Future of Learning: Digital Adoption After COVID-19
Britt Bürgy
CIOs and HR managers everywhere are working nonstop on concepts for the new working world. In addition to launching new products and responding to internal and external pressures, they are simultaneously implementing new digital tools. At the same time, CIOs and HR managers are also supporting virtual meetings, responding to data protection requests, and of course – providing ergonomic office furniture for home offices along with the needs of many as they return to the office or work hybrid. Rarely addressed, however, is the real linchpin of digital transformation, namely delivering learning and critical knowledge under the ever changing new normal brought on by the pandemic.
How to lead a successful training in this new environment that can include in person, hybrid and virtual trainings? How do employees learn how to use new applications that are being introduced at an increasingly rapid pace? Or how do employees learn about new products, processes, and rules when the business changes so quickly? Companies need a digital solution that combines the ability to accelerate expertise and provide real-time guidance for complex software systems and business rules.
Corporate Learning: Now Comes the Strategy Shift
At the beginning of 2020, those responsible for training and continuing education were forced to bring those experiences into the virtual world. Employees suddenly found themselves in purely online environments. All of the previous assumptions about what successful corporate learning should look like suddenly went out the window.
During the first weeks of the pandemic, the weaknesses and limitations of many learning strategies and technologies were quickly exposed. Some approaches showed technical flaws, while others relied on monotonous formats causing "digital fatigue" and declining learning success among participants. However, many companies swiftly adapted. They accelerated their digital transformation initiatives and used the crisis to completely rethink the way that they responded to customers and supported their people. Organizations moved toward learning in collaborative environments to increase engagement – focusing on workflow learning in place of the stale and monotonous content and delivery that they had depended on for so long. They have found that personalized and relevant content, directly embedded in workflows with related business rule guidance, is much more effective and has higher retention than the rote learning approaches depended on before the pandemic.
These approaches are not new. The pandemic has only accelerated the long-standing trend toward a highly flexible and personalized learning experience. A Gallup poll revealed that 87% of millennials say learning and development in the workplace is important. Providing that highly flexible learning experience may buck the Great Resignation trend as 94% of employees surveyed during a LinkedIn study say that they would stay at a company longer if it simply invested in helping them learn.
Technology Guidance: Application Help at the Click of a Button
Digital Adoption with tts performance suite
The pandemic has forced companies to implement digital tools and processes much faster than planned. Instead of the months or years, a study by McKinsey shows that many products and services were digitally transformed within a few weeks. The degree of digital interaction with customers, for example, was catapulted three years into the future within an incredibly short time. These “Digital Leaders” managed to bring employees up to speed on new processes quickly. As a result, they have leapfrogged their industry peers.
This is when having a digital adoption solution (DAS) becomes enormously important. A DAS provides a platform to deliver relevant information to employees based on context and role: in the "moment of need" and blended directly in the workflow. People acquire 70 percent of their knowledge on the job, 20 percent through social learning, and only 10 percent through formal training. But what happens when the workplace becomes the living room and there is no longer any in-person exchange with colleagues?
A powerful DAS is able to meet individual needs in every learning situation. When asked a question, people should be able to access content tailored to their role and find instant support for applications they use, all within a few clicks. Support then comes in the form of a digital assistant which provides step-by-step instructions on tasks, access to related processes, policy and procedure content, work instructions, and on-demand learning content even in hybrid work.
Business Guidance: Regulations Under Control
Accelerated transformation is changing not only business models and ways of working but also processes, policies, and procedures. In addition to internal change, external changes in the form of regulations, competitors, and world events create a constantly shifting patchwork of rules, regulations, and business processes.
A DAS can filter content to provide employees with appropriate assistance, specific to their actual job roles. This enables them to find out about current documentation, new regulations, or changes to business processes quickly and efficiently. While this is critical for all employees, hybrid and remote employees have a great need to fully understand processes and regulations. With a DAS, they gain confidence in their work, become significantly more productive and avoid process errors, all without having to stop productive work in order to “learn”.
Digital Adoption Platforms Are the Key
Digital leaders who have successfully navigated the pandemic have realized that there are enormous benefits to rapidly incorporating a digital adoption solution into their transformation strategy. The ability to simultaneously address corporate learning, technology guidance, and business guidance allows employees to rapidly understand and support the new digital initiatives key to the organization's success. Digital transformation starts with powerful digital adoption solutions.
