EMind/Insur'Ed Pact Targets Training Customization, Efficiency

Aiming to give the financial services industry the opportunity to combine the most cost-effective and time-efficient combination of instructor-led and online training, New York-based eMind, a provider of knowledge and training solutions to the financial services industry, and Insur'Ed, which focuses on instructor-led training (ILT) that is classroom-based, have formed an alliance,

"The insurance industry is extremely complex because the products, regulations and tax codes are changing constantly," says Bart Shachnow, president, Insur'Ed. The alliance "will enable training when and where it is necessary. We will be able to respond to needs on a just-in-time basis."

Among the benefits of the alliance, according to eMind and Insur'Ed management, is that industry clients will ultimately be allowed to fulfill their insurance training through a single source. Furthermore, it will minimize the administrative burden involved in tracking attendance and reporting mandatory continuing education credits. The primary benefit is customization. Through a needs analysis process, eMind and Insur'Ed evaluate an organization's existing training, culture, personnel strengths and weaknesses, financial products offered, target markets, and budgetary constraints, and then formulate coordinated programs to meet organizational objectives.

EMind, according to Howard Marks, eMind's CEO, will provide infrastructure that will allow anyone taking a course in an actual classroom to be tracked online by their employer. Insur'Ed will bring to the alliance the ILT aspect of such courses, as well as the capability to customize courses to accommodate what an insurance company client might need.

Both companies focus on training related to the P&C, life and health insurance industries, as well as for the securities industry. Both classroom and online training, according to Shachnow, are equally important ways to learn and many insurance companies want to maximize their offerings to employees.