Case study: How a telecom major reimagined future of work

With the rapid shift in customer expectations and the changing telecom environment, a leading multinational telecommunications groups in Asia recognized the need to enhance their organizational capability and upskill their sales and digital workforce. The key challenges included the lack of a scalable model for learning and development, multiple disparate learning processes, generic learning tracks and inadequate measurement of outcomes from existing learning programs. This necessitated the client to centralize, standardize and streamline their learning processes across its operating units based in different geographical markets.

With the objective to build a best-in-class learning academy, the telecom giant brought EY on-board to achieve the following aspirations:

• Inculcate future-ready and high impact skill-sets within the sales and digital workforce
• Facilitate meaningful career experiences with the right mix of business and technical skills
• Enhance employee skills levels to reach global industry standards

To realize the client’s aspirations, EY embarked on an eight-month long talent transformation initiative, leveraging EY Spotmentor, an AI-driven integrated skills, learning and careers platform. With a six-stage process, this cloud-based SaaS technology platform became the bedrock for the upskilling and reskilling process. 

1. Market skills benchmarking: EY Spotmentor tool assessed job descriptions in the telecom sector to identify emerging, current and declining skills along with the proficiency levels for the designated roles. Basis this assessment, success profiles (target capabilities for each role) were developed for the different roles.
2. Skills assessment:  A group of 600 participants were identified for a pilot project. EY conducted a pre-learning assessment leveraging its digital accelerator, Competency Connect, to run virtual assessments for the identified participants. Assessment results were integrated with EY Spotmentor’s assessment framework to identify a comprehensive skill profile of every user. The assessment module baselined the current skill levels and subsequently identified developmental areas by comparing the assessment results to success profiles.
3. Designing a holistic learning framework: EY subject matter experts equipped with consulting and technology domain capabilities came together to design a comprehensive learning framework, comprising of a self-paced online learning component, instructor-led live virtual sessions and a live project. Based on the framework, learning design principles were developed for over 20 job roles across sales and digital-led domains.
4. Rolling-out personalized learning pathways:  Basis the skill gap and the learning framework, EY Spotmentor curated personalized learning pathways by sourcing content from multiple external sources, which was personalized for each participant.
5. Post-learning skills assessment: A post-learning assessment was conducted for all the participants through the AI-driven platform. The assessment was followed by a manager validation step to check the level of skills for each individual. This helped in measuring the skill development progress for each participant.
6. Measuring impact:  EY identified success metrics such as program feedback, improvement in skill levels and the ROI from the program leveraging data analytics. The metrics were tracked and the program was fine-tuned to ensure the achievement of the desired outcomes.