Virtual training

How a Virtual Training Experience Can Be Better Than on-site Training

liran

May 27, 2021 - 3 min read
How a virtual training experience can be better than on-site training

What is the wider value of virtual training in a landscape that includes on-site training sessions? In which ways can a virtual training experience be even more effective than on-premises? We explore these questions.

In the wake of a year marked by change, the world is changing again. After the worldwide exodus from offices to home offices and from business premises to the cloud, people and organizations everywhere are returning to their traditional working sites.

For many, training is also making a return to its traditional brick-and-mortar home. But rather than diminishing in importance, virtual training is now more critical than ever. Here’s why.

Vital training platforms 

Even before the upheaval of 2020, many businesses and their employees were already well aware of the value of a modern virtual training platform. They had realized that cloud-based, decentralized access to education from anywhere could provide a host of new opportunities and advantages such as these:

  • Cutting travel expenses and other overheads of on-site training
  • Connecting trainers and trainees across physical distances
  • Providing flexible scheduling no longer based on location

Others soon discovered the importance of these virtual training benefits, too. Faced with restrictions to travel and new distances between people, they went from “nice to have” to “must-have”. For organizations around the globe, virtual training programs became their only training programs. Virtual instructor-led training was the best means they had to equip their personnel with the skills and knowledge they needed.

A new phase and a new role

Now that on-site training is back on the cards, the role of virtual training platforms has evolved and expanded. The most modern and advanced platforms have become business acceleration solutions.

Instead of simply using remote training as a means of beating travel restrictions, saving costs, or providing training without borders, forward-thinking organizations have recognized and seized on cloud-based training solutions’ inherent strengths. They’re the same as with any modern technology provided “as a service”, and they include:

  • Responsive ability to scale up or down
  • Pay-as-you-go cost-saving and flexibility
  • Streamlined, centralized administration

In essence, these businesses discovered the benefits of digital transformation when applied to training. Digitizing any kind of business operations delivers new capabilities for growth, speed, and agility – and digitizing training is no different. And that’s why, for organizations who want to bring their training operations and offering up to date, it can make all the difference in the world.

Modern solutions for today’s organizations

Businesses are finding that the sophisticated virtual training solutions available now can facilitate the kind of rich, hands-on upskilling and knowledge transfer that gives them the edge – and doing so at scale, across their entire organization. Setting up and rolling out training programs can be accomplished at pace, to meet immediate needs and changes. Their training capabilities have now become agile, flexible, and ready for growth.

Furthermore, as the world becomes increasingly digital, organizations rely more and more on technology and employees’ ability to use it effectively. And when you’re delivering training in, for instance, a bespoke line-of-business application, then what better place to conduct that training than in the digital space where it “lives”?

A digital world needs digital training

Often with technology training, it makes little difference whether the trainer or trainees are in the same room – and, in fact, it can be more effective if an instructor is teaching and assisting via a virtual training environment. They can see what students are doing without peering over their shoulders, with a perfect view of the interface and all the actions a learner is taking. They can deliver instruction and help directly, all without leaving their seat.

Further reach

When training complex tech solutions, merely giving a presentation or providing a few printouts just won’t cut it. Learners need to experience and use the app or service for themselves to become competent users – especially if an organization needs to train administrators, certified operators, or other highly skilled “power users”. If a business only has access to a few people capable of delivering that level of training, but trainees are scattered across the country or the world, virtual training is really the only cost-effective and practical method to use.

Greater flexibility

What’s more, our increasingly globalized and digitized world has also seen a boom in flexible working. This means that even though some training will once again take place on business premises, it’s still often either not practical or preferable to gather all learners and trainers together in one physical location. But with a modern digital training solution, it’s possible to hold “hybrid sessions” containing both remote and on-premises attendees and support high-quality experiences for all.

Time to seize the real potential of virtual training

So, there you have it. As we’ve explored here, there are many ways in which virtual training experiences can be better, more practical and effective, and more future-ready than their on-site counterparts. And while digital training may not entirely replace on-premises training for all organizations in all circumstances, it has the power to enrich it, enhance it, and offer a wide scope of new possibilities and potential. If businesses haven’t yet begun investigating what virtual training can do for their future – now’s the time to start learning.

If you’d like to know more about how virtual training experiences can benefit your organization and your employees, get in touch with CloudShare today