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Mobile learning, applied to the right problem, in the right way, can deliver enormous efciency and efcacy gains to an organization. But how do you justify the initial investment, and how do you ensure that learning is aligned with business goals? This eld guide will explore critical steps to ensure that you get the most out of your mobile learning investment.
Introduction
Mobile learning, applied to the right problem, in the right way, can deliver enormous e ciency and e cacy gains to an organization. But how do you justify the initial investment, and how do you ensure that learning is aligned with business goals? This document looks at mobile learning from a business managers perspective and describes some of the ways it can improve your bottom line and build a compelling business case for the adoption and implementation of e-learning in your organization.
THE BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF MOBILE LEARNING
Traditional instructor-led classroom-based training or virtual trainings delivered via computer-based learning management systems (LMS) are still effective ways to teach new skills. But it comes at a high cost in terms of time commitment. Classroom training requires travel and loss of work time while computer-based training requires the employee to remain xed at a work station, and classroom instruction is generally during working hours. This means employees can spend several working days on training just to achieve compliance in some cases. Mobile breaks these chains to allow for untethered learning at the time when it is most necessary or most convenient on or off the clock. The very nature of how people use mobile devices tells us that the device is always on, always in-hand and always connected. An employee can have access to the information he or she needs to do the job anytime, anywhere, even without Internet access because of the explosion of smartphones and tablets on the market. Mobile learning, when married with an LMS, can offer organizations and individuals the following key benets: Increase training opportunities as learners access content in the moment Easy access and acquisition of all the information within the LMS
Ability to provide learning via mobile devices to employees without computer infrastructure Organization can leverage SCORM authoring tools to build compelling mobile content End users can engage in a completely ofine learning experience that includes rich media and video without risking poor quality from bad connections Track completions, scores and overall impacting using the native reporting capabilities The growth in mobile-delivered learning is driven by rapid user adoption, signicant cost savings, more effective presentation of training content, reinforcement of on-the-job performance and the immediate availability of access to job aids and resources. Whereas employees once had to congregate in one location or remain seated in front of a computer to receive corporate learning, corporate learning can now come to them. Employees can pull out bit-sized training when it is needed, making the value, potential and return on the invest increase because the learner will learn more when the information is relevant to him or her. Convincing your senior management team to implement a mobile learning system will require a clearly dened business case. Developing a laundry list of potential benets is only the beginning; you must then apply them to your particular business situation. A business case will offer a clear statement of the business problem(s) and your proposed solution(s), as well as provide measurements of success. In essence, it describes your organizations current status versus the desired status, and how the organization can achieve its goals.
The business unit manager is usually trainings primary sponsor. The right client is the decision-maker who understands the end goal and has responsibility for the organizational area in which the problem occurs. When youre working with the right client in your organization, measuring results is not difcult. Start with the business unit managers business problems and work backwards. The most important step in measuring performance is to pin down the business managers answer to the classic question: Whats in it for me? Dont skip this step. Without it, meaningful tracking is impossible. First, gain agreement on the business problem(s) to be solved and the value of solving it (them). Then go on to outline your proposed solutions. Establish a baseline measure of current performance and clearly indicate how performance will be tracked and reported.
Determine what your project sponsor(s) will accept as persuasive evidence that the program produced the agreed upon result, then make your case logically by linking learning to business results. Establish a causal (not casual!) link between a particular skill deciency and a particular business outcome. Build a compelling logical argument based on the business unit managers metrics, performance requirements and the metrics that would indicate the return on the mobile learning investment. The process of tracking learning results starts before any learning takes place. It begins with an agreement between the training manager and the line manager on the value of solving the problem. Your joint examination of the problem will clarify the gap between the results desired and the results youre actually getting. Then determine what major skill gaps and learning deciencies are holding people back and estimate the expected dollar value to be gained by eliminating the deciency. Again, make sure you get agreement on the expected outcomes, how they will be measured and what constitutes good performance.
Throughout the process, help the managers answer questions about why skills matter and what on-going good performance looks like. You are focusing sustained attention on solving business problems and adding and identifying tangible values for each skill to be taught. As a result, youre forging a partnership with the business unit manager based on the core concern: maximizing performance without taking the employee away from the job. Senior Executives No organization has the resources to do everything it might want. Senior executives are forced to choose where the companys top priorities lie, what comes rst, whether initiatives should be completed in-house or outsourced, and which will yield the greatest return. A good business case shows expected consequences of the action over time, and, most importantly, includes the methods and rationale used to quantify benets and costs. Executives focus on two things: strategy and outfoxing the competition. Consequently, they will be interested most in information that discusses sales, revenues and prots, as well as what will increase the companys market share. Consequently, they are looking for you to convince them that your mobile learning initiative is worthy of the organizations time, effort and money. To make their analysis clear, distill a complex business alternative into a three- or four-page business case to provide a tool that supports planning and decision making, including information about which vendor to choose and when to implement. From a senior executives standpoint, business cases are generally designed to answer the question: What are the likely nancial and other business consequences if we take (or dont take) this or that action? Creating a business case that is deeply ingrained with the insights of the business unit manager will help you in labeling that person as a trusted advocate for the senior executive to consult with further.
persuasive appeal for the desire of every executive: mobile learning will increase the companys speed to money. Turning to the cost side of the equation, mobile learning offers several advantages over other types of training. You need to take into account the following factors: The productivity lost from being away from the job is likely to be considerably lower, particularly if employees are willing to train outside normal work hours. The training time may also be less, given the ability to take just the required training modules (or opting out by showing competency in a pre-test) rather than having to attend an entire course. This decreases employee time-to-productivity/time-toproductivity or competency. Mobile learning requires very little to no training administration for student course bookings, reserving classrooms or updating training records. Course creation to maintain new compliance rules or inform on new product offerings is easier when courses are shorter. Mobile learning offers the benets of rapid content development because the courses are naturally shorter, which can prove effective in engaging and satisfying employees needs in a timely manner. Mobile learning also delivers a number of less tangible organizational benets:
By empowering individuals to develop their own skills when they want, enhanced employee motivation and reduced staff attrition will lead to savings in recruitment costs. Mobile learning can offer a higher knowledge retention rate as information is accessed when it is needed and archived for reference later. Mobile learners can use their own native devices.
In the next section of this document, well look at two specic ways of using mobile learning that offers substantial benets: The ability to develop, introduce and roll-out internal product or customer training quickly and on a nationwide or worldwide scale, leading to faster time to market, earlier revenue streams and enhanced competitiveness.
The possibility of providing training directly to your customers much more easily, leading to new revenue streams or enhanced product adoption. Provide easy access to technical support documents that are frequently updated. Clearly, not all of these paybacks can or will be achieved overnight. However, these represent a realistic set of quantiable benets to help build your business case for e-learning.
If you already have your mobile infrastructure and culture in place, then new product rollouts quickly become a matter of creating the training material and making it available online. In summary, consider the following benets:
Further, the mobile training method can also be extended to customers, strategic partners and third-party vendors to deliver valuable training that informs on your products and services while also providing another potential stream of income, along with cost and time savings and a decreased time-to-market. Mobile learning with your extended enterprise will often garner better training completion results as these individuals will be even less inclined than your own employees to sit for prolonged periods in classrooms or in front of computers that can create some highly unproductive working days. Of course, there are many other benets from having more knowledgeable customers and channel partners, including higher brand loyalty and fewer service calls. And it can often be advantageous to provide the training for free particularly if it relates to the sales process. For example, potential buyers can take a mobile tour of your companys products and the available options, guiding them through the purchase decision with advice, comparison reviews and nancial planning tools. In the end, youll deliver an increased number of wellqualied and educated customers to your sales department.
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Additional Considerations List critical success factors other than metrics; for example, effects on partnership agreements with specic vendors, internal marketing and promotion, and the potential need for help desk or customer support. Action Plan/Recommendation Propose specic action steps. State your short-term and long-term action plans, including major milestones. Success Measurements Outline how you will measure the solutions overall success (tie directly to Project Objectives). Executive Summary Compose a single page that will provide a clear, concise summary of the proposed solution. Include a high-level overview of your research that leads you to the proposal.
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