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Learning

VMware’s Solutions Academy Wins Bronze Brandon Hall Group Excellence Award

And the winner is…

In a year filled with Olympic medals awarded and displayed by countries around the world, VMware proudly won the highly coveted and prestigious bronze Brandon Hall Group Excellence award on August 19, 2021. Like earning an Olympic medal, this award took months of laser-focused efforts by an elite team of learning professionals who share a deep commitment to learning innovation and partnership.

The winning entry, VMware’s Solutions Academy – How to Sell Solutions in a Global Pandemic, took bronze honors in the Best Program for Sales Training and Performance category. Entrants are required to demonstrate how their program meets specific sales performance objectives and are judged against five key criteria:

  1. Fit to organizational needs
  2. Design and delivery of program
  3. Change management efforts
  4. Measurable benefits
  5. Impact

Blood, sweat, tears and unprecedented times

The road to success began last summer when the Solutions Enablement team asked and answered a critical question: “How do we build the muscle of the sales team to sell with more impact in unprecedented times, and at the same time, move to virtual learning delivery?” The answer was the creation of an innovative new program called the Solutions Academy. This program consists of nine microlearning courses around each of the solutions franchises: cloud applications, security, vCenter Configuration Manager and digital workspace.

An opportunity made of bronze

With the success of the Solutions Academy, the team quickly realized that the program was a strong contender for a Brandon Hall Group award. Between January and March, they spent countless hours preparing the submission application and working hard to ensure that all requirements were met. After a seemingly endless wait, the team learned that the Solutions Academy was awarded bronze place.

There are many benefits to earning an award of this caliber. As a recipient, VMware will have an opportunity to share our knowledge and best practices at industry panel sessions and receive recognition on Brandon Hall Group’s website and social media platforms. In addition, VMware will be formally recognized at the Brandon Hall Group Annual HCM Excellence Conference and proudly display the Brandon Hall logo and winner badge on our website. 

Cheers!

This Herculean effort took the talents and time of many. Hats off to Amy Scott and our partners Amy Posey from SuperMegaBoss and Don Andrews from Youd-Andrews who worked tirelessly on the application and submission process. A shout-out and thank you to the efforts and hard work of the Solutions Enablement, Project Management, Learning Program and Learning Metrics and Analytics teams. Additionally, we’d like to thank our subject matter experts from the Solutions Marketing and Strategic Pursuits and Practices teams. Without them, success would not be possible.

Join us as we strike up the band, pop the bubbly and raise our glasses to everyone who helped create and make VMware’s award-winning Solutions Academy a success!