Posts from July 2011
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Man Booker Prize highlights changing behaviour of consumer
By Dave Evans - 28 July 2011
Another indication that technology is not only re-shaping the way things ‘get done’ these days, but also the way that we behave, was well-documented this week in the nominations for the annual Man Booker prize story.
Nominees have been announced and, like most information these days, they can be found with a quick search of the internet. The competition’s digital links go further than the shortlist appearing online though. In what has been dubbed the first ‘Kindle Summer’ the shortlist has been announced with far more emphasis on ebook readers than ever before.
Reading seems to be the latest activity to have turned the corner towards a preference to digital. Sales of ebooks are increasing and, in the US, Amazon sells more ebooks than hard copies. It is a theme that is increasingly seen across business in fact. The simple fact is that more and more people are moving their lives, particularly their business lives, online, and something as traditional and respected as the Man Booker Prize has acknowledged than human behaviour has changed, and its own awards have to accept the online migration.
From online banking via social media to grocery shopping, the UK population are spending more time online and feel more comfortable using web applications to manage various aspects of their life.
Unfortunately, it is a trend which many business are still simply choosing to ignore, and this is seen often in the training world.
Despite web-based software making life easier by allowing trainees to access elearning resources whenever and wherever they are, resistance appears to still exist. Forget the costs savings available and the admin cuts, this is about businesses aligning themselves with the world that is moving and evolving outside the four walls of their offices. It’s sink or swim time.
Right now, people are not only used to working, paying and playing online, they often prefer it. And if you think that’s a far stretch from the truth, take a quick straw poll around your workplace today. From booking flights to email support, customer behaviour has now changed to the degree that their preferred option is online, at their convenience; not on the phone, when it’s inconvenient.
So, the question is, are you ready to meet the modern online needs of your customer?
If you are a training provider and would like to hear how accessplanit can update and modernise the way your business operates and markets itself, just call 0845 5430229 or click here to read a case study.
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Course Booking Software, Industry News
Training companies must take note of manufacturing success
By Dave Evans - 23 July 2011
There will be some sore, yet no doubt buoyant and optimistic, heads wandering around the British manufacturing industry this week. Closing a new client deal is always something to celebrate, but when the contract is worth something in the region of $40 billion, it’s time to blow the dust off that Champagne bottle that’s been tormenting you for years, patiently waiting for the good news that never seemed to arrive.
What’s interesting for me about the American Airlines deal that has been struck, is the objectives of the airline company – their chief exec was quoted as saying that they wanted to “dramatically improve fuel and operating costs”. Ok, no great surprise there, but the fact is this huge organisation knew that the only way it could meet those objectives was by investing in the best technology and advanced thinking in the world.
There is little resistance to technology in the manufacturing world, it depends on the latest advances that are being designed and tweaked in factories across the world, because machines need to be as slick, powerful and efficient as possible.
Why can’t more industries adopt this approach to the digital age? The corporate world is getting better, there is more understanding of automation and streamlining, the costs savings and increases in efficiency that can be achieved. But, our research has shown that a quarter of training companies don’t even have the most basic of web booking forms for their courses. An incredible stat. So, while on the one hand you have training businesses that not only accept online course booking, but also use software to stay in touch with delegates via email and text, while on the other hand you have companies that only accept bookings over the phone or by email. The gaps between companies in the same industry, competing for the same businesses is huge. In manufacturing they wouldn’t survive, because leaner and meaner companies would come along and simply do things better. But it’s not an exclusive club, other industries will be hit by the need to evolve and change very soon, and for training companies it is now a case of deciding whether they want to be on the inside popping open Champagne bottles alongside the manufacturing big hitters, or on the outside looking in.
Tagged with: Course Booking Software, Industry News
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AccessPlanit
Technology signals positive change, so stay on track
By Dave Evans - 21 July 2011
Network Rail has, believe it or not, been in the news for more than one reason this week. The reason it’s ‘trending’ (as they say on Twitter) for many people this week is because of the potential industrial action that could place after it gaps in pay between men and women were exposed. Bad news. But, the other, perhaps less known reason it’s hitting the headlines is down to the fact that Network Rail has decided to yank itself into the 21 Century and completely modernise the way it manages the railways.
The impact that the new technology will have is enormous, and will probably lead to annual savings for the organisation of around £250 million, according to reports. The way these stories are handled and put together always fascinates me, because news items are arranged in terms of news value – the juicy parts of the story at the top, and then just fill the white space with anything else. The Times led with the jobs that will be sacrificed because of the new technology, and stuck in a huge picture of the ‘good old days’ and a man operating the old signal boxes.
The cost savings for this huge organisation, that could well be pumped back into the company so it can grow and employ twice as many people that lost their job, is mentioned towards the end of the third or fourth paragraph. By this point, the point had been made.
The coming of new technology doesn’t have to always be under a dark cloud, with the potential downsides always highlighted ahead of the advantages and benefits. Where training management software is concerned, the power to automate and streamline, just as huge organsiations like Network Rail are waking up to, has never been greater.
It is always important to focus on the positives and the savings, rather than dwell on the negatives – or perceived negatives in most cases. The forward-thinking companies are the ones investigating new technology and working out which features and services most suit their needs, instead of holding on to the “way things used to be done” and allowing their business performance and profits to suffer as a result.
Tagged with: AccessPlanit
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eLearning, Industry News, Learning Management System
Training software - the good news is finally creeping out
By Dave Evans - 14 July 2011
It seems that the good news stories are finally getting out, after Cable & Wireless announced that it had made more than £1m cost savings since introducing IT to support staff learning within the business. An incredible sum of money to save for any business, and a great advert for the industry that we’re working in.
We hear the good stories all the time, our clients simply wouldn’t work with us if we weren’t saving them money. But our research has shown that the vast majority of companies are still not embracing the digital age when it comes to automating day-to-day tasks. Take training companies, a quarter (25%) admitted to not even having the most basic of booking forms for their courses - so every seat is filled over the phone? Or perhaps a carrier piegon drops by with a ‘reserve my place’ slip tied to his foot...
Potentially one of the issues that training companies have is that context is never put around the savings, so I thought I could use this blog to throw some light onto the midfield maestro of the digital age - email marketing. Email marketing software has literally transformed the way that businesses can keep in touch and record communication with their clients and potential clients. How? Well, instead of having to write out emails one-by-one on Outlook Express, you can automate so that one email (which can be personalised to say Hello Dave) goes to each one of your email addresses. Then, instead of having to collate responses, the software automatically categorises who opened the email and what they clicked on. Imagine the manpower saved already.
Even more fun with email marketing software is the timing piece, so you can set an email to auto-respond to new enquires with a note about the next course and details on how to book - forget sitting by the phone waiting for the sales call - everything is automated.
But this is just one feature of the software available today, and when you consider the amount of processing that a massive firm like Cable & Wireless must have to plough through, you can see how something like email marketing can put a dent in that £1.5m saved.
But that was just one story that emerged in the press because it was a well-known company involved, the truth is, these stories are emerging everyday from training companies both big and small who are turning their focus to streamlining their operation and benefiting from the savings.
Tagged with: AccessPlanit, eLearning, Learning Management System, News
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Course Booking Software, Training Administration, Training Management Software
Blended approach to IT should satisfy the training purists
By Dave Evans - 13 July 2011
The technological age has once again been accused of tradition bashing (this time handwriting, after The Times reported longhand is to make way for typing in Indiana schools), and while there may be stronger consequences for children not learning to write effectively, than for training managers not to have an online booking form, this is one struggle that I can relate to.
In the article, End of the line for pens as schools embrace digital age, champions of handwriting are wheeled out to support the necessity of this ancient form of communication, and while the arguments are pleasant enough they hold little meaning in modern day society. By no means should handwriting be outlawed, reading and writing should remain necessary parts of a child’s learning, but technology too should be understood and recognised as one of very few vehicles that actually has the ability to take society forward.
I occasionally come up against opposition, our training management software has the power to automate so many different aspects of the training process – from marketing and sales to delivering the programme. Resistance appears in many guises, from ‘face-to-face is the only effective way to deliver training’ to ‘if I don’t explain each training programme over the phone to potential delegates, I won’t sell any places’. Similarly in The Times report, Anthony Daniels, a commentator for The Wall Street Journal, described typewriting as “a further hollowing of the human personality, a further colonisation of the human mind by the virtual at the expense of the real”.
Knee-jerk reactions to technology are common. Our software doesn’t have to mean the end of traditional communication for training providers, just like learning a vital skill like typing will not outlaw handwriting. The digital age is here, and if it can make businesses and the lives that run those businesses easier, more productive, and more profitable, while still maintaining a hold on traditional values, it can’t be a bad move, can it?
Tagged with: Course Booking Software, Training Administration Software