Understanding the full value of your online training programs is important for more than just selling the programs to the C-suite to gain their buy-in. Understanding the full value of your online programs also allows you to make guided decisions about the training content you develop, how it will be distributed, and allows you to see if it’s truly helping employees do their jobs better so your organization’s revenue grows and retains as many highly satisfied clients or customers as possible.
There are five critical steps you must take when measuring the full value of your online programs, listed below.
Step 1—Budget Your Program’s Costs in Relation to Organizational Initiatives and Goals, and Update Costs on a Rolling Basis
First, before you measure anything, you must clearly understand what you want your online training programs to accomplish for your organization, either holistically or individually. Otherwise, you will never be able to truly measure their effectiveness for your organization. Do you want your online training programs to increase employee productivity rates so that overhead costs are maximized throughout your organization? Do you want your online training programs to lead to more direct sales and revenue? Both, or something else?
You’ll also need to get into the nitty-gritty of budgeting costs for your online programs. You’ll want to include budgets for things like:
- Overhead costs for information technology (IT) developers, trainers, administrators, etc.;
- Any third-party vendor costs, as well as any online support that may be required;
- Costs related to the development and maintenance of learning materials;
- Promotional and marketing costs for each online program; and
- Supplies, resources, or software needed.
Keeping your organizational goals and budgets in mind, complete the following steps. And once you have completed the last step, you’ll want to come back and readjust your budgets on a rolling basis, according to all your evaluations and the results you see from your online programs. Ultimately, the goal is to consistently ensure you’re seeing results that lead to high employee engagement, higher revenues, and a high return on your organization’s investment.
Step 2—Weigh Organizational Benefits and Impact
Next, you’ll want to weigh the benefits your online training programs bring to your organization and how they impact your organization. Typically, online training programs will significantly reduce travel costs related to training, as trainees won’t have to show up in person for each training session since they’ll be able to access learning content remotely online. Overhead costs for trainers should decrease, too, since trainers won’t have to always be present in person and may not have to spend as much time developing training material.
Delivery of the programs themselves should be smoother, too, and allow for more flexibility since learners can access material any time that’s convenient for them, which means they’ll have more time to work and be productive. And learners’ progress will be much easier to track with online systems, ensuring each employee has access to the training he or she needs exactly when he or she needs it.
When measuring your online training programs, always consider how they impact your organization as a whole to ensure that they’re maintaining their effectiveness. Online training programs should always reduce costs, increase employee productivity and engagement, and work to help the organization reach its goals and objectives.
[Part 2 of this article will appear in tomorrow’s Advisor.]