Software Training Doesn’t Cost, it Pays!

I have been involved with technology in one form or another all my working life. In the early days, right out of university, I was a designer of electronic devices, and that morphed over time to developing software and inevitably assisting with software implementation. What I can say is that software training pays – Always!

This image shows AppliCad's managing Directro, Ray Smith. https//www.applicad.com

I have experienced the transformation of the computers we use from a workstation with a 12-inch screen that required a computer the size of a small shed and its very own air-conditioning system to being able to do everything I need on my smart-phone. What a simply amazing journey over the past 47 years!

Apps Are Not Always The Right Solution For Your Problems

What I see currently, however, is a bit disturbing, and I feel the need to comment.  Everyone seems to expect everything to come as an ‘app’ on your phone and be so simple to use that you do not need any instruction in its use. For a bunch of entertainment and utility programs, this may be possible. For serious business applications, designed to cope with the vast array of options one finds in business today, especially if you are involved in metal roofing and cladding.

I have the good fortune to provide implementation advice and user training to businesses all around the world, and the challenge is the same: “We don’t have time for this, but we cannot afford to miss it”. This is an absolute truth. Without effective user training, serious business applications simply fail to deliver. Careful planning and a commitment to implementation ensure complete success.

There are many ways that people learn new things, and we don’t all learn the same way. So you must insist on access to training in different ways too.  In this modern age, hardly anyone does training in a classroom. Indeed most people seem to think that you can get everything from “YouTube University”. If the video clips are made for that purpose, then perhaps this works, but only if they are designed with dedicated learning in mind. Many YouTube clips are promotional only and do not provide the level of detail required to master complex business software effectively.

In my experience, one needs a variety of tools to aid learning, and this may include YouTube videos. The more complex your application, the more detailed will be the training course, the more time it takes to master, even just the basic skill set.

We Help You Learn In Different Ways

One example is the training program we designed for teaching users how to use the Roof Wizard modelling tools to develop accurate take-offs for metal roofing.  It uses the principles of developing a familiarity with the application. The analogy we use as regards to the familiarity is what you do when you get into your car to drive to work – when was the last time you had to consciously consider where to insert the key or where to find the start button? You generally don’t (we discuss the exceptions to this later perhaps).

So, in order to get the most from your business software you simply must invest in professional training so that when you sit in front of your application, you know where the menus are and what buttons do what – then and only then are you equipped to explore the full potential that will deliver the results promised by the sales guy. You know it – training doesn’t cost, it pays! 

Ray Smith
Managing Director
AppliCad

Software Training Doesn’t Cost, it Pays!

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