The global elearning market is set to boom to $275.10 billion by 2022, as per Orbis Research. Forbes, the American business magazine recently launched an elearning platform namely, Learn@Forbes which clearly sheds light on the aggravating demand in this space. That being said, we can just imagine the splurge on elearning today and in the years to come.
There are tremendous benefits associated with elearning, chief among them are improving employee performance and productivity, aligning expertise with business objectives, and providing consistent and scalable training to a dispersed workforce. So, if you are an industry which allows you to sell your product or service via an elearning course, then you must get started with researching this business model already.
Are you worried about its outcome? Well, we have listed four steps which must be undertaken by all elearning businesses to get the most out of their investment. Find out for yourself!
Identify your business needs
The first and foremost step in catering to any new business is to identify its needs and requirements. And, you must give up the ‘one size fits all’ approach as it is not at all sustainable. Every department in your organisation must consider its skills gap and document its training needs.
This way, it will be quite easy to understand the pain points of the target audience and address them accordingly. For instance, Human Resources in your organisation might want to improve new hire onboarding whilst IT department would want to ensure that the employees are up to date with the latest software.
Set goals which must be accomplished
Once you’ve successfully identified your business needs, proceed towards creating a plan which exposes the value of elearning and set goals for future deployment. To set your goals, you must answer the following questions:
Why are these goals important? (For instance, management training would create opportunities to promote employees which in turn will boost staff retention and reduction in the time spent on hiring and onboarding.)
Do we need a short term or a long term strategy?
Do department objectives align with company goals?
Measure success and track ROI
Measuring the effectiveness of an elearning program and tracking its return on investment is critical to confirming that the goals are met. There are various ways which help you to measure success, chief being defining metrics (like employee engagement, audience acquisition, behaviour changes) and measuring the Key Performance Indicators or KPIs. You can also create baselines and milestones.
On the other hand, for tracking ROI, you must rely on detailed reports offered by effective elearning solutions which track usage, course completion, time spent on elearning, and much more.
Secure buy-in
When pitching the introduction or expansion of elearning to respective decision makers, focus on the value exposed during the goal as described earlier. Also include ROI estimates, if possible.
To build a strong case, recruit an executive team or leader to sponsor and support the project. Furthermore, you must be prepared to answer questions like: what is the problem and its proposed solution, how can it benefit the organisation and its employees, what are its requirements, what processes will be impacted, and others alike.
Conclusion
Some organisations dive into elearning without planning and formulating a strategy which is the most common cause of failure. However, you can succeed by following the aforementioned guide.
It will not only help you to create a successful elearning program for your organisation but also cater to the needs of your employees. Moreover, for further encouragement you can also refer to some of the practices implemented by top elearning companies if need be.