e-Learning is increasingly and aggressively penetrating the corporate sphere. If we could have presented the advantages of this type of training a few years ago then we would have overcome the skeptical objections of the administrative and functional managers by now. Today the discussion is built around the mechanics and functions of a given platform rather than the necessity and relevance of e-Learning.

After analyzing my last five years of experience in e-Learning/Training, I have come up with the following advantages of that I wish to share with you.

• The assessment of new staff and further training

Each company is unique when it comes to its culture, traditions, story as to how it started and a knowledge base. It needs its employees to know and apply these aspects where applicable and abide by them. When we create a bank of internal knowledge and resources, we create an opportunity for our staff to learn the information they lack or in many cases seek. It helps create cohesion and uniformity to the direction a company wishes to take.

• Every employee has access to data depending on his or her department

In today’s corporate world, having a Chinese Wall in an organization is very common. Maintaining this wall sometimes restricts employee access to information that may actually be important and relevant for them. At the same time, easy access to information increases employee readiness to process and further synthesize this information; thereby increasing their performance. An e-Learning platform helps solve this dilemma by maintaining a fine balance between the confidentiality of the data and its ease of access.

Here are two examples:

A training program for “Managing sales teams” will be assigned to the Sales Managers. This program will provide information on your company’s management cycle, and can be used by Sales Managers incase they need help managing a team of sales representatives. However, your company’s management cycle can be a document which includes information on Sales Training, Compliance Training, Safety Training etc, and the Sales Manager does not need access to them in this case.

So you as an Admin or Director can assign certain aspects of your management cycle or training doc, in this case “Managing Sales team” training, to the Sales Manager and skip the rest!

Using the Reporting functions we can filter the data between same segments

Scenario: The company has two supervisors and both must undergo a program for the HR cycle. One supervisor is working for the IT team and the other is working for the Sales team. Using an LMS we will keep the HR training core such as the common HR problems, Meeting format, Hiring form etc the same. But when we run the reports, we can run them for a certain branch and help determine the HR trends (for example) in different departments within the company.

• On the Job training for the workplace
  When you use an LMS, the employees can take their training while performing their basic duties and are distracted from their “actual work” only for a limited period of time. Now, most of us would agree that a pause in the execution of functional responsibilities for an hour or two is much better than a one or two day trip to a training center. A research suggests that majority of participants in distance learning prefer to do their during off-hours, in a comfortable environment (at home, in cafes, etc.).
• Each program is created to achieve specific goals
  Training time for learning and training “for everyone and everything” – has passed. We have become accustomed to such a large flow of information, but at the same time we have learned how to focus on concrete results. Today, more and more companies use information and knowledge to achieve specific goals. The example with the same supervisors – yes, before the training was general and regardless of the specifics of the work supervisor (HR, IT etc), all held one training. Today, we cannot allow the employee to spend valuable time learning the information that in the future or near future is not directly relevant to his or her job responsibilities. Yes, there is a possibility that the role of supervisor may change over time, but she can take the training for the relevant role at the given time.
• Systematic learning processes
  Most people need time to process the obtained knowledge and apply this knowledge, so the structure and availability of the training needs to be consistent. Such a structure is developed and agreed upon after taking into account the availability of training managers and schedules of different staff. Have a LMS allows you to use it as a Training and its availability, as you know by now, is unlimited. This makes the training process streamlined and error free.
• Reduce training costs
  Saving costs with an LMS or an e-Learning platform greatly depends on the number of participants in the training. A training budget would generally include costs for transport, accommodation, meals (coffee breaks, lunches). Assume scheduling a training session with those costs vs using an LMS, which allows you to eliminate all these expenses. Also consider the cost of working hours during which employees are busy training and the iterative nature of the in-person training model.
• Management staff development 
  When implementing such programs as “individual development plan”, “Talent Pool”, and ” Mentoring”, e-Learning format can be a key tool to ensure control over the quality these programs. To make sure that such programs are successful, organizations need to hire highly skilled and expensive specialists. Using an LMS and spending time and resources one-time on the creation of pre-designed, intuitive, interactive and easy to learn training modules greatly increases the effectiveness of the highly skilled mentors. It allows control of the training, helps create a smooth plan for development and test efficiency of the knowledge gained.
• Operational feedback on training
  The learners do not always have the keenness to finish the assignments or tests in an in-person training session- sometimes due to time constraints or lack of interest after a two hour session etc. These assignments however, if performed in form of e-Learning assignments, can be taken at one’s own convenient and the learners get their results almost immediately. This allows them to retake the content incase they didn’t do well right way. Operative received in the system, this information is both an indicator of the effectiveness and strength of the student’s success.