4 Unassailable Truths That Make A Robust Case For Rapid eLearning

[ACE] 4 Unassailable Truths That Make A Robust Case For Rapid eLearning
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Summary: If you’re not sure of how to get your stakeholders’ buy-in for rapid eLearning, here are 4 truths that’ll help you put together a winning business case for rapid eLearning.

Making A Case For Rapid eLearning Solutions

"To train or not to train," is no longer the question, especially for training managers. The question now for both training and L&D professionals is, "how to train quickly" and get employees up-to-speed, even during the time of social distancing. Thankfully, rapid eLearning is around to provide the perfect solution [1]. But, how do you convince stakeholders on the need to invest in rapid eLearning?

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Redefining Corporate Training With Rapid eLearning
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Many organizations have end-to-end eLearning solutions in place and many others are yet to implement eLearning. Those who have implemented end-to-end eLearning have experienced its time-consuming and expensive development process. And end-to-end eLearning won’t do when you’re looking to meet training needs rapidly.

Depending on whether your organization has already invested in eLearning or is still considering implementing it [2], the shift to rapid eLearning is going to take some effort. And any business change requires an effective business case in order to convince your stakeholders. Let’s find out what goes into an effective business case for rapid learning.

Do You Want To Learn The Benefits of Rapid eLearning? Ready, Get Set, Go!

Rapid eLearning is the ideal solution for organizations that would like to surmount the barriers of speed, time, and cost involved in online training.

1. Identify Business Pain Points

Every business has its own goals and challenges. Being aware of these challenges can help you make the right decisions and increase the chances of securing buy-in from your senior management and stakeholders. While it may not be possible to set up personal meetings with the senior team, talking to team members and functional managers can help you identify the pain points of your organization and business.

Apart from cutting costs in eLearning development, rapid eLearning can be used when you’re considering:

  • Quick rollout of courses
  • Development of content with a short shelf-life
  • Frequent updates to courses

For example, one of the challenges faced by the L&D or HR teams in your organization could be scaling up training programs on compliance and safety while staying within a limited budget.

This is a challenge that can be addressed by rapid eLearning and by providing it as a feasible solution to the problem, you’re presenting a stronger case to shift to rapid eLearning.

If your organization has already invested in traditional eLearning solutions, highlight how rapid eLearning will help:

  • Simplify the task of converting classroom training material to eLearning [3]
  • Save time and money that would have been spent on eLearning development
  • Facilitate the process of translating eLearning courses
  • Ease the process of updating and rebranding existing courses

Remember, when you’re proposing a change, you need to give valid and compelling reasons to make your stakeholders also desire that change.

2. Garner Support From The Right People, At The Right Time

To present a successful business case, you need to get the support of the right people. You need to start talking to people who will be involved in rapid eLearning programs both before and after its launch.

For example, you may need to collaborate with your HR team to understand the Learning and Development needs of your workforce. You’ll also have to talk to the IT team to understand if any additional technology infrastructure is required to roll out rapid eLearning.

For an organization that has already implemented eLearning, this may not be of much concern. But yes, if you’re setting up eLearning for the first time, your business case must consider the additional expenses involved in setting up an LMS along with other requirements for infrastructure and hiring authoring tool experts [4]. If you do not have team members with the right skillsets, discuss the option of hiring full-time resources or partnering with an eLearning vendor.

Lastly, you also need to consider the learners who’ll be taking your rapid eLearning course. Are they dispersed across the globe? Will they be taking the courses in different countries? If so, and if you’re doing a training on compliance for them, remember rules differ in different countries. Providing content that’s relevant and rolling out course translations in the native languages of learners can boost engagement levels. Let your stakeholders know that rapid eLearning is perfect for such scenarios and does not cost the earth!

A business case is not simply about presentation, it’s also about discussion. You may have to field questions from stakeholders during the presentation. When you make the effort to find out the roadblocks you might face and come up with efficient solutions, and discuss this with stakeholders, they’re going to feel more invested in your pitch.

3. Highlight What Rapid eLearning Has To Offer

When you’re gathering information to present your business case, it’s easy to get bogged down by details. Your goal is not to talk about the features of rapid eLearning. Instead, talk about the benefits it can offer for your organization.

For instance, in your business case, stating that "rapid eLearning is mobile-friendly" may not have much of an impact on the decision-makers. What you need to highlight is how a specific group of learners in your organization spend a major part of their working hours on the move because of their job, leaving them with very little time for training.

Explain how switching to mobile learning will enable your workforce to complete the training anywhere [5], anytime. If possible, include real-time data on the number of learners who prefer learning on mobile devices.

Rapid eLearning leverages the inbuilt templates of authoring tools to speed up the development process, even when you’re faced with time and resource constraints. Depending on what your organization is looking for, don’t forget to highlight how rapid eLearning eases the process of translation and quick conversion of Instructor-Led Training (ILT) to eLearning.

4. Talk Numbers

Demonstrate the value of rapid eLearning by digging into some numbers and projecting a Return On Investment (ROI). And no, you don’t have to be a wizard to make some quick calculations. You’ll only need to have a thorough understanding of how rapid eLearning can make a difference to your business and to your learners.

According to industry statistics [6], the eLearning market is expected to be worth $325 billion in 2025, and eLearning has led to an increased income for 42% of companies in the US.

We know it can be tough to predict the increase in revenue after online training is complete. If you have historic data of past training programs, you can analyze the impact it had on your bottom line and forecast the new numbers based on the speed and accessibility that rapid eLearning offers.

A study from IBM revealed that for every $1 spent on online training [7], a company gains $30 worth of productivity.

Isn’t that impressive? So, get started on crunching the numbers to present a convincing business case for rapid eLearning. Your business case for rapid eLearning must include:

  • A high-level overview of the project
  • Business needs to switch to rapid eLearning
  • Consequences of not going for rapid eLearning and alternatives (if any)
  • Estimated budget and anticipated ROI
  • Clear implementation plan
  • Challenges to be expected (and solutions)
  • Benefits for the organization

A Parting Note

Just like any other change, a change in the organizational learning strategies, too, takes time. There is no time limit that you can set on successful rapid eLearning implementation. That would depend on your organization’s structure, its technology infrastructure, the eLearning content, and most importantly, its learning culture.

Download the eBook Redefining Corporate Training With Rapid eLearning and join the webinar to get the chance to incorporate modern learning strategies into your training quickly and easily.

References:

[1] Strengthening an ‘Accidental’ Remote Workforce During COVID-19 Times

[2] 4 Tips for the Quick Development of eLearning Courses During COVID-19

[3] ILT To eLearning Conversion: What Does The Design Plan Look Like?

[4] LMS Implementation – A Roadmap for Your Organization

[5] Thinking of Implementing Mobile Learning? Get a Bird’s Eye View First

[6] 21 Astonishing E-Learning Statistics For 2020

[7] Boost Employee Productivity Exponentially with eLearning Investments