Measurement of Business Impact

With an informal, user-generated approach to developing content for learning, Sun Microsystems has created a delivery platform, the Sun Learning eXchange (SLX), that delivers timelier, quality content with drastically less expense than instructor-led and web-based training. The development costs are so much lower for SLX, the ROI versus web-based training is 7,505 percent. As impressive as that is, perhaps most encouraging about this new delivery platform is the high, and growing rate of user acceptance.

When Sun Microsystems measured the impact of their mentoring program they discovered some of the positive business results they expected to see (i.e., positive retention rates, salary grade increases, etc.), and a few they did not. The most dramatic finding was the difference in retention among participants over non-participants - a difference that translated into savings of $6.7 million.

Learn how a Fortune 500® company created value on many levels because of its proactive approach to measurement. Sun Microsystems conducted a study of its multiple training delivery systems, discovering redundancies and inconsistencies. By implementing a centralized system, Sun Microsystems increased enrollment efficiencies and cost savings, and created a baseline for other decisions concerning similar systems issues.

A Sun Microsystems study reveals how advances in statistical methods and technology permitted learning leaders to isolate complex multiple variable interactions, measure ROI, provide detailed analyses of specific business outcomes, and create the data required to improve the productivity of learning investments in the future.