Virtual IT Labs Glossary

Virtual training labs are cloud-based training environments that emphasize an online, hands-on learning experience over a passive classroom-based one. A relatively recent innovation, virtual training platforms have become increasingly popular in the tech industry to train both employees and clients on the complexities of new software.

Virtual instructor-led training, or VILT, is an online classroom where the student and instructor are in different locations and communicate entirely through the cloud. Through this simulated learning experience, students have the benefit of a hands-on learning experience that improves knowledge retention.

A proof of concept, or PoC, is an experiment intended to show that a program, product, or system can be successfully deployed in the real world. PoCs are a critical part of IT development that differ from prototypes based on the fact that no final products are immediately produced until the concept itself has been validated.

Sales are a crucial aspect of any successful business. Your company’s marketing teams spend countless hours driving leads to your company so your sales department can close deals. Sales enablement is the overall environment that a company creates to generate sales. Proper adoption of the concept can result in higher revenue and better consumer engagement.

Cybersecurity threats are on the rise. Proactive companies are already developing new strategies to deal with these threats. But it’s not always as easy to deliver the necessary training to ensure that your teams are up to speed on the latest hacks, software, and strategies to combat them. Cybersecurity practice labs are one method that many companies are using to improve cybersecurity training and certifications by making this critical training more accessible.

When you have a new idea for a software solution, you want to convince potential buyers that your core concept is feasible in a real-world environment before committing to the development process. The proof of concept (PoC) is an experiment generally lasting a few months that fulfills the role of demonstrating the viability of an individual feature or a larger idea.

A virtual classroom is a learning environment in which students (customers, partners, or any third-party) engage with the lesson material online. Information is often conveyed through voice or video conferencing with several participants and instructors connected to the same chat interface.

Self-paced learning is significantly different from the instructor-focused learning methods most students are familiar with. Self-paced training does not follow a predetermined schedule, but rather progresses according to the learner’s preferences.

Sandboxing solutions provide companies with virtual environments that they can use to build, test, and deploy software. They have grown in popularity due to how accessible they are, the flexibility they provide, and the significant cost savings a company can realize by using them. There are many applications for virtual sandbox environments. Depending on your company’s goals, they can be used to improve the development process, identify and fix bugs, to test patches, or as a working directory.

Cloud technology has led to a substantial increase in software as a service (SaaS) solutions that are geared towards helping companies meet their needs through non-localized solutions. While customers benefit from a seamless experience, providers rely on sophisticated architectures to make all of this possible. Many companies are now turning to nested virtualization to further augment their development and testing processes, devops, sales, and other departments.

A cyber range is a virtual environment that companies can use for cyber warfare training and software development. These complex IT environments allow companies to practice handling specific real-world scenarios, train employees and customers on the latest threats, and they are essential for combating modern cybercrime. Cyber ranges are being actively used by the military and government agencies, private corporations (software development and in cybersecurity), and other private entities with a focus on cybersecurity.

Cyber resilience is a company’s ability to manage the consequences when affected by a cyberattack or data breach. It encompasses all the security policies and protocols your business undergoes when an online threat passes through your cybersecurity defenses. A robust cyber resilience policy means the company can fulfill its usual tasks while resolving the issue. The main components of cyber resilience are recovery and adaptability.

Sales engineers are the salespeople who work in industrial markets selling specialized technology to other businesses and individual buyers (when relevant). The responsibilities of a sales engineer combine the ability to sell effectively with the knowledge required to understand highly-specialized products. Sales engineers have a wide variety of roles.

IT training is a broad phrase that covers a variety of industries, technical information, and other aspects related to the internal processes that a business relies on to function. Technical IT training encompasses many skill sets. Knowing exactly what it means to your company will help you the next time you’re looking for training labs or reading the resume of a potential new hire.

Environment-as-a-service, or EaaS, is a service in which both the application and the environment run together and undergo version control. EaaS essentially extends the traditional IaaS format into application development. EaaS uses automation to configure its servers toward a specific application. Companies can deploy and test components in a test environment-as-a-service as well. The result is an all-in-one application environment that companies deploy reliably and consistently, achieving rapid program development and deployment without an extensive re-design of the program itself.

Cybersecurity training is something that all companies require. In recent years, large enterprises such as Yahoo!, Capital One, Target, and Equifax have all experienced major data breaches. With the amount of consumer and confidential data lost to cyber criminals every year, business executives are always worried that they will be the next target. An entire field of IT training known as cybersecurity has arisen as a result, aiming to educate employees, partners, and clients in all parts of a company about cyberattacks. Why is cybersecurity such an essential topic for the modern business, and what can management do to protect the business from a data breach?

Customer education helps consumers become more informed buyers by offering product user training and more to purchasers. When companies teach their clientele about their product offerings, those clients will likely enjoy a better experience and recommend the service to other potential buyers. Because customer education is, by definition, the company’s responsibility, businesses should look into this type of training for their own markets.

Web-based training is a form of online instruction that companies use to deliver on-demand training to internal employees, clients, and business partners anywhere in the world. WBT can make use of virtual instructor-led training, self-paced instruction, or a combination of both through a blended learning environment. You’ll often see organizations of various industries taking advantage of web-based training systems, including military, colleges, and businesses. These courses usually involve audio streaming, video conferencing, live webcasts, peer discussions, and even interactive elements through virtual IT lab environments.

Revenue Operations (RevOps) is a department within an organization that aligns operations across marketing, sales, and customer success and does all the difficult integration work behind the scenes to ensure each operational team is aligned and able to do their jobs without communication breakdowns.

The introduction of computers and the internet has changed that trend. Online classes are becoming more and more popular with schools and businesses, thanks to their versatility and accessibility they offer. A new form of training known as blended learning has arisen. This approach offers a sophisticated approach that involves more than just putting class materials on a computer. Blended learning enhances the classic classroom model with internet-based, self-paced training and independent study sessions.

A sales demo shows a potential buyer how a product works to help push for the sale. It differs from a product demo, which helps a customer use the item after the sale finishes. When you have multiple employees working at your company, coordinating their work can prove to be a challenge. How do you ensure your sales team can communicate with your engineers on product features and improvements? How do you focus your projects toward the consumers’ needs and generate conversions effectively? In order to drive sales, one massively successful tactic is the sales demo. You’ve probably heard the famous saying, “Show, don’t tell.” Similarly, demonstrating your product or service live is one of the best ways to impress a prospective client.

Blended learning is an approach to education that combines internet-based training with traditional physical classrooms. Both online and in-person components must be complementary to create an integrated learning experience. Having these two parts work together is what differentiates e-learning from blended learning. E-learning encompasses any virtual training program that uses the internet; blended learning does more than just replace lectures with online content. This flexibility enables hybrid learning systems to tailor the learning experience to each student. It’s risen in popularity thanks to the advent of internet-enabled devices and services.

Learning and development encompasses various educational programs that a company’s workforce uses to build job-related skills and take on new roles in the business. Developing the skill sets of individual employees results in an overall benefit for the organization. L&D is academic learning that is general to the field and often related to the employee’s personal career goals. Participants can formally take courses or casually engage with the material by learning it from other employees.