Quick facts about Hesse Lignal: Hesse Lignal logo digital learning transformation

Challenge: Inconsistent and inflexible learning

Hesse Lignal is headquartered in Germany and provides specialist coating solutions.  The family-owned company was seeking a learning platform to support the company’s digital transformation to a modern workplace.

The ideal solution had to integrate with Microsoft 365 but also be very easy to use, enabling learning from anywhere and providing a great experience for all 450 employees.

“Our learners are very satisfied with Learn365. It’s extremely easy to use. We are also very happy that Learn365 is helping us to offer modern solutions that are attractive to our employees.”

Gerold Ohlendorf, Head of IT

Solution: An inspiring digital learning environment

Hesse Lignal is committed to inspiring customers through its lacquer and stain products, but also inspiring employees with a modern workplace. Unusually for a family-owned company, the company also has a dedicated Process Innovation team who drive efficiency and improve ways of working.

Gerold Ohlendorf, Head of IT, explains:

We are committed to creating a modern, flexible workplace and a great place to work. Work and private life are becoming more interlinked. We want to offer employees the ability to participate as flexibly as possible in training.

Hesse Lignal had already introduced Microsoft Teams in 2019, which helped support remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the team wanted to extend the power to learn during the pandemic, while also creating a great employee experience to help attract and retain talent.

The IT and Process Innovation teams started researching potential solutions. Any learning platform had to integrate seamlessly with Microsoft 365 but also be intuitive.

We spoke to other companies and one of our partners gave us a recommendation. They had been successfully using Learn365 for years.

After a thorough review, it was clear that Learn365 ticked all the boxes for Hesse Lignal, with a rich set of features, intuitive interfaces, and full integration with SharePoint Online.

Implementing Learn365 was very straightforward. Gerold Ohlendorf comments, “Everything worked! It was easy to implement and we had no technical challenges.”

In July 2021, the Hesse Lignal Campus based on Learn365 was launched for all employees.   

Results: Access to training in the flow of work

Today all of Hesse Lignal’s 450 employees are using Learn365, accessing it via the company’s SharePoint intranet, taking advantage of Learn365’s seamless integration with Microsoft 365. Gerold Ohlendorf comments:

Our users don’t know that it’s Learn365. It feels like one integrated environment.

Learn365 is being used for a wide variety of training. There are courses covering software training, cybersecurity, leadership development, health & safety, product training, project management, and more. Some of course are targeted to the specific needs of different roles. Gerold Ohlendorf remarks, “Employees can search through the course catalog by different categories but also see their own training plan with the relevant training.”

While content is mainly in German, some courses are also in English and French, supporting those in Hesse Lignal’s workforce that is based around the world in smaller subsidiaries and joint ventures.

Content is both sourced externally, but also produced in-house, taking advantage of how easy it is to add new training to Learn365.

We have a lot of different training, both third-party content and courses we have produced. We are always adding new content. For example, if somebody comes back from visiting an exhibition or a customer and they have new ideas for training, they can make a suggestion to the Process Innovation team who can easily create and add a course.

Learn365 is also being used to support employee onboarding which has extended their digital learning transformation. Gerold Ohlendorf comments, “Every new starter has a plan that they can view through the campus, which includes both the general training and role-specific courses they need to complete.”

Overall, Learn365 is highly regarded throughout Hesse Lignal.

Learn365 is being successfully used by our people and even inspiring some of our learners. Employees use the Campus and they’re very happy with it because it’s so easy to use.

Another reason for its popularity is its convenience, saving time for employees. Gerold Ohlendorf comments, “You no longer have everyone putting time in their diary and assembling in a room with one trainer. Learning is digital and based on modern systems that allow employees to better balance their work and private life.”

Learn365 is also saving huge amounts of time in managing and tracking learning.

We can track training so much better. We know who attended a course and when. It used to take a lot of manpower to do all this manually. Today, this is automated and we are saving so much time, which we can then spend actually creating content for our learners.

The IT team is also able to track mandatory training. Gerold Ohlendorf says:

Every person has to complete courses on IT and cybersecurity each year. It’s a very important subject. We can easily track who has completed it and when. It’s very straightforward as everybody is used to the campus.

Learn365 also provides important tracking to monitor specialist training related to serving major customers. Gerold Ohlendorf shares:

IKEA is one of our main customers and they have their own audits to ensure our staff are properly trained. Learn365 helps with the annual certification process to demonstrate we are training our staff to IKEA’s requirements.

Future: Continuing the digital learning transformation

Going forward, Hesse Lignal expects to continue to expand the use of Learn365. Gerold Ohlendorf comments, “We continue to develop and do not stand still. We want to create an environment in which we continuously promote further development. We will continue to add more courses and expand our training catalog. We’re building for the future.”

The team is also planning to allow employees to access Learn365 through Microsoft Teams as well as on mobile devices.

We have a project to enable more work to be carried out through Microsoft Teams. Any employee should be able reach the campus through Teams, but also through their smartphone or tablet, so everything works together from whatever device you want to use.

There is potential to even open Learn365 up to people outside the company. Gerold Ohlendorf says:

We are thinking about giving our customers or sales partners the opportunity to learn how to use our system by visiting the campus and getting training or attending webinars. We want to extend the success of our training centre.

Reflecting on their success to date, Gerold Ohlendorf believes that Learn365 has played a key role in the overall evolution of their digital working environment.

Learn365 has been a key part of our digital transformation. The campus is turning Hesse Lignal into a modern workplace and a better place to work.

About Hesse Lignal

Hesse Lignal provides specialist coating solutions such as stains and lacquers. It is headquartered in Germany and is still family-owned. Its 450 employees are mainly located in Germany but also around the world through subsidiaries and joint ventures.