Have you invested lately in a new ERP or CRM system or a simple HR or payroll solution? Organizations today are increasingly investing in new systems and technology. The pandemic seems to have further accelerated technology adoption, especially for cloud technologies. And this is exciting.

Let us look at some facts about training employees on new systems:

  • By 2026, the employee training market is expected to reach $6.4 trillion worldwide; the growing demand for employee development emphasizes the importance of technology training for employees.
  • Companies with robust corporate training programs experience 218% more income per employee than those without a formal training program.
  • Moreover, 59% of employees believe their performance at work increases because of training.
  • Among organizations employing more than 50 workers, 85% have at least a form of formalized employee training in practice.

Such facts highlight why we need training of users for a new system:

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About Training Employees on New Systems

The other side of the coin is that organizations globally witness poor technology adoption rates. Now, why is that a problem? When organizations do not gain the full potential of the new system, it translates into poor ROI.

The new systems implemented, perhaps after much deliberation and with pomp and fervour, simply fail to deliver the expected value. Poor adoption becomes a barrier to successful transformation and fails on its promise and premise of delivering improved workflows.

Poor adoption or inefficient use of new systems has a high cost impact. While the most imminent and direct cost is the cost of system ownership itself, add to it the cost of customization, implementation and configuration, maintenance, support, and training, which drives up the total costs of any new system implementation.

With such costs showing in your expense sheet, organizations not reaping the full potential of the transformation or change exacerbates total costs and spending.

Consider the costs associated with under-optimal utilization of new systems, procedural errors, and inefficiencies evidenced as employees are on the learning curve. Some of this would be impossible to compute.

Also Read: How to Design Learning Paths for Employee Training & Development

Challenges and Pitfalls of a New Training Software That Organization May Face

Two key challenges or pitfalls organizations face in system adoption initiatives:

1. Lack of Thought, Structure, and Investment in the Adoption Process

Technology change is more than installing software and expecting employees to embrace and internalize it – it’s a cultural change. Organizations often fail to give due cognizance to the ‘mental’ transformation that needs to occur. People are creatures of habit. Getting them to embrace new technology when they may be comfortable using existing methods requires careful and mindful planning.

2. Lack of Adequate and Appropriate Training and Support

Training can often make or break a transformation initiative. Organizations do not get the desired gains from the new systems when employees cannot leverage the new technology.

The rate of digital change is huge today. Whether it’s new systems or software, upgrades, or release cycles, digital change is inevitable and integrated into the way business is done today.

There is a need for efficiency in proficiency – employees need to be proficient and quick to reap the most of digital initiatives. Organizations must seek to build a mindset of adoption as newer systems become the norm.
So, how can you train your employees on a new system? Let us learn about its significance and understand how to train new employees!

Why Training New Employees Matters?

Training is one of those preconditions that employees use to learn to operate new systems most efficiently and confidently. Here are reasons why employee training is important:

  • Improved Productivity: Training equips employees with the skills and confidence. This enhancement helps them use new systems effectively. It minimizes the chances of downtime and further encourages a better overall output.
  • Seamless Transition: Implementing a new IT system can disrupt productivity and workflows. Proper training ensures a much smoother transition, minimizing errors and confusion.
  • Confident Employees: New systems create fear. Training removes this fear and increases the confidence and competency of the employees, leading to high engagement.
  • Faster Return on Investment from Technology: IT system training and support maximize workability and productivity. When employees are better trained, businesses can achieve quicker results.
  • Reduced Support Costs: Interactive and digital technical training for employees ensures that the costs related to educating users are low. This, in turn, saves IT time and resources and mitigates operational costs.
  • Incentivizes Innovation: Training encourages people to experiment and innovate in the new system. This can result in features that can improve processes or achieve business goals.
  • Compliance and Security: Training ensures employees understand their new systems’ security protocols and compliance requirements. This mitigates the risks of data breaches or penalties.

Significant Aspects That Employees Should Be Trained On

Here are key aspects that new employees should be trained on:

1. System Functionality

Employees need to understand how the system and technology work. Any employee should be trained on the basic navigation, key features, and shortcuts.

Therefore, comprehensive tutorials, hands-on sessions, and walkthroughs will help users operate the system more confidently. Knowing how the system works will help avoid errors, speed things up, and reduce frustration in conducting day-to-day activities.

2. Role-Specific Tasks

It is important to match training modules with the jobs performed by the workers and personalize training modules for workers so that learning is useful and applicable material is used. Role-specific training results in each individual on the team understanding how the system helps them serve their specific needs, enhancing efficiency and output.

3. Data Security and Compliance Processes

Educate every employee on the security measures taken for system data security and compliance.

Training on management of password management, data sharing policies, and regulatory standards protects sensitive information. Understanding security protocols reduces risk and ensures that the organization complies with business laws and ethics.

4. Problem Solving and Troubleshooting

Basic troubleshooting techniques should be taught to employees for problems, like login failures or connectivity.

Employee self-sufficiency becomes easier to maintain with this training as it reduces their reliance on IT support teams for minor issues. Such technology training for employees avoids downtime and keeps workflows running through productivity improvements.

5. Collaboration and Integration Features

Modern systems often include collaborative tools or integrate with other platforms. Educate your employees on how to utilize the features for greater. Learning collaboration tools promotes better teamwork, smoother processes, and synchronization in integration with other systems.

How to Train New Employees – 5 Strategies that Can Build an Effective System Training Program

Here are five key strategies that will help you understand how to train new employees:

1. Roll in the Change

Any adoption goes hand in hand with a cultural and organizational transformation. Employees must see the bigger picture and understand business drivers—tell them how the technology can help them and the business at large. Onboard your employees’ culturally’ for the transformation journey well before you train them on the technology.

Educate employees about the process and get an early buy-in to ensure readiness.
Leadership buy-in, mailers, events, videos, and surveys are all excellent onboarding tools.

Time it right and build momentum. Make it a smooth and transparent process to avoid stress and frustration.

Remember that while the system purchase decision is made by leadership and marks the start of a journey, end-users drive the success of adoption.

Also Read: Supercharge Your Employee Training Program with Bite-Sized Learning

2. Provide the Right Training at the Right Time

While software tools are getting more intuitive and user-friendly, and users today are digitally immersed and tech-savvy, a lot depends on the right training program.

Have a clear, holistic training plan and strategy and leadership buy-in at the outset. Use a structured, carefully crafted design approach for your system or software training.

Effective software training is relevant and engaging.

  • Relevance: Employees remember information when it is relevant to them. Adults learn and retain best when the information is of immediate use and the skills acquired can be applied.
  • Engaging Format: A 60-page manual, 3-hour classroom/virtual session, chatbot, coach, etc. will not make users look forward to the adoption journey. Adults learn best when they are engaged – they ‘see’ and practice. Use the tell-show-do approach. Increasing levels of immersion ensure learner engagement and improved retention.
  • Ensure Modalities that allow viewing system demonstrations and provide ample practice opportunities. Practice modes can also be tracked to provide insightful analytics into system aspects that are clear to users and where users may face challenges. This can help charter efforts in the required direction.

The Forgetting Curve suggests that users forget 90% of what they learn within a month. So, time your training right – training employees a month in advance will likely be a waste of effort.

3. Allow Adequate Time

With more new things to learn and busier work schedules, training often becomes tedious, so plan and allocate adequate time.

Sessions organized when you know your employees are likely to be busy will get you fairly unwitting trainees. Similarly, training scheduled close to or after the system launch adds unnecessary pressure on users to master the system quickly.

4. Ensure Availability and Ease of Accessibility

Employees often seek champions, colleagues, or managers for help or look up the system Help section. This loss of collective productive time adds to delays and costs.

The purpose of technology is to bring in efficiencies, but it achieves just the opposite in the absence of the right training. In-app training or just-in-time interventions with micro-learning modules work best.

Keep the training contextual and specific; a role- or function-based structure does not overburden users with information that they might not need. When structured in focused modules with clearly defined learning objectives, users can access the required training easily.

5. It’s Not a One-Time Intervention

Effective training programs need to be continuous. Information is lost over time when there is no attempt to retrain.

A training plan should include interventions at regular intervals to ensure stickiness. Strategies include meeting the SME/process champion, tests, videos, mailers, Q&A, and follow-up sessions.

When placed correctly, these can effectively reiterate and reinforce information.

Technology Training for Employees: New Trends to Explore

Here are a few emerging trends in IT system training and support:

1. Personalized Learning Paths

Training is now customized to meet the needs of the individual employee. AI-powered learning platforms track user performance and tailor training material to meet their specific needs, giving employees a personalized, interactive experience.

Employees can take things in at their own pace and focus on areas that need improvement, which results in great retention and application.

2. Immersive Technologies such as AR and VR

Two innovations, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, are revolutionizing hands-on training. In a simulated environment, employees can try new systems without any risk, making complicated ideas more sensible.

Immersive training saves employees time onboarding and bolsters confidence as employees learn through real-world scenarios without real-world effects.

3. Gamified Training Modules

Gamification introduces rewards and challenges to learning. When modules are completed, employees engage with the content through interactive activities.

Gamified training increases motivation, engagement, and knowledge retention while making learning fun and productive.

4. Microlearning for Busy Professionals

Microlearning is a content format structured in short and crisp modules—videos, quizzes, infographics, etc. This type works well for any worker on the go with limited time to spare.

Bite-sized learning breaks down training modules into smaller bits. This allows employees to learn faster and apply what they learn to their position of work.

5. Collaborative Learning Platforms

Modern-day technology training for employees concentrates on collaboration. This is done using immersive and assistive digital platforms. Employees can learn from their peers, share problems, and provide experience using new systems. Collaborative training encourages employees to support one another and share valuable knowledge.

Also Read: 7 Interactive eLearning Solutions for Employee Training

Wrapping Up

With technological advancements constantly evolving, it is essential for employees to continuously upskill themselves. The strategies mentioned above will help you build a training plan that effectively trains your employees on new systems and applications.

Learning how to train new employees in new systems is not just an investment in IT system training and support; it is an investment in the successful running of your organization.

New technologies are currently being developed to transform the workforce into technology champions.

Are you looking to elevate your employee training initiatives? Partnering with Hurix Digital could be the key to exploring your organization’s potential. With expertise in creating tailored, engaging, and scalable learning solutions, we’re here to help you meet your workforce’s unique needs. Feel free to reach out to our team to explore how we can support your training goals.