Organizations invest in training to ensure their workforce remains competitive and can handle new tools and technologies. Trends in 2024 for corporate training include:
Personalized learning: Leveraging employee data to recommend tailored learning paths, ensuring training is relevant to individual needs and career goals
Digital and mobile learning: Continuing to offer flexibility and accessibility so employees can take training anytime and anywhere.
Soft skills development: Building leadership, communication, adaptability, and emotional intelligence skills to navigate complex workplace dynamics
Technical skills training: Upskilling employees in cybersecurity, data analysis, cloud computing, and other advanced technologies.
Compliance and quality training: Helping employees to maintain high standards and mitigate risks associated with non-compliance
Sustainability and ethical training: Training that promotes sustainability, ethical practices, and corporate social responsibility.
In this blog, we will discuss the basics so you can take advantage on training trends including:
What is corporate training?
Why is corporate training important?
Corporate training costs
Corporate training types
Corporate training modalities
Tools for corporate training
AI in corporate training
How to create a corporate training program
What is corporate training
Corporate training, or workplace learning, is the process of educating people associated with an organization. While often focused on enhancing employees’ skills, knowledge, and competencies, world-class corporate training also includes training for customers and partners to achieve overall organizational success.
Why is corporate training important?
Companies that invest in employee training can generally expect increased sales, productivity, performance, engagement, and employee satisfaction. Partner training can provide various benefits, including increased sales and revenue, improved customer satisfaction, expanded market reach, and stronger partner relationships.
Companies with education services for customers as part of a formal customer success strategy have a product growth rate of 16.5%, compared to 4.6% for companies that don’t have education as part of their customer success strategy (TSIA).
Corporate training costs
Training is one way that companies invest in employees. The latest industry report by Training magazine on the U.S. training industry reveals that U.S. companies’ training expenditures increased in 2023 to over $100 billion. Here are the line items to consider when estimating the training costs for your organization:
- Personnel (salary for employees, fees for external consultants) to manage training programs and build training materials
- Technology and infrastructure to create and host online training
- Venue, travel and logistics for in-person training
- Certification and licensing fees for creating, administering and maintaining certifications
- Tools and services for assessing the effectiveness of training programs
- Marketing to provide information, incentives and rewards for participation
- Administrative costs related to managing training records and reporting.
Corporate training types
Corporate training can cover a wide range of topics and organizational goals including:
Employee training:
- Onboarding: Training for new hires to familiarize them with the company culture, processes, and their specific job functions
- Job-specific skills: Training related to specific tasks and responsibilities, including management training.
- Technical skills: Training on new technologies, software, and tools
- Soft skills: Training on interpersonal skills such as communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and leadership
- Product: Training on how to use or troubleshoot a product or service effectively.
- Industry: Training on industry regulations and trends.
- Compliance: Training on laws, regulations, and company policies
- Fun!: Training can also be used to improve morale and encourage team building
Customer training (or customer education):
- Onboarding: Training for new customers on how to use the company’s products or services and work with departments within the organization
- Product: Training on how to use a product or service effectively
- Industry: Training on industry regulations and trends
Partner training:
- Onboarding: Training for new partners on how to use the company’s products or services and work with departments within the organization
- Soft skills: Training in sales and marketing
- Product: Training on how to use or troubleshoot a product or service effectively
- Industry: Training on industry regulations and trends
Corporate training modalities
Corporate training can be delivered in various formats (modalities), including instructor-led training, in-person workshops, online courses, videos, webinars, microlearning, e-learning, and blended learning approaches that combine different methods.
A good corporate training program will combine all of the above to ensure that the training is effective, relevant and engaging.
Corporate training tools
If your organization has an in-house training department, it is likely using three software categories to create and deliver your corporate training.
Category 1: Learning content creation tools
Many organizations rely on word processing tools such as Word, PowerPoint and Google Docs to build learning content based on input from subject matter experts. But this is where learning content creation tools like course authoring technology really help to make learning content design and development easier.
Training content authoring tools can either be ‘stand-alone’ or ‘built-in’. With a stand-alone authoring tool (like LEAi), you create content in the authoring tool, export it (in one of the many formats including HTML5, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, SCORM, xAPI and AICC) and then import it to your learning management system (LMS) for eLearning or other applications for other modalities.
What is really shaking up learning content development is the introduction of AI. ChatGPT and other AI-enabled tools have changed expectations of how technology affects content creation, and the learning industry is no different. Read more about GenAI tools for learning content creation…
Category 2: eLearning production tools
If the content is going to be converted into self-paced eLearning, you will need to invest in a tool to make the content interactive and engaging.
You could create a simple course with text and images (we call these “click-and-read” courses), and for something like this your technology needs would be relatively basic. The benefit of a course like this is that it can be released quickly.
To take it beyond the “click-and-read” format and include guided examples and automated graphics you will want to use a more advanced eLearning production tool. Examples of eLearning production tools include Adobe Captivate, Articulate Rise and Lectora (to name just a few).
Category 3: Learning delivery tools
Within the learning delivery tools category are four main subcategories: virtual classrooms, learning management systems (LMS), learning experience platforms (LXP), and VM-ware-like tools.
If you opt for virtual in-person training, you will need video conferencing tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Webex to create virtual classrooms.
An LMS is an application typically used to deliver and host online courses or eLearning. There are many options in this category and the features they include are always expanding. With an LMS, you can deliver your learning programs with features like self-sign-on, self-directed learning paths, and learning communities, to name just a few. Most also provide excellent analytics so you can measure the success of your programs. Tools in this category include SkillJar, Docebo, Axonify, Thought Industries and Absorb, to name just a few.
An LXP is an AI-driven learning experience that provides a service like an LMS but allows learners to have a personalized learning experience. LXPs typically support a wide variety of content and have social features that enable end users to create and publish content, along with social profiles that feel like a social media experience. The popularity of these tools is exploding.
VMware-like tools support in-class training, virtual classroom, and eLearning with a hands-on “try-me” type experience. The aim of these solutions is to provide the learners with the opportunity to perform the tasks they are learning to solidify their knowledge.
AI in corporate training
AI was the central theme in 2024’s LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report, and according to the influential annual report, L&D (learning and development) departments can use this technology to deliver greater business innovation and critical skills.
AI can be used in several ways to support worldclass corporate training departments including
- Content creation including suggesting relevant learning topics, module structures, and test questions for eLearning, instructor-led training, microlearning and videos.
- Video creation by offering text-to-voice conversion, detecting scenes to cut, adjusting colours and lighting, enhancing audio quality and generating subtitles and translations.
- eLearning production by suggesting images, videos, characters, icons, and interactive elements (e.g., quizzes, drag-and-drop activities) based on the learning content.
- Personalized learning paths by analyzing data on learners’ performance, preferences, and behaviours to suggest learning content to meet each learner’s unique needs.
- Planning L&D strategies by analyzing learning behaviours and outcomes to help identify which courses and programs are most effective and where improvements are needed.
How to create a corporate training program
Building a corporate training program can be a daunting task but this checklist will get you started.
Identify training needs
Identify company training goals
Define target audience (employees, customers, partners)
- Conduct a training needs assessment including skll gaps, performance issues and learning preferences
Set training objectives
- Establish clear, measurable, and achievable goals that align with business objectives
- Establish metrics to measure corporate training performance
Design the training program
- Choose the appropriate training format (in-person, online, blended)
- Develop a detailed curriculum
- Create a training development timeline
- Develop a training budget
- Hire, contract or assign dedicated learning leaders, instructional designers and/or training consultants to build training
- Select suitable technology to support training including content development tools, LMS and e-learning production software.
- Devise a way to track training expenses and return on investment
Develop training content
- Create or source high-quality training materials from subject matter experts
- Use tools like LEAi to create your learning objectives, instructional content, exercises and test questions
- Incorporate multimedia elements to enhance learning (videos, infographics)
- Develop supporting resources (handouts, guides, reference materials)
- Ensure training materials comply with relevant laws and regulations
- Test the training content with a small group for feedback and improvements
Prepare trainers and facilitators
- Select experienced trainers or subject matter experts
- Provide train-the-trainer sessions to ensure consistency and quality
- Equip trainers with necessary tools and resources
- Develop guidelines for trainers on delivering the program
Implement the training program
- Communicate the training program to employees (emails, posters, meetings)
- Enroll participants and manage registrations
- Provide training support and resources (technical support, coaching, mentoring)
- Document all training activities and outcomes
- Generate reports on training effectiveness and ROI
Market your training program
- Foster a culture of continuous learning and development
- Encourage leadership support and involvement
- Promote the benefits of training to motivate participation
- Leverage technology to enhance the training experience
Monitor and evaluate
- Collect feedback after each course from participants through surveys and evaluations
- Monitor participant progress, performance and completion
- Use KPIs and metrics to assess the effectiveness of the training program
- Identify areas for improvement and make necessary adjustments
- Track long-term impact on performance and business outcomes
- Share insights and findings with stakeholders
Continuous improvement
- Review and update the training program periodically
- Stay informed about industry trends and best practices
- Incorporate feedback from participants and trainers
- Adapt the program to changing business needs and objectives
Build a corporate training program
To help corporate training departments build their own courses, we developed a tool we call LEAi. This AI-enabled tool helps teams to create content for both online learning and instructor-led training (ILT).
Key benefits of LEAi include:
- Use content that already exists in your organization to create training content automatically
- Be guided by best practices with our LearnAdvisor
- Update existing courses fast with our auto-update feature
- Repurpose content easily for different modules and courses
- Use the content to create different learning delivery modes
- One-click microlearning
If you are looking to build corporate training quickly and you need a tool to help you accelerate the process, talk to us!
