Regardless of our chosen industry, it is fair to say we all want to build a large, growing business.
To achieve that goal, today, businesses need to do everything; employees and skills are the strategic part of all efforts.
They help your business thrive.
Think of it this way: to achieve high performance and other business goals, employees and skills are the most valuable assets you should capitalize on.
If you know where your employees need to do better, you can start bridging the gaps in their skills, and in return, they can help you grow better and faster.
The best way to train employees and equip them with advanced skills is by providing them with flexible learning opportunities. Today, the most flexible and effective way of developing new skills quickly is eLearning.
You can engage employees in eLearning for small businesses to encourage their involvement in the company and trigger their motivation to work smarter.
With eLearning, you will place your business to reap lots of benefits.
Let’s take a look at eLearning in more depth, and find out how it can be valuable for the growth of small businesses.
What is eLearning?
Simply put, eLearning is online learning delivered via the internet. This learning happens through interactive video lessons and chats.
Consider it a form of networking that allows the transfer of skills and knowledge to a large number of recipients at or across multiple locations, at any time.
Earlier, there was reluctance around embracing eLearning as people assumed it lacked the human element essential for learning.
However, mass adoption has augmented with the evolution in technology and the development of eLearning systems. Particularly, as we have got hooked to smartphones, tablets, etc, these devices have gained importance in learning.
Learning supported by this technology has proved to be fruitful in the corporate world as businesses are able to train their employees wherever they are: at home or on the field. So, distance is no longer a limitation to knowledge delivery.
Growth of eLearning
eLearning has found widespread application in business, medicine, education, agriculture, telecommunications, retail services, and government setups.
Over the last decade, eLearning has shown significant growth as technology and education combine to create opportunities for businesses to help their people learn new skills.
After being triggered by the COVID19 outbreak, eLearning has become an integral part of employee training. Especially, as more businesses are turning to remote working, eLearning usage is booming.
By 2026, the global eLearning market share will reach $457.8 Billion. This growth of eLearning is supported by the rising internet penetration and broadband expansion which has provided us with more economical connectivity plans.
As the internet has become more accessible to the masses, eLearning platforms have been built to make online learning readily available for everyone.
eLearning Platforms
eLearning development services build platforms to make courses accessible online. The courses cover virtually every category, such as engineering, computer science, mathematics, art, business, personal development, AI, Big Data, robotics, and more. The list goes on.
With their updated content, the courses are valuable training solutions. Their types and levels vary, presenting a great choice for businesses to utilize off-the-shelf course content.
In this ever-changing world, it is important that your employees have access to this up-to-date knowledge so they can be successful at their job performance.
Benefits of Adopting eLearning
- Train on Skills Needed for Success
According to IBM’s report on The Value of Training, 90% of businesses lack the skills they need to succeed.
Without having the skills that prepare you for success, you lose the strength to compete and thrive in your industry. Training is a crucial part of the employee journey. Proper training prepares them to achieve organizational goals and tackle the challenges of the job.
Often, we assume employee training should be offered in the initial days only, but training is a never-ending process. Employees perform at their best when they receive the training they need.
To help your employees keep abreast of innovation, evolving ideas, and technologies, you need to keep training employees.
By giving employees access to online courses, you can aid them to learn the essential skills and train them on how to get along with your business.
With the help of online learning platforms like Coursera, Skillshare, Edx, Udemy, and others, you can choose industry-specific courses and help employees learn different skills. These platforms offer well-organized and consistent training to help learners sharpen skills and apply them in their practical lives.
The areas where you can train your employees are the effective use of technology, safety precautions, wastage of resources, optimum utilization of tools, new product launches, personal growth, and more to engage and encourage their productivity at work.
- More Cost-effective Training
Arranging traditional training programs costs a lot.
Your employees will need to spend time away from day-to-day tasks attending training sessions. If you arrange training other than office hours, it entails going on expensive trips to workshops or conferences. It also involves hiring a full-time trainer to conduct training, procuring course material, and printing it for each trainee. Utilize an applicant tracking system to streamline the process and hire the best talent for the job.
eLearning reduces extraneous training costs. From the onset, eLearning is cost-effective for employees and companies.
First, you do not need to hire a trainer to prepare the training course. You can subscribe to a course and invite employees to log in and start learning.
Additionally, you do not incur costs of travel, training materials, training rooms, and catering.
In a nutshell, neither you nor your employees need to spend much. All they need to have is a smartphone with a decent internet connection.
In fact, studies show that 93 percent of employees use their smartphones for work purposes. This means you can save on buying gadgets simply by making learning materials and courses available on your smartphone.
- Accommodate Everyone’s Needs
An essential part of employee training is making sure they get what they expect.
After all, why do employees stay in your organization instead of moving to a big company?
Your employees need a reason to stay in your organization. Recent studies report that employees who find their current organizations play no role in helping them achieve their goals are 12 times more likely to leave the organization than those who feel their organizations help them achieve their goals.
For new employees, this digit skyrockets as they are 30 times more likely to bid farewell to a business.
If you want to avoid the costs of recruiting new employees, offer your existing employees value (the incentive) to stay in your organization. That value here is learning.
By helping them advance their skills and get expertise in their area of interest through eLearning, you can beat any big company and win employees’ minds and hearts.
Apart from employees, another bunch of people who need training is your customers. Though the idea may sound like an odd notion, it is profoundly valuable.
If you are a B2C business, customer training programs can help your customers understand how to use your products or service. This will decrease their fear of trying your service and increase their confidence in your product.
And what could be better than eLearning to train a large number of customers at the same time?
- Ramp Up Employee Productivity
This is the most important benefit you will not want to miss.
Planning training is crucial for helping your employees stay productive. But, when you have no training in place, skill gaps can cause a dent in productivity.
eLearning is a practical option for training employees to improve performance. It is particularly helpful when you want to teach new skill sets.
For example, when employees are learning to use software, they can watch quick lessons on mobile phones and follow along using the software on a desktop. It saves their time and offers them learning in real-time.
This learning can significantly improve productivity, helping your employees learn and practice skills quickly.
- Flexibility and Accessibility
Through eLearning, the biggest benefit you can get is maximum flexibility.
The digital material and tools remain available on your chosen platforms where your employees can log in and easily access the course.
This allows them to take training lessons any time they want.
Additionally, learners can pause, review, and take notes to better understand the material. Learning also incorporates interactive graphics, quizzes, discussions, and more to cater to different learning styles.
There are also different levels of expertise, such as beginner, intermediate, and advanced. So, rather than generic training, eLearning helps you provide employees knowledge and expertise they need.
- Extends Branding Influence
When you partner up with other parties to sell your offerings or market your brand, you need to convey a consistent brand message through training.
Convincing companies to take an extended time for in-depth product training is difficult, as it would mean greater cost for you and effort on their part.
eLearning delivers convenience and opens up possibilities for you to offer training to all your partnering companies, such as marketing agencies, to educate them more about your product.
Their teams can learn about your brand in the simplest way possible without spending much time and money.
With better product and brand understanding, they will have a more clear idea of your brand voice, identity, and personality to help you expand your brand influence with consistency.
Conclusion:
The benefits of eLearning explained above just give you an idea of the potential eLearning holds for small businesses.
However, as you invest in it, you will find these advantages are just the tip of the iceberg, and eLearning will continue to surprise you with its full potential.
