Introduction
However, with the right solution, it is quite possible to accomplish SAP training that works. Digital adoption platforms like Assima are built to enable non-disruptive SAP onboarding, which supports both employers and employees in preventing downtime during migration. We ensure that users can go from training directly to using SAP with full competence.
Check out what makes Assima the optimum choice for training to ensure a smooth SAP migration.
Why Traditional SAP Training Falls Short
Traditional SAP training methods are not equipped to handle the modern training needs of enterprises. Some of their shortcomings include:
Outdated Approaches
Most older methods utilize one-dimensional formats like user manuals, videos, static screen captures, classroom sessions, slide decks, etc. While these were the popular standards at one point when SAP used to have a simpler interface and workflows, they have now become too simple to accurately represent the complex workings of modern SAP. This results in knowledge gaps from over-simplified explanations and misinterpreted statements.
Lack of Engagement
Traditional SAP training techniques seldom actively engage learners in applying the knowledge they learned or practicing the skills they gained. Without a chance to apply theoretical knowledge in a practical field, knowledge retention drops significantly, often to less than 10% within a week. This means that by the time the user finishes training and starts working on the live system, most of what they learned has been forgotten, and training has become useless.
High Operational Impact
Due to the failings of traditional SAP rollout training methods, users go to work on the live system in a state of unpreparedness, under-confidence, and a tendency to rely on trial and error to get through even simple tasks. Unfortunately, this leads to mistakes, doubts, and breaches that not only spook the user but also add a major load on the internal helpdesk to solve and on IT to fix. The resulting downtime becomes a major cost liability for the business.
Single-Time Training
SAP is a difficult software to learn because of its feature-heavy nature and complex action paths. This requires continuous learning to slowly discover every feature and learn how to use them to their fullest potential. Moreover, SAP is an ERP platform that gets frequent updates. Refresher courses would be necessary to familiarize users with newly released features. Traditional methods, being difficult to update and maintain, become a barrier to this.
What Makes SAP Training “Stick”
SAP training without disruptions can only be implemented by applying certain strategies in the training process. Some of these include:
Hands-on Training Approach
Hands-on SAP training is the most impactful approach if you wish for maximum knowledge retention. By making training immersive and applicative, you ensure the development of visual cues and muscle memory to guide users on the live system.
Just-in-Time Learning Methods
Just-in-time training encourages learners to be proactive by providing support wherever and whenever they need it. This includes in-app SAP training for guidance during live usage, omnichannel access for learning on the go, and so on.
Consistency Across User Groups
Learning should be standardized across all user groups, be it across different teams, locations, skill levels, or experience. While personalization based on such segmentation is necessary, consistency in quality and purpose of learning is essential.
Job-specific Learning Experiences
Every user has different roles and responsibilities in the company with respect to their SAP usage requirements. The most effective way to ensure SAP user enablement is to provide learning experiences corresponding to specific job roles and demands.
Ongoing Reinforcement and Support
Learning is not a one-time event; it is a continuous process. The more you work with an application, the more you discover. Hence, ongoing training, reinforcement, and continued guidance are a must to help users stay up-to-date with current SAP practices.
The Risk of Disruptive SAP Training
If you are unable to provide SAP training without disruption, it could lead to risks and liabilities for your company and workforce. For example:
Over-Dependence on Sandboxes
Sandboxes consume a lot of resources and manpower to build and maintain. For heavy-duty platforms like SAP, sandboxes are a huge hassle. However, if you cannot provide non-disruptive SAP training without a sandbox, it could become a tug-of-war between convenience and ROI. Ultimately, this is only for initial training, due to cost, sandbox and training clients disappear after the initial project and therefore nothing is available for business as usual.
Time-Consuming Screen Switching
Users often have to switch between the live SAP system and the LMS or another platform that deploys lessons when confirming facts or clearing doubts. This disrupts the workflow and wastes time. Efficiency and productivity decrease while employees feel frustrated and disengaged at work.
Post-go-live Productivity Dips
Even if you manage to provide SAP training without downtime, you may still face a post-go-live dip in productivity. This happens due to users getting used to an application they have never used live before, as they translate theoretical knowledge into practicable skills and apply them in real time.
Increase in Support Ticket Volume
Disruptive SAP training also results in knowledge gaps, misinterpretations, and uncleared doubts, which come back to affect users once they start working on the live system. Errors and confusion lead to a higher volume of support tickets compared to pre-deployment, indicating hidden issues.
Compare Assima with traditional SAP training systems to understand why we are the superior choice.
Assima: Designed for Impact, Not Interruption
Assima is a digital adoption platform built to encourage learning for complex software in large enterprises without disruption. Leveraging its 4X patented cloning technology, Assima ensures SAP training without disruption. It does so using its two innovative tools. The first is with the help of hyper-realistic, super-interactive simulations created using Assima Train for SAP. The second is through Assima In-App Search, which revolutionizes the way users access information while working on the live system through in-app search support.
Simulations make way for real-time, scenario-based training, which is the most effective way to improve knowledge retention. With Assima’s true-to-life application clones, it imparts the same benefits as live training, but without posing any risk to the live system or data. Users hit the ground running as they are completely familiar with the actual SAP platform by the end of the training.
At the same time, by providing in-app informational guidance on the live system as a floating widget, you not only reduce the chances of mistakes and lower support call volumes, but you also enhance the user experience by preventing workflow disruption when switching between the SAP platform and the learning platform.
You reduce time-to-competence without affecting business workflows and prevent productivity dips and disruptions by hand-holding your employees through every stage of an SAP migration – pre-go-live, deployment, and post-rollout. Moreover, Assima has built-in multilingual and role-based personalization capabilities that truly make it the ideal SAP end-user training platform for global teams.
Real-World Results with Assima
Assima does not just boast of perfecting digital adoption in SAP on paper; it has achieved this in real life too, repeatedly. Take the example of npower, a leading UK energy company, which needed to train its 4500-strong staff in SAP after an ERP migration. By replacing sandboxes and classroom instructions with Assima clones, they cut training costs by £3 million, onboarding time from 33 to 18 days, and L&D staff requirement by 80%, while also drastically improving their customer service. Read more about it on our website.
How to Implement Non-Disruptive SAP Training
To summarize all the practices, theories, and solutions to provide SAP training without disruption, here’s what you must keep in mind:
- Use microlearning and contextual training to improve engagement and retention.
- Focus on simulations, not static documentation or instruction methods disconnected from practical application.
- Align training with business goals as well as learner needs at every step to ensure results as expected.
- Reinforce continuously—not just pre-go-live, so that users keep learning and improving and don’t fall behind.
- Use digital SAP system training solutions to streamline the training process and reduce the need for bulky resources or manpower.
- Implement change management strategies alongside training to dissipate employee resistance and familiarity bias.
- Involve stakeholders in the decision-making process of building a training program for sensitive learning.
- Ensure sufficient localization and personalization for maximum understanding of learning materials.
Conclusion
Just because SAP is a more difficult application suite to explore does not mean its training has to be tough or disruptive too. SAP training without disruption is easy to implement with the right tools and mindset. Assima is the best long-term solution for all your enterprise SAP training needs. Our tailored solutions will make SAP migration and adoption a walk in the park for your business. Intrigued to know more?
Discover scalable, disruption-free SAP learning with Assima. Explore our product with the help of our experts today!
Frequently Asked Questions
Let’s Answer Some of Your Questions.
SAP training can be long and intensive, yet not achieve the results you would like when it comes to user performance and competence. This could put a dent in business operations and cause unexpected disruptions.
Non-disruptive SAP training refers to the techniques and tools used to build a training program that ensures that learners go from training to live usage without any interruptions or dips in performance.
Assima Train utilizes hyper-realistic simulations to train users in a safe environment that allows them to experience a true-to-life SAP interface and learn from their mistakes. That way, when they are finally shifted to the live system, they are able to operate confidently and flawlessly.
Assima is the perfect choice for any large-scale software rollout, especially SAP. It encompasses the level of hands-on training necessary for complex ERP training, scalability for global implementations, and ease of maintenance for frequent updates.
Companies will save training costs, time, and resources, create prepared and expert users who can reach peak productivity from the get-go, and train more people from as many teams, locations, and time zones as you want, with much less manpower than other DAPs.