Digital transformation has revolutionized everything, including learning management for businesses. Businesses leverage learning or training programs to guide employees about their work, management skills, communication skills, rules, regulations, quality standards, compliance norms, and more. Diligent, well-designed, and systematic training and development can bring about remarkable changes in the employees, their attitude, work, and the company's overall work culture. E-learning or electronic/online learning mode, with the help of E-Learning software, is rapidly replacing traditional learning processes due to its numerous advantages to businesses. Studies indicate that developing and providing e-learning courses consumes 90% less energy than face-to-face training.
Challenges That Startups Face With Traditional Learning
Traditional learning processes prove clumsy and incredibly costly for businesses. Here are the common traditional learning challenges that startups face.
- Businesses require large office spaces and dedicated rooms, halls, or auditoriums to accommodate employees, trainers, and support staff in traditional training or learning sessions for in-house training.
- Due to a lack of infrastructure, startups cannot manage to train many employees at a time and need to conduct multiple training sessions or batches, adding to costs.
- If training is not conducted in-house, companies need to send employees to dedicated training centers off-site and arrange for their travel, stay, food, and more, in addition to the training expenses, again incurring massive costs that startups cannot afford.
- Traditional learning processes consume voluminous human resources, time, and effort and require complex apparatus like projectors, large boards, laptops, sound amplifiers, appropriate lighting, and more.
- It is a complex task to schedule learning sessions and ensure the availability of trainers, employees, and other relevant stakeholders simultaneously and at one location.
- Business work suffers, including projects with urgent deadlines when all the relevant staff is involved in the learning sessions.
- It is challenging to arrange highly skilled tutors and trainers locally and within the company’s budget; thus, startups are forced to compromise on quality.
- There is no proper way to store, back up, and retrieve learning data for efficient reuse in the future in offline or traditional learning mode; companies thus have to repeat the process and spend again and again.
- With no proper way to re-use the training material, maintaining consistency in the quality of the learning program for each batch and year after year is impossible.
- Evaluation is a critical part of learning management, but in traditional learning processes, assessing and tracking progress are very challenging tasks.
- Traditional learning processes cost very high, and such expenses do not fit the limited budget of startup businesses.
- Due to the pandemic, hybrid working and remote working are the new norms, and in-house training is impossible with employees working from home and from different locations.
E-learning enables startups to beat these challenges and is thus a game changer for startups.
How Is e-Learning a Game Changer for Startups?
Startups cannot afford to hire the best and most experienced talent from the market. Thus, they rely on employee training and development to enhance their performance and steadily grow. However, startups are typically limited in budget and cannot afford to invest so much in costly training apparatus, infrastructure, highly proficient trainers, and more. Thus, e-learning is undoubtedly a game changer for startups, enabling them to offer quality learning experiences to employees without heavy investment. E-learning enables businesses to automate and streamline their learning management lifecycle and save time, resources, and money. Here are the top benefits of e-learning for startups.
Streamlined Learning at Low Costs
Training and development are crucial for businesses. For startups, it is further important to train the existing employees and enhance their skills as they cannot afford to hire highly experienced and skilled employees at hefty salary packages. Conventional training requires ample space, infrastructure, resources, trainers, and more. Thus, it is costly, time-consuming, and complicated for startups to manage and afford.
E-learning offers streamlined learning and development at reduced costs for startups. Businesses do not need to spend on dedicated training rooms, complex infrastructure, and costly apparatus for e-learning. Moreover, the employees can access the material anytime and anywhere.
Conservation of Time and Resources
Time and resources are precious assets for any business. Startups, in particular, have low budgets, and thus startups must manage their time and resources better. Traditional learning processes consume exorbitant time, human, and material resources, leading to heavy business expenses and losses. Besides, employee attrition is typically high in startups; thus, investment in employee learning and development frequently goes waste.
E-learning solves such issues for startups through enhanced time and resource management and conservation. With less investment in learning processes, startups can balance their budget and get the best out of e-learning, leading to employee development and overall business growth.
Enhanced Documentation
Learning and development processes generate valuable resources for businesses. However, in conventional/traditional classroom training, learning processes and material may not always be well-documented. Also, the training material is not permanently stored or preserved in a form that can be reaccessed easily in the future. Thus, businesses end up losing and wasting precious training material. For every new batch of employees to be trained, they need to repeat the processes and spend time and energy on new documentation.
In e-learning, all documentation is managed on e-learning software platforms. The platform creates an automated backup of all the training material, assessments, performance data, and more. Thus, it enables startups to develop the training material once and use it multiple times without hassles. Besides, it provides a comprehensive record of what topics the trainers have covered for businesses to monitor.
Comfort and Convenience
In traditional learning processes, numerous involved parties, including the employees, support staff, trainers, and more, must be available at a specific location at a scheduled time. Also, such sessions bring office work to a halt as all the participants must be present at a fixed time, regardless of the work schedules, deadlines, and work requirements of different teams. It thus proves very damaging for businesses.
E-learning offers enhanced convenience to all the parties involved, including the company, employees, trainers, and more. Today, when hybrid and flexible working are the new norms, e-learning platforms allow businesses to continue their learning and development initiatives without interruption. Besides, the relevant participants can attend e-learning sessions from the comfort of their homes. Businesses thus do not need to waste time on complex scheduling to ensure the stakeholders' availability at the scheduled time and a specific location.
Moreover, e-learning lets trainers easily create and record training material at their preferred time and place. It ensures better availability of quality trainers without location constraints and at reasonable costs. Trainees or employees can access the same material at their convenient time and place on the e-learning platform. Moreover, as it is possible to utilize e-learning flexibly, it ensures that the work is not affected. Employees can focus on their work deadlines and leverage e-learning during their preferred and sparable hours of the day.
Comprehensive Progress Evaluation
Training and development are aimed at improvement. It is thus essential to evaluate training outcomes or track employees’ progress to ensure that training is fruitful. Consequently, learning processes always involve assessments in both conventional and e-learning modes.
However, e-learning offers convenient and routine employee progress tracking and evaluation through various progress monitoring, assessment, analytics, and reporting tools. It allows businesses to analyze how employees utilize their learning and assess deficiencies or limitations in their learning management processes. It enables businesses to modify their training process for betterment based on employee needs and changing trends.
Enhanced Employee Satisfaction
As discussed, e-learning offers an easy and quick way for startup employee development. Businesses also leverage e-learning for employee orientation. E-learning contributes to employee development and self-actualization, which are crucial human needs. It also helps employees develop a positive attitude towards work and the organization.
As e-learning results in employee empowerment and motivation, it enhances employee satisfaction and loyalty to the organization. Thus, e-learning helps reduce attrition and enables businesses to save significantly on recruitment/hiring processes.
Broader Scope
Traditional learning processes are complex, full of hassles, and costly for businesses. Thus, startups cannot manage to expand the traditional learning program much and end up at only basic levels, thus limiting the benefits too.
With fewer costs, convenience, no infrastructural limitations, resource conservation, and time-saving, e-learning enables startups to take learning and development to the next level easily. Through e-learning, businesses can thus cover much more than basics and expect enhanced results in the long run.
Customizability and Scalability
Employees have varied needs. Traditional learning processes are rigid and cannot be customized to individual employees’ needs. Also, as the business grows, the learning management requirements increase. It becomes further challenging for startups to efficiently manage the increasing number of employees and voluminous learning data in traditional learning methods, particularly with their limited resources.
E-learning offers numerous tools that help businesses customize their learning programs for varying employee needs. Moreover, the data is readily accessible and can be stored and shared easily on the e-learning platform, allowing enhanced scalability for startup businesses.
Exposure to Trending Software and Technologies
Another significant challenge that startups face is that the employees are not always technology conversant and are afraid to learn and adopt new technologies and software tools to enhance their performance.
Technology exposure is another remarkable benefit of adopting e-learning against traditional learning methods for businesses. E-learning leverages numerous trending technologies and software for enhanced learning, presentation, grasp, communication, and collaboration. It enables employees, trainers, and all the relevant stakeholders of the learning management program to learn these tools, utilize them in their office work, and improve their overall performance. These tools include:
- Tutoring tools
- Course authoring tools
- Presentation tools
- Collaboration tools
- Team communication tools
- Online assessment tools
What Is e-Learning Software?
E-learning software is a broad category of software solutions designed to automate e-learning processes for businesses on a unified platform. E-learning software is gaining massive adoption and popularity with businesses worldwide. By 2026, the global e-learning market is forecast to reach USD 400 billion.
There are a variety of e-learning software solutions available in the market for various industries and varied business needs. Here are some popular categories of e-learning systems that businesses commonly leverage:
- Learning Management Systems offer versatile tools to cover all aspects of learning management, including course authoring tools, assessment tools, performance tracking, course library, user management, and more.
- School Management Software offers comprehensive tools for managing educational institutions, including learning management, tutoring tools, and administration tools.
- Library Automation Software is designed to automate various library management operations, including catalog management, search, book tracking, barcode/RFID, circulation management, acquisition management, fee collection, reserve shelf management, and more.
- Exam Software enables institutions and businesses to conduct exams or assessments through exclusive tools for exam management, including content management, time tracking, real-time assessment, proctoring, security, access controls, scoring, mock tests, evaluation/result management, and more.
Top Features of E-learning Software That Startups Must Leverage
E-learning systems provide broad-ranging tools and features to help startups enhance their learning management, performance, and work culture. Here are the key features of e-learning software for startup businesses.
Content Creation Tools
E-learning systems provide extensive content development tools that enable users to create various types of content. It offers support for text, images, video, and audio content. It also enables creating forms, quizzes, and many other types of learning material. Besides, the software enables easy editing, sharing, quick updates, media management, and online assessment tools.
Communication and Collaboration Tools
A reliable e-learning platform must offer comprehensive communication and collaboration tools for an enhanced learning experience, including one-to-one interaction tools, messaging, live chat, group discussion forum, screen sharing tools, interactive whiteboards, and more.
Document Management Tools
Flawless document management is a crucial need in learning management. Hence, e-learning software must provide end-to-end document management tools to create, capture, manage, distribute, and archive different forms of content, including file sharing, storage, course library, segregation/indexing, folder management, and role-based access controls for security.
Learners’ and Tutors’ Portals
Self-service tools are critical for efficient operational automation. Thus, e-learning solutions offer separate portals for trainees and tutors to help employees and trainers access their respective e-learning tools quickly and leverage the e-learning platform without much help.
Learners’ portal provides login/logout, access to various course modules, a chat facility for queries, alerts for new courses added, assessments, and more. Tutors’ portal enables course authoring tools, quick edit tools, publish/unpublish options, a chat facility to answer queries, a performance dashboard to monitor and compare employee performance, and more.
Security
Top e-learning software solutions ensure high data security through safe storage, automated routine backups, role-based access controls, and more.
Attendance Tracking
E-learning systems also offer employee tracking tools, including employee attendance, login/logout, duration of access, time taken to complete modules, modules covered, and more. These records help businesses ensure that the employees diligently leverage the e-learning platform.
Analytics and Reporting
Learning management is incomplete without progress or performance tracking. Thus, a perfect e-learning platform must offer in-depth analytics and reporting features to help businesses assess employee performance, trainer performance, and the overall results of e-learning efforts.
Alerts and Notifications
E-learning software must ensure a seamless and uninterrupted learning experience without significant human involvement. Thus, e-learning systems provide automated alerts, notifications, and reminders for numerous functions, including the addition of new modules, assessment deadlines, session schedules, group discussion reminders, and performance notifications.
Other Must-Have Features
Apart from the key features discussed above, a perfect e-learning system must also offer:
- Easy and user-friendly interface
- Responsive design that seamlessly works on mobile devices
- Certification management
- Gamification for better employee engagement
Wrapping Up
Employee value addition and performance enhancement is the ultimate goal for every business. It enables steady and healthy business growth. It is exceptionally beneficial for startups that are limited by resources and budget.
As rightly quoted by Henry Ford,
The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.
This quote perfectly explains the importance of learning and development for businesses. Traditional learning is cumbersome, time-consuming, and costly. As discussed above, e-learning has reshaped and enhanced learning management by eliminating numerous challenges of the traditional learning processes.
Adopt e-learning by leveraging the top e-learning platform for your startup and revamp your business with an outstanding learning experience, improved work culture, and enhanced business performance.
