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Cost-Effective IT: Web-Based Training

Cost-Effective IT: Web-Based Training, by Richard Sonnier

Houston Business Show "Advisor" Richard Sonnier, of the Information Technology Services firm Nimble Services, Inc., provides weekly information on our show about business technology issues. He can be reached at 281-445-4800 x250 or rsonnier@nimbleservices.com.

This week I will discuss web-based training.

Training is critical to the effective use of your IT investment. Traditional training that is away from the office is expensive in time and money. The Internet can lower the cost of IT training by making training available in the office and in the home. One of the keys to effective training is to match your learning style with the training's instruction format. Some people learn best by doing; some learn best by reading and observing. Web-based training allows you much greater flexibility in matching a person's learning style. You can choose a range of training formats from instructor-lead virtual classrooms at regularly scheduled times to self-paced interactive courses.

The value is amazing! Some Internet training companies will offer a year long subscription for your entire company for a fixed price. These companies offer hundreds of online courses at a low price per person for a year and the cost for the whole year is less than a single traditional training course. Usually, these courses are the self-paced but some companies include instructor-lead sessions too. A training subscription is really great because you can go back and review the training course after using your new skills on the job. This cycle of taking the training, using it on the job and reviewing the training let you get a great deal more out of the training. For example, consider www.freeskills.com that offers traditional training materials online. For $149 per year you have unlimited access to over 475 training courses covering most of the common IT applications and concepts. Another example is www.atomiclearning.com that features a different style, movies, at $79.99 per year.

I recommend you review the list of courses for any training service and take a demo before signing up. There are many companies offering a broad range of courses so find one that matches your learning style and needs.

Next week, I will discuss web applications.

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