How eLearning Dramatically Reduces the Corporate Training Costs
Regardless of their respective industries or their budget size, organizations are always looking for a way to cut costs and improve their bottom line. One of the key areas that often requires a large chunk of resources is employee training. Developing necessary skill sets and delivering vital information to staff members is typically a significant and necessary investment. However, what if there was a simple and straightforward way to reduce corporate training costs while boosting the efficiency of your training efforts?
There are a number of examples proving that eLearning is in fact lowering the cost of employee training. Research has shown that moving your training online not only allows you to allocate valuable resources to other areas of your budget, but also makes the training process even more effective.
- According to research cited in Judith B. Strother's report, which featured the findings of Hall and LeCavalier, a number of big brands cut their training costs by switching to blended learning. For example, Ernst and Young reduced its costs by 35% and reduced its training time by about 52%. (An Assessment of the Effectiveness of e-learning in Corporate Training Programs)
- The same report also stated that IBM saved big when it made the move to online corporate training. IBM actually cut its costs by roughly $200 million, which was approximately one-third of its previous training budget.
- A report issued by Clive Shepherd cited that Dow Chemical reduced its training costs to just $11 per learner when it switched to online training. This is a staggering cut in costs, considering that its previous traditional classroom training expenditures were $95 per learner. (Case study: Dow Chemical)
- The same report by Shepherd states that Cisco cut its overall training costs by about 40% to 60% when it transitioned to eLearning training, while improved its overall employee performance and job effectiveness. (Case study: Cisco).
5 Tips To Reduce Corporate Training Costs
- Conduct a thorough assessment to determine which courses and modules are absolutely necessary.
Carefully assess the courses and training materials you are utilizing now to determine which ones are absolutely necessary and which ones can be omitted from your training strategy. Better yet, conduct employee surveys and an in depth needs analysis to determine if your current training strategy is actually effective. Require employees to complete a quiz after they've completed the training to see what they have learned and how successful the module really is. This will not only allow you to pinpoint which modules can be cut, but also to fine tune the courses you do need to keep. - Think about how your traditional courses can be converted to eLearning.
Take a close look at your current corporate training strategy and see how it can be moved to an online format. With eLearning, you have access to a wealth of multimedia tools and delivery formats. As such, you have the ability to make the training experience more interactive and engaging, which can lead to a more effective knowledge/skill set acquisition and retention. More importantly, you gain all of these benefits with a reduced price tag. - Become your own subject matter expert.
One of the most significant investments in regards to online corporate training is the creation of content. Often, this involves enlisting the aid of a subject matter expert, who can highlight vital information and craft the content to be used for your online training modules. However, if you become your own subject matter expert, then you can cut out this cost entirely. Conduct research on your own, or place one of your staff members, to find out which key pieces of information should be included. Turn to current training materials to see study up on policies and procedures. You will probably even discover that a member of staff in each of your departments is experienced and knowledgeable enough to create the training content or offer invaluable input during the development process. - Rely upon a synchronous eLearning training strategy if instructors are required.
If you feel as though instructors or facilitators must be present during the training, then why not develop a synchronous eLearning training strategy. Create live online events that employees are required to attend. This completely eliminates instructor travel costs. During these live events (synchronous learning) instructors can directly interact with the employees via instant messaging and video conferencing, which means that you don't lose that interactive element. They can address any questions or concerns, walk the employees through important processes, and encourage employees to actively participate in group discussions. For a fully featured LMS with ILT functionality, make sure to check out TalentLMS. - Offer eLearning when and where the employee needs it.
On-demand training, such as virtual reference guides and “bite sized” training modules can give you the ability to offer immediate and effective training to employees when they need it the most. For example, if an employee has access to employee protocol guides that walk them through various processes, this can improve performance and customer care. You won't have to design a lengthy and costly module, but a smaller and more targeted one, and you'll still reap the rewards of employee development training. Not to mention that you won't have to allocate employee working hours to training, given that they will be learning while on-the-job.
Online Corporate Training can offer any organization the ability to reduce training costs and boost employee performance. Whether a company has a staff of five or five thousand, a budget of hundreds or millions, online corporate training offers employee knowledge and skill development that can increase profits, cut costs, and offer an optimal return on your investment.
Want to learn more about Online Corporate Training? I highly encourage you to read the following articles.
- 10 Reasons Why You Should Invest In Corporate eLearning
In this post you'll find the Top 10 reasons why you should consider investing in corporate eLearning, regardless of the size of your staff or budget. In fact, I'll even share some insights about how online corporate training may help to actually reduce training costs and reduce employee turnover rates. - How to Reduce Costs in E-Learning and Corporate Training
Our clients want to accomplish as much as possible with their e-learning budgets: we all want more bangs for our bucks. Fact is, you can do more for less and reduce costs in e-learning and corporate training. Here are tips from an experienced solution architect, who frames projects and budgets for clients every day. Get the most from your e-learning project budget! - Top 10 eLearning Content Development Companies for 2014
Driven by a high volume of requests by HR Managers and Training Directors, last August we published the Top 10 eLearning Content Development Companies for 2013. Since eLearning Industry is rapidly evolving, it is high time to publish the Top 10 eLearning Content Development Companies for 2014. - Assessing Return on Investment (ROI) of eLearning
One of the biggest challenges that eLearning professionals experience is demonstrating the return on investment (ROI) of their training programs. In order to attract project sponsors and to justify resources invested in the development of eLearning, projects need to prove that they deliver real benefit to an organization. This article discusses considerations that need to be factored in when calculating eLearning ROI. - 6 Tips To Effectively Evaluate Your Corporate eLearning Strategy
This article will delve into some helpful and effective tips to evaluate a corporate eLearning strategy, so that you can determine if your current plan is offering the best possible return on investment. - 8 Steps To Create and Develop an Effective Mobile Training Strategy
While face-to-face instructor-lead training used to be the “norm”, today mobile training has become an increasingly popular method of skill set and knowledge development. Training and development managers are beginning to see the endless potential of mobile training. That is because mobile training not only offers learners the ability to learn on-the-go, but also allows them to gain immediate access to information whenever and wherever they really need it. - Top 9 Online Corporate Training Mistakes You Should Avoid
Every online corporate training project comes with its own unique set of obstacles such as a tight deadline or the difficulty of organizing an abundance of training materials. These issues can make an online corporate training project challenging even for the most experienced instructional designers. No matter the challenges, there are a number of online corporate training mistakes that many projects have in common. So, before developing your next online corporate training course, have a look at this list of the top 9 online corporate training mistakes that you should avoid.