Average Rating

     

In challenging economic times the need for motivated and well-trained employees has kept the training industry booming, but in order to maintain development in a cost-effective pattern, organisations must initially understand how and what employees want to learn.

Communicating to your entire workforce and asking them about their learning preferences can be done with the click of a few buttons and the right software. By using Training Management Software, the process of surveying employees is automated and allows for a powerful drill down of reporting and filtering of results.

This can help get to the root of any issues that may be preventing an organisation from fulfilling its potential. The drawbacks can often be that the administrative tasks involved in sending out the surveys and collating the results is too time-consuming. In many cases, the will is there but the resource simply isn’t available. However by utilising the software available at organisations such as accessplanit, these tasks and process can be streamlined with powerful functionality and automated communication within your business.

"The Customer Comes Second: Put Your People First and Watch 'em Kick Butt,” explains Hal Rosenbluth, Senior Consultant To The Chief Executive Officer For Health Care Services at Walgreen Co.

Delivering surveys is a way of establishing a line of communication throughout your business which is reciprocal, insightful and efficient. However, nobody likes filling out long or drawn out surveys, and a lot of people may understandably need a little nudge. Here are three ways accessplanit recommend you getting the most from your training survey…

Provide Incentives

Incentivising your employees to complete the surveys will help increase participation and in the long run benefit both the organisation and the employees themselves. Many find the idea of completing surveys a hassle so rewarding them for the effort will go a long way. They can be small things like vouchers, or an entry into a prize draw, but can still go a long way considering the value of the information and feedback.

Online Completion

Creating and sending out the surveys online and by using a training administration software allows you and your business to customise and brand your feedback forms as well as benefit from the efficiency of reaching hundreds within seconds. The lives of your employees are also made easier by being able to complete and send back their forms with ease. Employees are far more likely to trust and respond to a survey with their employee brand (logo and colours) included.

Simple Layout

Keep the design and layout simple, don’t over complicate. Features of training management software also include the tools to build a reusable form that includes check boxes, radio buttons and free text options to not only make the form as simple to fill out as possible but also to make information easier to decipher and analyse.

Surveying employees to find out exactly what type of training and development is sought after will not only give individuals control over how they enhance skills and knowledge within the business, but also ensure that training budget is being allocated in a direction that drives good return on investment. By using the appropriate technology to administer this kind of survey will make gathering results far easier and encourage more employees to take part.

Speak to accessplanit today to find out exactly how our training management software enables companies to run these surveys. Demo the software for FREE. Call the team on 0845 543 0229 or email enquiries@accessplanit.com.

Read More » Comments »

Average Rating

     

The TEN most popular reasons the trainers decide to implement training software – any of these resonate with you and your training company?

For some it’s to save money, for others it’s to save valuable time. Sometimes it’s just because businesses want to embrace the digital world. Whatever the reason, more and more training companies are facing up to the fact that sophisticated Course Registration Software is available today that can transform the daily operation of the business – for the better, of course.

If you already use training software, what was the trigger? If you haven’t yet jumped into the world of automation and process streamlining, read on…

Here are the TEN most popular reasons for training companies to implement training management software. Do any of these strike a chord with you or your business?

• Drowning in administration: with an increasing client base, the amount of administrative tasks involved rises too. Training software enables you to streamline and condense these tasks making them far more manageable 
• Communication breakdown: using customer relationship management (CRM) software will again help you to streamline and amalgamate your clients into one location enabling you to keep that personal touch with each one with little effort
• Double bookings: by having a real time booking system you are able to book clients in there and then eliminating clerical errors 
• Save valuable time: with one programme helping to manage your training process, all the relevant information is in front of your ready to be used when called upon
• Data duplication: bringing all of your client information together rules out duplication and unnecessary time wasted on associated activities 
• Losing valuable information: if information is saved on to disk or usb then it’s at an increased risk of corruption ( or worse, getting stolen). Use training management software so that your data is saved and backed up on the ‘cloud’ - a web-based data storage system.
• Hungry for more feedback: does getting feedback from your courses cause you a headache? By utilising training software you are able to send a link to your ‘happy sheet page’ increasing the uptake of feedback left
• Wanting to attack the global market: utilise training registration software and expose your training programmes to a global market. The internet is open 24/7, so no more waiting for the phone to ring
• Streamline systems and software providers: by combining all your systems into one you are able to draw analysis and make decisions far quicker, than previously when things were spread out in a multitude of programmes.
• Desire to launch an online marketing campaign: training software helps you to strive forward with a marketing campaign with features such as email marketing.  

Chances are, one or more of the above points make you prick up your ears and think, ‘hmmm that relates to me but I don’t know what to do to combat it’. At accessplanit we develop the software that provides solutions to all the aforementioned challenges, and you can demo the products by getting in touch on 0845 543 0229 or emailing enquiries @accessplanit.com.

With our Course Manager Software, you are able to streamline and condense your administrative tasks making them far more manageable, saving time and money.

Read More » Comments »

Average Rating

     

Specialist software for training companies provider, accessplanit, has includes financial assistance features with automated credit control within training management software.

Sales training companies help businesses to boost their profit and revenue, while leadership training experts show company executives how they can get more from the workforce and motivate individuals effectively. Invoicing, debt collection and managing cash flow? These do not tend to appear on a trainer’s list of skills and expertise.

However, it is the case that any training business cannot just rely on great learning content and programme delivery to be a success – it will have to address the issue of finance and credit control too. To make this easier for training businesses, the training management software developed by accessplanit automates the invoicing process and allows trainers to get on with what they do best.

However, accessplanit goes one step further.

“The software actually automates the whole process of Credit Control. You can automatically email your customers to remind them that an invoice is about to become due. And if they don’t pay on time then more reminder emails can be automatically be delivered until they do pay. You can even send them a SMS reminder,” explains accessplanit’s commercial director, Dave Evans.

If you’re using Course Manager software you’ll be able to make these reminders bespoke to their business, and create the number of emails required over a particular period of time. Some of accessplanit’s customers might even like to send reminders before the invoice is due, especially for clients with a poor track record of meeting payment deadlines.

This feature of the training management software can even be set up to send a ‘thank-you’ email to clients once they have paid their invoice as a courtesy.

“Focusing so much of our energy in the learning and development sector allows us to concentrate efforts on identifying what the specific barriers to success trainers experience, and then develop the software to remove them, adds Evans.

He continued: “All our customers need to worry about now, is how they’ll spend their new-found free time.”

If you believe that your training business would benefit from Course Manager software and automation of specific processes like invoicing and credit control, get in touch with training management software specialist, accessplanit, today. Call the team to arrange a demo or get more details on the software by calling 0845 543 0229 or emailing the team on enquiries@accessplanit.com .

Read More »

Average Rating

     

New ideas, innovation, creativity, and of course, technology, will always attract a suspicious eye from those who are simply content with the way ‘things’ are already being done, whether that’s at work or at home. Modernisation’s supporters however, are, more often than not, perfectly capable of drowning out these apprehensive cries, and today technology is continuing to re-shape the way the world moves forward every single day.

Though while we bask in the glory of all things tech, it is suitable sometimes to spare a thought for those who are slowly seeing their traditions eroded by constant development and improvement, and fittingly The Telegraph’s technology section recently ran an online tribute piece entitled, 50 things killed by technology.

From owning an encyclopaedia to getting photos developed, and from checking a map to having pen friends (I’m sure the investigative skills of the journalist responsible for the piece would not have been too far stretched), the list detailed all those once-normal routines that have been bashed into shape by persistent desire to ‘make things better’. Ringing the cinema to check film times, owning an encyclopaedia and dialling 1471 were also included in the list.

The training industry has no place to hide when it comes to technology, and, not to be outdone by The Telegraph (and seeing as we develop technology for the training and course provision industry), we thought it appropriate to come up with a slightly smaller list linked to the training world – because as anyone in training business is well aware, IT has the power to totally transform the way work is carried out every single day.
 
10 things killed by technology [in the training industry]…
 
1.    Telephone booking
2.    Committing to a time and venue (even if at the last minute an alternative option makes more sense)
3.    Manually producing invoice after invoice after invoi…
4.    Weekly phone calls to ask ‘are you ready to book another course?’
5.    Adding new course details onto website when details are released
6.    Guessing who has opened your marketing emails and when
7.    Tired box ticking at the end of a training course
8.    Huddling together in one classroom for two days
9.    Errors on personalised reports
10.  Personal certificates, produced individually for each delegate
 
All of the above are a result of advances in technology that enabled training businesses to automate the way they operate on a day-to-day basis, and in many instances have led to cuts in administrative tasks and staffing costs. Just as the sat-nav has removed the stress, hassle and manpower needed to identify the best route through London on a busy day, the technology that we are developing for the training industry has meant fewer errors, stronger delivery of service, and a far slicker process for delegates.
 
Earlier this year accessplanit produced a whitepaper report entitled: Training and the Digital Age; Ten Ways You Can Automate – click here to download your copy. If you would like to try a demo with accessplanit to find out the impact that our software could have on your training company or course provision business, get in touch with the team today by calling 0845 5430229 or emailing enquiries@accessplanit.com.

Read More » Comments »

Average Rating

     

We’re pleased to report a recent new hire here at accessplanit – a brilliant new software developer who’ll be joining our team in the coming weeks.  What’s interesting about this particular new recruit is that we found him via social networking site Twitter.

Obviously recruitment through online methods is not a new revelation, recruiters and job hunters have been using websites and online job boards for years. However, social media is increasingly playing a role in how companies recruit their staff. So, as recruitment teams tap social networking for increased exposure and success, shouldn’t other industries follow suit and embrace all that online systems have to offer?

When you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Social networking platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are ideal channels as they’re a more personable and immediate ways to connect with a mass audience. With Twitter, you have a ready-made, actively engaged pool of people at your fingertips. Presumably, if someone has chosen to follow your organisation or brand, they already have a healthy interest in what you have to say. They also have their own online circles through which to spread your message.

Social networking channels can also promote a more approachable, human side to an organisation. Regular tweets and updates from a brand or company can really reveal a personality behind the business face and give prospective employees a sense of the working culture. Once technology was seen as impersonal and to be avoided where possible, today it’s not only so convenient and effective, it also has lost the impersonal tag and become wholly accepted in society. In the corporate world, an avid online follower may have a clearer idea of the company’s ethos and therefore a stronger sense of whether they’d fit well with the organisation.  

Access is immediate and wide reaching with online platforms, so you can connect with people wherever they are and engage in a relatively informal two-way dialogue. This element of instant interaction also makes social networks a positive and speedy recruitment tool, not to mention a responsive tool for trainers who need to get in touch with delegates to update them on a last minute venue change or ‘don’t forget to bring’-type note.

As our recent hire shows, people are keen to engage with organisations online and will subsequently base large, life-changing decisions on this initial interaction. 

We are huge advocates of harnessing the power and flexibility of online systems. We feel many organisations limit themselves by not fully embracing all that these systems have to offer. Take the training industry for example - many organisations could massively increase their scope of communication through training management systems. By using an online management system, they could save time and money by streamlining the processes of selling, administering and managing training courses and events.  

Try out the accessplanit Training Administration Software by ordering a demo with one of the team, just take a look at the impact it could have on your business. Call the team on 0845 000 or email enquiries@accessplanit.com

Read More » Comments »

Average Rating

     

I wrote, a couple of weeks ago, about some of the misconceptions associated with technology that still linger with intent around the training industry, and one of the key points that many struggle to come to grips with is around cost. And, I think, perhaps, this is just as much our fault as the provider of the technology, as you the training provider.

When we market technology we always bang on about the cost savings, ‘you can streamline admin teams and save huge amounts’, is a firm favourite. However, much less is mentioned about the cost of setting up and getting going with new technology, and this really was pushed to the fore, for me anyway, when I read about Gap’s latest initiative in the hugely competitive retail market.

Sales at Gap have fallen year-on-year for the past six years, and while it would be easy for the Gap management team to heap blame onto the recession (which I’m sure they have done), clearly some changes need to be made – both in terms of saving cash and identifying some new revenue streams too. And, it would seem that technology is to play a starring role in Gap’s revival.

The Financial Times reported that Gap is to jump on-board the smartphone roller-coaster and market brand and product with videos to anyone who walks into the store, so long as they have the appropriate phone. Cutting edge technology is not always, it would seem, used by the wealthy companies with money to burn, it is also the solution (or hopefully the solution) for businesses that are out of ideas and are fed up of mediocre results doing things the same old way all the time.

This resonates in the training world. Why should training software that can literally revolutionise the way you operate and pull you (kicking and screaming, sometimes) into 2011, be the exclusive right of the financial elite? It’s not, and it never will be.
Gap has shown that a company on its knees can still be innovative and cutting edge with technology.

How will your business stand out from the crowd?

Get in touch with accessplanit today and find out how our software can revolutionise the way your training business operates. Click here to read more about the software and to get contact details for the accessplanit team.

Read More » Comments »

Average Rating

     

Read More » Comments »