Converting Classroom Training to E-learning – Making a Business Case

To increase the productivity of their people, organizations must improve training efficiencies and provide knowledge support at the point of need. This can be done very effectively by moving your instructor-led training materials online. But, how can you convince your boss of the necessity to implement e-learning? Making a business case will surely help you.

However, over the years, training budgets have been shrinking. So, to ensure your leadership accepts your proposal to implement e-learning, your business case has to be watertight. This is because they will be concerned about the financial implications of the change, rather than training needs. Here are 4 important aspects you need to consider if you want to come up with a business case decision-makers will find hard to refuse.

1. Training methods currently in use and their shortcomings

You need to mention which training method(s) are currently being used in the organization and how they are not helping you achieve results. Shortcomings training managers usually come up with include:

• Non-uniformity of training throughout the organization
• High travel and accommodation costs
• Lost productive time due to frequent classroom training sessions
• Lack of cohesive compliance training
• High employee churn
• Quality control issues due to inconsistent training
• Trainer costs
• Manual administration work

2. The advantages of implementing e-learning

Once you come up with the shortcomings, list how they can be eliminated by the proposed solution. Emphasize the long-term benefits e-learning will bring. List advantages such as:

• Organization-wide uniformity
• Increased productivity with training done on employees’ own devices and time
• Lower per-person training cost
• Saved traveling costs
• Reduced training duration
• Reduced paperwork
• Automated training reports

3. The cost of implementation

As decision-makers will be more concerned about the financial implications of the change, you need to give them a rough quotation of the cost of implementation. You must consider the costs of more than one scenario and present them. For example, consider using mobile learning, gamification, simple interactive e-learning, or any other scenario that suits your training needs. It gives decision-makers a picture of the budget for different scenarios.

4. The savings that will accrue

Compare the cost of the current training method with e-learning. For example, list the cost of one hour classroom training which includes trainer cost, travel costs, infrastructure costs, and compare with the one-hour development cost of e-learning. That can give an idea of how much they will save on the training budget with e-learning.

These are 4 important aspects you need to consider while building a business case for the introduction of the self-paced, technology-enabled learning (TEL) format in your company.