What's On-demand Training & Why Do You Need It?

Table of Contents

• What's On-demand Training?
• Characteristics of On-demand Training 
• Why's On-demand Training Important?

You may have heard a lot of buzz the past couple of years about on-demand training, leading you to wonder what the talk is all about. On-demand training is not a new concept, but it certainly has grown in popularity and is quickly turning into many organizations’ primary training methods.

As you probably know, the rise of mobile technology, and the COVID pandemic’s social distancing measures, in particular, led to a major rise in remote work across nearly every industry. As a result, on-demand training has become more important and more commonplace than ever. 

Whether your company is fully remote, partially remote, or back to in-person only, there’s a lot to gain from adopting an on-demand training strategy. On-demand training isn’t just a replacement for traditional training necessitated by COVID. While the spike in remote workers did lead to an equal spike in the need for remote training tools, there are a lot of reasons to keep remote training around for good.

What's On-demand Training?

Why's On-demand Training Important?

Why's on-demand training important?

There are numerous ways on-demand training improves upon the traditional business training model. Even better, on-demand training is an excellent option in practically any industry, making it an extremely versatile strategy. 

The overarching benefit of on-demand training is that it shortens time-to-value for your learners. When they can access training whenever and wherever they need it, they can use that new knowledge immediately. This is a much faster route to success than having to wait for scheduled training sessions or hunt for information independently.

Here are some more reasons on-demand training is the present and future of learning in a business context:

The Demographic Makeup of the Workforce is Shifting

Millennials are now the most populous demographic in the workforce, and Gen Z is following closely behind. Younger workers are used to the on-demand nature of technology and the internet because most have been exposed to it since an early age. This demographic is especially likely to respond well to online training tools that make information available on demand. 

Millennials and gen Z have also embraced remote work much more enthusiastically than most people belonging to older generations. Millennial and gen Z workers often prefer to work remotely at least part of the time. These workers will be able to benefit enormously from access to on-demand training resources.

Your Learners Crave Flexibility

Employees today desire flexible working arrangements. For many people, the gig economy is a very attractive option. Gig work that allows you to work flexible hours, often from home, is a very popular way of earning money right now for many workers. It’s important to respond to this trend by providing gig workers with training options that are just as flexible.

Many people who do gig work choose it because they aren’t able to work a fixed schedule. By extension, they also aren’t often able to set aside time for scheduled training sessions. They certainly don’t have time to go poking around third-party sources on the internet just to find the information they need to do their job.

On-demand training can be a huge help to gig workers because it allows them to get the training they need on their schedule, at their own pace. This allows them to be successful at their work without compromising the flexibility that attracted them to the work in the first place.

Remote Employment is On the Rise

Of course, the months of COVID quarantine had a major impact on the rise of remote work, but it isn’t only about COVID. Remote work is many people’s preference regardless of COVID restrictions. You could ignore this and require all employees to work in the office, and some organizations will go that route. However, embracing a remote work culture and providing opportunities for remote learning can result in happier and more productive employees.

On-demand Learning is Cost-effective

Traditional training strategies can get very expensive. Holding classroom-style training sessions that are led by in-person instructors require a considerable amount of financial investment to pull off. The cost of the facilities travel for those involved, and any necessary equipment can quickly add up. 

On the other hand, on-demand training courses facilitated by online learning software can deliver the same quality of training to as many people as needed no matter where they’re located at a much lower cost. You can simply design digital training courses and all your users can access them with just a few clicks from almost anywhere. This makes it much less expensive to educate your employees, customers, or other users.

On-demand Learning Software? 

Delivering high-quality on-demand training requires some careful planning. First, you’ll need to choose the tools you’re going to use to create your on-demand training program. Some of the best training management software examples are learning management systems (LMSs). There are quite a few advantages to using an LMS to build your on-demand training program. 

Here are some of the top reasons learning management systems are the best training software:

Learning management systems are customizable. An LMS like Northpass allows you to alter the look and feel of every aspect of the learning experience your users receive. Plus, you can create personalized learning paths to guide specific groups of users through relevant combinations of training courses.

Learning management systems accommodate mobile learners. A key aspect of on-demand learning is that it’s accessible to your learners no matter where and when they need it. Learning management systems like Northpass are optimized to provide a great mobile experience to on-the-go learners.

Learning management systems help improve learner engagement. One of the challenges of traditional training methods is that it can be difficult to keep learners interested and engaged, which negatively impacts retention rates. Learning management systems enable you to utilize features like multiple content formats, interactive elements, milestones and more to aid learner engagement and improve retention.

These are only a few of the reasons implementing a learning management system is one of the best ways to create a successful on-demand training program.

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