Alcatel-Lucent's Pascal Roobrouck talks to WPF about why it podcasts

Alcatel-Lucent is a multinational corporation, and Alcatel-Lucent University ("ALU") is the corporate training center, responsible for technology-supported learning. ALU uses a wide variety of e-learning tools, yet for the last year has been using podcasting to a greater degree.

There were several reasons why ALU started to look at podcasting. First, internal podcast trials demonstrated that audio provided the user with a very pleasant experience. Audio did not require the user to read text, and user feedback demonstrated that users preferred listening to reading. Also, audio training did not require the same exclusive focus that video did. People could listen to audio training, and do other things, something not possible with video. Finally, and equally as important, audio content was much easier and cheaper to produce than video.

As the podcasts were for internal use, APU encountered relatively few internal hurdles. The main initial effort was simply to define what content was suitable for the company and how to format the podcast to get people to listen to it.

After conducting various brainstorm sessions, ALU decided to start podcasting in Belgium, the country where the podcast activity started, and in Dutch, the language spoken by 1400 of the 1800 employees. Among the key topics that ALU decided to focus on were things like how to make people more aware of the company - its markets, business and products. Other issues involved improving productivity. Finally, a crucial part of the planning was how to make the podcast enjoyable so that people would listen to it. Here, ALU decided to make the podcasts somewhat underground, not following the generic "company line", as did other communication tools such as the company newsletters.

The results? Very good. More than 50% of the Dutch-speaking audience are downloading the podcast. And when management started relying on information they received in the podcast, word got out that the podcast was indeed a valuable and popular tool.

Can ALU justify podcasting in terms of ROI? Many more people are accessing the podcast than the traditional material, and the cost of producing podcasts is much less. So the answer is yes. And with core product-divisions now asking for English podcasts for their employees around the globe, it seems podcasting is indeed catching on.