Quality Online Training to Customers and Staff with Managed LMS
Firstly, training is an essential part of any business. It could be face to face training or online training. You could be train your customers on how to use your solutions, troubleshooting or integrating your products into their systems. On the same breath, you could train your employees on various aspects of the business, depending on what department they are in.
Next, the customer service and marketing teams could be trained on various products on offer, customer management skills and professional code of conduct. The technical team may be taught on integration, troubleshooting and related areas. Moreover, the whole organisation may require training on corporate culture, mentorship and goal setting.
Lastly, whatever the needs that your business has, you have a choice. You can either opt for an in-house team or outsource the function to a corporate training company. Outsourcing the function is always the best option for a number of benefits as explained in the text that follows.
Concentrate on What You Do Best
Next, outsourcing your online training relieves the company the pressure that comes with managing the program. This creates courses and segmenting groups as per their needs. The providers of the service concentrate on creating effective programs. This means the organisation can focus on the core business.
Innovation
Notably, being in the industry helps the service providers to be in touch with the latest solutions in the business world. These are tools that might not be available to the business. Therefore, it is able to deliver innovative ways to deliver content and increase learning amongst the participants. Moreover, with the insight gained from managing multiple similar clients, the provider already knows the best ways to get the information through.
Measurable & Structured Learning
Informal learning sessions cannot be measured in terms of the effects on staff performance, higher satisfaction among customers and better organisation management. However, with outsourced service, it is possible to set milestones and measure the results of the learning process among the audience. The provider is also able to help you measure the quality of your online training program against competing firms in your industry.
Cost Effectiveness
If you opt for a learning service provider, it’s over 20 percent cheaper than hiring an in-house team. The provider is able to deliver an online training program which is great, especially if teams take part across various branches. Or they use technology to reach all the participants without having them to travel for seminars and conferences. The holistic approach can apply across various disciplines.
Using Managed Learning System (LMS)
A managed LMS is a system that is managed by an external specialist. They will do the procurement and delivery of the teaching program to various groups in the organisation. Budgets are getting tighter just as the need to keep customers updated on products and services and enhance skill sets in employees goes up. A managed service allows organisations to streamline all their needs and processes so that they cost less but offer the best value to each of the groups.
The service provider liaises with the company to identify the needs of various groups and develop a curriculum to train the targeted audience. In most cases, the company provides the content that it would like to be taught. Then, the service provider turns the content into structured courses, questions and evaluation guidelines for use. This makes the content palatable and easy to understand to those who are getting the information.
The same system can be used for various goals and groups. In fact, it can run different programs concurrently. For example, you could be teaching your customers how to use the latest solution while ensuring that employees are updated on the latest compliance requirements in your industry.
Benefits of LMS Systems
The LMS has several advantages over conventional education processes. First, it allows you to develop content that can be used over and over again. This makes it ideal if other groups need to learn about the same topic or solution later on. Furthermore, it ensures uniformity in the training and the kind of information that is delivered to target groups. This is especially true for the employees who are expected to perform similar duties.
The system is also online, which allows for flexibility in learning times and reach. Different audiences can log into the system at varying times. This means they can learn at their own pace. It is different from seminars and conferences where everyone has to be around. The latter results in the interruption of business activities. Besides, being online is advantageous to companies with several branches spread across a wide area or needs to reach customer around the world. The attendees just log into the system and the content is made available where they are.
More Benefits of LMS Systems
With an LMS, you can provide both free and premium content to your customers. The free content could be general information on your products and services. Alternatively, if could be any upgrades that you may have made on the products. The premium content may include training programs for customer engineers in the case of technology solutions or sales support materials offered to customers at a price. The system is effective if you wish to run both types of content. One advantage is that you can ensure that each type of content meets your set goals and objectives.
The service provider can help improve consumption of the online training content. They are able to offer certificates, authorised dealer certificates or even badges to people who complete different courses in the educational program. With the reward system, the company is able to bring as many people as possible on board to take part in the learning process.
How to Enhance Your Online Training Delivery Process
With outsourced education programs, there are several ways that you can ensure that the information reaches the intended groups. This means that they are able to use it for their benefit and that of the company.
Work with the Target Groups
Next, it is important to note that whatever content you provide must be of value to the target groups. One way you can determine their information needs is by asking the groups what they would like to be taught. You can also carry out surveys. They could cover performance, customer complaints or recurrent issues on products and services to come up with areas that training is required. However, you must loop in your audience so that the whole online training process can be a success.
Embrace Technology
Furthermore, technology helps in the delivery of content across large areas. This helps to lower the cost as you do not have to be in contact with your audience. With LMS, you can work with the service provider to reach an audience over their mobile devices. Alternatively, you can create internet social groups where they can interact and learn together. Different learning solutions can then be channelled through these tools.
It’s NOT all or nothing
Here, there is a tendency for many organisations to bundle everything that they want to teach various groups. Delivering huge amounts of content in a short period does not give your audience time to internalise the concepts under study. In turn, this causes you to miss on your goals and objectives. Here, the ideal program should have a structure where content is subdivided into modules or stages. At each stage, adequate time should be given for each portion of the online training.
Work with Reputable Service Providers
Moreover, a reputable service provider is the one that has been on the ground for some time. They will have vast experience in how to deliver courses in your kind of organisation. Pick a provider that has experience in managing an LMS service previously. This will help to improve your own delivery and streamline different courses. The provider should have innovative ways and suggestions on delivering content to various groups on time.
Have Clear KPIs
Next, key performance indicators determine how effective your program is. It is essentially the ROI of your program. Unfortunately, most organisations are tempted with low costs and not the real value that they are giving to target groups. However, with key areas in place, the first thing that comes to mind is the delivery and budget later on. Work with the service provider to set milestones and measurement tools before the program starts. This will mean you’re able to follow up on the outcomes of your program.
Have a Feedback System
Finally, every educational program should have a feedback system. The feedback should come from the consumers of the information and test mechanisms for performance. It helps you make adjustments where the program is not delivering the said goals.
On a final note, your training program should always provide value. Here, it is important that you measure the effectiveness of the training too. One of the best ways you can enhance this is going to an online service provider that has an elaborate managed learning management system in place.
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