Why Switch to an Online Corporate Training Software?

What is an Online Corporate Training Software?

An online corporate training software is a platform used to formalize and automate corporate training activities which the organization once carried out in a manual, informal, and unstructured manner. Technically, its true meaning is the formal adoption of a Learning Management System (LMS), sometimes called a Learning Management Software, which only in its SaaS form is a true online training software. This system can be integrated with the Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS) which relays information on both existing and new employees to the LMS as their accounts are created.

It is from here that the true nature of an online corporate training software and its ability to automate training activities is realized. As employees are registered onto the HRMIS as a part of the organization’s HR database, their information on Job Role (JR) and Description (JD) is automatically passed on to the LMS that it is integrated with.

The LMS then proceeds to identify the new entrants based on their Job Role and Job Description, automatically assigning them relevant training material or induction programs based on the JR and JD. But the automation function doesn’t end here—when set up appropriately, the LMS keeps a track of course completion rates, sends automatic monthly or weekly reports on employees’ performance, and automatically notifies employees of upcoming courses, scheduled classroom training, and mandatory compliance activities.

Effectively, the only task an HR or L&D personnel has to actively pursue when training staff is the administration of the LMS which includes activities such as uploading regular content, making fair use of the reports generated, and following up with employees who refuse to complete their training even after multiple LMS generated warnings.

So what are the benefits of an online corporate training software apart from the obvious fact that almost 80% of the training function is now labor free? There are several benefits that an eLearning software brings with it. In this article, we take a look at a few that really make a difference.

Advantages of Using an Online Corporate Training Software:

Reduce Attrition

Employee Attrition is an expensive affair. Organizations facing high rates of employee attrition often incur extra costs that come with acquiring new employees, training them, and facilitating the initial expenses of getting them started. To avoid such costs, organizations need to focus on implementing employee retention strategies. Since the current workforce is quickly being replaced by millennials and other younger generations, it is important to understand what drives these generations’ loyalties and the efforts that are needed to retain them.

80% of the employees interviewed by Glassdoor confirmed that the opportunity to train, learn something new, and develop is a reason to either join or leave an organization. And, a report by Tanner stated that 69% of employees are more likely to stay if the onboarding experience is great.

As we can already deduce from these studies, the opportunity to train and develop either during onboarding and induction or the latter part of an employee’s lifecycle plays an important role in retaining employees.

However, according to a recent report by Entrepreneur, more than 50% of employers polled in a Watson Wyer survey stated that they still do not have a formal employee retention strategy in place. Judging from the responses given in both the Glassdoor and Tanner surveys, it is safe to say that implementing a formal, automated online training software can certainly play its part in bringing attrition rates down. After all, a survey of 500 HR professionals sponsored by Allied Van Lines found that it costs an average of almost $11,000 to fill one position, with an additional $21,000 per new hire for relocation and other costs. Clearly, staff attrition is expensive and research shows that it can cost from 30% to over 250% of an individual’s total annual compensation.

Build an Organization-Wide Culture of Development

“If you’re not learning, you are stagnant, if you’re stagnant, you’re not evolving, if you’re not evolving, your business is not growing” – Seth Rollins. The average life of an S&P 500 company has fallen from 67 years to just 15 years today. The marketplace is more unforgiving towards companies that take too long to learn their lessons. In short, organizations that take too long to learn, adapt, and grow get left behind rather quickly.

Growth is the by-product of learning, and today’s marketplace demands that organizations grow on a percentage basis year on year in order to keep up with the changing rates and increasing costs of sustaining a business. This increase can only result from when the organization as a whole develops. Innovation, better services, increased sales, and an updated employee force contributes to this, making learning and development very important.

Organizations providing an opportunity to learn and grow in a marketplace as disruptive as the present, potentially set themselves up for a better future in an increasingly volatile business environment.

Break the Monotonous Routine of Just Working

On a lighter note, online corporate training initiatives, if carried out on a regular basis ranging from every quarter to once every two months, can bring a pleasant change in the everyday monotonous routine of working. This is even more relevant if the online training activities are carried out in an interactive manner using technology to provide additional dimensions of immersive learning—something that traditional training on its own cannot accomplish.

The ageing belief that meaningful training is always boring or tough to understand doesn’t always have to be true. In fact, training can be an interesting activity, especially when the subject being covered is of some relevance to the learner, or it is a teambuilding activity, or presents the learners with the opportunity to grow in their careers.

Make Training Interesting and Easy to Access

At the heart of any modern online corporate training software, ease in accessibility and maintaining interest levels of the learners are two important features that the system must possess. Mobile-learning technology allows online training to be accessed from anywhere in the world, even when travelling. With the number of smartphone users increasing globally, a study showed that 80% of millennials believed in the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) concept when consuming content, both entertainment and informational, at work. The BYOD here refers to mobile phones and laptops being the two prime candidates.

When learners are given the freedom to select a device of their liking to access learning from, the average time spent on learning increases as the content is now being accessed while traveling, from home, offices, and any other place where they can have free time.

The additional benefits of accessing technology to train also include increased attention spans, interest levels, and learner retention. Courses on an eLearning software are often intricate works of art and functionality, with detailed animations and carefully planned interactivity that helps in keeping the learner’s attention. Studies have now ascertained that almost 90% of all media consumed by 2020 will be through any of the currently available digital platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. These platforms aggressively package their content to be attractive and interesting at the same time. Competing with such content delivery strategies using traditional training methods would be like bringing a knife to a gunfight.

Increase Internal Competitiveness

Platforms like the LMS come with inbuilt gamification options such as leaderboards, badges, and points. These features keep a track of the best performers and highlight them in a playful manner, much like keeping scores during a friendly football game.

However, the psychology behind gamification goes deeper than just fun and games. Gamification features were originally developed and included into learning platforms to create an atmosphere of peer-to-peer competition and enhance the sense of achievements through digital rewards and acknowledgements.

Today, the personal satisfaction of placing higher up amongst peers on a leaderboard increases the healthy internal competitiveness required to drive the staff of any organization. It is a straightforward way to ensure training objectives are met effectively and with enough vigor and enthusiasm.

Inculcating modes of friendly competition into the organization’s daily working is definitely a good way to keep employees engaged.

Keep a Record of all Training Initiatives

On a more serious note, traditional training is limited in its ability to keep a track of all the training activities being carried out on an organization-wide level. Maintaining records by hand, taking manual attendance, and conducting assessments through pen and paper have long been replaced by digital record keeping on the LMS.

From easily scheduling classroom training to taking attendance and maintaining a record of the assessments, an automated training platform saves time and efforts all around.

This information is particularly important when records have to be accessed for any specific reason. These records help determine the exact training being provided to a batch of students, help identify outstanding learners via a background check of their track records, and highlight areas where learners faced most difficulty and areas where improvements are now visible, among other features. Having bulk data on hand plays a huge role when trying to determine trends and track the history of learners.

Create Specific Learning Paths for all Employees

In the words of Karen Cariss, CEO of talent management organization PageUp People, “Enabling employees to understand the career paths available to them and equipping managers with the tools to recognize the positions and individuals critical to organizational goals are necessary to ensure the long-term success of a company and its workers.”

As mentioned earlier, millennials perform harder and display greater loyalty towards organizations that promise them a fruitful career path.

Modern automation platforms are ideal tools on which a learner’s career path can be defined right from their joining till they receive multiple promotions.

A typical career path consists of an employee joining and their information being loaded onto the HRMIS. The HRMIS then relays this employee information to the LMS which awaits the very first log-in by that employee. An automatic career path is then set by the LMS based on the learner’s Job Description/Job role. The LMS starts by providing induction training, then follows it up with skill development training, and finally on the completion of the required courses, declares the candidate ready for promotions.

This entire task can last from anywhere between a year to two. This is truly how an eLearning software or an online corporate training software simply does its job the best.

Save Costs

Finally, one of the biggest reasons to implement an online corporate training software is to save costs of time, efforts, and money in both the short and the long run. The complete purpose of training automation is to save all types of overhead costs.

In a report by iSpring for Joomla LMS, organizations frequently relying on LMS and eLearning software for online corporate training were assessed. What they found was not a big surprise in any manner, since the LMS is primarily designed and built to achieve these very same goals. 40% of the organizations claimed an increase in revenue. 53% claimed an increase in productivity. 25% claimed a decrease in costs, and 16% reported a decrease in attrition.

Automation platforms such as the LMS are designed and built as online corporate training software. And when organizations start using the modern LMS in the manner that it actually should, the difference does not vary much from the actual predictions.

At Abara LMS we have created the perfect online training platform to train your employees, no matter what part of the employee lifecycle they are in. Our Learning Management System Is recognized by multiple third-party bodies as an ideal online corporate training software, and we are proud of it. To know more, you can reach out to us at contact@abaralms.com or click herem to initiate a free trial of the learning management system.