Virtual IT Labs Glossary

Organizations, whether municipal or corporate, need virtual labs to test software and provide online training for staff and business partners. Many companies forgo the need for on-site server hardware by picking up various Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products to offload the maintenance and updates to another company. But what happens when you’re dealing with multiple virtual machines,…

The cloud has proven itself to be an invaluable tool for modern organizations. While in-house servers are still around for many companies, the cloud has given businesses of all sizes and industries access to public computational resources that they otherwise could not afford. Cloud lab environments take advantage of off-site hardware to deliver simulated IT…

Cloud services are the backbone of modern businesses, offering an unparalleled degree of flexibility and cost-effectiveness for companies to carry out operations and workflows. A question these organizations must answer is whether to adopt a third-party cloud service or build and maintain a private cloud. Most turn to a third solution known as the hybrid…

If your company manufactures a product or service, how can you get it into the consumer’s hands as quickly and inexpensively as possible? You could invest in an in-house sales and marketing team, but that solution might be difficult to develop and scale, especially if you’re breaking into a new market. Instead, many organizations opt…

You’ve probably heard the term “agile learning design” before in a meeting once or during regular business communication. What does this term mean, and why are so many companies talking about it? Agile Learning Design (ADL) is an approach to the development of educational content that promotes speed, flexibility, and teamwork. The term is ubiquitous…

Providing access to education is no easy task. Knowledge is continually evolving, and designing the coursework in a way that’s most useful to the participants takes preparation, time, and a close analysis of what the goals of the training are. That’s why there’s an entire field of instructional design for corporate training. Instructional design shows…

Sales Enablement as a Service (SEaaS) is an umbrella term that encompasses all the services that a company’s sales team needs to provide an excellent impression and experience for the consumer. Many groups within the organization provide these aids, which include marketing, human resources, learning and development, and other aspects. Successful companies often choose a…

DEFINITION Adopted by most Fortune 1000 companies, Net Promoter Score gauges the loyalty of a business’s consumer base. Fred Reichheld originally introduced the concept in a 2003 copy of the Harvard Business Review. The “consumer base” could be anything from actual clients to partnering businesses. It can even encompass the company’s own employees in the…

Customers in the current age expect almost perfect communication, service, and responsiveness from the companies they interact with. The advent of the internet, social media, and IoT devices enables businesses to provide better customer experiences than ever before. Here’s a term modern B2B companies can’t afford to miss out on: customer enablement. It’s a form…

DEFINITION A learning management system is a type of software that assists in delivering educational content. Let’s break down the three components of the definition for LMS: Learning involves taking all the online training materials and collecting them in one convenient digital spot for easy access. Management means you have control over the learning process. Adding participants and courses…

It goes by many names: training and development, human capital development, and human resource development. No matter what you call it, learning and development (L&D) is becoming an essential component of business strategy, not just a nice-to-have. L&D results in improvements in employee engagement, better operational efficiency, and higher overall revenue. As the skills required for the workforce…

DEFINITION 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. CloudShare virtual training lab environment – classroom What…

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. Recent improvements in internet bandwidth technology have made Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) an…

Definition 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…

DEFINITION The primary focus of sales enablement is the customer and finding the best ways to engage with them. A company must understand what their customers want and provide the sales team with the tools they need to fulfill those needs. The content provided as part of sales enablement should be easy to access, easy…

Cybersecurity Labs Definition Cybersecurity training is an essential resource for those looking to protect commercial, municipal, or governmental organizations from cyber attacks. Private companies are becoming an increasingly common target for cybercrime, and since employees with weak cybersecurity knowledge are the main entry point for online fraud, viruses, and other threats, it makes sense that…

Definition In the software market, companies often request a sales POC because they aren’t sure whether your concept will work for their purposes. Many of these businesses may not know what impact your idea will have on their workflow. Your main goal for a proof of concept is to validate that the main features of…

Definition 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. However, not all virtual classroom platforms require instructors. Unsupervised virtual classrooms involve the…

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. This trait usually implies that all course materials and resources are available at the start of the course and that all assignments and tests…

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…