Toolkit: Axonify Revealed

Havingbeen in this business for 33 years, I’ve seen a lot of changes occur witheLearning tools, some for the better and some for the worse. There is no doubtthat we are in the midst of another transformative state in the eLearning worldwith new tool and platform solutions popping up in the market.

I’vemade mention that, at times, I see new tools that I find truly disappointing becausethey don’t seem to have much instructional value, only a strong sales messagethat seems to be geared toward corporate accountants rather than learningexecutives. I don’t write reviews on tools I don’t like, because I would ratherfocus on those tools I think will be helpful to you, the learning professional.

Whilesome new tools and platforms are lacking in many ways, others I find unique andinnovative. There’s no question in my mind that most organizations are nothappy with the choices of learning management systems (LMSs) that are availableto them. LMSs, especially those constrained by SCORM, don’t give enoughmeaningful data results. So now we are seeing options for significant corporatelearning that are moving past the traditional LMS at an increasingly fast pace,bringing new learning opportunities to market that go far beyond managing andauthoring courses and content. I see this as a very good trend.

An employee knowledgeplatform

Axonifyis one such offering that I’ve found. While Axonify straight-out states that itis not an LMS, it has a few similarities but then goes a whole lot further intothe world of building, measuring, and adjusting employee knowledge. It callsitself an “employee knowledge platform,” and in many ways it’s evident that itis built on new technologies and practices. It is currently geared towardlarger commercial enterprises with a particular focus on five verticals:

• Retail
• Workplace safety
• Professional sales
• Call centers
• Finance and insurance

However,I see no reason why Axonify can’t be used within a wide range of use cases and industries,given its approach to the ecosystem of learning that supports the entirejourney of learning rather than just the formal training component. In otherwords, it’s not just about delivering interactive content, but it makes it partof the journey of learning. Figure 1 illustrates how the Axonify company seesthe ecosystem of learning, centered on the employee the entire time.

Figure 1:How Axonify sees an employee-centered ecosystem

Havingfocus areas does not mean that Axonify doesn’t work within other areas, too,but I see the wisdom in having defined vertical markets, especially ones thatare as large as those listed above.

Key ideas

Sowhat does the Axonify platform do? How is it different?

Thekey ideas behind Axonify are:

• Learning should be continuous and reinforced (threeto four minutes per day). The Axonify continuous-learning approach is meant to drivebusiness results. It does this with integrated training and transfer, ofcourse, but also by allowing for recurrent learning, which leads to sustainment.Finally, it also acts as knowledge on demand for the organization.
• Micro-sized content is easier to consume, retain,and apply in many, perhaps most, cases. Sometimes I’ve seen the idea of“microlearning” go too far, but there’s no question that it can be much easierto digest shorter learning content, just as we’re told that it would be betterfor us to eat six small meals a day rather than three big ones.
• I like that Axonify makes it easier to create learningso that it is specific (and adaptive) to each employee based on the employee’s strengthsand weaknesses, ensuring that employees get help where they need it and aren’twasting time where they don’t.
• When employees need an answer, they should haveimmediate and easy access to information that reflects corporate practices,instead of Googling random pages that may not adhere to company beliefs.Axonify makes this easier, too.
• Axonify does allow delivery of the learning infun and engaging ways, including the use of game-based play and game mechanics.This helps most employees to stay engaged rather than feel forced toparticipate in the learning.
• Leaders can also use the platform to gain insightthrough very good analytic data. This lets them help any employees who seem tobe struggling by providing  coaching opportunitiesfor those employees.
• I would never be one to say that learning shouldbe a business, but certainly learningshould be tied to the actual businessin which the employee is engaged. This starts with knowledge acquisition, ofcourse, but Axonify helps to tie the outcome of that to the employee’s behaviorsand actions. Finally, it makes it easier to judge whether or not businessresults are improving because of the learning.

Theabove could just be buzzwords, but Axonify seems to be doing it right. I saythis because the company has put a lot of instructional design thought into theplatform. For instance, you can set up Axonify to provide interval reinforcement, also known as spaced repetition. This approach takes important bite-sized contentand repeats it over predefined intervals, which greatly increases retention ofthe learning. Speaking personally, as someone who loves studying languages, Iknow spaced repetition is crucial to help me learn a language. The truth is,all learning works better when content is shown more than once, which justmakes sense. The trick is repeating it at the correct intervals and frequency.

Zones

Asa platform, Axonify has five specific themes, or “zones” (Figure 2).

Figure 2:Axonify key themes

All components of the Axonify solutionare interconnected to drive knowledge growth, behavior change, and bottom-lineresults. For example, learners receive bite-sized content every day based ontheir knowledge requirements; managers are fed pertinent information to supportcoaching efforts; and actual on-the-job behavior is documented and assessed, whichthen allows appropriate content to be adjusted and pushed out to the learner.Throughout this continuous learning process, employees can always access on-demandknowledge at the point of need—all in one platform. Like any other platform,the more you put into it, the more it’s able to help; but it’s not a difficultprocess at all.

Eachzone serves a specific purpose:

1. Microlearning—AxonifyLearnerZone

Axonify delivers short, daily learningbursts that reinforce prior learning or deliver new information to employeesvia PC or mobile device. The solution was built based on several cognitive-scienceprinciples that improve knowledge retention for the long term, allowingemployees to maintain their knowledge levels and apply knowledge to the jobwhen it’s needed.

Axonify learners log in to the systemeach day, and through a “gamified” interface, they participate in a learningsession typically consisting of three to five questions and answers. While inthe system, learners can review their progress, see how they are stacking upagainst their colleagues, and bid for or buy a variety of prizes with pointsaccumulated through learning success. If you’ve attended a conferencelately, or any large-scale event that offers a mobile app, almost always thatmobile app will also encourage attendees to participate by commenting,uploading photos, filling out surveys, etc., and rewarding them a certainnumber of points for each type of interaction. These types of point systems,used within reason, have proved to increase the number of employees who accessthe learning and the frequency with which they do it. (See Figure 3.)

Figure 3: Several Axonify mobile lesson screens

You could base a customized learnerprofile—which defines the learning content to deliver to the learner—on jobfunction, seniority, department, geographic location, hire date, and more. Axonifybuilds and maintains a “personalized knowledge map” as the learner answersquestions, identifying knowledge gaps and delivering learning to fill thosegaps. The beauty of this, to me, is that a personalized knowledge map continuallyadapts to the learner’s progress, moving the learner toward subject mastery. It’spretty smart.

2. Actionableinsight—Axonify LeaderZone

The analytics Axonify provides arepretty sophisticated compared to what we’ve been used to seeing in LMSs. Thereports it generates really help to give direct and specific insights into eachemployee’s level of knowledge. Axonify provides the ability to track andmeasure knowledge and performance, and even certification, in real time bylocation, job title, and topic area. (See Figure 4.)

LeaderZone gives managers and leadersinsights into each employee to show exactly what they know and don’t know,which helps managers to work with individuals to fill in the gaps where needed,and also to identify the stars among their employees so as to grow theirknowledge, improve their on-the job-behaviors, and achieve the business’sobjectives.

Axonify offers:

• Instantaccess to key team knowledge (experts, knowledge growth, gaps, etc.)
• Insightsto influence and drive on-the-job behavior and, ultimately, drive businessoutcomes
• Theability to communicate and connect with team members

Figure 4: Axonify’s LeaderZone 

3. Comprehensiveplatform control—Axonify AdminZone

This is the toolthrough which system administrators can set up users and parameters, createlearning content, and obtain information to understand and improve systemusage. As mentioned, administrators can customize learning paths for eachemployee on a subject-by-subject basis or on key criteria, such as job role,department, or geography. They can also incorporate a range of content types—includingvideo, the Experience API (or xAPI,aka Tin Can), SCORM, text, or images—so you can in many cases incorporatelearning you have already created or that you will create elsewhere.

If there is important information they need todistribute immediately, administrators can also create content quickly andtrigger it to display when employees log in for training. To improve platform ongoingusage, administrators can also access a wide range of data, including whichgames are most popular, which devices are used most frequently for learning,participation rates of each learner, and more.

4. Knowledgeon demand—Axonify DiscoveryZone

This is part ofthe recently released roadmap. It works as a knowledge-on-demand socialplatform for learners, accessible right within the Axonify learning platformthat they already visit every day. Employees can ask questions, network, andhelp one another in other ways. They can contribute their own expertise, poolingtheir collective knowledge and bringing it to bear in a way that helps otherswith similar questions and roles.

Communities arebuilt in the DiscoveryZone. This helps separate relevant content within anorganization. You can also create and follow custom-defined and populartrending tags. The popularity of an employee’s input increases by the number ofother employees who view and also like it. (See Figure 5.)

Figure 5:Axonify’s DiscoveryZone

5.Behavior observation and results measurement—Axonify ImpactZone

ImpactZoneallows the tracking of business results that show how learning changes behavior—inother words, what kind of impact the learning is having on the bottom line ofthe business. This has long been a difficult item to measure, but Axonify’sapproach has a strong measure of credibility because it allows the business totie its data to the learning so that it’s easier to see when, followinglearning, safety infraction numbers (for instance) are down, sales numbers orcall center metrics have risen, and so on.

The ImpactZoneenables organizations to define a set of optimal performance behaviors criticalto achievement of business outcomes, and then observe and track them. Behaviorobservations are automatically evaluated by the platform, which immediatelyadjusts the training and reinforcement learning bursts that employees receiveto best close gaps and achieve application and performance improvement. It’salmost scary.

Overtime, especially, the Impact area can demonstrate historical trends and help toforecast what may occur in the next calendar quarter, for instance. Inaddition, if no impact is seen, it can be tied back to the learning’s not beingoptimal, and that requires changes in the learning.

Final thoughts

Axonifyis different. It’s part of a newer crop of technology-driven platforms andtools that allow for the integration and repurposing of learning in many ways.Most interesting to me is how you can use it to assist in understanding howbusiness results are changing as a result of learning, which has long been adifficult data item to measure. Axonify is clearly for larger enterprises, notfor small organizations. The more you put into it and the more you use it, themore you will find it can help your enterprise achieve much better results.

If you would like to see the product in action,you can check it out at Axonify.com.