KBC and Onsophic working together for interactive education with real punch

After a successful pilot trial with around 1 000 workers in 2016, KBC and Onsophic are going to be working together on an innovative digital teaching platform that packs real punch.

Onsophic is a start-up and part of the Corda INcubator. Onsophic develops interactive digital teaching environments.  KBC is supporter and mentor of start-ups within Start it@kbc and elsewhere.

With Onsophic, KBC is forging a true partnership.

For some years, KBC has invested, both through its own Start it@kbc (link naar Start it website) incubator and elsewhere, in support for promising new businesses. Onsophic is a start-up that has developed a digital, interactive teaching environment that can be compared to a flight simulator. The flight simulator considerably narrows the gap between the teaching situation and the actual work situation. Staff can learn and practise new tools on a secure platform as though they were getting down to work in real life.

Tom Pennings, Onsophic's CEO, puts it like this: 'It used to be impossible to measure how effective educational programmes were within a company and what impact they had. In addition, big firms with often large workforces have a difficult job managing extensive training programmes and making the transfer of knowledge faster, easier and more sustainable. Onsophic collects deep learning data during training sessions and on the shop floor, resulting in initial insights and continuous performance measurement. 'We are thankful for the leadership foresight of large companies that are implementing innovative technology and entrusting our recently created company with a highly strategic project. It is an honour and a privilege to be supporting KBC in its story.'

And there's more. Together with KBC, Onsophic is looking into the feasibility, post-teaching phase, of continuing to give staff tips on the information and knowledge that they're advised to re-examine and master. This forges a continual teaching environment and lends greater effectiveness to the teaching efforts. It is also crucial that staff's privacy should be fully respected in this narrative.

Erik Luts, Senior General Manager for Direct Channels & Support in KBC's Belgium Business Unit: ‘KBC has of course been applying web learning for its staff training and development for some time, using a variety of platforms and methods. However, what's new with this solution is the flight-simulator concept: there's continuous digital feedback with the possibility to measure and augment the efficacy of the training. Moreover, working together with a start-up company offers the major benefit that we have ourselves been able to consult with Onsophic on adjustments and amendments where necessary. KBC views the joint working arrangement as a step forward in the digital training experience and as raising the efficiency and effectiveness of training sessions. Besides which it's important to underline that we actually do give start-ups help in gaining a robust foothold in the marketplace.'

About Onsophic

Onsophic is a start-up based in Silicon Valley. Its European operations have been developed at the Corda Incubator in Hasselt. Onsophic is developing the next-generation digital learning environment incorporating advanced analytics, customisation and automated guidance.