The Digital Shift

"It was a long, hard road," German says.

Pre-training has been the key for BlueCross BlueShield of Michigan. When the first Xerox 4090 laser printer debuted, Pat O'Donnell, manager of Document Production Services, selected operators who had computer experience at home.

What buffered employee eagerness was the company's offering of online computer classes; virtually everyone in O'Donnell's shop has taken the courses. Two employees became Microsoft certified and are now working in the Information Services department. The classes paid dividends when the in-plant installed a Xerox iGen3 in August of 2003.