How does your organization currently address the need for training?
Have you seen a change at your organization during the recent economic downturn?
From your viewpoint, how would you structure training keeping in mind cost and time involved?
Archive for April, 2009
Mubina Gillani, CEO, Empowered Training Centre
“Change will not occur until the price of change is smaller than the price for not changing.” – Victoria Holtz
There is fundamental and rapid change taking place today that will dramatically transform the world. These changes will perhaps be even more rapid and transforming than the Industrial Revolution that spanned the previous two centuries.
Despite resistance from people who fear the end of the ‘centralized’ world based on physical social contact, there is tremendous growth globally in the use the Internet as the primary conduit to learn, conduct business, and to socially interact. There is a level of decentralization and individualization occurring with the use of technology as part of the information revolution.
Daily human interactions in cyberspace have picked up speed. Our world is rapidly moving from the physical (centralized) plane to the cyber (decentralized) plane. This transformation will change the role of humans as primary deliverers of knowledge to technology providing this knowledge. The human role will evolve to that of facilitator, coach, and mentor. This new world will require human subject matter experts to embrace and leverage technologies and understand how core concepts can be applied globally in different environments using different methodologies, tools, approaches, and within different cultural and geographic contexts.
The following video on TED.com, titled “Unveiling the “Sixth Sense” by Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry, is an example of how fast we are integrating technology in every part of our lives and how critical it is for the lay person to keep up with the rapid change around us.
Video Link: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html
The information revolution started in the latter part of the 20th century and has recently accelerated fueled by globalization and great economic pressures due to the recent economic crisis. Broader acceptance of the Internet as a social platform has enabled organizations to use this medium as a cost reducing strategy. Internet based technology and tools are rapidly being developed using approaches that cater to the masses yet enable customization at the individual level.
These Software as a Service (SaaS) technologies are now also available for small and large businesses allowing them to quickly enter the 21st century and participate in enterprise level technology. Hence, Internet based technology is becoming a commodity similar to that of utilities, a requisite for all businesses to ensure they remain viable in a fiercely competitive environment.
We see an example of this trend in the specific area of employee training. As organizations significantly cut costs, they are quickly transitioning from live training to deployment of training through elearning technologies provided by external vendors using highly cost effective, customized, and secure SaaS business models. In doing so, organizations transition from licensing and supporting internal elearning technologies to using multi-tenant platforms through full-service vendors while retaining the ability to have a secure, independent connection and provide customized niche training.
These times – where the global economic crisis is converging with rapid change in the way humans leverage technology and tools to live, work, communicate, and interact – lead to immense opportunity as well as great stress. The future holds promise, excitement, and trepidation depending on one’s situation and perspective.
Empowered Training Centre (ETC) is a provider of technology, instructional design, and consulting services to organizations. For more information, email us at contact@empoweredtraining.com.
