Table of Contents
Introduction
Most organizations operating at a wide level usually utilize some kind of ERP software. One of the most commonly used platforms is SAP, due to its wide range of functionality. However, SAP does come with certain concerns. For one, SAP implementation itself is quite costly. On top of that, training employees in SAP adds to that cost. While you can always teach yourself for free, that has limitations. Doing a course and getting a certification puts an official stamp on your SAP knowledge and skills.
Moreover, if you try to cut costs and deploy SAP but do not provide sufficient training to the users, you will incur significant secondary and hidden costs that will incur a higher expense than what you would have spent on a full-fledged training program. The wiser course of action is to invest in quality training so that you can reap the returns of your SAP investment. However, there are ways to economize your training plan without compromising on quality. The best way to do that is to choose a training solution that has a high ROI. Finding such a cost-effective SAP training solution may be difficult but it is not impossible. For example, you can easily reduce SAP training costs with Assima Train. We offer an innovative solution that saves you thousands of dollars in the long run while providing highly effective SAP training.
Assima is the best choice for enterprise SAP training in a budget while maintaining high quality of training. Here’s how we accomplish that
Financial Challenges of Traditional SAP Training
High Costs of SAP Training Programs
Traditional SAP training programs cost more due to the need for specialized instructors, the expansive curriculum, certification expenses, and more. Moreover, you have to offer regular refresher courses, which creates a continuing expense. On top of that, you will need to hire content developers to maintain the training materials, LMS operators to deliver them, and IT staff for miscellaneous technical requirements too.
Expensive Sandbox Environments
Most traditional SAP training programs employ sandboxes to provide practical experience. Sandboxes are basically virtual training environments with their own version of the application as well as dummy data for learners to practice their skills on. However, sandboxes come with certain limitations, including a high expense trail. Using them only increases the cost of providing comprehensive SAP training.
Extended Employee Onboarding Time
Greater Chances of Costly Errors
Lack of Engagement in Traditional Training
Find out more about how Assima fares better than traditional training methods in overcoming SAP training challenges.
How Assima Train Reduces SAP Training Costs
Eliminates Sandbox Costs
As we explained before, sandbox training not only requires a lot of resources and effort to maintain but is also a cost-intensive training method. Eliminating sandboxes reduces these costs significantly, but the downside is that you lose a well-established procedure to provide hands-on SAP training. However, there’s nothing to worry about as Assima brings you the best alternative to SAP sandbox training. You can still provide hands-on SAP training without a sandbox by using Assima simulations. Using a 4X patented cloning technology, you can create hyper-realistic clones of the SAP application on which employees can practice in a safe, regulated manner.
Easier Maintenance and Upgrades
Assima clones are object-based, making them fully editable at every level. You can edit any part of the captured screen, copy and move them, mass-apply changes, multiple outputs from the original capture without any rework for individual versions, anonymize data, and create various lesson modes. All of this can be done without compromising on the realism or interactivity of the simulations, which are essential to ensure learner engagement and knowledge accuracy. It also means you can modify the simulations to reflect software upgrades to train your employees before even the official rollout, allowing SAP onboarding cost reduction.
Faster Onboarding & Productivity
Scalable & Cost-Effective
Assima is the true definition of a scalable SAP training solution. You can deploy training on multiple systems and sustainably train multiple users simultaneously. You can create multiple datasets, create translations in any language used in workplaces across the world, and deliver training remotely to a global workforce. With these facilities, you do not have to make employees travel to a single office from across countries for training or send instructors to every location, drastically reducing travel and accommodation costs. As a result, you can make your training truly scalable without additional reinforcements.
Reduces Errors & Downtime Costs
Simulation-based SAP learning is the best way to give learners a hands-on training experience. Assima provides interactive, scenario-based training which, as we explained before, improves retention and recall due to the experiential nature of the learning method. As a result, the number and frequency of errors in the work of the trainees is reduced manifold when they start working on the live system. Expenses incurred to correct disruptions in the system due to such errors and the loss of productivity from the downtime resulting from these errors can be eliminated simply by using simulation training by Assima.
Real-Time, In-Application Training
Apart from simulation training before go live, Assima also has In-App Search which provides in-app information search and guidance. This digital tool acts on top of the SAP platform, providing real-time assistance which further reduces the chances of making mistakes and boosts your employees’ confidence from day one. Assima Train and In-App Search go hand-in-hand as the most learner-friendly enterprise SAP training solutions. You don’t have to buy expensive external courses anymore – you can create your own materials with Train and then provide post-go live support using In-App Search.
Case Study: Cost Savings with Assima Train
When a top Dutch discount retail store chain transitioned to SAP Logistics across all its locations, it needed a training solution that could be used to effectively train thousands of staff across multiple countries and in multiple languages. They chose Assima to help train for such a mission-critical part of their operations. In the process, they streamlined the onboarding procedure and reduced how much time it took, cut down training costs by $600,000, and improved in-app intelligence. All of this was made possible by Assima and here’s how.
Zuyderland MC in Heerlen in the Netherlands operates 4 hospitals and needed to roll out SAP for its nursing staff without disrupting patient care at any point or reducing the on-call hours of the nurses in a way that would affect the hospital operations. With Assima, they not only reduced the number of hours of classroom training needed by half but also saved training costs, made the SAP migration smooth and hurdle-free, and kept all patient information fully protected as it should be. Assima was the reason for such benefits and this was how we did it.
Why Assima Train is the Best Choice for SAP Training Cost Reduction
If you want to minimize SAP training expenses without lowering the training quality, you must choose a training solution that either perfectly aligns with your requirements or one that can be customized to suit your needs. It is always a better choice to go with the latter for one simple reason – business needs evolve, and with that, your employee training needs too. It is illogical to keep jumping from one systems training platform to another or adjust your training program to it. Either scenario will cost you – either through additional expenses or through unnecessary losses.
This is where Assima truly makes for a cost-effective SAP training solution. Since you create your training materials from scratch by mirroring the exact software environment you have but with less than half the effort and resources needed to create and maintain sandboxes, you save not just in the obvious manner but in many hidden ways too. We help reduce training and onboarding time, the time and effort needed to create and maintain training materials, to scale the scope of the training program, and to update the materials for software upgrades.
You also diminish the probability of human errors and boost user confidence, reduce employee resistance to digital transformation through SAP, and create a healthy working environment, all of which prevent the loss in productivity companies often face at the beginning of software adoption or migration. Thus, Assima helps reduce SAP training costs not only in the training phase but also in the preceding and following phases.
Conclusion
Want to know how you can reduce SAP training costs with Assima Train? Find out how this leading energy company did it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Let’s Answer Some of Your Questions.
If you are looking to reduce SAP training costs as an enterprise, look for sustainable training solutions that utilize experiential learning methods, thus combining the theoretical and practical parts of learning. Also, make sure that you evaluate your SAP training needs thoroughly and ensure that the training program you are getting fulfills them. After all, switching your training platform midway is far costlier than spending some time planning and charting your course.
SAP training is expensive because of the steep learning curve of SAP, the higher cost of its certifications, the need for specialized instructors with niche knowledge, the wide curriculum, as well as the longer time needed for successfully onboarding employees.
Assima Train helps you capture and clone hyper-realistic, interactive simulations of the SAP platform that you can use to provide a risk-free training environment for employees to learn skills, apply their knowledge, and practice in. We also have tools to provide in-app guidance.
Assima Train simulations are leagues above SAP sandboxes when it comes to training. Sandboxes are much harder to create and maintain, have limited scalability, are costlier in general, and need a full team of IT and content staff to keep them up-to-date. Assima Train eliminates these roadblocks and provides additional benefits for your training program.
Assima Train also helps you save money by reducing SAP onboarding time. Practicing simulations makes employees confident, reduces errors, improves decision-making and problem-solving skills, and removes the risks of live training. Thus, when they finally do start work on the live system, they get adjusted very quickly, reducing the onboarding time significantly.
