Small businesses hit lots of different kinds of bumps along the road. They suffer from a shortage of staff and limited financial and intellectual resources. Today, SMEs often struggle to keep up with the latest technological advancements. But there is a silver lining for them in today’s competitive market. With Software as a Service (SaaS), these growing small businesses can now access the latest technologies. They don’t need to break their budget or hire new employees. This article will explore the advantages of SaaS platforms for small businesses. We also try to answer how it can help them stay competitive in today’s ever-changing marketplace.
Let’s See What SaaS Is!
SaaS (Software as a Service) is an innovative way of delivering educational content. Learners can access these contents through cloud-based Software. This online training method allows learners to access educational resources from any location and at any time. They’re good to go as long as they have an internet connection. It eliminates the need for learners to install Software on their own devices. Everything is hosted and managed by the SaaS provider in the cloud. It’s one of the key benefits of SaaS. In addition, people usually prefer going through fewer steps before learning.
Online training with SaaS platforms often involves interactive features such as multimedia content and collaborative tools. These exciting sorts of content can enhance the learning experience for learners. SaaS learning platforms can be useful if you’re looking to improve staff confidence and facilitate conflict management in a professional setting. For example, a 2015 review of 127 studies found that occupational health and safety training should be carried out through blended learning modules, utilizing the benefits of SaaS platforms to improve the effectiveness of such programs.
SaaS learning platforms hold numerous advantages over traditional classroom-based training methods. As a result, they’ve emerged as a popular choice for individuals and organizations. In other words, anyone seeking flexible and high-quality training solutions can count on SaaS learning platforms.
How SMEs Can Benefit from SaaS Learning Platforms
Small and medium-sized businesses, or as we call them, SMEs, can hugely benefit from digitalization and, specifically, the opportunity to empower their workforce and staff through online training.
Although it is possible to mention countless benefits of SaaS platforms for corporate uses based on the scope of activity and the industry in which businesses are active, here are the most important ones:
One. Convenience and Accessibility
In today’s age, people are looking for comfort more than ever. One of the most significant advantages of staff training through SaaS platforms is the convenience and accessibility it offers small businesses.
Gone are the days when employees had to commute to physical locations during work hours or have their productivity disturbed by on-site training sessions. That’s all thanks to the fact that courses are hosted online. With online training with SaaS platforms, employees can learn at their own pace and on their chosen devices – from desktop computers to mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. This means that employees can learn from the comfort of their homes or while on the go. It eliminates the need to disrupt work schedules and productivity. Moreover, SaaS-hosted courses are available 24/7, so employees can study whenever it’s most convenient for them. This level of convenience and accessibility is significant for small businesses with remote employees.
Two. Customization and Personalization
Another great benefit of online training with SaaS platforms for small businesses is the ability to personalize and customize staff training programs according to their specific needs. Traditional training methods are typically one-size-fits-all. SaaS platforms allow small businesses to tailor their courses to their employees’ specific skill sets and knowledge gaps.
This ensures that employees receive the information and training they need to improve their performance without wasting time on topics they already know. Furthermore, personalization also includes the ability to incorporate company-specific information into training programs.
This ensures that employees receive training directly relevant to their job responsibilities and the company’s goals and values.
Three. Cost-effectiveness
One of the primary reasons why small businesses favor SaaS-hosted training is its cost-effectiveness. Traditional training methods often require a dedicated budget for travel, lodging, and other expenses associated with face-to-face training sessions.
On the other slide, online training with SaaS platforms is a highly cost-effective solution for small businesses looking to stay ahead of the curve. In the days before digitalization, small businesses had to hire experts or pay for expensive training sessions to stay updated with the latest Software and technological advancements. However, with the help of SaaS, small businesses can now access top-quality training courses at an affordable price point.
These are achievable by eliminating the need for physical classrooms and instructors, significantly reducing the overall training cost.
That’s why SaaS-hosted training is an ideal alternative for corporates that may need more luxury of an extensive training budget or lots of staff.
Four. Scalability
Small businesses often face challenges in providing effective employee training, all due to limited resources and budget constraints. However, with SaaS’s scalability advantage, small businesses can overcome these barriers. SaaS-hosted training allows small-sized corporations to train scalable numbers of employees without incurring additional costs. As the business grows, it can easily and cost-effectively expand its training program to accommodate a larger workforce. Pretty amazing!
Five. Integration
With numerous departments and different technologies to use, one of the main challenges of today’s businesses is integration. Luckily, SaaS provides small businesses with the benefit of easily integrating their learning management systems (LMS) with other software applications. Easy integration streamlines and optimizes business processes. This, in turn, can lead to increased efficiency, cost savings, and a better learning experience for employees.
Online training with a SaaS platform can help small businesses save time by integrating with other software applications. It can also improve accuracy by automating training data transfers.
Moreover, online training with a SaaS platform can be integrated with human resources (HR) systems. You might think to yourself, what is the use of this? Well, this way, corporations can automate employee onboarding and training tracking. Integrating SaaS-hosted training with customer relationship management (CRM) systems can also benefit SMEs. In this way, they can provide targeted training to employees based on customer interactions, giving them a competitive edge in customer service.
Furthermore, online training with a SaaS platform integration can also provide owners of small businesses with access to valuable analytics and reporting capabilities.
Six. Minimal Implementation Workload
As technology advances, more small businesses turn to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions for their training needs. One of the primary reasons for such a choice is its easy-to-implement approach. Relying on SaaS platforms, small businesses don’t need to worry about installing or setting up Software on their server. – Which, by the way, can be hugely expensive. Instead, the SaaS provider takes care of everything. From hosting to maintenance and updates, all is on the provider. This allows small businesses to focus on their core activities. Add the fact that online training with a SaaS platform offers easy-to-use interfaces. Therefore users require minimal training to navigate these interfaces.
All these factors make online training with the SaaS platform an ideal solution for small businesses. They can upskill their employees without having to dedicate extensive resources or IT expertise.
Seven. Higher Employee Engagement
High employee engagement is necessary for any business to grow and gain profit. Considering the limited resources of small businesses, the participation of employees in these organizations has higher value and importance. Utilizing SaaS-hosted training can work in favor of enhancing employee engagement in small-sized corporates. This is because SaaS-hosted training offers flexibility, affordability, and convenience, which make it more attractive to small business owners. With this kind of training, small businesses can provide their employees with high-quality training. This way, the educational content is accessible from anywhere at any time. Furthermore, the interactive nature of SaaS-hosted training allows for greater employee engagement and participation, leading to higher retention rates and increased overall job satisfaction.
This, in turn, can lead to increased productivity and a more positive work environment. In addition, SaaS-hosted training allows small businesses to easily track employee progress and assess the effectiveness of their training programs.
How Your Corporate Online Training Can benefit from edSPIRIT?
In the current digital era, online learning has become increasingly popular. People from various sectors seek to acquire knowledge and skills through virtual means. Corporations are no exception to this trend.
edSPIRIT is an excellent option for corporations seeking to enhance their workforce and streamline employee development initiatives in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic disruptions or other challenges impacting traditional learning models. So, if you are thinking about creating online employee training, edSPIRIT can pave the road ahead. But how? While setting up your course on edSPIRIT, you won’t need any highly technical and expert knowledge. Everything is easy to understand and quick to run. More importantly, you can customize your courses as you wish through a significant number of features that you rarely can find anywhere else.
In a Nutshell …
In today’s business climate, businesses of any size, specifically SMEs, face numerous challenges, including limited budgets for training their employees.
Online training with a SaaS platform can provide small businesses with affordable and scalable learning solutions that are easy to access from anywhere. In addition, these unorthodox learning methods work without incurring additional costs associated with traditional training methods such as travel and accommodation.
Do you think your company is ready to take advantage of the countless benefits of this training method? Then, feel free to get in touch with our experts and find out where and how you can start your journey.