The ed tech sector has been growing exponentially and even more so since pandemic hit. With the new hybrid form of working culture in place, remote learning has gained great traction and it is here to stay. Currently, India has around 35,000 EdTech startups. Infact, the Indian EdTech Industry was valued at US$ 750 million in 2020. According to KPMG’s 2021 report, the industry could be worth $1.96 Billion.
The Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector has been growing dynamically over the past decade with a plethora of different laws, acts, products, and compliance mechanisms being introduced. With new alternations in the financial institution, the sector is constantly reemerging with a new framework to highlight the most feasible and effective business solutions for organizations who are looking to grow in the industry of financial services.
Further, due to diversification of BFSI organizations basis their functions and services, all organizations cannot embrace a one size fits all learning mechanism for their employees. This has created a great paucity in learning and training resources and paved way for personalized digital learning solutions.
E-learning solutions bring with it a plethora of benefits that serve both sides of the horizon, the learner, and the employer. Let us peek into the major advantages that it brings with –
Cost-Effective Option – The EdTech sector enables adoption of new technologies and provides an updated variety of digital services such as mobile banking, net banking, telebanking, etc. It has made learning and educating employees and customers on newer products and product features much more economical. Earlier, offline trainings required hiring trainers, printing training material and incurring other operational costs. These variable costs scaled with the increase in employees and created logistical complications. However, with eLearning, these problems have withered away. These online courses are much easier to deploy and have allowed employees to educate themselves at their own pace. Infact, the ROI can be easily analyzed, and the course completion status can also be tracked conveniently.
Just In time learning –As new changes occur in the financial markets and insurance sectors, employers and the workforce need to be kept updated with the changes in the stock markets, financial markets, tax, and legal compliance to perform better in their respective domains. With the growth in the Banking sector, it has become extremely easy to learn about new trends and changes by using available software anytime from anywhere. Traditional methods of training needed learners to follow a set pattern and schedule in classrooms. However, digital learning gave them an edge as they could access online trainings whenever required. Different digital learning methodologies such as micro learning or learning nuggets helps sales employees refresh their concepts before interacting with a prospective client. Such online learning initiatives have successfully modified complex concepts into creative learning solutions. This way, online education is not just focused on imparting knowledge but also focused on bringing out the interest in the learners who want to explore something new.
Better privacy and control – Being easy to access also gives you complete freedom to take care of the privacy rights that give learners the right to have full freedom to access the course module without breach of information. This increases the scope of learning and understanding the concept and brings the educators and learners on the same platform. Further, using Learning Management Systems allows individuals to access the training courses via VPN or a protected firewall. This makes the learning environment extremely securely even when learning at home.
Training Insights – Digital Learning not only enhances the whole training process in the finance industry, but also gives the reporting managers detailed insights to the status and progress of the training programs assigned to the employees. It also helps the managers to identify the areas of improvements and make strategic decisions.
It is quite evident that there has been a drastic change in the e-learning ecosystem in the past decade for the BFSI sector. This has made it extremely easy for many Banking, Financial Services and Insurance organizations and smaller firms to train their employees via online learning and development mediums. Let’s have a look at some of the most important trainings conducted in the BFSI sector and how e-learning is being leveraged.
Induction Training
Induction training is an integral part of the Banking, Finance Services, and Insurance Sector. Learners need an adequate and tailor made pre-and post-engagement training. The comprehensive new age tech based learning solution has positively affected and smoothened out this learning process. Today, most of the onboarding programs for front-line sales workforce of banks, insurance companies, NBFC’S, Probationary officers, and customer service professionals are being done online. It has been noticed that such shift has positively affected the quality of training. The workforce has efficiently embraced the new-age banking and finance technology. The use of gamification or game-based learning in online induction trainings have also heightened the grasping power of the workforce as compared to an offline training program.
Cyber Security Training
Being well versed with Cyber-Security protocols has become a key to building a successful financial service business. Cyber security threats can come in the form of computer viruses, breach of data or even denial of services. With millions of transactions worth crores of rupees taking place every day, BFSI sector is the most prone to cyber attacks. That is why it is integral to conduct employee trainings to make them aware of potential threats and help them take the necessary steps in case of an attack.
Compliance Training
While the structures and procedures might differ for different players depending on their functions and scale, the one thing common to all is compliance. As the government comes out with newer reforms and tightens the leash on banks and insurance companies for compliance requirements, there is a higher need today than ever before to have consistent trainings for the workforce. With the rapidly evolving technology and global convergence of standards, the financial services sector is also undergoing a dramatic shift and having periodic micro lessons on the shifting ecosystem can go a long way in ensuring complete compliance. For instance, conducting scenario-based course can help put learners in realistic situations and enable them to formulate their thoughts, views, and actions towards it.
Sales Training
Sales training is one of the most important skills for sales personnel in the BFSI sector. According to McKinsey, stronger sales training directly impacts performance across key skills areas. In sales training, one needs to focus on the results to increase the ability to maximize profits. Some of the key indigents are developing negotiation skills and creating customer value. BFSI sector depends heavily on sales personnel to have a deep seeded understanding of the financial products and also how the products can be customized to meet individual customer needs. Online learning solutions have cost effectively enabled organizations to conduct these trainings and improve service efficiencies.
Process Optimization Training
Well designed process ecosystem forms the core of every BFSI organizations’ functioning. Once the designs are in place, appraising the workforce with the holistic processes and ensuring each step is well executed on a day to day basis is crucial. A well put together process optimization training helps you to deliver and scale your business efficiently.
Anti-Bribery and Corruption Training
With heightened regulatory focus on the BFSI sector, Anti Bribery and Corruption training for the workforce is inevitable. Anti-Bribery and Corruption training familiarizes professionals with laws and acts that criminalize any kind of internal as well external bribery and corruption. While anti bribery and anti corruption legislations have been around for some time, their enforcement has become more aggressive. Thus, having a run through of an online learning course can enable the learners to understand the best practices, monitor third parties’ actions and mitigate any associated risks.
There is no two ways about the fact that the BFSI sector is steadily growing with each passing year and so is the need for systematic and customizable learning and development courses. Leveraging e-learning can help many organizations meet their training needs. As a progressively conducive learning ecosystem is created, ed tech will be touted as the most ideal learning option owing to its flexibility, accessibility, and cost effectiveness.