According to a recent 2018 Training Industry Report, businesses spent less on training technology in 2018 overall than they did in 2017. Yet, many businesses did spend more on their training payroll, and around 64% of training leaders surveyed agreed that they needed to purchase new training products and services.
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As many learning and development professionals already realize, investing in new and advanced training technology is important, can save your organization a lot of money, and can make learning and development teams and learners more productive.
But is newer training technology never worth the investment? Not necessarily … however, here are three downsides to using newer technology for training that you’ll want to be aware of right now.
1. Constant Upgrades and Updated Integrations Mean Constant Training
Oftentimes, newer technologies will be released before some of their major bugs or integration-related issues are entirely worked through, or before their platforms are optimally designed for users, which means they will be updated a lot more frequently than well-established technologies.
With each new upgrade or update to the newer technology, your trainers, course developers, and learners might have to relearn how to use some of its features and functionalities, and some of the integrations they rely on for other systems that are now integrated with the new system to create or access courses can become less reliable, too.
This will leave learners frustrated with a learning system that they can’t or won’t ever want to access, and trainers and course developers will be frustrated in their efforts to implement and analyze course materials.
Trainers and learners alike will constantly have to be trained on how to use new features and functionalities, which can cost more money and time in relevant training resources.
2. Not All Learners Are Comfortable with New Technology
Learners, from both older and younger generations, don’t always like having to learn how to use new technologies and platforms. People get used to using certain technologies and platforms and are resistant to changing how they learn all the time, especially if they’re required to do so in their own free time.
So, if you do implement a new training and learning technology, make sure that you do enough research ahead of time to be certain that it is the most ideal technology for the learners and trainers who are at your organization.
Otherwise, you will need to consistently switch out and change the technologies you use. While new technology has many benefits, it will end up costing you much more than it’s worth if you must constantly replace it because it doesn’t tend to your learners’ needs.
3. Deep Learning and Machine Learning Technologies Still Need to Be Monitored
The newest learning and training technologies available have deep learning and machine learning capabilities. While they are trendy and sophisticated, they still must be monitored, implemented, and utilized appropriately if they are going to save you more time and money than they cost you, as they have not been perfected yet.
Read The Pros and Cons of Implementing Deep-Learning AI and 3 Best Practices for Using Deep Learning AI for more details.
Before investing in a newer training technology, first consider the potential downsides listed above.