You will either step forward into growth, or you will step backward into safety
– Abraham Maslow
Abraham Lincoln, arguably one of the greatest Presidents in the history of America, only attended a year of formal education. Growing up on a farm in rural American at the time of his childhood meant focusing on farming, not learning. The story goes that Lincoln discovered a copy of Blackstone’s Commentary at the bottom of a barrel and taught himself, through hard work and perseverance, about the law. His passion for self-education and willingness to work far harder than most of his peers led him to the court, to the House of Representatives, and ultimately to the Presidency of the United States of America.
This desire to learn is not something unique to Lincoln, it exists within all of us and is a large part of the reason why customers are using Bigtincan today. The hub, as we refer to it, is the perfect system for storing and delivering knowledge to your teams. What makes it so special you ask?
- The ability to access information both online and offline is of huge value. Sales people, or any staff working with unreliable network connections (e.g. retail stores, airplanes, etc…), can benefit from the ability to download all information they need to their mobile or tablet devices and learn on the go. Imagine how much faster Lincoln's journey to the Presidency might have been if he had this powerful capability.
- Powerful administration tools that enable customers to easily provision users (either through SSO or in-application administration) and create a structure that ensures the right people see the right content.
- Critical integrations with systems that employees reside within. These integrations, with systems like Outlook and Salesforce, ensure that employees can find the information where they are without having to hunt through a multitude of information and file systems.
Unsure about the need for employee training, self-directed or otherwise? According to a Forbes article from 2014:
High-performing companies spend more. Companies which fall into our "high-impact" categories spend significantly more on training than average. So companies who invest in a total L&D strategy spend more per employee than those who are inconsistent. This shows that L&D spending pays off.
Employee training makes a big difference to employee and corporate success. While you may not have a future President of the United States in your organization you can certainly benefit from ensuring that all employees have access to the information they need to be successful in today's competitive business world.
Not convinced yet? An article from Shift notes:
According to the Association for Talent Development (ATD), companies that offer comprehensive training programs have 218% higher income per employee than companies without formalized training. But it doesn’t stop there. These companies also enjoy a 24% higher profit margin than those who spend less on training. It would seem that continuing to invest in training and development, even when there are economic downturns, is the smart play.
And, finally, employees are more engaged in your business and invested in its success. As CIO mentions in a recent story:
"By helping employees gain skills they can both apply in their current role, or build on to work towards getting a promotion, you're keeping them engaged, excited and invested in your company — you're making them want to stay," says Nfrastructure's Pickett.
Your approach to learning is not as simple as deploying Bigtincan. It takes a strategic investment in planning on your end, combined with a partner like Bigtincan that can bring you a product and complementary solutions to support your vision. When combined, your employees, your business, and your customers will all win.
