e-Learning Benefits

By Randolf Kissling
CEO Aura Interactiva

Very often we hear statements about the importance of knowledge as a critical success factor for organizations in the global economy.

Even though almost every firm is aware of the significance of knowledge, at times only some firms are clear about how to successfully manage and disseminate knowledge, and even more important, how to transform it into a source of better operating results.

Organizations that have used knowledge to improve results are aware that in order to use it successfully, it should entail greater scope and not only use it to inform associates; it should transform abstract ideas and concepts into concrete and tangible experiences leading to results and improved productivity.

A study by Monash University from Australia involving 183 organizations, found that they have chosen e-Learning primarily as a way to reduce training expenses, make training processes more flexible, and provide a greater organizational scope. They also mentioned the ability to provide just-in-time training, that is, at the right moment for the employee

In the same study, organizations were asked why they were using e-Learning. As the most common uses, they mentioned personal productivity tool training and skills for specific job processes and procedures, and training for most organizational jobs; therefore, large audiences were involved.

Courses on organizational guidance, employee induction and policies and mandatory training related to their activities account for significant e-Learning uses in these organizations, mainly because the training should be taken more than once a year.

We should also point out the existence of technical skill courses (mainly for information technology and technological infrastructure maintenance staff).

Specific skill courses for different jobs also account for the most common e-Learning uses; among them we can find courses to improve customer service and sales force effectiveness, management skills, both practical and theoretical, and skills to improve manufacturing and certification processes.

Latin American Reality

Aura Interactive carried out a study on global firms, mass consumption, and governments that have implemented e-Learning programs in Latin America. Among the most visible benefits, all of them mentioned the use of e-Learning as a tool to provide a fast response to the changing environment by means of a timely dissemination of organizational practices and concepts. Moreover, it is a way to develop critical skills for firm operations.

They are also using e-Learning to reduce training expenses versus traditional approaches (classroom instructor), training flexibility (just-in-time training), and finally as a tool to improve specific processes related to sales and customer service.

In the same group of firms, 67% mentioned that e-Learning initiatives have substituted training needs, that is, needs that were previously met with traditional training processes (classroom instructor). 33% said that e-Learning initiatives were developed to meet new project needs (that didn’t necessarily have a traditional training counterpart).

Conclusions

In the last 18 months, there has been a significant transformation that has made organizations rethink e-Learning not as an innovating technology but rather as a tool to improve operating performance. In Latin America, people are using e-Learning as a way to substitute traditional training processes to improve critical skill and knowledge dissemination thus leading to logistics and economic rewards.

With these results, it is reasonable to forecast that e-Learning implementation in the region will follow the patterns in developed markets. : a greater number of firms are taking advantage of e-Learning and there is a greater internal penetration thus allowing more students, departments, and business processes to take advantage of technology as well.