Off-the-Shelf eLearning: Savior in times of Economic Meltdown

Speculation is ripe off late about the impending global economic crisis andthe inevitable fallout it is set to affect. Analysis of global economicindicators is increasingly referring to a looming global economic slowdown and the risk of aglobal recession. According to the The Independent, “Next global financial crisis will strike in2020, warns investment bank JPMorgan – sparked by automated trading systems.”Meanwhile, Forbes suggests, “2020s might be the worst decade In US history,triggered by contagion from a global credit crisis.”

The predictions are certainlyalarming, and with trade disagreements, slackened global demand, coupled withgeopolitical crisis, the world economy is onwards its weakest expansion, and itappears that 2020 is the year that crash 2.0 will finally make landfall.

Especially in India,the government has acknowledged the beginning of a crisis. Car sales are suffering, while automakers are laying off employees inan unprecedented way, and the ludicrous loan scams have crippled the financialmarkets.

What does this mean for L&D?

In an economiccrisis, organizations increasingly focus on cost cutting, and guess whichbusiness function will be one of the first ones to witness budget cuts? That’sright- it’s Learning & Development (L&D). Improving employee engagement and productivity remains a top priorityfor organizations, yet in the face of a globaleconomic crisis, the percentage of budget allotted to L&D will inadvertentlyshrink. However, minimal budget doesn’t necessarily mean compromising yourtraining. “With budgets shrinking,L&D leaders must target approaches most likely to boost performance,”says Sari Wilde, a Gartner research leader.

L&D certainly has the potential to subdue the panic of an economicmeltdown to some extent by helping organizations reassure the workforce throughtalent development and re-skilling and up-skilling opportunities. However, inorder to function effectively under a tighter budget, L&D professionalsmust align themselves to be agile and prepared with the best possible learningtools.

With a vast array of tools available, like Learning Management Systems (LMSes) that provide multi-device learning, social learning and analytics and reporting, it might seem like L&D professionals have enough training resources at their disposal to function effectively. Yet, most of these L&D professionals are unlikely to respond effectively to the changing business environment. This is a result of a lack of understanding between the organizations and L&D professionals. Thanks to Off-the-shelf elearning, L&D professionals and organizations can finally agree on a suitable L&D strategy in times of grim economic conditions.

Importance of OTS courses in times of economic meltdown

The main focus of L&D professionals is seldom about planning and developing elearning courses and more often about deploying an effective and sustainable training program. With a greater focus on the employees’ learning experiences and their professional development and less focus on the design of the course, L&D professionals have more to gain from leveraging tools and solutions that ensure the success of their eleanring project. And one of the first solutions to prove highly effective in this scenario is Ready-to-Use Catalog Courseware.

L&D professionalswill always have the option of producing effectively designed and highly engaginglearning courses and a customized training program with a healthy budgetand enough resources. However, with the lack of a budget and resources, L&Dneeds to focus on deploying an effective training program that saves money aswell as time by leveraging off-the-shelf courses.

Off-the-shelf courses are lighter on the pocket and don’t require extravagant budgets to buy. And, learning technology solutions or an LMS with built-in off-the-shelf courseware are nothing less than a blessing. Customized training requires you to select the courses, create content, give inputs on the design and then await the testing and verification, all of which takes up a lot of time that businesses have no patience for. But, with OTS courses, organizations can plan training initiatives whenever they want as the courses are readily available on several online marketplaces, like Cegos, Biz Library, Udemy, LinkedIn Learning among others. And, equipped with an LMS with built-in OTS courses, organizations don’t have to worry about wasting time anymore as accessing quality OTS content has never been easier andfaster.

In addition, OTS trainingcourses open up an array of learning resources, including videos, text, microlearningbits, surveys and more, and L&D professionals need only add newer coursesto enable continued employee training. OTS courses also save time by negating time-consumingcourse development processes and attending training events. So, instead ofgoing spending time on planning, developing and executing elearning content,L&D professionals can have elearning come to them in the form of readilyavailable OTS courses.

One of the greatest advantages of OTS courses is the limitless availability of diverse courses, including Business Skills, Information Technology, Marketing & Innovation, Finance & Management and many more. With OTS courses, there is something for everyone to aim for individual as well as collective development goals. With the ability to choose courses on diverse topics, OTS elearning can effectively help employees build the necessary skills needed for the future of work.

More importantly, OTScourses are a great resource not only for small and medium businesses but alsofor any and everyone who is in need of training. Enterprises especially leverage OTS courses to complement their custom elearning projects with OTS courses toachieve a greater learning impact.

Takeaway: Instead oflooking at the economic meltdown as a challenge and fretting over the lack ofbudget and resources, L&D professionals can truly consider OTS elearningcourses as the savior that can kick start employee training in no time, and with limited to no resources.

To learn how we can help you augment your L&D initiatives with our ready-to-use library of eLearning, mLearning and microlearning courses and videos, schedule a demo now !