e-Learning Trends 2015 No.4
Custom e-learning saves money, time and stress, we all know that. The e-learning industry has proven and promoted it for years now, but those are all tangible ways of measuring, are we considering the intangibles?
ROI – Return on Investment 
Definition: A profitability measure that evaluates the performance of a business by dividing net profit by net worth. (https://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/return-on-investment-roi)
The Tangibles
We all know the tangibles of the e-learning ROI, we have been measuring them for years and implementing e-learning solutions has proven rather successful. We measure aspects like
Investment:
- Needed Technology, like LMS, IT, etc.
- Staff (external vs. internal)
- Support
- Content
Return:
- Savings in Travel
- Trainers(external vs. internal)
- Logistics
- Time
- No disruptions to productivity
- etc.
Yes, e-learning saves time, money and stress but there is so much more.
“We tend to measure the tangibles like time and money, yet it is the intangibles that are equally important if not more because they are the core of what we value most”
The Intangibles
Quality custom e-learning content has from our experience a much bigger ROI than has been considered so far. There is so much more to companies than money. There is
company culture,
a mission
and people,
just to name a few. It is time to reconsider our calculation of ROI. These are the returns a great custom e-learning solution can provide:
Your Culture
What is the atmosphere at your company? Is there friendliness and professionalism? Custom e-learning content will not only teach your employees what to do, but how to do it. It will encourage sincere professional and friendly behaviour, by being interactive and letting people learn in scenario based tutorials how to respond in the best way possible.
Your Employees
Your company is all about people. It does not matter what you do, your employees are the ones making it possible for your company to be successful. Do your employees feel valued? Do they feel like they are being cared for? A personalized LMS (Learning Management System) with customized content makes people feel like their training and education is important. Growth is important for employee happiness. Happy employees want to stay with you and therefore, your turnover rate will lower and that increases employee loyalty.
Your Mission
Everything your company does should point to its mission because if it does not your employees will lose sight of it and their work will suffer. Regardless of the position, everybody in the company works for your mission and to make people aware of it by providing intentional learning content you will ensure that they will give their best to support it.
Your Customers
If the content you present to your customers is relevant to them specifically, it will make them feel like you care about them. Customers that feel cared for are loyal customers. Quality custom e-learning content matters.
Brand Awareness
What does your company stand for? While your mission is what you want to achieve and the culture is how your company is on the inside your brand is how you are being seen. It is what people think about your company, its products, and the values they represent.
If your training would teach your staff to act in a way that represents the values of the company, that will speak more than any marketing campaign, yet if your employees do not act as good representatives of your brand, that will undermine all efforts. I call these the intangibles because there are no numbers and statistics to back them up, yet from experience we know they exist and the return on custom e-learning solutions here is worth more than the money, because they make the difference between good companies and great companies.
