How much is your target audience on the move? Don't bank employees usually work at the counter or at their desks? And where does eLearning actually take place?

Martin Greff: It varies greatly. Among our courses are study programs for people who undertake them parallel to their work. This means that the students are sometimes at work in the bank and sometimes in face-to-face training sessions at our in-house Business School. Mobility is thus inevitably part of the picture. Anyone who does further training on a regular basis next to their work studies and learns in various locations. It depends on the bank: Some permit the employees to study at their workplace, and others have dedicated study rooms. Of course participants also access the Cooperative's learning-management system - which bears the German name "VR-Bildung" - from home. There's a variety of solutions and they are based on different agreements within the various companies.

Are there generational differences?

Martin Greff: I have the impression that the especially younger employees are increasingly studying at home, which means they do it voluntarily in their free time. The main reason is probably that the technical infrastructure is a basic utility in this generation's household and, furthermore, that some of them have grown up with the new technologies.

You want to launch an app that will enable ADG's clients to peruse your catalog on their mobile devices and book courses wherever they happen to be. You also want to make content available. What makes you so sure that smartphone owners actually use their devices to access the Internet?

Martin Greff: Many people in the banking sector have iPhones. Sometimes I even get the feeling that people are now using the mobile Internet more frequently in their private lives than they have so far in the professional environment. Generally speaking, on Monday people not only talk about the football games but also about the latest apps; our random surveys have confirmed this. They have also shown, by the way, that middle and top management are especially well equipped.



Have you had any experience with mobile education and training?

Martin Greff: We have been organizing webinars for a year and a half to disseminate information or in the form of mini-workshops. There have been qualification series on very specific subjects, for example legal topics in banking. Through them we've found that people watch these webinars on the go - and on iPads.

And does it work on smartphones, too?

Martin Greff: I-˜ve tried it myself. At the very least you can watch and listen, as well as follow what's going on in chats. This means a train ride can definitely be used meaningfully in regard to the expansion of knowledge.

Will it ever come to a situation where we only learn things by means of a smartphone wherever we happen to be?

Martin Greff: No, that's not the goal. We will continue to make content available via desktops and laptops, but we want to offer additional options if feasible. Classical content has to be prepared very differently for smartphones. A reference work can be made in the form of a glossary, where the user gets specific information by entering a term.

Don't the clients have to be trained, or doesn't an app at least have to be promoted intensely?

Martin Greff: Media competence has risen strongly in the last few years. This is also related to the growth of the market, which is constantly being supplied with more attractive and more powerful products. And it shouldn't be forgotten that the younger generation has grown up with mobile devices. Students have no problem dealing with mobile courses.