The team at Udutu Online Learning Systems
VICTORIA – Online training is picking up speed on the internet, and Udutu Online Learning Systems is helping companies and municipalities create their own, unique training programs.
Udutu (phonetically: You-Do-Too), started inside Royal Roads University in 1996, and launched by Roger Mundell outside of RRU in 2005, has created a Learning Management System and Authoring Tools to enable an organization to quickly and easily build a training system.
Udutu Online Learning Systems founder Roger Mundell
“Udutu offers a tool that allows people to determine their own specific online courses, and who can take them,” states CEO Maria Davidson. “With online you can do courses 24-7, and can have 3,000 people taking it at the same time. You can’t do that in a classroom.”
Mundell also points out that these programs can be accessed with mobile devices.
“Nowadays some people want access on the phone, and to learn what they need to know when they need it,” he says. “Instead of learning a bunch of things just in case they’ll it need down the road.”
One of the markets Udutu is focusing on is municipalities.
“Municipalities have very diverse training needs, with departments, like fire, police, transportation, and planning all looking at different training structures.
But they may also have a course they need everybody in their payroll and departments to take, for example standards of conduct. That can instantly be accessed, and they can check who did the training, and who didn’t.”
Maria Davidson, CEO of Udutu Online Learning Systems
The pandemic accelerated the need for online training, as people were forced to work remotely and couldn’t do it conventionally.
“People rushed to come up with solutions to train online,” Davidson recalls. “the first reaction was to replicate face to face training with online meetings, but those still are limited by a fixed time and place.”
“True online training is available 24/7 and people can fail and try again without embarrassment.” So success rates are higher.
The industry continues to evolve, especially with the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
“It’s affecting how people create online training courses,” he notes. “Figuring out what people must learn, and how to measure their success can take time and expertise, and we now have AI tools to make that process a lot quicker and easier.”
Udutu success stories include WorkSafe BC, which enlisted them to create a supervisory safety program that has now been taken by 35,000 people online. Elections BC is faced with training up to 25,000 people just days before a provincial election, and Udutu’s system helps them do that.
“One of our big successes is the Godfather Pizza franchise out of the U.S.,” she says. With any franchise, it’s important that customers know they can get the exact, same pizza and service in every location.”
Mundell specifies that Udutu is not simply a software vendor. It provides complete solutions for clients, and its commitment to personal client service has been a key to growth.
“We’ve managed to maintain our relationships with customers we had from the beginning,” he says. “Our service is very responsive.”
By Mark MacDonald
