Top 5 Must-Have Elements of a B2B eLearning Provider

As global businesses continue to adjust to post-pandemic uncertainty, one change is here to stay: a new workplace dynamic built on digital tools and remote collaboration. In fact, according to McKinsey, COVID-19's influence on labor trends has increased the urgency for businesses to support additional worker training and education.

eLearning has emerged as a valuable tool for cultivating productivity, connection and success in today's remote workplace, offering efficient and interactive training courseware that engages your employees wherever they are. Localization Service Providers (LSPs)—like Lionbridge—are powerful partners to create optimally engaging eLearning programs for your employees—for any culture, in any language.

Make sure your provider has these capabilities:

#1 Creativity for Your Audience

Studies show that people learn better from interactive lessons. However, creating interactive courseware is a highly complex and involved process. One great way to engage learners? Turn it into a game. Lionbridge eLearning expert Abhilasha Choudhary explains that “gamification” can bring real learning, fun, meaning and motivation to the (virtual) workplace and learners are more likely to retain the information.

The Lionbridge eLearning team leveraged creativity and expertise to develop  eLearning games for a global mobile device company to teach the customer’s retail associates about its new devices. The games included single user applications for smartphones, as well as group games in which teams competed to win the most points. As per our client’s request, we designed the games to be short but entertaining so that the associates would be able to complete the trainings during work time.

#2 Remote Work Solutions

With the surge in remote business operations, , keeping teams aligned around goals and priorities is more challenging than ever—making demand for eLearning higher than ever. The best eLearning providers are rising to meet this need with more sophisticated technological platforms and life-like training programs that allow learners to engage asynchronously, or when and where they wish, to meet milestones with greater flexibility. In some cases, programs such as virtual and augmented reality allow users to go beyond what is possible for in-person training.

For example, for a leading consumer electronics company, Lionbridge designed an augmented reality application that harnessed eLearning technology to simplify instructions for replacing parts and restocking materials related to their devices. Breaking the barrier of what is possible in reality, users can actually see and interact with the internal structures of the devices. They hold their smartphone up to the device and the eLearning application prompts them with a step-by-step instructional tutorial.

#3 Global Reach

Knowledge of the diverse needs of global audiences is key. How does your target audience learn best? What linguistic and cultural factors influence their learning style? Lionbridge is able to transcreate material to be optimally engaging with your specific target audience. How many global audiences do you need to reach? Our Globalization-at-Source™ methodology ensures your content is easily adaptable for multicultural audiences by building source content with a global audience in mind.

When a major global technology hardware manufacturer came to us to globalize their training procedures, we developed a template from which we could transcreate training material for each region and language. Country by country, we consulted with the regional teams to align cultural focus and regional priorities while maintaining overall company training themes and goals. Ultimately, our client was able to give a voice to regional teams in the creation of local goals—encouraging their interest in participating and succeeding.

#4 End-to-End Services

During your search for an eLearning service provider, consider the number and complexity of your projects. Does your partner offer a range of services to meet your needs from start to finish? When you consolidate your projects to one or two providers, you can expect more consistency across content. You also minimize the amount of time and resources you put into managing multiple partnerships. Lionbridge is an all-in-one eLearning provider supporting everything from curriculum design to video creation to eLearning translation in 350+ languages.

Knowing the extent of our value chain, a major global communications manufacturer and 10-year partner partners with us to create, host and localize eLearning content across their different projects and departments. As a vast multinational company already juggling an array of projects and partnerships, they knew they wanted a simple solution and could count on Lionbridge for all of their eLearning needs.

#5 Flexible Integration Capabilities

Whether you already have an operational eLearning program or are launching a new one, it is important that you find a partner that can adapt to your current operation. Customers looking for a more hands-on provider or anyone starting up their first eLearning program can call on Lionbridge to build, manage and monitor a new hosting platform. For customers that already have a robust eLearning offering, we offer seamless integration with your existing systems.

Case in point: For a major global software, hardware and network system developer we created courseware that operated across their many Learning Management Systems (LMSs) and ensure compliance with the Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM). This significantly reduced migration costs and effort when the company migrated to a commercial off-the-shelf LMS.

The Bottom Line

With 20+ years of crafting and adapting content for 350+ languages and cultures, we are a uniquely qualified eLearning partner to develop material that is both effective and engaging for your audience. Position your teams for success in "the new normal" with the best employee training operations—and check back here for more insights on emerging workplace trends that leverage eLearning.

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