How Online Training Software Can Help In Eliminating Major Costs
What are the primary costs of education? Course material covers a big chunk, whether it’s textbooks or printed manuals. Then there’s transport to and from class, and the time it takes to travel. Some costs are harder to quantify, like time away from family or loss of sleep. There’s also a social price when you spend your time studying instead of focusing on personal obligations. However, corporations are often more interested in the monetary resources it takes to train their employees. Is the investment in online training software going to pay off and boost productivity? Let’s take a closer look at the cost in hard currency.
1. Site Rental Fees
You might not know it, but a large part of the educational expense is the venue. You have to pay for the classroom or for building maintenance. It may not be a direct cost, but it’s definitely factored into the overall course fee. By eliminating the need for an instructor’s physical presence, your course fees are drastically reduced. Offering course content on the cloud also chops the need for learners to have designated tablets or compatible computers. They can simply study on the devices they already own since the course is designed to work across multiple machines. Also, instead of employees going to the training site, the training site can come to them. Essentially, they’re able to carry their classes wherever they are, in their backpacks, pockets, or purses. Group sessions can be held in the form of a webinar or social media discussion. Not to mention, you don’t have to worry about the venue being booked when it’s time to schedule your next event.
2. Travel Costs
In the case of traditional training, you must pay for instructors and/or employees to travel to the venue. What we forget is these fees are not consistent. For example, driving during rush hour consumes two or three times as much fuel, and airline expenses fluctuate depending on the time of year. However, online training software gives employees the power to develop their skills from anywhere in the world. They can train in the car while waiting for a client meeting or listen to audio content while driving their kids to sports practice. This convenience improves employee motivation and makes them more likely to participate as they don’t need to rearrange their entire schedule to make room for cross-country trips or week-long training workshops.
3. Fees For Physical Instructors
Course instructors are often paid per hour, or per course. If you have recruited them to come on-site, then you have to find them a place to stay. You also need to cover their food and entertainment costs. If the course is ongoing, this becomes a recurring expense. It can have a massive impact on your profit margins. Online training courses do have the occasional offline component. There may be sessions where an online facilitator has to supervise in person or hold a real-time webinar. In such cases, it still costs less. You will pay for the instructor’s time and bandwidth, but you don’t have to host them.
Also, this form of instruction is less frequent. Most sessions are offered via pre-recorded video or audio clips. You pay the online instructor once, then you use their prepared material over and over. It becomes a one-off fee rather than a periodic one and in the end, it’s cheaper.
4. Employee Meals And Accommodation
Corporate entities have different ways of dealing with training. They might set aside some cash for further education, offering it as a staff benefit or they could set up workshops and training seminars sponsored by the office. Some organizations even send their teams abroad for work-study programs in partnering firms. All these options cost money, and they include the company paying for food and housing. Companies might also have to pay for visas and family members’ upkeep. Time abroad means paying for their kids’ education as well as the employee’s own studies. Getting online training software can eliminate all these expenses because the corporate learner remains in their home environment. They don’t need to be fed or housed. There is no interruption of their spouse’s work or their children’s social life. With the right online training software, your employees can get the same level of learning they would get abroad. And they get it at a fraction of the cost.
5. Productivity Decline
Traditional training requires employees to be out of the work environment and in the classroom. As such, they aren’t doing the job they’re paid to do, nor helping the organization increase its profit margin. It’s true, employees are still developing skills that will eventually help them to fulfill their job duties. However, how many opportunities are they missing during the traditional training session? Online training software makes training more convenient. There aren’t any geographical limitations, which means that your employees can train when it fits into their schedule. Another benefit is that they grasp information more rapidly. For example, instead of merely reading a task manually, they participate in a simulation that speeds up the process.
Investing in online training software can drastically cut your training budget. Studying online means no class rentals, no paying to house instructors, and no covering accommodation for employees. Corporate learners can plan their studies to ensure they travel off-peak if instructor-led training events are required, which cuts transit costs. They can schedule their studies to maximize productivity, so you don’t lose that either. Online training is a great way to reap educational corporate benefits at a fraction of its potential cost.
Download our eBook A Step-By-Step Guide To Selecting, Implementing, And Maintaining Online Training Software to learn how online training software can benefit your business’s bottom line. We’ll share tips on how to find a vendor that suits your needs and create a more accurate budget. You’ll even discover the tell-tale signs that indicate it’s time for a new system.
