Allens Training
Jim & Mardi from Allens Training with the Training Desk development team
Interviewee: Jim Allen, owner
Industry: Workplace Training and Supplies
Company size: National reach
Solution focus: End-to-end administration for all training stakeholders
Product: ‘Training Desk’
Allens Training Pty Ltd, along with their network of over 400 accredited training partners all over Australia, offer a large variety of nationally recognised courses to individuals, organisations and groups.
Their courses encompass all aspects of competency in first aid, health and safety and fire and emergency. Allens Training offer unmatched flexibility in training delivery modes, fitting into the busiest of schedules and any type of working environment.
As an established national training provider, the Allens family realised the limitations of their CRM-style administration system some years ago. Although that system had been custom-built, but over time, Allens lost the ability to influence changes to the system. Also, the old system was holding back business growth because of issues around reliability, speed and usability.
Looking for the right developer
Jim Allen, owner, took the time to engage with a number of software developers, even evaluating and trialling both off-the-shelf and bespoke systems. As he recalls,
“With our unique business model and partner relationships, it was difficult to source systems that supported all the stakeholders to the degree we needed.”
Enter Jake Webber and the Webbernet team, who offered exactly what they were looking for – people willing to be totally engaged with the business and work in great detail, with an agile and responsive approach.
A system for multiple levels of users, with multi-dimensional interaction
Reliability and data integrity are critical elements for this type of administration management system, given the large number of partners and their clients - and their employees who are the end users undertaking the training courses.
To add to complexity, students build relationships with Allens Training as well as the training partner, so there are multi-dimensional layers of interaction and access to the Training Desk system for every level of user, at any time. State and national regulations are also an important consideration, as ongoing accreditation relies on record keeping, data integrity and clear audit trails.
Getting it right – and growing it right
In the early phases, Jake addressed all the partners at their annual conference, and spent significant time in the offices of a representative group, learning how they operated, how the customer journey worked, how they interacted with current systems and where the bottlenecks were.
Webbernet engaged and deployed specialist developers to deliver various elements, producing validated, workable systems that would reduce administration time for every end user and produce reliable reports for key metrics.
It was no surprise that the foundations (always the most important part of any great edifice) of Training Desk were a full two years in development, although elements of the system were deployed along the way.
“The system was built in a way that we had an alternative delivery mode ready that we just hadn’t rolled out yet. Within two weeks we had a fully functional online mode for all stakeholders. Our competitors simply weren’t equipped to do that. We’ve experienced far less competition during COVID-19 than we would have normally.”
Five years on, the system remains adaptable to business growth and dynamic end user requirements and is continually developing. For example, Allens Training were ahead of the game when the pandemic hit, and online became the only available mode of delivery:
Training Desk – the win/win system
From Allens’ viewpoint, confidence in successfully managing regulatory risks and easily managing audit processes and procedures was critical. After the system went fully live in 2019, they could efficiently produce any record or documentation on demand.
The benefits for the partners and their clients have been astounding. Training Desk effectively removes the ‘glass ceiling’ from training providers who were finding administration was taking up the same amount of time as teaching. Now, they’re able to teach five days a week, and spend about an hour on admin outside of training time.
Training Desk puts more tools at the partners’ disposal to offer their clients, allowing them to differentiate from competitors. Clients have access to client portals and can self-manage their records – reducing administration time and increasing retention because clients can rely on Training Desk to manage their training data. It’s a win-win all round.
Measurable success across the board
Allens Training appreciate the competitive advantage that Training Desk delivers. Since the system rolled out, they’ve doubled the number of both partners and students. Even more impressively, since Training Desk rolled out their partner retention rate has been 100%.
And it’s not just Allens Training that have benefited – partners have noted growth jumping from 10% per annum before Training Desk, to between 20% and 30% since the system was implemented.
Initially, project goals focused on downtime and disruption resolution, and supporting the business for long term sustainability while reducing exposure to compliance risk. All those goals have been met – but the real icing on the cake is the organic growth of partners using Allens Training’s business model, and their individual successes.
Whether you need an MVP or a full administrative overhaul, Webbernet can help. We operate a lean team, scaling our software solutions to your requirements and focusing specialist developers to get the job done right, first time.