eLearning AWARD 2023: Digital language training at Allianz

Allianz SE uses LinguaTV’s digital language courses for corporate learning. The training project, which has now won an award from a jury of experts, relies on a combination of instructor-led teaching in a virtual classroom and self-directed learning (blended learning).

Initial situation

Foreign languages play an important role in the daily business of Allianz. As one of the world's largest insurance groups, the Munich-based company is globally networked. For successful collaboration with international customers and business partners, it is therefore all the more important that employees have good language skills and can communicate easily, especially in English.

Until now, Allianz has relied on traditional language courses in face-to-face classes. However, these were relatively cost-intensive and inflexible, which is why the vast majority of employees were unable to take advantage of the courses on offer.

Solution approach

To change this, the insurance group decided - even before the pandemic broke out - to introduce purely digital language training for the first time. After intensive market research, the Berlin-based language training provider LinguaTV turned out to be the ideal project partner.

In August 2020, a six-month test phase initially started with 500 employees from various departments. After extensive onboarding, including needs analysis and placement tests, the participants were given access to LinguaTV's online English courses. In addition to the multimedia self-study courses with videos and interactive tasks, the instructor-led lessons in the virtual classroom were also tested (blended learning). The subsequent evaluation, as well as the consistently positive feedback from the participants, strengthened the decision of those responsible for the project to introduce the digital language training from LinguaTV as a permanent component of Allianz's continuing education offering. The rollout for all employees finally followed in November 2021.

Results and outlook

The digital language training has proven to be so attractive that other Allianz subsidiaries and service companies have also integrated it into their training programs. As one learner put it on behalf of many course participants: "I have been able to improve my English skills enormously and my inhibitions about speaking English have completely disappeared.
The lessons are very individual, company-related and helpful for everyday life. In addition, the trainer brings good humor and an unbelievably good explanation to all topics! I look forward to the course every week and also the trainer, as she makes the English lessons something special!" In addition to English and Business English, language courses for other common languages such as French, Spanish, Italian or German as a foreign language are now to be offered to Allianz employees.

Conclusion

The successful training project has now been awarded the eLearning Award 2023. The jury’s conclusion: "With LinguaTV’s digital language training, Allianz has succeeded in offering all employees the opportunity of an innovative, flexible and demand-oriented language program. The blended learning approach taken by LinguaTV with the online self-learning courses in combination with the virtual classrooms ensures an all-round effective learning experience that actively supports employees in building up or expanding their language skills in a practical way. This is the first time that the company has established an entirely digital language training program, thus taking a decisive step towards making its training and development offering even more digital and future-proof. In this way, Allianz is positioning itself as a reliable and future-proof employer that specifically promotes the skills development of its employees. The project is therefore a great success for both sides: employees receive significant support in overcoming language barriers and expanding their language skills, and Allianz in turn benefits from successful customer and business partner communication and improved project work - including abroad. In this way, this improved global collaboration makes a decisive contribution to Allianz’s corporate success."

For further reading, we recommend our free whitepaper: Blended Learning in the Enterprise.

For more information and a free consultation on the topic of "Digital Language Training", please contact the education experts at LinguaTV.