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7 ways to maximise ROI using a Business Skills Training Catalogue

What should you invest in Business Skills training? How do you know your investment is paying off? What do you need to make it more effective?

To answer these key questions, you need to calculate your Training ROI. But ROI can be quantified in a variety of ways, so how can you ensure you get the best return?

Firstly, you can argue ROI negatively: some training is better and less costly than none. Then, you can see minimal training as a prerequisite for any business and look at which method of training is more cost-effective, or – put it bluntly – cheaper.

Yet there’s another way of looking at ROI that goes beyond cost reduction: what you get back from your investment, not just on the budget spreadsheet but in improved productivity and performance. If you can identify how to achieve that return, you can better target your investment and resources and maximise your Training ROI.

We’re going to consider 7 ways Business Skills Training Catalogues can give you a better ROI and deliver the maximum benefit to your organisation and its people. Business Skills Training Catalogues are a suite of e-learning courses provided by an external training supplier.  They can focus on a single aspect of business or cover broad areas like Leadership Skills, Compliance or Health and Safety.

Buying in courses can make financial and strategic sense. Given the range of business skills required today, very few organisations have the resources, expertise and bandwidth to create and run all of their training programmes. They bring a range and expertise that you wouldn’t necessarily have available in-house. So, sourcing ready-made e-learning makes sense, so long as it’s flexible and customizable.

It’s been shown that e-learning can handle greater numbers of learners simultaneously than classroom-based sessions. Having courses available in your own LMS means employees don’t have travel to external training sessions, meaning savings in costs and reducing losses in productivity.

Making e-learning available within your organisation allows you to avoid the hassle of organising training only to find that not everyone can attend. With e-learning, employees can instead learn and their desk or on the move while continuing to be productive. They can do it at their own pace and at times that suit.

E-learning also represents a reusable resource: buy it once and use it countless times, at no extra expense.

2. Industry Standards

With Training Catalogues you’re not just buying content, you’re buying expertise and experience too. The Business Skills courses represent leading industry practice. They are authored by experts in their fields and reflect the latest knowledge, approaches and thinking. As such, they represent an industry-wide standard and incorporate best practice across a business area.

The breadth of use, by numerous organisations, means they’re effectively peer-reviewed so that you know you’re receiving the best advice and information. This means you’re getting top quality content, best in class, in return for your financial outlay.

And there’s the potential for continuous feedback from the constant use and reviewing of the training material allowing it to be regularly updated. With digital content that updating is quick and easy to do. Another key advantage of off-the-shelf Training Catalogues is that they are ready to go and deploy so new training programmes can be quickly and efficiently implemented and rolled out across the organisation. They have been already tried and tested elsewhere and usually, the courses come with customer support to help you with implementation.

Most Training Catalogues are adaptable. You can run the courses across platforms and devices. But adaptability also means that there are customisable. This gives you the best of both worlds: industry-leading training that can reflect the particularities and needs of your organisation. You can add details about your own processes and procedures, providing your own take on Business Skills and how they apply to the way your people work.

Customisation introduces the key element of relevance which has been shown to increase the power and effectiveness of training. It gives meaning and context to learning and helps people understand why they’re doing it and the benefits it entails.

4. Accreditation

Business Skills Training Catalogues are frequently linked with accrediting bodies. This means learners can receive formal recognition for successful completion of the e-learning modules.

Accreditation provides an added incentive to learn. Formal recognition by a respected standards body can be used in CPD schemes. Knowing that the training is recognised across an industry, highlights the fact that the skills being learned are regarded as highly desirable and are transferable. So, employees can more readily identify the training they’re doing with career progression.

5. Accessibility

eLearning provides greater accessibility and allows people to learn in the time and manner that suits them. Training Catalogues can be made available on different devices and can take advantage of mobile connectivity. Just as people carry their mobile devices everywhere they go, so the training goes with them too. This dramatically extends the scope and impact of training, moving it not only out of the classroom, but also beyond the desk-top.

The combination of eLearning and mobile connectivity brings training fully into the work space. It’s no longer just the preserve of the classroom and LMS, but rather becomes part and parcel of the workflow.

Digital content can be repackaged and re-used to make it more easily digestible. It’s not only that people can learn at their own pace, it’s that they can take greater control and responsibility for their learning. They can access training where and when they need it. Ease and consistency of access make the prospect of just-in-time and on-the-job learning a reality.

With eLearning Catalogues training needn’t be limited to a group event, but rather can be tailored and personalised for individual learners. Greater accessibility and constant 24/7 availability facilitate continuous learning. Your investment is no longer channelled into a one-off session but dispersed throughout the organisation, making it a resource for all, available at all times. The wider the audience, the larger the uptake, the bigger the bang for your buck.

6. Improved learner engagement

Making training more available potentially improves ROI, but it’s not enough just to provide increased access. You still need people to engage in training. Training Catalogues encourage maximum engagement by producing training in a way that’s suitable for modern learners and the modern learning experience.

Modern learners are used to having constant access to information, whether it’s via search engines, wikis or how-to sites. They actively pull the information they need rather than be passive consumers. They’re also used to gleaning just enough for what they need. Training Catalogues respect and encourage this learner-centric model by allowing for the re-use of material by taking content and re-purposing resources, job aids, FAQs, quizzes and so on.

7. Practice and application

E-learning courses also stimulate more effective retention and application of learning in the way they present training. Business Skills Training Catalogues use scenarios and stories to embed ideas in a context. They stress the importance of practice over theory.

Scenarios and stories give you the context to understand why you’re learning what you’re learning. The importance of practice is further developed by the use of gamification where learning is presented as a challenge. The use of a game’s approach allows learners to take actions and see the consequences in a fail-safe environment. These strategies stress the need to apply what you’ve learned and learn what you need to apply.

Maximum ROI

With e-learning Catalogues there are obvious savings in money not spent, costs and losses not incurred. There are gains through efficiencies: you receive the same valuable training but in a more cost-effective way.

But the real way to maximise your ROI is to have training drive gains in performance and productivity. Training Catalogues not only deliver all that you need in terms of information but do so in a more engaging and impactful way. To perform new tasks quickly and easily, modern learners are used to finding the information they need at the swipe of a screen or press of a button, at any time of the day. Our Training Catalogues perfectly meet these modern expectations and demands.

This approach encourages learner control and responsibility. It promotes independence and motivation. Rather than push people, you allow them to develop. You set them the challenge and give them the tools to meet it. Training is no longer something you do outside the workspace but instead is integral to the day-to-day working experience.

Here is where the real gains lie: making training relevant, accessible and continuous. With that, your investment goes all the way to maximising your training ROI.

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business skills
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