ETEC 522 - Ventures in Learning Technology

1. 3 Spheres
External Contractors Training Solution

2. About Us
3 Spheres represent Wisdom, Intelligence leading to Knowledge.
I’m Zain Yousaf Ali, founder and CEO of 3 Spheres. I’m an Instructional Designer
with major in Information Technology. With 15 years of experience, in Adult
Learning, eLearning Development and LMS administration, in several co-
operations made me realize that there is no formal training available for external
contractors. These contractors might be plumbers, electricians, special cleaners,
etc. who are required to come for specific tasks.

3. About Us
As per Ministry of Labour of Ontario (MOL), employers are responsible for
providing adequate training especially Health, Safety and Environment (HSE). In
most of the organization, I have worked in, the HSE personnel would provide this
training on one-to-one basis and these sessions can be in evenings, weekends,
and out of duty hours.
Also in most of these organization, there was no formal way of maintaining a log of
training provided and storing copies of their professional certificates.
This led me to an idea of starting a business that provides my client a solution that
allows external contractors to complete their training and upload all their
professional certificates prior to coming for work.
This solution will allow the employers to log the training records and also save tons
of dollars in training.

4. What does 3 Sphere offer?
• A cloud-based portal which enables external contractors to:
 complete the necessary training prior to arriving for first day work
 upload required professional certificates and proof of qualifications
• Our solution is …
 easy to access externally
 easy to navigate
 available 24X7
 efficient and effective in transferring knowledge

5. • Allows the external contractors to:
 Self register to the portal
 Complete required onboarding training in order to gain a basic understanding of
the organization’s policies and rules
 Upload certificates (WHMIS, Fall protection, etc.)
 Print Certificate of Completion
 Prequalify to attend pre-job safety briefing
What does 3 Sphere offer?

6.  Below is the database showing the number of external contractors such as
electricians, carpenters, tradesmen, etc. are trained year over year in a medium-
sized construction or manufacturing unit.
Opportunities
MOL Report – General Report, March 2017

7.  As per the Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL), all of the contractors are required to go
through an initial Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) Policy and Procedure and
an annual refresher training.
Opportunities

8. Why will organization buy our product?
 There are several companies who are providing this kind of solution for a long time and
have a huge advantage and very deep pockets. But we are not trying to compete with
these companies obviously.
 What makes us different from them is that we are providing a solution that meets the
organization’s need and makes it easier to:
• review learner data to identify areas for improvement and streamline your courses
• manage your company’s training requirements by tracking course completion and
compliance
• focus on planning, developing and implementing your training activities instead of
maintaining and administering them

9. Why will organization buy our product?
 Our solution provides innovative learning solutions to elevate your organization and
offers rapid implementation – your training programs can be up and running in days
instead of weeks or months. It offers flexibility to meet the unique training needs of
companies of all sizes, and is scalable to grow with your business.

10. Cost Savings (Annual)
Year # of Trainees Training Hours
(each session is
2 hrs)
Rate/hr
(Avg)
Savings ($)
2016 514* 514 x 2 hrs =
1,028 hrs
$50 $51,400
2017 1100*
(new-600) & retraining-
500)
1100 x 2 hrs =
2200 hrs
$50 $110,000
* As per MOL report
Benefits

11. Increased Resource Capacity & Flexibility
Year # of
Session
/Week
Training Hours/Week
(each session is 2 hrs)
Weeks Training
Hours
Annually
2016 4 4 x 1.5 hrs = 6 hrs 50 300 hrs
2017 6 6 x 1.5 hrs = 9 hrs 50 450 hrs
 Eliminates need for In-class sessions (e.g. 4 sessions per week) -
2 hours per session
 No after-hours/weekend training
 Freeing resources not only saves money but also enables the organization to have
“boots on the ground” to improve safety culture and to not be “stuck in a room”
Benefits

12. Better Tracking & Compliance
 Ensures external contractors are aware of organization’s HSE policies and
rules prior to working.
 Training completion is automatically tracked.
 The portal keeps the records of contractor certificates in the event of an audit.
Security
 Ensures a safe, secure server connection that protects the privacy and
anonymity of the contractors as well as the organization.
Benefits

13. Community Hospitals
 Working in a health care environment in Toronto, I realized that many of the
community hospitals across the province lack online training infra-structure.
 Most of the trainings for the external contractors are conducted by Occupation
Health specialists in a classroom settings.
 The resources, both finances and manpower, are limited.
 Investing couple of hundred thousands on Learning Management System
(LMS) is not a feasible solution.
 Privacy is huge in health-care.
They are easy target!
And our Product will be designed and marketed keep them in mind!
Our Target Market

14. Learning Management Systems Providers
 Most of our competitors are big LMS providers, and with their reputation comes
the price that small community hospitals are not able to afford. Therefore, we are
providing tailored solution that fulfil their needs.
 There are some companies providing the same solution but mostly are in the US.
With the Canadian Public Health Privacy Act, the data needs to be in Canada,
therefore, most of the companies are not eligible to provide this service.
This makes us one of the most affordable
Online Training Solution Provider!
Our Competition

15.  We plan to approach hospitals’ learning and development departments in person
for the most part although conferences such as eACH (eLearning Alliance for
Canadian Hospitals), Learning Solutions (eLearning Guild), IPL (The Institute for
Performance and Learning), etc. are events we plan to attend in order to learn and
to promote our product.
 We hope to form reciprocal partnerships with other LMS providers in industry
where we both place our company logos and information on each others’ products
such as SumTotals, Learning Gateway, etc.
 We are going to offer online blog as part of our website – as other experienced
owners have commented, this is “free” compared to advertising and is very
effective and current.
Marketing Strategy

16. How much Investment is required for
Starting up the Business?
 In order to start from scratch, our company will require approximately over
$250,000 to design, build, test and market our product with 3 persons salaries.
 Server cists are very minimal per month, but with ongoing “support” to answer
FAQs and run the blog, renting, and to secure technical assistance we are looking
at just over $380,000.
 The breakdown for next three years expenses is provided in the next slide.

17. Services 2018 2019
(add 10% for
inflation)
2020
(add 10% for
inflation)
Initial Setup (cost of development,
design, build, testing)
$50,000 $55,000 $60,500
Salaries
(3 employees)
$210,000 $231,000 $254,100
Renting office space ($1,500/ mo) $18,000 $19,800 $21,780
Marketing Tools (includes conference
costs)
$25,000 $27,500 $30,250
Online blogs plus salary to
monitor/respond ($1000/mo) PT
$12,000 $13,200 $14,520
Book Keeping & Accountant $1,500 $1,650 $1,815
Internet, server space, computers,
office supplies, etc.
$12,000 $13,200 $14,520
Total $328,500 $361,350 $397,485
How much Investment is required for
Starting up the Business?

18. Services Initial Cost
(CDN$)
Comments
Branding & Customization $15,000 One time cost
Annual Subscription
(100 active users)
$10,000 Annually
Support (additional cost) $150/hr (if required)
Total $25,000
How much are Product will Cost?
 Organization will be spending less than $20,000 to get a developed training
solution for their external contractors
 No more hassle to hire professional trainers
 External contractors will be completing the training on their own time

19. Our Gross Profit in Three Years
 Obviously, startup costs are an issue therefore, We are presenting the idea to get
some investments.
 We are fully prepare to invest $100,000 of my own money but will retain 51% if the
company.
 We are looking for joint venture capitalists/investors to invest the remaining
$228,500 for the company’s first year’s operation.
 On that investment, we are looking at a 40% return over a one year period. So, if
you invest $285,000, you would get back $319,900.
 As the CEO of the company and since this is our idea, we too would have to see a
gain but we are basing this on “a reasonable for profit” option of 15%.

20. Our Gross Profit in Three Years
 In order for us to meet these profit margins, we would have to provide our
solution to almost 15 hospitals.
 Given that the market is worth $800 million, the sales we have projected
represents just 0.0005% overall.
 Our prices are roughly 1/4th of what other competitors are charging and there
are not that many competitors in our particular niche.
 By starting slowly with a single vision of providing online solution, we hope to
expand with more robust training solutions such as development of eLearning
courses.

21.  The portal provides greater efficiency with a documented, standardized process.
 The portal enables organization to use their resources more effectively and improve
their safety culture.
 It ensures there is no work stoppage waiting for someone to get trained and reduces
the amount of follow up.
 Contractors are completing training prior to coming on site, on their own time, as a
prerequisite to the pre-job briefing.
Improved Flexibility, Cost Savings, Better Tracking
& Compliance, & Resource Efficiency
Conclusion