Skillsoft is a pioneer in the field of learning with a long history of innovation. Skillsoft provides cloud-based learning solutions for our customers worldwide, which range from global enterprises, Government and education customers, to mid-sized and small businesses. Skillsoft serves over 6,000 customers and more than 19,000,000 learners worldwide, with annual revenue of $400M in 2013.

The company initially relied on Microsoft’s browser capabilities component for basic browser detection. This proved very limiting and cumbersome, however, because it could not detect the details the company needed about each user’s browser and settings. In addition, obtaining accurate results was often difficult since there was no way to automatically identify newer browsers as they were released.

Support professionals at Skillsoft’s help desk were often on the phone troubleshooting problems with customers who were trying to access the web site and courseware. Since most students were not computer literate, troubleshooting was an uphill battle that often proved futile. “We faced frustrated users who did not know how to determine their browser settings, much less a missing plug-in,” said Nate Holder, network systems and applications engineer at Skillsoft.

“With BrowserHawk, we’ve improved customer service in terms of faster solution turnaround for our students, and improved help desk efficiency,” Holder said. “BrowserHawk detects everything needed to ensure the best web experience for our students, and updates itself automatically. This allows our IT team to focus more on strategic initiatives, such as growing our customer base and expanding our offerings – rather than on browser detection.”

Now when students log on to Skillsoft’s platform, their browser and system settings are pre-screened by BrowserHawk to ensure students can access and use the site successfully. When users do not meet the site’s minimum system requirements, help is offered automatically.

In addition, help desk personnel stand ready to provide step-by-step instructions on how to resolve any issues, such as how to update their Java Virtual Machine or install missing plug-ins. “With BrowserHawk, we can provide students with customized help, specific to what each user needs in order to resolve their issues,” Holder said. “We can do this on the spot because we know exactly what the issue is right from the start, instead of having to guess at their system configurations and what the issues may be.”

Skillsoft is benefiting greatly from BrowserHawk in other ways, too. “Companies often will go through trials with two or three e-learning offerings at a time. In these cases, Skillsoft has outdistanced the competition because of our highly responsive customer service,” Holder said. “Without BrowserHawk, this level of responsiveness would be very challenging.”

• Prior to BrowserHawk, 94% of all reported issues required escalation to senior support for resolution. After implementing BrowserHawk, first call resolution improved dramatically, with now only 4% of issues requiring escalation for further follow up.
• Prior to BrowserHawk, the average handling time per incident was 24 hours or more. After implementing BrowserHawk, the average handling time was cut to just 15 minutes.

BrowserHawk also has helped Skillsoft with customer retention. “BrowserHawk has helped position us to have one of the best e-learning platforms,” Holder added. “Once we gain customers, we don’t lose them. Without BrowserHawk, we would be spending more time resolving customer issues at the help desk and less time on our primary focus of educating our valued students.”