If 2020 taught us anything it’s that technology has fundamentally changed our daily lives. When a deadly pandemic swept the globe, companies were able to pivot from in-person to remote work. Many companies even saw an increase in productivity from their newly remote workforce. Celebrate National Technology Day with a focus on some new training topics to keep this momentum going.

Technology and the Pandemic

When it was required, businesses learned to adapt in many ways. Online shopping solutions kept stores and restaurants open. Delivery services provided incomes for furloughed workers. Video conferencing kept projects moving and they even helped us stay connected to friends and family.

As we look forward, reliance on new technology is a given. The problem with this past year's reliance on technology was lack of training. Companies hadn’t planned to make a dramatic shift in the way they work, so they were learning on the fly.

Now that employees have found they can be productive working from home, the way we work will continue to evolve. Here’s how to embrace the increased reliance on tech without this year’s speed bumps.

1) Make a Digital Transformation

2) Give the People What They Want

3) Empower Your Employees

Make a Digital Transformation

In the last year, businesses like yours have undertaken digital transformation – although it may not have been as well planned as you would have liked. Now that the dust from 2020 has settled, it’s time to take your technology to the next level and take your employee’s productivity even further.

Digital transformation is important for all companies, no matter the size or industry. Digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into any or all areas of a business, and a successful digital transformation process means increased use of technology to improve the experience of your organization’s employees, customers, suppliers, partners, and other stakeholders.

It changes how you operate internally and how you deliver value to your customers. Making a digital transformation requires a cultural change, too. Digital transformation challenges the status quo to capture the hearts and minds of your customers.

Take a look at what’s happened in the restaurant industry over the last year. Restaurants that integrated new ordering and payment options were able to safely serve customers – either through carry-out, curbside, or delivery – and weather the ups and downs of dining restrictions set by health care officials.

Even five star restaurants that formerly considered carry-out and delivery beneath them found ways to make it work – sometimes delivering linens and tableware that would be picked up the following day to create an intimate, fine-dining experience at home. Why would they do this? Because if you’re not able to keep up with customer expectations, they’ll go elsewhere.

The digital transformation of one company can revolutionize an entire industry. There was a time when video rental stores could be found in every town – large and small. Does the name Blockbuster ring a bell? Or am I showing my age? A little mail-order company called Netflix came along and put pressure on Blockbuster. Mail order was so much more convenient.

When digital innovations made streaming possible, Netflix seized the opportunity. Today, Netflix competes with television networks, streaming services, and major motion picture studios for original content and Blockbuster is nowhere to be found. (Actually, there’s one left.) Who do you want to be? Blockbuster or Netflix?

Digital Transformation Training Topics

To help you celebrate National Technology Day, HSI offers three series on digital transformation:

• Digital Transformation Basics
• Digital Transformation for Leaders
• Digital Transformation for Tech Leaders

You can watch a sample course here.

Give The People What They Want

According to a LinkedIn poll, 94% of employees say they would stay at a company longer if that company invested in helping them learn. That’s huge! This trend is more pronounced in younger workers. Basically respondents said they’d rather not job hop and would prefer to grow their careers at one company that shows an interest in their training and growth.

How do you compete? How do you keep your content fresh and engaging? How do you keep your learners engaged?

Partnering with an eLearning provider like HSI allows you to offer off-the-shelf training on common business software applications, safety and compliance, and so much more. With our video library at your fingertips, you can quickly curate a small curriculum to celebrate National Technology Day for a fun way to promote new training topics.

Our Software Skills library offers training on the most popular office programs from Google and Microsoft for all skill levels. Use National Technology Day to encourage everyone to learn a new animation feature in PowerPoint, play around with pivot tables in Excel, or to finally try out Microsoft Teams.

Empower Your Employees

As more and more employees work remotely, they won’t have the level of access to the IT department they’ve had in the past. With the right training they can troubleshoot common IT issues on their own before calling the IT Helpdesk. I think we all know to reboot first but then what? Use National Technology Day to teach everyone about troubleshooting on their own.

What is troubleshooting? It’s a logical, systematic search for the source of a problem in order to solve it and make the product or process work normally.

With the right training, your employees can:

• Identify the problem with their technology
• Theorize what’s causing the problem
• Use the process of elimination to test their theory
• Find the source of the problem
• Come up with a plan to resolve it
• Verify the problem is fixed
• Figure out how to prevent a similar problem in the future

If employees follow these simple steps and are still unable to get their technology to work, they can call the IT Helpdesk knowing they’ve saved everyone’s valuable time. It won’t eliminate the need for IT, but it will help your technicians work more efficiently.

If the last year has shown us anything, it’s we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. By being open to new technology, and providing the training to use it, you can get your team ready to adjust to the most effective and productive practices of the future. Between you and me, let’s hope the new year offers fewer forced pivots and more planned growth.

Additional resources

• How to Promote Training Courses to Employees
• How to Motivate Employees to Make Time for Training
• Our Software Skills Training Topics