We all know how elearning courses can benefit the training programs of companies. In truth, a lot of businesses have been using online courses to help employees improve their knowledge and skills. However, there are some companies that have yet to fully understand its real value.
In any venture or project, a business will always be concerned about what it will bring to the company. Most of the time, it is measured in numbers – sales, profits, and growth. This is how you justify an investment. If the returns are high, then you can be sure to get approval.
But when it comes to training materials, quantifying results is not as easy as you think. In fact, that is one of the challenges that you will face. How can you justify the need for a corporate elearning course?
While it may be tough, this is not really impossible to do. In order to get started, here are two important questions that you may want to ask yourself.
How can the elearning outcome contribute to the business goals?
Every company has various business goals. Every training program should take the company one step closer to at least one of these goals. Make sure the outcome of the elearning course will address a “real need” of the company. Let us start from the most basic – to generate sales. Let us assume that automating the processing of sales data will lead to faster turnaround and a higher satisfaction and approval rate of clients. Obviously, this will require a program that not everyone may be well versed in. Training the employees and enlightening them about the program is a must. You have to explain that the elearning course will help the employees understand and implement the automation. Once the knowledge and skill are given, the automation can be implemented. This will lead to better business operations that will result in a higher customer satisfaction. When the customer is happy, they will ask for more – and that is how the company will generate more sales. If you justify the elearning course in this manner, it might be easier to get approval for the project.
How can the elearning outcome be measured?
This is the most challenging part of any business venture – measuring the outcome. Admittedly, it is hard to be accurate because there are so many factors to consider. You need to conduct a lot of research about previous incidents and come up with statistics that will quantify the need for the training program. If you can gather data from an actual experience within the company, this would be ideal. But if not, looking at studies and industry-related incidents should suffice. Talk to the employees that will be the target for the training program. Get your data from them and their superiors. Dwell on the research because every detail will help you quantify the data that can prove the need for the training course. Just make sure that when you present figures, it should come in the form of a percentage improvement and should have a deadline.
Ask yourself these two questions so you can create the data that you need to justify the need for the elearning course. Just remember that the figures are not expected to be accurate – but putting enough effort in your research should make it believable and prove to the company that the training is worth investing in.
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