5 Reasons Why You Should Consider Using eLearning Solutions For Startups

5 Reasons Why You Should Consider Using eLearning Solutions For Startups
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Summary: In large organizations, training and development is part of the strategy to motivate and retain employees. However, it is not so in the case of startups, as training employees is usually not an immediate priority. This article gives entrepreneurs the right reasons to adopt eLearning solutions.

eLearning Solutions For Startups: 5 Reasons To Adopt Them

Think of a problem your employees are facing at work right now. It could be handling a difficult customer, closing a Sales call, learning the rungs of leadership, and the list could go on. As you are learning the ropes of entrepreneurship, it is likely that you or your employees get stuck with teething problems. In order to overcome these problems, your employees need to be trained so that they take the right measures to help your business. The only way to grow your business is through continuous training; train yourself, your employees, customers, and business channel partners.

However, as an entrepreneur who has just launched a startup, training is probably the last thing on your mind as you cannot afford a full-fledged training program, be it for yourself or for your employees. You could consider eLearning as the answer to your training dilemma. Here are 5 reasons for startups to consider eLearning solutions.

1. Onboarding New Employees

Employees are the most important asset of any business. Hiring that first set of employees to join your team is an exciting prospect but what’s more important is getting these new hires integrated into your startup quickly.

In a startup, founders are hard-pressed for time, but that does not mean they can postpone training new hires on the company’s values, its policies, and business processes. Regardless of whether you have 5 or 25 new hires, eLearning solutions make it possible to train them at any time, without disturbing the normal workflow. Also, when you are ramping up your workforce, investing in new hire onboarding every time is an expense that you wouldn’t want. eLearning solutions make onboarding training cost-effective.

2. Imparting Skills Training

In a startup, employees can find themselves juggling different responsibilities, and training often takes a backseat. But the #1 rule to be followed by all startups is building employee engagement, and in order to do this, imparting training on new skills needs to be a priority.

From time-to-time, employees in a startup will find themselves in unfamiliar waters, and it becomes the organization’s responsibility to prepare its employees to handle additional responsibilities. eLearning solutions are not hard to administer nor are they expensive. Training employees on business processes is a necessity for startups and this can be done by adopting technology in the form of eLearning solutions.

3. Staying Compliant

As compliance laws become increasingly stringent, dealing with compliance issues can be an unpleasant experience for startups. The most common reason for non-compliance is lack of awareness. According to research by CB Insights [1] that analyzed 101 reasons for startup failure, non-compliance emerged among the top 20 reasons.

Training employees to stay compliant is not an easy task but eLearning solutions can be used to address this challenge effectively. Online compliance training can be customized to suit the requirements of your startup. It can be made interactive and facilitate information retention. Most importantly, rules and regulations are often updated, and an eLearning solution makes it easier to update content.

4. Training Customers And Channel Partners

Training is critical not only for employees but also essential to keep channel partners, customers, resellers, and vendors "in the know". You can introduce customers to new product ideas and leverage information gathered from surveys and quizzes to communicate effectively with them. As a startup, you will also have to look for a Learning Management System (LMS) to host and distribute your eLearning courses. Use the reporting capabilities of the LMS to extract data that lets you target relevant customer segments for additional training and communication.

Startups following a channel partnership strategy will benefit from eLearning solutions. You can use eLearning courses to help your partners better understand the value of your products and thereby propel sales.

5. Motivating Teams

Employees in a startup are often required to put in longer working hours than normal and yet remain innovative and creative. This can leave employees mentally and physically drained. Keeping the team motivated is one way to boost employee retention. When you offer training to employees, it indicates that you value them and their contributions.

A cash crunch does not have to stop startups from rolling out training programs to employees as it is easy to switch to cost-effective eLearning solutions. You could seek the expertise of an eLearning vendor who can recommend budget-friendly solutions to help employees progress in their career.

Just as you need loyal customers to build your business, you need loyal employees as well. eLearning empowers employees to deliver their best and fosters a learning culture. You may soon outgrow the office space where you set up the startup but will not outgrow the eLearning solution.

References:

  1. The Top 20 Reasons Startups Fail: From lack of product-market fit to disharmony on the team, we break down the top 20 reasons for startup failure by analyzing 101 startup failure post-mortems.