Deloitte delivers gamified micro learning through its innovative Totara Learn-based BizQuiz app

Deloitte is a multinational professional services firm, and one of the ‘Big Four’ accounting firms. It provides audit, tax, consulting, enterprise risk and financial advisory services by more than 260,000 professionals globally.

The Challenge

Deloitte Belgium had noticed that the number of employees reading resources to maintain and expand their technical expertise had been steadily declining over the past decade, meaning that some people were not necessarily up to date with the latest developments in tax and legal.

This was deemed to be due to several reasons: firstly, Deloitte gradually moved from being paper-based to paperless, and they found that people still preferred to read from paper, not a screen.

Secondly, each Deloitte professional follows an extensive learning program. When they are not undertaking class-room trainings, they dedicate their time in trying to meet their client’s deadlines and expectations. Their busy work schedules often prevent them from extended reading on the latest developments in their area of expertise.

Thirdly, in our information society, knowing where to find information tends to become more important than having instant knowledge in your head. In the ever-evolving tax and legal landscape however, it is important to have such instant knowledge to remain credible towards your clients. You would not make a good impression with your clients if every question is answered with “I don’t know the answer by heart, I need to look this up”.

Deloitte wanted to reverse this trend and help people to stay up to date in a fun and competitive way, yet keeping it professional. Therefore, they decided to develop an engaging mobile quiz app allowing professionals to insert quick learning sessions in their busy workdays.

The Solution

The L&D branch of Deloitte, Deloitte Learning Solutions, is already a Totara Partner, and they knew that they wanted their app to be powered by Totara Learn. With that in mind, they set about creating BizQuiz, their multi-device quizzing app for employees across the organisation.

Quizzes are released weekly on a range of job-related subject matters such as tax, legal, accounting and audit regulations. Prior to taking each quiz, players are given the opportunity to read an article or watch a video to prepare for the quiz. The app also features quizzes about business & industry news, cultural diversity, soft skills, technology and Deloitte policies, procedures and systems.

Introducing a gamification element to the learning was important to play on people’s competitive natures, so they also created a dynamic and real-time leaderboard functionality to allow players to see how they are performing compared to their colleagues. Through the leaderboard, they can also challenge specific colleagues, enabling them to compete for points on specific quizzes.

Classroom learning is still important at Deloitte, but each session takes a lot of investment and preparation from facilitators, while attendees tend to have limited attention spans and get distracted easily. To increase interactivity and raise the learning impact, they decided to introduce the quizzes into face-to-face sessions. Before each session, the facilitator is requested to create a quiz, and at the end of the classroom event, attendees are invited to play the quiz on the BizQuiz app. The facilitator then explains the answers, and results are displayed immediately on the leaderboard for a full overview of performance. BizQuiz is also used to reinforce key learning points after the classroom event.

The micro-learning approach has proven to be particularly useful, as it enables employees to fit learning into their busy schedules, and every player gets instant feedback on his/her performance. To maintain motivation, gift vouchers are given to the top 10 performers on the app in each service line every two months. All employees are also made aware that activity on the app will be considered in their performance reviews, as high app activity indicates that the learner is taking responsibility for his/her own learning.

In terms of Totara Learn features, the app uses a wide range of functionality from the core Totara Learn product, including audiences, organisations, courses, enrolment plugins, authentication methods, roles, the course catalogue and the report builder. The solution has designed to be easy to access, easy to navigate and to be used in short 5-10 minute bursts, aligning it with the needs of learners.

The Results

BizQuiz was first rolled out in May 2017 in Belgium and the Netherlands, with plans to roll it out in further countries in the near future. This solution has been a fantastic success already, with 2,700 active players, 246 quizzes currently on the system and over 35,000 quiz attempts since its launch. One of the biggest successes to date is that many learners are completing quizzes outside their own specialist areas to broaden their knowledge, demonstrating a willingness to go above and beyond their mandatory training.

The average time spent on the app is 5 minutes, showing that Deloitte has succeeded in its objective to create a micro-learning system to be accessed in short bursts. In Belgium, BizQuiz is currently used in the Tax & Legal and Risk Advisory department, while in the Netherlands it is primarily used in the Audit team to enable professionals to stay up to date with audit regulations.

In the future, Deloitte intends to extend the use of the app, using it for talent management and recruitment. Students will have access to a semi-public version of BizQuiz, where they can play quizzes and leave their contact and study details for the recruitment team. As well as this, Deloitte plans to bring the app to market, allowing other organisations to make use of this innovative approach to gamified micro-learning.

”BizQuiz is gamified micro-learning put in practice. It’s fun, competitive, quick, and mobile, something which appeals to young professionals. It is not surprising that it was such an instant success.” – Staf Jongen,Tax & Legal Knowledge & Learning Director, Deloitte Belgium