What Will The Global Pandemic Do To Corporate Online Training?

​As Covid-19 continues, more and more organizations are being forced into difficult circumstances. Some face unemployment, while others go virtual. The question circulating within the eLearning industry persists; what will Covid-19 do to corporate online training? While no one can know for certain, we’ve compiled opinions from some of the experts in the field, as well as reasons why we think that this will spur more companies to step up their online training in the long term. 

As certain industries struggle under work-from-home orders, we predict this pandemic may momentarily hurt the eLearning sphere, but ultimately, it will spur industry growth as organizations begin to realize the value of online training platforms, as well as the risks of not having a virtual learning plan in place.  

This hypothesis is backed by industry leader Craig Weiss. Craig, who is the founder of the Craig Weiss group, as well as FindAnLMS, foresees a negative short-term effect on the eLearning industry, as “budgets will be tightened in the Learning & Development, Training, and HR departments,” as the economy prepare for a recession. This may make “landing new clients quite slow for some [eLearning] vendors,” as the world struggles to read just with the new predicament.  

However, Craig also predicts a positive shift in the industry moving forward, especially for companies who had the foresight to buy online training before a crisis. In his words, “more webinars and virtual training sessions will occur, and the usage of the systems should be higher. If the client has quality content contained within their system. Customer training should be solid, and if it happens to be software training, it is likely to be strong.”

Ways eLearning Remains Imperative During Covid-19

Tracking Progress and Efficiency is More Important Than Ever

Teaching employees and partners how to work remotely without losing efficiency is no small task. According to a recent Forbes article, “measures and outcomes such as deadlines and production schedules, work quality, and customer satisfaction will need to be tracked and evaluated” during this time. While tracking progress should always have been present in an organization, these recent events have made it a necessity. Making sure workers remain engaged and efficient during these times will keep businesses afloat, even from the couches of worker’s homes.

Travel is Restricted

Traditional in-person training and instructor-led courses has been combating modernized eLearning for years. However, this recent pandemic has exposed the organizations caught flat-footed. With travel bans in place without a concrete end date in sight, it may be hard to bring in outside instructors or move employees to a physical training location. That means companies will need to tap into virtual arrangements, which can help cut costs associated with sending employees to a training site. It can also allow them to avoid spending money to bring an instructor to their facility. This will surely force training to go online, to accommodate our shifting society.

Engaging Content Is Imperative

If done correctly, online training platforms can have ability to use interactive content. Let’s face it - remote working employees have so many distractions that they may not have in a formal office. To combat those distractions, keep your online training both instructive and engaging, with visuals, certificates, badges, quizzes, videos, assessments, and more.

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Flexibility is King

During this time, schools are out and the kids are home. Whether you’re a working parent or you live with others, working remotely has changed how corporate employees work daily. This situation lends itself to a need for flexibility, which eLearning can help with. Instead of separate spaces for work in home, the lines between work and home become blurred and a strict 9 to 5 no longer makes sense. With online training, employees can pick up where they left off and make deadlines while choosing hours that make sense for their ever-changing, individual lives.

Adapting to Survive

Schools aren’t the only ones that are going online - as organizations try to stay afloat, digital learning is becoming a new standard within business. There is much uncertainty about the state of our economy, but one thing’s for sure - this has caused a huge shift in the way organizations work. Founder of Knowledge Anywhere Charlie Gillette states, “I believe eLearning will become the new normal, where folks will look first to virtual options for training, even after [Covid-19] passes.”

The Future of Training

As a Harvard Business Review article states, “Covid-19 is not a one-off challenge.” While we can’t predict the next big thing, events like these highlight the importance of remote learning and online training.

Even before the coronavirus response, companies were increasingly favoring remote and telecommute options. It’s the reality of the moment: online platforms are what works best for most employees and their current remote-friendly setup. This global pandemic encourages companies to get creative and problem solve how they handle training and online work. Thankfully, an eLearning system enables them to do both. Contact us today to talk about how our training can work for you!