centre “food strategy” and customer footfall through the centre, to name but a few! Once the content was created, the new Teach on Mars multilingual platform enabled easy translation and localisation for deployment in the 16 countries in which Klépierre operates. The transition to a mobile device delivery channel has been smooth and natural, as more than 900 Klépierre staff already have a company smartphone in addition to a computer.

Mobile learning activities have been incorporated into an overall blended learning offer as a complementary resource designed to reinforce and enhance traditional classroom training. The content that has been digitalised is mainly Group corporate messages and the more theoretical components of the training programmes, enabling these to be shared quickly and consistently in a dynamic and timely manner. The aim is not to eliminate face-to-face training altogether, but to focus those face-to-face phases on value-added learning activities based on interactive discussion and practical application .A Klépierre staffer sums up the positive reception the new mobile-enhanced solution has received: “It’s really flexible to use wherever and whenever I want on any device,. That means I can fit short training sessions into my schedule where they can be most easily accommodated, without having to block out anything from half a day to several days for a more traditional training programme.”

Smooth and rapid roll-out thanks to key stakeholder onboarding

Betty Abiliou and her team got all the key stakeholders on-board with the project from the very beginning. It took just two weeks, for example, for the Klépierre Group IT Department to confirm that the Teach on Mars solution could be integrated easily with the company’s existing information systems. Next, the project team worked with the Communication Department to finalise the visual identity of the new mobile app, as well as its name – ” Learn UP!” The HR team was also in the loop from the outset. Klépierre confirmed its order in December 2017 and by the end of January 2018 three new training programmes were already available via the new mobile portal and app. “I’ve rarely seen a deployment go so quickly,” enthuses Betty. ” From project launch to creation of ten new training programmes ready for roll-out took less than three months. We’d normally be looking at well over six months.” The team completed a phenomenal amount of work in those three months, including two months dedicated solely to a mini-pilot initiative which enabled 3 new mobile training programmes to be tested and validated by a group of around twenty in-house experts.

A 2-step trainer and learner “evangelisation” process

Some 35% of Klépierre University’s training programmes are delivered by members of staff who are content experts and “occasional” trainers. The project team held a first kick-off event to present the new mobile learning solution in mid-December. This showcase was used to underline the principles and benefits of the ATAWADAC  promise (AnyTime, AnyWhere, AnyDevice, AnyContent), revisit the well-known 70/20/10 professional learning model as well as unveil the new solution itself. To bring this event to life and give it extra impact, a specially developed demonstration app was deployed in advance on the Teach on Mars platform. This app placed the spotlight on the Live! functionality, which was used to great effect to enhance the classroom sessions with real-time competitive games pitting the participants against each other. “Everyone loved the new app – the rankings, the satisfaction survey, the Live! functionality – it was a resounding success! The Teach on Mars solution won everyone over – especially the Live! sessions, which stirred up real excitement,” recounts Betty Abiliou. The next step is to offer a series of dedicated content authoring workshops to be held in June 2018. These will be open to in-house trainers, any other interested staff members and all local HR staff in the 16 countries, provided they have completed at least three training courses in the app.

Beyond that, the project team’s ambitious challenge is to accelerate staff member competency development and increase access to training (already very high at 92% in 2017) to 100% of staff by the end of 2022!

Betty Abiliou of Klépierre shares her best practices for making a success of your mobile learning project:

• • Get all key stakeholders on board as soon as possible – preferably before the project rolls out.
    In practice this means getting a wide variety of in-house experts involved as early as possible with representation from the IT and communication departments, as well as HR.
  • Identify and engage with key strategic ambassadors for the project launch. In our case, the support of the Commercial Director, Development Director and HR Director were all critical in ensuring deployment of the project throughout the group.
  • Test the App as extensively before launch – and that includes having it tested by as many operational staff members as possible. In my view this was a critical success factor for us.

View a video interview with Betty Abiliou filmed at the Teach on Mars Partner Forum on March 8 2018 !

See the Learn UP! App official communication poster