Table of Contents
Introduction
Corporate training has long faced many challenges that have ultimately affected the overall performance of the workforce and resulted in high demotivation and attrition rates. While L&D departments recognize these roadblocks, they are often unable to address them in a constructive manner. The top concerning factors are:
- Use of the wrong resources and tools
- Organizational constraints and shifts
- Lack of engagement and motivation
- Lack of consistency in training
- Unreliable progress tracking and analytics
- Lack of faith among employees and C-suite
- Limited personalization in training
- Fear of and resistance to digitization
All these issues highlight the need for a training mechanism that employs tools and platforms capable of handling these roadblocks. One must ease the learners into the digital landscape without any harsh changes. Among other innovative solutions, interactive training programs are a key player for this. They demystify modern digital software and help learners transition in an engaging yet effective way. Interactive tools like Assima Train are just what you need to give your organization its long–due digital boost.
Watch Assima in action right now.
Why Interactive Training Matters in Modern Enterprises
Once upon a time, when job roles were more specialized and the need for information exchange within organizations was limited, people could perform their jobs with operational knowledge confined to their specific domains. However, the scenario is quite different nowadays. Staying informed about current affairs increases your chances of success. However, keeping up to date can become overwhelming if the way information is delivered does not align with how people naturally prefer to absorb it. Interactive training methods are among the most effective ways to impart knowledge, and here’s why:
Enhances Engagement and Motivation
It is well-known courtesy of the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve that 50% of information learned is forgotten within the first hour after, 70% in 24 hours, and 90% within the week. This is not an individual problem; it is just how the brain works to keep itself from overloading. So, by the time one needs to apply what they learned, the information is long gone. How do we prevent that? By finding ways to permanently implant the memories of the things learned right then so that it is retained better and recalled correctly when needed. That is exactly what interactive training helps to do.
Improves Knowledge Retention and Recall
The biggest deficiency in modern employee training is that it is highly monotonous and gives the impression that all a worker needs to do is show up and pass the course. There is very little motivation to actually try to learn the material because it is not at all engaging or rewarding. Interactive training programs involve and immerse the learner in the module, showing them exactly why the information they are learning is important and how it will impact them in the future during application.
Minimizes Knowledge Gaps and Inaccuracies
When a person simply reads or views information to be applied at a later time, they are hardly ever able to understand the need for that information in its true essence. Hence, when it comes to actually performing a task, they have to expend extra effort trying to figure out which information is useful to them and how to make the right decision. Interactive learning presents information in the context of real tasks and encourages employees to think critically and make their own decisions to solve a problem.
Encourages Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving
Because our brains are wired to forget most of the information we consume, they try to make up for it by adding their own details in the forgotten spaces. This results in gaps and inaccuracies in the final version of the information nugget, which introduces critical errors when performing tasks in enterprise systems based on that knowledge. Using interactive training programs allows the learner to experience first-hand the cause and effect of every action, which minimizes the chance of faulty details being injected into the learner’s memory in the first place.
Allows Real-Time Assessment of Skills
Most of us are used to a quiz at the end of a static training module to assess how much we have learned and understood what was taught to us. However, that hardly tests us for how well we can perform in a real-life situation. Interactive training allows individuals to evaluate their understanding and application of knowledge in real-time while solving real-world problems. This approach provides a more accurate assessment of learned skills and offers clearer insights into areas that may need improvement.
Induces a Constant Feedback Loop
Training using interactive modules gives a risk-free platform for the learners to experiment with their knowledge and understand the consequences of each action. They learn to use the information they consume in a manner they see fit, and if it is not the right method, they are instantly able to fix their mistake and take corrective steps. This sets up a continuing feedback system where the learner’s own actions give them an insight into what they are thinking right and what they are understanding wrong. This is far safer than applying knowledge first-hand in the live system.
Challenges Faced in Traditional Corporate Training
Traditional corporate training using static methods falls short on many counts, not just for the individual learner but for the organization itself. For example:
1.) High Costs and Time Consumption
Traditional training methods are not at all time or cost-efficient. They take long hours and hefty bucks to create, compile, and deploy, must be maintained constantly, and take longer to learn due to not being optimized to employees’ individual learning needs. Moreover, any changes in the enterprise systems would require a complete rework of the materials.
2.) Deficient Progress Tracking Methods
Traditional training is very one-directional, with zero scope for input from the learners themselves. This makes it difficult to track how much the person actually learned and understood the lesson. Moreover, without a simultaneous method to assess their progress, traditional training fails to give learners a chance to test their newly learned skills where applicable.
3.) Lack of Adaptability and Scalability
As we mentioned before, one of the major drawbacks of traditional training is that any change in the systems or operations of the organizations will require an overhaul of all the learning materials associated. Expansion of the workforce, especially geographical, will also require rework to accommodate cultural differences. This requires monumental resources and effort every time.
4.) Inability to Accommodate a Diverse Workforce
Traditional training methods were mostly designed keeping in mind the majority of the workforce. But in an age when diversity and accessibility are considered a default rather than an exception, traditional training falls short of being inclusionary enough for the entire workforce. Continuing to use them reflects poorly on the organization and its D&I policy.
Key Features of Effective Interactive Training Programs
Interactive training programs come in a variety of forms and features that you can take advantage of depending on your requirements. Some of these aspects include:
Simulation-based Methods
One of the most popular methods for interactive employee training, simulations, is becoming very popular because of how well it is adaptable to the learning needs and styles of individual learners on the go. As the trainee makes progress, the system recognizes that and steers the learning path in the necessary direction.
Scenario-based Learning
Scenario-based learning involves presenting a true-to-life scenario to the learner in a risk-free environment, allowing them to confidently make decisions and take actions to apply their knowledge. This helps improve the problem-solving and decision-making skills of the learner, especially in the face of emergencies.
Real-time Analytics and Feedback Mechanisms
Most interactive learning systems come with real-time analytics and progress–tracking features to capture the behavior, patterns, and intellectual quotient of the learner with every action they take. Depending on how a learner interacts with the program, an automatic feedback mechanism can be set up to guide and support them.
Role-based Learning Modules
Interactive learning programs depend greatly on the actions and reactions of the learner. Hence, it is necessary to have role-based differentiation capabilities in the platform. Since each learner has specific responsibilities, the platform must have the ability to provide learning journeys based on their role, task, and other characteristics.
Learn more about the features of Assima Train right here.
Benefits of Using Assima Train for Interactive Learning
Unique Patented Clone-based Simulation Technology
Assima utilizes its 4X patented authoring tool to create hyper-realistic clones of the application to be trained in. These simulations are highly interactive and give the user a real-life experience of using the target application without the risks of working on the live system. The learning experience is completely immersive as a result.
Scalable Solutions Tailored for Diverse Industries
Assima Train can be highly customized according to the needs of specific individuals or groups. It creates object-based clones of an application, and each object can be edited down to the smallest detail. Hence, you can create versions of the learning module based on your industry, department, and role.
Cost-efficiency by Reducing Rework and Enhancing Onboarding
Easy data anonymization, translation, and editing capabilities allow the learning content creator to modify the lessons according to the learner’s and organization’s requirements without much effort, compared to traditional, screenshot-based tools. This allows the L&D department to expend less time and resources on redoing content and more on streamlining the onboarding process when systems change.
Use Cases: How Assima Enhances Enterprise Training
Assima has helped many organizations across the world realize their training and onboarding goals with our powerful solutions. Take, for example, Schneider Electric. In trying to standardize their enterprise systems, they implemented the “Bridge Core Systems Program”, replacing 130 major business applications in 18 countries with PeopleSoft for HR, Salesforce.com for sales, and SAP for all other business functions, which required them to train over 130,000 staff. When they realized conventional classroom training was going to be too heavy on their clocks and wallets, they decided to take a more unique approach. Using Assima Cloning Suite, they achieved their time and budget goals while successfully onboarding the entire workforce to the new software system.
Similarly, when Canal+ wanted to find an efficient solution to onboarding their employees on the new enterprise system they were implementing, with fast user adoption and cost-effectiveness, they chose Assima and got stellar results. The interactive eLearning solution we provided allowed users to quickly get used to the new software application (Siebel 7.8) and start using it confidently in record time.
Steps to Implement Interactive Training Solutions
Interactive training programs must be implemented with a solid plan in place if you want them to work according to your expectations. These guiding steps give you an idea of how to go about it:
Step 1: Assess the organizational training needs and goals of your company and list them based on priority.
Step 2: Survey the target user base to evaluate their preferred learning styles and requirements.
Step 3: Develop customized simulation modules based on your findings above, using Assima Train.
Step 4: Track the progress of learners and measure the success of the training program with built-in analytics.
Step 5: Customize and fine-tune the training content to maximize training success and fast-track user adoption.
Conclusion
Interactive tools might just be what you need to spruce up the learning scene at your organization. Bring back motivation and interest among your employees and engage them with interactive training content and methods so that they can learn while enjoying and develop their skills faster. With a pioneering platform like Assima, you can easily train your employees in any software efficiently. Watch it in action right now.
Get in touch with Assima to get a clearer look at the future of corporate training.
Frequently Asked Questions
Let’s Answer Some of Your Questions.
Enterprise training deals with a wide range of applications and learners. Using a one-size-fits-all conventional training method will only be effective for a few learners while the rest will suffer. This, in turn, will bring down the productivity of the company as a whole. Interactive programs work in response to the skills and decisions of the trainee, allowing tailored learning, which is far more effective.
Traditional training programs can be monotonous, unidirectional, and insensitive to individual training needs. Some people may react positively to the structure that traditional methods provide, but most will lose focus and interest. They are also more expensive and time-consuming to create and implement.
Assima Train is capable of creating highly interactive and realistic clones of applications that allow learners to work on it just like the original application but without the fear of errors messing up the system. One can interact freely with the simulation and have the freedom to try things out and learn the consequences of each action. It allows them to explore freely and think critically.
Interactive training programs are built to react according to the actions and inputs of each learner. Based on the decisions made by the learner, the interactive module will take a different action path in accordance with the rules of the application. Hence, simply by setting different rules, you can customize the program to specific roles and tasks.
Any industry that requires its employees to work with digital tools and technologies will benefit from interactive training tools. Be it a complex enterprise system for an intensive industry or a simple appointment booking tool for the front desk at a hospitality business, you can use interactive modules to help users get accustomed to the application.
