Virtual training

How to convince management of the benefits of virtual instructor-led training [eBook]

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Jun 29, 2020 - 2 min read
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It’s time to take that training strategy you’ve been working on and make it real. Let’s talk about selling the business case of your virtual training program. But before we get into it, there are three key elements to making a successful pitch to management. We will get to those in just a little bit, but first…

We previously published two eBooks to prepare you for this moment that we suggest you read.

  1. 9 Vital Practices to Develop and Deliver Effective VILT: This eBook teaches you techniques for building your virtual software training program.
  2. 10 Steps to Convert Traditional Classroom Content Into Effective VILT: This eBook outlines the most important ideas in creating successful online training that will not only help you get started, but take it to the next level.

Building Your Case

The next step, after moving through the first two parts of the series, is making your case to senior management. So how do you do this? Well, it’s time to build your use case.

In order to build a solid foundation, there are three main concerns you need to address and turn into a story:

  1. Why
  2. How
  3. Prove It

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Why Virtual Instructor-Led Training

The “Why” is probably the easiest of the three pillars to this story. You already know the reasons virtual training are so important to the organization – that’s what you’ve been pouring your heart and soul into. So make sure the benefits of virtual training are outlined. Know the costs of all training methods and the risks of not implementing virtual software training. And don’t forget to prepare a cost vs benefits analysis as well as bringing social proof through case studies.

How to Implement Virtual Training

The next step in building your pitch is explaining how to implement VILT. There is a right and wrong way to design and deliver virtual training courses. Know the challenges, how to explain them, and then how to adapt traditional classroom content into online training.

Prove Your Business Case

Now it’s time to bring the deal home with real numbers. Once you have your pre-defined criteria for success, you then need to show senior management how virtual instructor-led training realizes that definition of success.

Here are some examples of indicators that can help you measure your success:

  1. Decide on specific topics/practices you want the trainees to learn
  2. Periodic passing/failing tests
  3. Compliance rates (of assignments)
  4. Class attendance rates
  5. Number of training hours per trainee

And there are many more KPIs you can use that will vary depending on your use case.

It’s also a great idea to start your VILT with a small, sample group of trainers and students to see how it works before moving on to a full deployment.

Finally, you will need to track performance and measure results of your pilot, and you should find cost savings, increased productivity, and overall positive learning retention with a superior business impact.

So, check out our latest eBook, “Building the Perfect Business Case for VILT to Win Over Senior Management.” And if you have any questions about your journey from physical in-person classes to online training using virtual labs, just contact us to chat.