January 30th, 2012
We are excited to bring out another release of kPoint.
This release boasts of improved performance, enhanced user experience and seamless enterprise integration. We have added support for SCORM 1.2 so you can use kPoint with your
favorite LMS. kPoint is now supported on MS, Apple, and Linux OS’s.
kPoint now runs on a 64bit cloud cluster. You will notice that when the kapsules stream faster and you hold webinars running in to hundreds of participants.
So, what’s the direction kPoint is evolving in? Our customers today use it for engaging and supporting their customers, employees, and prospects. We are learning from how they use kPoint.
There is one key to kPoint’s success so far: it reduces the time to information when it is needed the most. We are making it easier and easier to capture information in kPoint and are
developing newer ways of keeping it fresh with every release.
Check out this new release (visit demos.kpoint.in for a free trial) today and tell us us how you like it.
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November 7th, 2011
PuneConnect 2011 was an event where Pune’s top tech communities (SEAP and PuneTech) and startup communities (POCC and TiEPune) had come together to chose 12 Pune technology startups from a larger pool of applicants to showcase their product to the tech and startup communities. This event took place on 5th Nov 2011.
We are glad to say that kPoint got top honors at the event. This will get us a showcase at Zinnov conference to be held in Dec 2011.
See this page for detailed event overview and results.
SEAP PuneConnect 2011 Certificate
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August 10th, 2011
In my last post, I promised to discuss what an employee must do to learn on demand.
In a good solution, the employee should not need to do much. Most of the work should be about how she can be enabled by the organization. At a high level, here are the three steps.
Step 1: Easy-to-use search
On-demand is a “pull” behavior. So, give her an easy way to search and land on the precise piece of information. This must happen as a part of her daily work flow, else she will find it hard to adopt it.
Step 2: Context-rich answers
Give her answers rich in context relevant to her. This makes the experience precise. She will then be able to apply what she has gathered directly in her work.
Step 3: Connect live
If she wants to probe a specific answer further, she should be able to reach the author “live” in the context of her search. If what she is looking for is not found, she should have a way to reach out to all the colleagues who might know.
If the organization provides the above, on-demand learning becomes as easy as searching in Google.
In my subsequent posts, we will look at how an organization can build a knowledge base easily using kPoint along with details of the steps above.
Tags: learning on demand
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July 6th, 2011
These days learning is preferred to training in the enterprise lingo to refer to an employee’s development. So, what exactly is the difference? You can list many differences or dismiss the topic saying a rose by any other name … you get the idea!
Here’s the kPoint view.
Training is about push – the employee is subjected to a training activity. At the end of it, the trained employee is expected to carry out specific tasks.
Learning is about pull – the employee engages on her own in a learning activity. When it is over, she will have acquired some knowledge and skills.
For example, if I say I have learnt to drive, I convey something totally different than when I say I am a trained driver! Others prefer to ride with me with the latter. The point is: when it comes to specific skills, training aims to ensure the expected behavior.
What if the tasks at work are not encountered before? Since all employees today are considered knowledge workers dealing with ambiguity, problem solving, and judgment on the job, it is not possible to keep them trained for all the tasks. One must first learn and then execute. Sure, training in prerequisite skills is a must to qualify, but success depends on how the employee can learn on demand!
That is the need kPoint addresses.
What can an employee do to learn on demand? That’s for the next time I write.
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June 24th, 2011
The key to a truly meaningful online learning experience is when you hear it well, see it clearly and interact easily and frequently. The basic necessities are quality speakers to hear the mumblings of another participant, well directed ambient lighting to get the most of your small web camera, and a sensitive microphone that will transmit your mellifluous tones into the world wide web.
The sky is the limit for these devices in both pricing and sophistication. Let us look at some of the most functional and accessible options that will give you the best experience.
Hear me out
You can get a low cost pair of speakers and a microphone that will provide you with good quality audio easily. Most laptops come with both these built and they should suffice. However, the speakers might bother people around you and the microphone might pick up extraneous sounds. A good quality headset with a microphone, you don’t need the smallest and lightest, is a very good alternative. You can talk in whisper low tones and receive high quality audio that only you hear.
See you soon
2 megapixels or higher webcams are ideal to transmit a high quality image both in a live classroom or for a kapsule. Most web cams use a wide angle lens and these distort facial features if you are up close. So keep your distance. The commonly neglected aspect of transmitting good video is the lighting. You will be seen in silhouette if you are lit from behind. Have a bright diffused light source in the room and ensure your face is lit brighter than your background.
Just a click away
Wireless mice and keyboards give you freedom to get comfortable for those longer online sessions. Make sure you have the batteries charged as they notoriously run out five minutes into your kapsule or class!
Pay attention to these ahead of time so you don’t have to when you are putting together that last minute kapsule or getting onto that important online class!
Tags: accesories, microphone, webcam
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June 12th, 2011
What is kPoint? What problems does it solve? Why should you have a look at it? Find this out in the next 90 seconds from this short kapsule.
Tags: introduction, kapsule
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June 12th, 2011
80% learning in enterprises is informal, observed Jay Cross. Put differently, most of our learning on the job is on demand and social.
Consider this … we do not want to pay for new colleagues learning on the job. That’s how it should be! If the required skills are lacking, they should be rejected. But I have seen many a successful manager go for fast learners instead of point skills. They bank on learning on the job using the pervasive informal learning. So, I wonder – should a smart hire get help for her fair share of informal learning? Or will such help disturb the very behavior that leads to informal learning? Should we not create ice breakers between the new hires and company experts?
Consider this too … experts are experts because they keep their saw sharp. We have all learnt just talking to them. We have seen how the smart hires get pumped up talking to them. Again I wonder – aren’t these encounters unlikely given how distributed and busy we are today? If a company can directly or indirectly pay for the experts sharpening their saw, should it facilitate sharing between the expert and others? Can it be done without taxing any budgets or anyone’s time – just as the hallway chats do not?
The more I wonder, the more I am convinced. It is time to accept the obvious – we need to actively facilitate both ends of informal learning.
Tags: informal learning, Jay Cross, learning on demand, social learning
Posted in food-for-thought, informal learning, social learning | Comments Off
June 12th, 2010
We are excited to bring out kPoint 4.1! Our new tag line is in line with what our customers told us and how we expect the product to evolve. This version is brought out to enable learning on demand in organizations.
kPoint 4.1 gives trainees a personalized and social learning experience. kPoint kapsules, which can be created 24×7, received two thumbs up from early users. We have made it a breeze for any user to create and share valuable content within their organization. We believe kPoint has now matured into a powerful sharing and learning solution and we expect it to drive knowledge initiatives.
This version also carries a new look and feel. You will find commonly used buttons larger and clustered to make them easier to find. Navigating a kapsule, embedding it in third party pages, bookmarking and posting queries, creation of communities around kapsules carry the same ease of use as popular social networking sites. Our engineering team has worked hard to make kPoint 4.1 define Learning 2.0!
And here’s another huge leap we have taken – kPoint is now cloud deployable. While end users do not directly see any impact because of this, cloud enabling makes kPoint truly scalable.
We invite you to take kPoint for a test drive and let us know how you like it.
Tags: 4.1, kapsule, release
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