| Large corporations can afford to send employees | | | | environment. What's more, the cost for designing |
| to expensive external training courses or to bring | | | | and producing a fully customized online course can |
| trainers in-house for workshops, seminars and | | | | be prohibitive. Luckily there are numerous vendors |
| other educational programs. But how can small | | | | who have already developed courses on a broad |
| businesses make sure that their employees have | | | | range of topics. So most companies don't need to |
| similar opportunities to learn and develop their | | | | develop their own online courses unless they have |
| skills? The answer - more small businesses are | | | | something specific they want training on. |
| turning to online learning for high quality learning | | | | The key to successfully implementing online |
| for much less money. | | | | learning for your employees is to give them the |
| The primary benefit of online learning for small | | | | information they need to do their jobs better. |
| business is cost savings. Let's say you wanted to | | | | Also, if you give them training that they can't |
| become a Microsoft-certified systems engineer, | | | | immediately apply on the job, the odds are that it |
| which requires a multi-day course. That would run | | | | won't be remembered or used. |
| about $2,000 per person. But online, you could get | | | | Consider supplementing the online material with a |
| the same instruction for under $200 per person. | | | | live course or two to fill any knowledge gaps. An |
| When you factor in the cost of airfare, hotel, and | | | | off-the-shelf training course will be a nice, generic |
| other incidental costs, the savings can be even | | | | course. But unless you customize it's hard to |
| more dramatic. | | | | make it fit all your needs so you can fill the gaps |
| Online learning can also be a boon to time | | | | in the classroom. |
| management, particularly for small companies. | | | | There's an abundance of e-learning providers in |
| Having people out of the office for a day or two | | | | the marketplace today. Before you enroll, be sure |
| of training can be a problem, but with online | | | | to investigate the quality and depth of training, |
| learning people can attend the training any time - | | | | and look for a provider with established |
| day or night. | | | | credentials who will readily share references. Many |
| Of course there are downsides to online learning. | | | | providers also have online demonstrations so you |
| Some people simply prefer learning in a classroom | | | | can review the course before you sign-up. |