A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, according to Ralph Waldo Emerson, but in the world of e-learning, there is nothing foolish about consistency. The ability to train people electronically across a variety of locations with the same subject matter has made training easier, faster, and less expensive for insurance carriers. While it may never replace classroom education for certain subjectsselling skills, for oneit is the direction insurance training departments are heading. Were making a major commitment to it, says Rose Tetzlaff, assistant director for training and communications with The Hartford Mutual Funds. I dont think it replaces anything, but it augments classroom facilitation. We have a greater need [to offer training] than we have staffing, and this helps fill that gap.

For Bankers Life and Casualty, e-learning is a quick and easy way to train new agents for its life, annuities, long-term care, and Medicare products. Tom OConnell, second vice president product and risk management for the life insurer, says with the high turnover of life agents, it is important to train them well but without the heavy expense of a classroom setting. We recruit heavily, since were captive, says OConnell. We have to make sure they are all properly trained.

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Keeping track of courses, how employees are performing, and regulatory and compliance issues have brought about an increasing demand in insurance for learning management systems (LMS), according to Greg Titus, president of Acadient, a provider of e-learning solutions for the financial services industry. While not everyone is convinced that insurers need an LMS, Titus believes such systems are valuable, particularly with a large sales force. Why its important in the financial services industry is you have to keep track of different employees education and what they are doing for training because of mandatory continuing education requirements, he says. Some companies are going out and buying enterprise systems, and others are using an ASP model. Its still a developing area.