Online training is expanding
Business network training has made a significant advance in large corporations
Erick Díaz
La Republica
San Jose, Costa Rica
Large companies are slowly incorporating virtual education, commonly referred to as eLearning. Today, working at a computer for a few minutes and running a training program is very common.
Thanks to a wider acceptance, the national firm, Aura Interactiva, an online training solution developer, is considering to strengthen its efforts in the Mexican and American markets.
Moreover, it is considering an expansion in South America in a two-year period.
Presently, about 60% of over 100 customers are international, specifically in Central America, Panama, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Ecuador.
In some of these regions, this firm works with direct customers while in others through its partners.
“We have been able to gain a significant experience because we work with different industries, such as banking, insurance, and sales, among others,” explained Rafael Cordero, commercial vice-president at Aura Interactiva.
However, according to Cordero, experience is not the only success factor.
Last year, company sales grew by 40% as compared to 2003. For this year, Cordero expects the same percentage growth.
Based on studies conducted by the American analyst IDC, the e-Learning global market might grow 27% a year in the next three years. This trend will exceed $21.000 millions before 2008.
“The expectations to grow and develop a decision-making ability in less time and with cost savings encourage companies to integrate eLearning,” explained Lourdes Mejía, corporate training and automation manager at Gigante, a supermarket chain in Mexico.
Mejía attended the II International Congress on Human Resources held in Costa Rica and shared her experience in a company that has incorporated eLearning.
Some of the benefits for this Mexican company, thanks to 45 online courses that add to over 150 training hours, include the coverage of its 254 stores across the country in less time and with fewer costs.
“Now, we have to see if the learning impact on workers is translated into company learning as well even though we have been able to reduce 60% of the call traffic in the area of inventory,” asserted this Mexican manager.
Furthermore, training specialists are convinced that some of the major savings offered by eLearning are time savings because employees need less time to take a class outside company premises. With online training, employees have to be only in front of a computer.
Learning at a click
Different human resources and business training companies agree on the different benefits that eLearning, that is, online employee training, offers to the global market
- It reduces training costs.
- 24-hour availability seven days a week.
- Broader coverage in less time.
- Its coverage in the number of employees is highly scalable.
- It relies upon customized contents.
- It reduces the time between the learning process and the use of lessons learned.
- It allows measuring and evaluating results more accurately.
