Training can be an expensive business. Not only do you have to pay for a tutor and usually travel and accommodation, but it can also be difficult keeping a business running when key people are in a classroom somewhere.
Alison Stanley, a director of Stanley's, a small family-run jewellery business in the West Midlands, believes she has found an answer. Rather than book places on traditional training courses, she has embraced online learning to help improve her accounting skills. "I use it for advanced spread sheets. When I get five minutes I get my laptop out and learn a bit every day. It's the flexibility which I find very useful."
She is encouraging her staff to use web-based learning packages as well. "There are lots of courses you can do. I just think it's the way to go. The courses don't rush you. Everything is explained clearly and it tells you whether or not you're correct."
E-learning organisations now have UK-based SMEs firmly in their sights. They see them as ideal candidates for flexible web-based courses. The government-backed University for Industry recently announced that it is making a whole range of e-learning programmes available to SMEs through chambers of commerce up and down the country. The courses are provided through learndirect, the UFI's own e-learning network.
"Getting to the SME marketplace is notoriously difficult. It's not one happy group of people you can just point at. Our strategy is to acquire intermediaries who already have trusted and existing relationships with SMEs. We have no intention of walking into SMEs and saying we are here to do your training," says Cameron Beard, head of sales for the University for Industry.
He says the e-learning courses that are being made available to SMEs are intended to solve day-to-day business problems. And the idea is that company directors can contact their local chambers of commerce in order to work out which packages would be most likely to make a difference to their competitiveness and productivity. "Some of the courses are very comprehensive. Some are quick hits and you can do them in your office," he says, pointing out that if you are interrupted by a customer you can log straight back on to the place where you left off.
He says the e-learning packages can cost anything from £20 to £250 and cover essential business skills such as communication and marketing. The University for Industry offers a module called finance for non-financial managers which lasts for about nine hours in total and teaches you how to improve your cash flow and how to use your budget as a tool to monitor and control business activities.
The successful take-up of e-learning packages generally depends on winning the confidence of owners of SMEs and assumes that they already have a certain level of computing knowledge. Advocates of e-learning strongly believe it is the most practical way to get small companies to adopt new skills. "You have to look at how you can get a mass of people who have not been learning for a long time back into some form of learning," says Ian White, business manager for the Training Quarter, part of City College in Birmingham, which provides e-learning courses to SMEs. "Small businesses have to stop thinking about a course as something you have to go to. Courses are solutions to problems. A course could be an hour." White says that an e-learning course could be simply about how to work with and use digital images.
Parity Training, which provides e-learning courses for IT and management skills, says that general packages do not always have high completion rates. Kae Clarke, creative director for Parity, says that bespoke e-learning packages which are deliberately tailored to meet the needs of an individual and individuals within an organisation often work best. So what advice would she give to an SME director who is thinking about trying e-learning for the first time?
"I would advise them to do a skills audit - with an SME that can be done quite quickly - to see what they want to learn and what stage they are currently at." She says that e-learning can also help to launch a new product. "The learning is done online and it's something they can continue to use as an educational tool as new people join."
Few e-learning companies are suggesting that online courses should completely replace traditional ones. And many argue that having a physical tutor alongside you when you are e-learning can be helpful. But most agree that the ability of web-based training to deliver immediate answers is what makes it potentially most attractive to SMEs. Clarke says, "They can turn around their training quickly. They can log on right now and start training."
Jeet Khaira, chief executive of the Video Arts Group, which was set up by comedian John Cleese, believes that e-learning courses have to be managed effectively in order for SMEs to get the best results from them. He says, "The big problem about e-learning is that it tends to be for the individual and you need the individual to be motivated to learn."
Video Arts offers e-learning courses through its portal and can offer SME managers progress reports that monitor which areas an individual has covered and how they are performing. Khaira says that e-learning is suited to SMEs where staff are typically expected to perform a range of tasks that don't necessarily fall strictly within their job remits. Video Arts offers generic business courses for SMEs on subjects such as how to manage time effectively. While Khaira agrees that bespoke e-learning courses can be the most effective, he points out that generic online programmes are more affordable for SMEs and have plenty to offer. However it's quite an art to get SME managers to start to use them. "When you go into SMEs," he says, "they tend not to have structured training plans for their individuals. "They tend to work long hours and training is not the first thing on their minds."
Links: ufi.com, learndirect.co.uk, paritytraining.co.uk, videoarts.com
