4 Strategies to Win IT Support for E-learning Implementation

Gaining leadership support for e-learning is no cakewalk. If you have achieved it, you have done an excellent job! And with the support and approval of management, you have got the key to the success of your e-learning program. But does it end there, or in other words, is that all you need for the successful implementation of online training in your organization?

Addressing the concerns of your primary stakeholders is incomplete until you get IT on board for your eLearning initiative. This is in fact, the backbone for the implementation of an e-learning strategy. This post will give you an outline of why you need the support of your Information and Technology department for implementing e-learning in your organization, and how to win it.

Why Do You Need IT Support?

Technology has changed the way people seek knowledge and perceive things. Organizations have taken advantage of the power of technology to hasten learning and empower employees.

By using technology-enabled learning, employees get easy access to learning. Thus, technology provides an opportunity for training managers and the top management to widen the scope of training to suit various employee profile and situations. And IT is the department that needs to provide the required support for hosting your courses and ongoing server support.

The role of the IT department in the implementation and maintenance of your e-learning course is quite clear from the above-discussed points. In today’s technology-enabled learning environment, to develop an e-learning solution catering to your organizational requirements, a cordial relationship is necessary between the L&D team and your internal IT department.

Helps with Technical glitches

The users of your e-learning course range from internal staff to business partners and prospective customers, who would access the system at any time from different devices. Hence, before hosting the course, you have to make sure that information security issues have been tackled. Since e-learning is an ongoing process, there are possibilities for technical glitches during the long run. Your IT department plays a crucial role in assisting you in such situations.

Helps Collaborate with E-learning Vendors

Do I still need the support of my IT team in case I outsource e-learning development?

You may outsource e-learning development or even the hosting services to third parties. However, your IT department could guide you to choose the right vendor who can provide a learning solution matching your infrastructural requirements. Also, your IT staff can better explain the technical requirements for the course that needs to be hosted.

Additionally, in some companies, the IT team provides the hosting service if the management wants courses developed by an external e-learning service provider to be uploaded to their LMS. 

How to Gain IT Support for E-learning?

Start with the IT Department and Keep it Small

The best strategy to gain your IT team support is to start the e-learning program within the IT department. This will enable them to understand and appreciate the possibilities of this technology-enabled learning program better. Gaining the support of the IT team will also be helpful for the further rollout of e-learning in other departments.

Regular Communication

As an L&D manager, there is a lot you can learn from the IT department. Your training team may be unfamiliar with certain technical terminologies and the language the IT team uses. Understanding their language facilitates effective communication of concepts and feedback between the two departments.

Establish a Cordial Relationship between the Two Departments

You will need to work very closely with your IT department, to get your eLearning initiative off the ground. As two independent departments will be coming together for a single goal, possibilities for clashes and confusions are inevitable.

Building a cordial relationship between the two departments right from phase one of e-learning implementation will help build a healthy relationship between the departments and avoid misunderstandings.

Allocate Definite Resources

Understanding the existing infrastructural facilities of your IT department is very necessary for the successful rollout of an e-learning program. In case you are planning to host the learning program on the company’s LMS and integrate it with software such as CRM, SAP, or HRIS, you will require the extended involvement of your IT department.

Sometimes the company will have to purchase hardware and software exclusively for this purpose. During such situations, if the training team can help reduce the financial burden of the IT department by sharing the expenses, it will definitely boost the support and commitment of the IT team.

E-learning is the future of organizational training. As newer technologies emerge in the future, it will become indispensable to a company’s success. Thus, to guarantee the success of your venture, follow a comprehensive planning process before the implementation begins.