Table of Contents
Introduction
Employee training for digital adoption can be done in many ways. However, not all of them are equally effective. Moreover, different people respond differently to various training methods based on their learning styles and preferences. In general, the 70:20:10 model outlines how on-the-job training is the most effective way to get employees to learn the necessary skills to perform their responsibilities.
On-the-job training can involve many learning modes, including instructor-led classroom or virtual training, one-on-one guidance, group learning, self-learning, etc. Among these, self-learning can involve using either non-interactive training materials like text, audio, video, slides, etc., or interactive methods involving simulations or training environments. CompTIA Workforce and Learning Trends 2020 reported that 50% of L&D professionals highly anticipated the rise of experiential learning methods like the latter as popular workplace training methods.
When we talk about experiential learning in the modern context, it includes live training, sandbox training, simulation training, and similar methods. Even a few years back, sandbox training was the most popular way to provide hands-on training in a risk-free environment. However, simulations are slowly taking over the arena due to their many advantages over sandboxes. Assima takes it a step further with its innovative cloning technology. When you compare Assima Train vs sandbox training, you will notice just how much more advantageous the former is as a training mode than the latter. We recommend you try Assima as an alternative to sandbox training and experience for yourself what more we have to offer.
Discover the true power of Assima simulations in this eye-opening webinar.
What is Sandbox Training
In the digital world, a sandbox refers to a virtual training environment where you can test software and code without affecting the live system. When it comes to software training, sandboxes represent a replicated light version of the digital environment of the organization supplemented with dummy data, centered around the application to be trained in. Employees can practice the use of the software application in this environment without the risks of disturbing the live system.
Do note that wherever used, the terms “training clients”, “sandboxes”, “dedicated training environments”, and “virtual training labs” are interchangeable here. For all intents and purposes, the latter are simply different ways to create and use a sandbox.
Challenges of Using Sandbox Training
While sandboxes may sound like a great way to provide hands-on training to employees without any risks to the live environment, they do present several hidden (and not so hidden) problems that affect not just the people in charge of managing them, IT, but also L&D and the business as a whole.
Some of the most easily detectable sandbox limitations for training include:
Expensive Licensing Fees
The cost of sandbox software varies widely based on a number of factors like purpose and scope of application, complexity of software, desired level of security, as well as other features. However, for enterprise-level usage, sandboxes are going to be expensive right out of the gate. For example, a full copy of Salesforce is priced at 30% of the net spend. If you have thousands of users, it will cost you well into the six figures per year. On top of that, the need for constant upkeep and dummy data feeding also adds to the overall maintenance cost of sandboxes, reducing ROI significantly.
Inconsistent Training Exercises
Sandboxes behave pretty much like the live system, which can be a roadblock when requiring constant practice of the same exercise. That means if there are two or more trainees and they are performing the same action, they cannot do it on the same dataset. Different instances would be staged each time, increasing the data load within the environment. This would make training highly inconsistent, as information used each time would have to be slightly different. It would also reduce the scalability of the training program as a whole.
Wastage of Resources
One of the major disadvantages of sandbox environments is the need for content developers to create and populate them with dummy data. There are two reasons why this is necessary. The first is to replace sensitive business information. The second is to let trainees practice at the same time. Moreover, this data must be refreshed after every training session to allow the same content to be delivered again. When faced with training for complex, data-loaded applications for a large number of learners, this exhausts time, money, resources, and energy.
Compatibility Constrictions
Usually, any business process involves more than one platform. That means training for said process would require the company to keep sandboxes for each application and integrate them with each other to create a cohesive training environment. That’s exceedingly difficult to do. Since 2002, we’ve talked to thousands of companies with all possible combinations of these challenges. The conclusion remains that simulations are far more scalable, easier to maintain, and cost a fraction compared to creating and managing a training environment.
One such company, npower, saved £3M over three years by replacing their sandbox Assima Train. Here’s how we helped them get there.
Why Use Simulations Over Sandboxes
Simulations pretty much solve all the issues that sandboxes have. They are like the upgraded version of sandboxes in terms of providing risk-free, hands-on training for digital adoption. The benefits of simulation training over sandboxes include:
- Simulations are reusable up to as many times as you want without the need for constant data feeding or refreshing.
- They do not need constant maintenance, saving a lot of money, effort, time, and resources as a result.
- The upfront as well as continuing cost of creating and using simulations is much lower than that for sandboxes.
- Simulations are easier to modify than sandboxes, and hence, you can start training for software updates much faster.
Here’s how you can leverage the advantage of simulations over sandboxes with Assima.
What Does Assima Do
Assima helps you unlock substantial benefits by replacing your sandbox with the world’s most efficient way to create interactive training simulations for any software you need. The gist of how Assima operates is:
Assima creates simulations that look and feel like your live system
Assima uses 4X patented simulation authoring technology to create hyper-realistic simulations that are super-interactive and react just like the live system. All you have to do is to use the capture engine to take a screengrab of any digital process and it will be replicated down to the last detail.
Assima clones are object-based and editable down to the last detail
Assima captures your application screens as editable objects. No other authoring tool in the market has this ability. Content developers can edit any user interface elements directly and bulk replace any data across lessons swiftly.
Assima gives you the flexibility to create content from any system version
You can screen capture from any system (old one, under development, sandbox). Any detail that doesn’t match the latest version or any confidential data can be easily changed post-capture. In other words, you are not dependent on a pre-sanitized system anymore.
Assima Train boasts features that make it a truly scalable solution
Assima simulations can be translated, from the data to the instructions to the UI text, without the need to rerecord anything. Multiple datasets and lesson formats can be created from the same source. Lessons can be delivered remotely. These make Assima truly scalable.
Assima provides a centralized analytics dashboard for 360° visibility
You do not have to plug in a separate data collection and analysis solution to obtain and report training data. You can do so directly from the centralized analytics dashboard built into Assima that provides in-depth analytics and reporting for every learner.
Assima has built-in security features that makes it a secure way to train employees
Assima clones are disconnected from the live system, providing a risk-free environment for employees to practice their skills. Quick data anonymization, multi-level data security and encryption, and integrability with the organization’s access system makes it extra-secure.
What Makes Assima the Perfect Sandbox Replacement for User Training
Let’s do a step-by-step breakdown of why in the Assima Train vs sandbox training debate, Assima wins every time.
Scalability and Consistency
Assima delivers simulations with the same scenario and data to thousands of learners. This can be done via your LMS or directly from our platform, according to your choice and convenience. There is no need for separate logins, dummy data, or data refreshes. This makes your virtual training faster to deliver and perfectly consistent across your workforce.
Easy to Update with Software
Every time there is a change in the live system, sandboxes need to be updated. This can only be done after the update is released and is time-consuming. Hence, they always end up a couple of versions behind the production environment. Assima clones, due to their editability, can be updated even before the update goes live, expanding the timeframe to train users.
With Assima, your training doesn’t keep up with the pace of change, it stays one step ahead. Here’s why.
Easier Data Management
Instead of painstakingly creating and plugging dummy data, Assima lets you mass replace sensitive data across lessons with risk-free data. This unique feature helps your team deliver training at scale in record time. You can also create multiple datasets from a single source to customize lessons without reworking them from scratch.
Easy to Integrate Processes
Unlike sandboxes, where you have to maintain one for each application and manually integrate and coordinate them to recreate a business process, Assima’s authoring tool lets you capture processes from different software and combine them within the same lesson flow. Each lesson can be centered around a process instead of being hosted in the sandbox.
In-Depth Analytics
Gathering training data in sandboxes is tough and requires manual work or an external tracking system. However, Assima’s analytics dashboard gives you full visibility over every single trainee action, including where every user clicked, what content they came across, what they typed – all in real-time. You don’t need IT or data analysts to get the job done.
Conclusion
It is easy to see after reading this why simulations are much more convenient for training than sandboxes. Moreover, with Assima clones, you can make simulation training an integral part of your L&D without any hassle. That is why we will always recommend Assima Train when the question of Assima Train vs sandbox training arises.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Let’s Answer Some of Your Questions.
Sandboxes have both a hefty upfront cost as well as significant maintenance costs. On the other hand, Assima might be slightly pricey upfront, but the ROI and savings more than make up for it in the long run.
Sandboxes can provide an isolated, risk-free training environment for training. However, simulations too have the same advantage since they have nothing to do with the live system and dummy data can be used easily to replace secure data when creating them.
Assima is highly scalable. You can train as many learners as you want at a time on Assima Train clones, with different datasets, training modes, lesson formats, software versions, etc.
Assima Train is far more scalable than sandboxes. There is a limit to how many users you can train at a time on a sandbox without overwhelming the data server. However, with Assima, you can train as many users as you want, in any language, anywhere in the world, for any version of the software, and in any training mode.
The best thing about transitioning to Assima from sandboxes is that there needs to be no downtime at all. Set up your Assima simulations while your sandboxes are still live. Design your lessons and courses and when they are ready to be delivered, simply deploy the new training and take your sandboxes offline gradually as more and more trainees shift to the upgraded training system.
