When was the last time you sent an SMS to a friend? I’d wager that you probably can’t remember. The ubiquity of cell phones with smart technologies – usually Android or Apple devices – means that 77% of people in the United States use them every single day, according to a recent Pew Research Center study.
But let’s look at working ages. 92% of people aged 18 - 29 own a smart phone. And that number remains exceptionally high in the 30 – 49 year-old-age range.
Now ask yourself, in today’s tech-friendly world, can you risk ignoring the power of mobile friendly training?
In this article, we’ll take a look at the reasons why tablet and mobile friendly training makes so much sense.
Mobile learning bends to the learner’s will
We’re living in a world where nothing is out of reach. The little devices in our pockets make online life accessible almost wherever we are. The flexibility this offers is an incredible advantage of our age and one that only mobile friendly training can take advantage of.
With mobile learning, rigid old classroom styles and fixed timetables can be a thing of the past. Rather, learners can study whenever and wherever they want, empowering them to learn and take their skills to the next level.
Moments of dead time can be transformed into learning opportunities. The commute to and from work on a busy bus or in the back of a taxi can be used, instead of staring at Facebook, as a way to improve job opportunities!
The bite-size nature of online learning only makes this easier. Courses are short and exact, catering exactly to our short but active attention spans.
Learners can bend online training to their wills, rather than have to bend for it!
Go with the flow
The place of cell phones and tablets or iPads as a central piece of people’s lives would be futile to deny, even if not everyone likes the idea. The reality is that the American spends 2 hours 15 minutes using apps each day, with those in Mexico, South Korea, and Japan spending even longer on them.
Clearly then, our mobile devices are an integral part of our who we are. Use this knowledge. If your organization offers training that arrives at a person’s doorstep by way of their device, then they are of course more likely to involve themselves in training. If, as in other instances, learners need to physically move somewhere else, then of course they will struggle.
The simple answer is to make training more convenient for learners. After all, convenience is king! With tablet and mobile friendly training, this is exactly what happens.
So why not use the power of this wave to arrive at your destination, rather than try to swim against it?
Enjoy the (less obvious) benefits
There are lots of less obvious benefits when organizations use tablet and mobile friendly training. And though they’re not as obvious to us, they’re extremely important to the structure of a functional, well-run business.
The most obvious of the less obvious benefits is the jump in retention rates for organizations that focus on training as a fundamental aspect of their structure enjoys.
Training is particularly important to millennials and is considered an essential part of their career expectations, so those who intend to acquire and keep the best young graduates should keep this in mind.
Couple that with the fact that millennials are the top mobile device users and the stage seems set for tablet and mobile friendly training to offer some pretty massive less obvious benefits!
Build a community and collaborate
We’re a social species and one of the great benefits that tablet and mobile friendly training gives us is the ability to communicate with others.
mLearning and eLearning training services now have superb community-building platforms that allow learners to engage with others and help one another through collaboration. When each member of a large company uses mobile learning, the communal side of the training process helps to strengthen the bonds between individuals.
In turn, this helps build an identity that everyone at a company can share creating a stronger team that works together and achieves goals in a more effective manner.
Keeping up with the Joneses
It’s fair to say that tablet and mobile friendly training is in vogue right now and only going to become more popular as the momentum shifts from training being part of the culture at companies ahead of the curve, to those just keeping up with it.
So for your organization, getting onboard with tablet and mobile friendly training is a simple necessity. Like we said earlier, the best talent expects the best training and support. Keep them, or ignore them at your peril!
Takeaway
mLearning and eLearning continue to be seen as a necessary part of corporate culture in the current business environment. If employees are denied the benefits of mobile friendly training then it isn’t just the individuals that miss out – it’s the whole business!
So what are you waiting for? Take a look at tablet and mobile friendly training today to find out more of the incredible benefits it offers.
