Aussie govt turns an e-page

SEBASTOPOL, USA:Safari Books Online, the on-demand digital learning library for technology, digital media and business professionals, has signed a contract with the Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation Science, Research and Tertiary Education’s eBusiness Division to handle online learning programs for the division’s almost 400 employees.

The contract with the Australian government agency is designed flexibly to ensure employees have access to learning content from Safari Books Online for three years.

“We’ve found Safari Books Online to have much more current, comprehensive and higher quality content than its competitors–there’s really no comparison,” said Deb Namara, HR Coordinator for eBusiness Division, Department of Industry, Innovation Science, Research and Tertiary Education. “Our IT group is delighted with the material that’s now available to them through our subscription to Safari Books Online and they are really happy that the website is so intuitive and easy to use. When we went out to bid, we also found that Safari Books Online’s flexible business model met our dynamic environment better than any other vendor.”

The Department of Industry, Innovation Science, Research and Tertiary Education had a different online learning product for a few years but its capability was limited and it was not being utilized very much by staff. Employees complained that the site was not user-friendly, the content was not up-to-date and reporting was difficult, a press release added. Before choosing Safari Books Online, a pilot program was designed so the department could test drive the learning library before committing to purchasing the seats. They quickly learned that the range of content was vast and relevant, and that Safari Books Online is very intuitive and easy to use.

The Australian Government’s Minister for Industry and Innovation, the Honorable Greg Combet, mentioned that, “Future prosperity for Australian industry and the working families who depend on it relies on our ability to boost innovation, better our skills base, further research and development, and, importantly, improve productivity.”

"Hundreds of team members are getting smarter, faster with access to our growing collection of more than 20,000 books, 1,600 videos, and to the world class expert authors behind them,” explained Mike Reid, who led the Safari Books Online effort to respond to the Australian government’s needs. “With Safari Books Online, employees are now handling difficult technical challenges ‘right the first time’ and ‘at the moment they encounter them’ instead of stopping work, waiting to get an authoritative answer, or attending a lengthy training class,” said Reid.