GE Aircraft Engines is the world's leading manufacturer of jet engines for military and civil aircraft. It also manufactures gas turbines for marine and industrial applications. With annual revenues of $11.4 billion, GE Aircraft Engines is one of GE's largest businesses, employing 26,000 people in 40 locations worldwide.
GE Aircraft Engines uses NetGenesis® from SPSS Inc. to monitor activity on its Web site, www.geae.com, and on company intranets.
The company recently required staff training for NetGenesis, a requirement that was challenging to meet because the individuals to be trained were literally on opposite sides of the world. But SPSS Training Services easily rose to the challenge.
Reports generated by NetGenesis are used by analysts and managers at GE Aircraft Engines' headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. But the administration of the Web site server — and of the NetGenesis solution — is carried out at GE Aircraft Engines' facility in Bangalore, India. The time difference between these locations is almost 11 hours, so that early morning in one location is early evening in the other. Another complicating factor in planning training was that India has strict rules about the number of hours employees may work per day, and about starting and stopping times.
Interested in GE Aircraft Engines? Download the PDF
I'm thrilled with what we have accomplished in just a few days of training.
James Brenza
Six Sigma Black Belt
GE Aircraft Engines
To cost effectively train team members in both locations, SPSS Training Services offered a Web-based training solution. Although Training Services had previously offered Web-based training for clients located in diverse geographic locations, this was the first time that a class involved locations so far apart. To accommodate both the time difference and India's work rules, John Coleman, SPSS' professional services manager for GE Aircraft Engines, scheduled four half-day classes to be delivered using WebEx technology. Educational services manager Ed Bell acted as coordinator and trainer. Udi Dotan conducted the course from his office in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Scheduling each class to start in what was the early morning for Dotan and GE Aircraft Engines' U.S.-based employees enabled employees based in India to attend without violating any work rules.
"I'm thrilled with what we have accomplished in just a few days of training," commented GE Aircraft Engines' James Brenza, six sigma black belt, who participated from Cincinnati.
His colleague, Eric Schwab, also a six sigma black belt, called the SPSS course "a great class," adding that, "While I could create some simple reports without training, the advanced stuff that Udi taught was really helpful."
For this class, GE Aircraft Engines requested that their own company's data be used, rather than the sample data typically used in such a class. This represented another challenge for the trainer, but one that was well worth overcoming.
"When conducting training with sample data, I know exactly what I'm going to see when a certain report is run. Using the customer's data, I didn't know what to expect, so this made things a little more challenging for me," Dotan explained. "But, since the data included details that they were familiar with, the class members could ask specific questions not only about the report, but also about the specific data result. This improved their understanding, I'm certain, so it was well worth the effort."
Would GE Aircraft Engines undertake this kind of training again? Definitely.
"The online class accommodated our international team members that otherwise would not have been able to receive training," said Matt Hoying, application architect, GE Aircraft Engines eBusiness & Technology Solutions Group. "I would definitely recommend such online training courses for other GE businesses."
Would SPSS Training Services offer this kind of training again? Definitely.
"Since we have customers who operate globally, we need to be ready to meet their training needs globally," commented SPSS' Bell. "And we will".
The complete list of global SPSS success stories can be found here
Key Products and Services
Resources
Demos and Downloads
Was this information useful?