More and more companies today are developing and producing their own in-house training courses, online training and infrastructure learning resources. In the past, training has been relegated to outsourcing, but as companies grow and change -- and with the added benefits of expansive new technologies -- it is becoming easier for companies to build their own e-learning tools. The tools employed for progressive e-learning include:

• Creating online presentations
• Online training
• Web conferencing, and
• Other progressive innovations made available via technology.

By creating your company’s online offerings and development resources, you will further not only your company’s capabilities, but also provide important training initiatives to employees who want to advance via e-learning.

Benefits of company training

Customized training materials benefit a company in several different areas:

• Financial savings
• Centralized learning
• More customized content available to address unique company initiatives or goals
• Building stronger infrastructure
• Creating company-wide standardization, and
• Reusability issues.

Customized training often means benefits in deployment efficiency, integrated learning and fostering good partnerships within a company.

Getting started

No matter what the size of a company, there are standards the company sets in place, and these same standards can be applied to initiating an online or e-learning foundation as well. There are also companies who specifically work with organizations to help develop and build an e-learning arm. A good example of a learning management solutions provider is The Learning Manager.

Is the budget there?

Another important issue to address before getting started is the financial output of offering a custom online training program. You must have the budget issues addressed to adequately fund your programs. Oftentimes this means convincing other departments that if everyone will be willing to direct a small piece of their budget pie to e-learning initiatives, then the company overall will benefit.

Measure of success

How are you going to measure your online training initiatives and do you have the staff capability to devote to an e-learning program? Companies have to be able to fund the programs and build upon the successes over the long-term. Will the training program be part of a key initiative to keep employees successful as well and how will employee turnover and time constraints be addressed within the program? A benefit of a well-run e-learning program is often that it saves time for employees learning on the job, as they are able to access the materials, when they have downtime as opposed to leaving their job during a week’s time to “train” offsite.

Some examples of in-house training include call center training, database training, company standards training, communications training and vendor initiative training. If you set formal standards for the training to follow, you will often see ROI benefits even in the short term. Training fosters growth and the more you’re able to provide e-learning to your employees, often the more marked the growth, both long-term and short term. Virtual training via Web initiatives and virtual e-learning classrooms within a company can also boost the bottom line savings. If you don’t need a physical classroom, then why not take advantage of the virtual offerings a solid e-learning program can provide.

Getting answers

The key to creating an online training or e-learning program within your company is to be committed to its success. It’s not a quick fix to address a particular problem; it’s a long-term knowledge engagement to boost the power of your company and your employees. Some good questions to ask prior to initiating an e-learning offering within your company are:

1. Does senior staff support the initiative?
2. How will it benefit the employees?
3. Have we outlined the goals of the e-learning program and does it address the current need for knowledge training at the company?
4. Should we outsource the actual program development to a seasoned learning management solutions provider?
5. Can we accurately forecast what the training constraints will be on a financial basis and on employee time, and how can we address those prior to initiating the program?
6. Will our program incorporate our company’s goals and standards and help foster congruency and integrate our present knowledge base?
7. Are all the needed departments on board with the content and can they contribute and adjust the content as necessary?
8. Are communication lines open and established to help boost the e-learning interest and encourage employees to take advantage of them?
9. Can we help ease the e-learning curve among employees, no matter what their comfort level is with the online world?
10. Can we provide a strong base of incentives for employees to take our e-learning program?

If you start with these ten questions, you’ll find ten more and then ten more to answer. At the end of the process, you’ll be surprised to find that you’ll have a fantastic and well-rounded outline of what you intend your e-learning program to achieve and how you’re going to make it successful.