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Effective training is a high priority for any organization — but especially for those that deal with a lot of churn and rely on the latest technology to help people do their jobs. Corporate training and education can also be a huge expense for companies.

IT managers can help their organizations improve training programs, make them available to more people worldwide and reduce costs by adopting the latest online training, or e-learning, technology.

With the growing popularity of collaborative tools such as Web conferencing, wikis, discussion forums, blogs, text chat and electronic whiteboards, and the increasing use of technologies such as tablet PCs and other mobile computing devices, voice over IP telephony, streaming video and other multimedia applications, organizations can make online education and training more effective than ever.

Adoption of e-learning software is on the rise, although the rate of adoption has slowed somewhat recently because many larger organizations have already been doing e-learning for some time and have made a lot of investments, says Chris Howard, principal analyst at Bersin & Associates, a research firm specializing in enterprise learning and talent management. Bersin estimates that organizations on average provide 27 percent of all their training online.

As with so many technology initiatives, there are positives and negatives to training people online. On the plus side, online training can save organizations lots of money. Training programs often require that people from remote offices travel to the main office for sessions, and this costs money as well as time away from work.

Another benefit is that online training adds flexibility and convenience for users. Depending on the type of training, people can generally take classes from wherever they want, including home, as long as there’s adequate Internet access.

Users can also take a class more than once if they need to without incurring the expense of extra travel. Some types of e-learning programs can be self-paced, so a trainee can progress as quickly or as slowly as necessary.

Online training also allows the use of multimedia tools that can help trainees learn faster and give them a better understanding of the content.

On the minus side, online training lacks the personal, face-to-face interaction that occurs when people attend a training session in person. Some users might feel a sense of isolation if they’re taking a class by themselves.

Another potential drawback is the upfront time and cost related to developing and deploying online content and the associated technologies. Organizations might also need to deal with issues such as system incompatibilities and bandwidth availability.

Some types of training will always be more effective when conducted in person rather than online. Others are well-suited to the screen. Howard says many organizations take a “blended” approach to training, using both online and offline methods. Online training “doesn’t always replace classroom instructions,” he says. “It can be used in some remote locations. But in many other cases it gets blended with other modalities.”

When creating an online training program, organizations take care to involve all the principals who can weigh in on what’s needed, including representatives from IT, human resources, finance, operations and the various lines of business.

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