5 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Software Training Platform

Do you want your users to quickly learn your software and use it to its fullest capability?

Training is crucial to effective software learning. According to TSIA, after having software training:

• 68% of users are able to use the product more
• 56% use more product features/functions

And what happens if you don’t provide any (or enough) training? Almost half of employees in an Oracle survey said that insufficient training was a barrier to adopting new workplace technologies.

You might deliver some sort of ad-hoc training at the moment, but what if it’s not engaging enough? Or, perhaps you find the LMS training environment doesn’t meet your needs when it comes to training users on your software.

If you do provide a training program for your software, how do you make sure your learners are getting the most out of it? Some questions to ask yourself include:

• Is the structure and delivery of my courses optimized for software learning?
• What is the learner experience like? Are learners actively engaging with the software to achieve learning outcomes, or are they fast-forwarding through courses and passively completing exercises?
• Am I spending a chunk of my training budget flying instructors across the world to deliver training to employees or customers?

If you recognize your company in any of the above scenarios, then you need a software training platform. Here are five reasons why:

1. Boost engagement and knowledge retention

Are you delivering training using PowerPoint slides? We hope not, as, learners only remember an average of 4 slides from a 20-slide, standalone, text-only PowerPoint presentation.

A platform tailored for software training should allow learners to learn by doing on your software – this helps boost knowledge retention. Learners can carry out hands-on exercises in a controlled virtual training environments that allows them to use and immerse themselves in the software with no risk to the company’s infrastructure.

As we’ve already mentioned, learners use the product more— and use more of its features— when they’ve had proper training. It’s also more fun to learn by doing using hands-on exercises, which will encourage learners to want to complete the training.

A software training platform will allow you to track learner progress, so you can measure the effectiveness of your content, and then adapt your training according to success rates and feedback.

2. Quickly create dynamic content

Continuous learning and micro-learning are also key to knowledge retention. You shouldn’t just deliver training all at once when users first start using your product – you need to let them learn at their own pace, and in bitesize chunks.

This is especially true when it comes to software, which is constantly evolving with new features or product updates. A platform optimized for software training allows you to quickly build and deliver more engaging, immersive, and dynamic content.

3. Scale training more easily

With an online training software, you don’t have to send your instructors to different offices around the world to train learners in person. Instead, you can deliver hands-on training to anyone, anytime and anywhere, from any device or platform. Learners don’t have to be locked in a classroom all day long, and instructors can teach from wherever they are based.  Users can also access everything they need in one place.

Your instructors can also deliver training to more learners at the same time as there are no constraints on classroom size, and they can deliver the same session as many times as necessary, with no extra cost.

4. Consolidate multiple systems into one platform

Some companies have one solution to train their own employees, and another to train their suppliers, partners, customers, and other external users. With the right online training software, you can consolidate these solutions into one system to provide a seamless learning experience, as well as create segments to deliver training to different types of users who have different needs. As you only have one platform, it’s easier to ensure the branding is consistent, and provide a user experience that reflects your company values.

You can also integrate your existing solutions with your software training platform. For example, if you want to train salespeople on your new software, you might want to get real-world customer examples from your CRM or sales management system and pull these into your software training platform.

5. Accelerate product adoption

In any business, you’ll find a range of people with different technical abilities. If your training isn’t up to scratch, the time it takes for learners get up to speed will increase. Some may end up avoiding using the product altogether if they don’t understand it.

As software training platforms deliver hands-on training in real world scenarios, learners can get to use the software themselves, instead of watching a video or seeing someone else demo the product. This leads to accelerated product adoption, and means you can onboard employees quicker, as well as get your customers up and running faster.

What’s Next

If you want users to adopt your software, whether they be customers, employees, or partners, you need to make sure they know how to use your product. If you think a software training platform sounds right for your business, then get in touch with our team to learn more about software training, or get a live demo.