Technology training for your technical employees is an unavoidable cost for IT firms. It helps to ensure they can pick and use the right tools to solve problems. Technology moves fast nowadays and IT skills that were relevant five years ago are almost obsolete today. Therefore, organizations must make it a priority to instill a learning culture by allocating the right skills towards technology training.
Challenges of Technology Training
Humans tend to get set on a particular way of doing things. The natural reaction to suggestions for change is to resist. Employees may feel frustrated and burnt out if they need to learn new systems or technologies every few years. The challenge for managers is to communicate to employees the need and rationale for such change.
In addition, organizations need extensive resources to train employees on new technology. They may need to hire external parties to conduct several days of training which could mean some downtime for the company. As such, only companies that can afford these inconveniences will be able to carry out technology training properly.
Still, there are numerous reasons we can enumerate for why every organization should aim to invest in technology training.
Technology Training Saves Time and Money
When employees understand the technology, they are meant to use in their workflow, they are less likely to make mistakes. There will be less time spent on troubleshooting. More hours go into productive activities that impact your bottom-line. Well trained employees feel confident and there is less need for supervision to correct mistakes. It makes it easier for your company to meet deadlines. Missed deadlines often result in fines for breach of contract, loss of revenue, and additional costs due to extra man-hours.
Whenever implementing new technology, organizations must never see training as a hindrance. In fact, it speeds up the speed of implementation because when it is time to launch, everyone will be ready. There will also be less likelihood of resistance.
It is also worth mentioning that continuous technology training adds to the resourcefulness of technical staff. When your employees are comfortable with different technologies, it may ease your staffing needs. You will not need to hire a new staff member when a new skill is required. Training in-house staff members is likely cheaper than hiring an addition employee.
Technology Training Boosts Employee Retention Rates
While having to learn new systems and technology can be frustrating for some employees, there is another way to look at it. Learning new and trendy technology is a great plus for employees’ looking to grow their careers and prepare for opportunities. Ambitious and talented employees will be inclined to stay in an organization where they are being challenged to learn and expand their knowledge and skills.
Such an organization is also able to attract new talent because of the good reputation. In a world where many organizations can offer attractive financial packages, it is the intangible things such as organizational culture that help a few companies to stand out. An organization that embraces continuous improvement and learning is likely to give employees greater autonomy to express ideas and creative control in projects.
Improving Information Security
Technology training for your staff will involve making them aware of common threats to information security at the organization including phishing schemes. This is especially important when the core business of your firm depends on its reputation. Such is the case in the healthcare and financial services sectors.
For a big company, recovering from the effects of a data breach will take months and millions of dollars in legal and technical costs. Most breaches result from employees’ negligence and sometimes malicious intent from disgruntled staff members. To avoid the former, organizations need to offer comprehensive cyber security training.
Employees need to be able to quantify the sensitivity of the information they are handling. This includes client contracts, client banking details, and personal login information. They must handle each procedurally. They must also be made aware of the risk that malicious actions carry including possible prosecution.
Decrease Hosting Expenses
By providing adequate training to their technical team, a company can significantly save on hosting expenses. When your team is building applications, especially in a cloud-environment, the use of best practices can lead to less memory and processing power needs.
The team will also be able to evaluate different hosting options and settle on the most efficient and reliable one. For instance, in some cases, it may be best to go for a managed hosting option. In other cases, it may be better to buy a high-end server to host multiple virtual machines for the company’s different projects or users.
Tips on Technology Training
To successfully implement technology training at your firm, employees need to feel there is a well-thought-out strategy behind it all. Give them adequate notice and lay out a schedule for training. You must adhere to this schedule.
The firm may also decide to come up with incentives for employees when they take part in training. Some companies opt to conduct training in away from the office as an incentive. The company may also give gift cards to participants. The idea is to garner support for the training in and use of new technology.
Creating a Competitive Edge through Technology Training
Companies that can create a competitive edge by properly implementing continuous technology training at their organizations. First, by training employees, the company can maintain a high level of quality in its projects. In addition, using the most recent technology, the company can deliver projects quickly and adhere to client-specifications.
Another of creating a competitive advantage is by attracting and retaining the best talent. These staffers will feel satisfied because of the opportunities to learn and put acquired skills to productive use. As mentioned earlier, technology training also helps to cut costs and companies can pass it on to customers through lower prices.
If your firm needs help with technology training, check out Transcendent Software’s offering on this service. We help teams utilize the best technology for problems they encounter in their workflow. We have enabled teams to deliver software faster and with lesser bugs by practicing industry best practices in their work. To learn more, check out our website.