Keysight
How Keysight's interactive, automated certification program boosts product knowledge to drive more sales
Global electronics manufacturer Keysight builds products to test
and measure various types of hardware and software, from oscilloscopes
to network analyzers. Keysight provides design, emulation,
and test services for industries including aerospace, telecommunications, defense
and healthcare. It is ranked in Forbes' list
of Top 5 America's Best Midsize Companies.
The challenge
Strengthening the product knowledge of Keysight's distributors and resellers to boost sales.
Explaining complex, specialized products to potential customers
is easier - and far more compelling - when you know the product
inside out. For Keysight's network visibility and security division,
strong technical knowledge is essential for its distributors and resellers
to be able to sell its products effectively.
This is especially important for brand-new technology, such as Keysight's
network packet broker, which even newly graduated network
engineers won't have learned about during their formal education.
Keysight's product certification program allows people to become
certified specialists in Keysight products. But its existing certification
process was a basic, video-and-answer-style two-hour training that
wasn't very engaging.
Keysight wanted to develop a modern, online, interactive certification
program accessible worldwide, using its recently built virtual
showroom environment.
The company wanted to automate the testing and management
processes as much as possible, to optimize operational efficiencies.
The solution
A custom, automated online certification program providing interactive learning and testing.
Keysight worked with Zato Source to develop the certification
program. Like the showroom itself, the certification program was
built using Zato's flexible, Python-based, open-source automation platform.
Using automation, the certification program does the following
without requiring manual input from Keysight staff:
- Enables users to gain first-hand experience of using Keysight products - users can freely explore and try out products via the virtual showroom's sandbox environment, which provides realistic, interactive product simulations.
- Tests a user's product knowledge - once a user has familiarized themselves with a specific product, they click a button to begin their test. The automation gives the user a series of tasks to complete in a set amount of time with specific usage scenarios.
- Validates and certifies a user's product knowledge - the automation analyzes and scores the user's responses to the set tasks. If they have met the criteria, the automation issues their certificate.
- Manages, monitors and analyzes users' learning - the automation manages bookings, creates user credentials, assigns relevant test assignments, and tracks each user's progress. It also generates data summaries and analysis to support management oversight.
Keysight uses the data insights generated to monitor and oversee
progress, identify and troubleshoot any problems arising - such as
multiple users getting stuck at a specific point in a test - and fine
tune the test assignments as needed.
John Adams is excited about the potential to improve educational
opportunities for the next generation of network security engineers
- with a long-term eye on enhancing Keysight's future sales.
"It's important that we provide education to new people as they
come into this environment, as maybe 5-10 years from now
they'll be the decision-makers at their companies. These decision-makers are going to implement $10 million or $50 million
solutions - and those types of sales help us last for a long time."
— John Adams, Program Manager of Channel Enablement at Keysight
The outcome
Positive user feedback, new industry partnerships, and huge sales-boosting potential.
Although the new certification program has only just been launched,
initial feedback has been very positive from both testers and the
first official user to gain certification.
"The people who go through the certification program take the
method well. I was even able to guide them based on missing
milestones I saw from previous exam graphs. It was a complete
success for the automation's concept."
— John Adams, Program Manager of Channel Enablement at Keysight
The certification program will make it easier and more appealing
for distributors and resellers around the globe to become certified
Keysight product specialists. The knowledge and confidence they
gain through the interactive certification process means they are
well equipped to create impressive, bespoke product demos
for prospective customers. This increases the likelihood of them
closing more sales, faster.
Keysight's cutting-edge educational capabilities have opened up
new opportunities to partner with other companies wanting to offer
specialist training and certifications.
Cybersecurity training providers Let's Defend are now using
Keysight's certification platform to provide selected training in
advanced topics. This means they can give students virtual, interactive
access to highly complex, expensive products and new technology
they would otherwise not get first-hand access to during training.
"Working with Zato Source has been great and very educational.
Not only did they help me build the code for our new products,
but they helped educate me on various topics to improve my own
code writing. I can continue to use the open-source Zato
platform to build out more products."
— John Adams, Program Manager of Channel Enablement at Keysight
Business Challenge
Keysight needed a stronger product certification
process to enable partners to give
effective demos of complex products,
to help close more sales
Solution
A custom-built certification program gives
users worldwide an interactive sandbox
to familiarize themselves with Keysight products,
and automates testing and management
Benefits
The user-friendly, cutting-edge educational
platform generates positive user feedback,
new industry partnerships, and huge potential
to boost future sales
"Zato Source is the house of problem solvers.
Suddenly, we have an on-demand virtual
showroom where users can become certified
product specialists whenever they want. Zato
made this easy for me to implement."
— John Adams, Program Manager of Channel Enablement at Keysight
