As expected....

US-based multi-national companies are beginning to suspend training all over the world. One that iron-wife coaches on behalf of a California-based coaching company has announced today.

I saw that a mile away since this June. But this California-based coaching company just doesn't get it. We tried getting the CEO, the owner and the Asia Biz planner together over the Summer to discuss the potential pitfalls of an economic downturn and an Asian specific strategy. Good luck. They kept delaying us or canceling us. Don't get me wrong; they are a bunch of good people to work with. But planning for disaster, I think they have a problem.

So this morning, we received an email from that coaching company's CEO saying Ci--co has suspended all trainings and travel for the next couple quarters. Ha. I expected that and a month ago already and proposed an idea to iron-wife.

As a communication company, Ci--co seems to make employees travel a lot for training. And yet in every single training center I have visited, I keep seeing the promotion of its Telepresence products. A video conferencing tool linking multiple locations together. I suspect it has spent a lot of money in CSI-NY last Fall promoting the product. This Telepresence will work great for coaching from multiple locations if you want your sale force to promote your own product. No... Equipment is setup in meeting rooms. So the infrastructure cost is already paid. Time zone is negligible in Asia. One hour at the most when you start from Thailand and West. My proposition was having this company to change the way training is delivered. Use the existing equipment. This will: 1) cut down on employee travel time and cost, 2) promote own product and identify potential flaws with staff usage, 3) the California coaching company can keep revenue coming in, 4) reduce the expense on ordering luncheons in for trainees and 5) keep your talent pool upgraded for the economic recovery. And if this worked out, the Ci-co training rooms can then be charged out for SMEs to link to other overseas companies for business discussion. Another revenue stream. Nah.... What do I know. Just like when the IxM sending a trainer from Beijing to manage a Shanghai-based training. Putting everyone at a 5-star hotel at Shangri-la in Pudong and then rented this dive (converted state-owned refrigerator factory) to do a 3-day training session in PuXi. Half way across Shanghai. Taxi fare, people time in traveling... Obvious no one had studied Finance 101.