The emergence of elearning as a tool for business is not complete until it is fully accessible for small and medium sized businesses in New Zealand. There are over 350,000 SME’s in New Zealand, making up 99% of all business and employing about 60% of the workforce. [i]

 Unfortunately customised elearning solutions have typically been too expensive to be fully utilised by smaller operations. One of the often cited benefits of elearning is the cost savings it offers but these comments tend to be directed at the ‘delivery’ aspect of the process and used to justify the prohibitive cost of the design process.

In the United States, which is further along the elearning adoption curve than New Zealand, this need was being recognised as far back as 2001:

“Some providers are starting to pay attention to smaller firms, which is good news because elearning can be especially beneficial to smaller organizations”[ii]

One way this was beginning to be addressed was through a collaborative approach that shared costs:

“The cost and convenience of e-learning recently led the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce to create an online learning center for its 2,200 members-most of whom have fewer than 100 employees. “We saw a decline in attendance at our educational programs, while there was not a decline in expressed desire for learning opportunities,” says Meridian Napoli, the Chamber’s small business manager. “E-learning meets that educational need at a more convenient time than instructor-led seminars.”[iii]

Eight years later, one wonders how long it will be before an enlightened Chamber of Commerce in New Zealand recognises this opportunity to make training immediately more accessible. Anyone working for a Chamber of Commerce member is likely to have experienced the frustration of not being able to find the time to attend what are often excellent training opportunities.

Of course there is no reason why small business can not take it upon itself to collaborate in this way. There are a number of ways that design and delivery of elearning can be accomplished which are highly affordable for even the smallest business.

This is vitally important because not only are SME’s a huge portion of the business sector, but they also stand to benefit the most from elearning. All the reasons that elearning has been adopted by major corporates tend to amplified in the small business context.

In small and medium sized enterprise:

• Cost margins tend to be tighter and so cost savings such as those offered by elearning are more critical;
• Staff numbers are limited and it is difficult to take people away from day-to-day responsibilities, and doing so adds considerable opportunity cost;
• There is greater benefit from the ‘cost per participant’ approach to elearning which saves financial losses from the fixed cost nature of workshops – whether conducted for 3 or 30 people;
• There is no in-house training department so the benefits of a range of training options normally enjoyed by larger organisations are of greater value;
• Being able to use existing resources (computers and internet access) is more important;

These are just a few of many examples.

It is unfortunate that in the short history of elearning as we understand it now, those with the most to gain have had the least opportunity to do. Prohibitive costs have undermined the reach of elearning, and creative business models to improve access for smaller organisations have not been adequately explored.

If you would like to know more about how creative approaches can lift your staff training and development to another level, please contact us.

 

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[i] http://sme-centre.massey.ac.nz/

[ii]http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_5_46/ai_74829361/

[iii] http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_5_46/ai_74829361/

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2. E-Learning and small business – lessons from the UK and Europe
3. Transform with elearning: What do you wish your community, organisation or industry did better?
4. E-learning for organisation and people development
5. Linking organisation culture and e-learning