Outsourced IT support teams play a significant role in ensuring smooth business operations. However, getting them up to speed can sometimes be difficult since they operate in diverse time zones and have varying levels of expertise. They also need to adapt quickly to company-specific systems, tools, and policies.
The risks of not training outsourced IT support teams are enormous — prolonged downtimes, dissatisfied customers, and decreased revenues. This is where a learning management system or LMS comes to the rescue and turns confusion into order.
An LMS can help overcome geographical factors, centralize training material, and accelerate training. With the right LMS, you don’t just train outsourced IT teams but help them deliver more, be in sync with your business objectives, and do more than offer the best service while at the same time reducing cost and time.
Continue reading to find out more about the topic.
What Is an LMS?
An LMS is an online tool that helps you create, manage, deliver, and track training programs. Many of these tools come with in-demand features like course authoring tools, prebuilt courses and templates, quizzes and assessments, virtual classrooms, learning paths, white labeling, and reports and analytics, to name a few.
Benefits of Using an LMS for Outsourced IT Support Training
The LMS market is projected to reach $82 billion by 2032. This shows the game-changing benefits that an LMS brings to the table.
As far as outsourced IT teams are concerned, LMS solutions ensure effective training so that these professionals are prepared to meet business expectations. Let’s explore the benefits in detail:
1. Consistency in Training
With an LMS, you can ensure your team members receive standardized training materials. Irrespective of location, everyone gets the same high-quality instruction.
2. On-Demand Access
Outsourced teams frequently work in different time zones. With an LMS, training materials are always available online, and this makes it easy for the team members to learn on their own time and go back to repeat a particular lesson in case they did not understand it the first time.
3. Cost-Efficiency
4. Faster Onboarding
Another benefit of using an LMS is that it accelerates the onboarding process. Most LMS platforms offer ready-to-use training modules tailored to your industry and use case. As a result, your outsourced IT team can get ready for real work at a faster pace.
5. Performance Tracking
LMS tools come with built-in analytics and reporting tools, which help you track learner progress—be it individual or group. With these details, you can ensure every team member stays on track to meet their learning goals.
6. Scalability
Scalability is another strength of an LMS. Whether you are training small teams or a large global workforce, an LMS can handle it all. You can also add or update training materials as the need arises.
7. Interactive Learning
Most LMS platforms support multimedia, quizzes, and games, which can keep your IT teams interested. Such interactive learning can simplify complex issues with ease.
8. Compliance & Certification
For IT teams that deal with sensitive data or are operating in regulated industries, an LMS ensures compliance with industry standards through automated certifications and regulatory training.
10 Ways to Accelerate Training of Outsourced IT Support
Outsourced IT support training can slow down due to several factors, including insufficient communication between you and the outsourcing company, a lack of clear training objectives, and cultural or language barriers affecting understanding.
Additionally, limited access to necessary tools, delayed feedback cycles, and high turnover rates among trainees can disrupt the learning process. Poor alignment of training content with specific organizational needs or insufficient engagement from both parties can further hinder the program’s progress.
Fortunately, a Learning Management System (LMS) can help you overcome all this. Here are the top 10 ways you can accelerate the training of your outsourced IT support teams.
1. Create Onboarding Pathways
When you train outsourced IT staff using LMS, make sure you create learning paths. These developmental pathways can provide an understanding of company procedures, technical training, and virtually anything in a sequential manner to ensure the training procedure starts and progresses well. With the help of these learning paths, you can guarantee that your team members will start off with the right information on their hands without wasting much time on irrelevant content.
2. Use Pre-Recorded Webinars
Rather than conducting a live session, upload recorded webinars to the LMS. Members can view them based on their own flexibility. This makes the training more effective because it shortens the training time as the resources are accessed as per the convenience of the trainee and the materials can be taken as many times as possible.
3. Automate Assignment & Feedback
Effective methods such as automated grading, instant feedback, and progress tracking have to be deployed for automating assignment as well as the feedback processes. Manual work only increases the training time since the trainer has to personally follow the progress of the candidates and monitor feedback.
Using an LMS for outsourced IT support training, trainers can automatically share assignments and provide feedback regarding quizzes and tests in real time. This reduces waiting times for trainees and allows trainers to focus on more strategic aspects of the training program.
4. Offer Small Training Content
Package information in bite-sized modules so that it can be easily completed in short, focused sessions. This helps the IT support teams to gain better understanding and memorization. It also helps employees integrate training into their busy work schedules by offering flexibility in how they complete training tasks.
This method is supported by an LMS with the tools to create structured learning paths. These paths help employees move step by step through the modules in a sequential path that permits employees to learn foundational knowledge first before they learn the advanced topics. Most LMS for outsourced IT support training also provide the freedom to set prerequisites for certain courses to prevent employees from skipping certain chapters.
5. Add Gamification
If you gamify the learning process through an LMS, you will see that it can increase engagement. By adding elements like points, badges, and leaderboards, you can create a competitive and fun learning environment. This motivates outsourced IT teams to complete their training faster while also improving knowledge retention.
6. Leverage Reports & Analytics
With powerful analytics, you can know exactly how each team member progresses in real-time. You can monitor performance, identify bottlenecks, and modify as and when required. An LMS can give you reports on individual progress, group progress, as well as check the engagement levels. For instance, you can check how much time learners spend on different activities within the LMS, whether taking part in the quizzes or discussions.
By catching these problems early on, you can adjust immediately and help hit that training on target a lot quicker.
7. Integrate Mobile Learning
Not all team members may be in front of a computer all day. The average smartphone user picks up the phone 70-80 times a day. This demonstrates the effectiveness of mobile based training, which ensures that your content is accessible to learners on their mobile device. By making your LMS mobile-friendly, you allow outsourced IT staff to access training materials on the go.
Whether they’re traveling between job sites or working from remote locations, they can still engage with training modules, ensuring they don’t fall behind.
8. Provide Just-in-Time Learning Resources
An LMS for outsourced IT support training can host a repository of “just-in-time” training resources that IT support teams can refer to whenever they face issues on the job.
Quick tutorials, troubleshooting guides, and FAQs can be immediately accessed to resolve issues in real time, enabling employees to get up to speed faster without waiting for formal training sessions.
9. Implement Virtual Roleplaying Simulations
As per a research study, it was found that learners enjoy simulation-based learning more than traditional methods like textbook reading. You can view the research paper here.
Incorporating roleplay simulations into your LMS can replicate real-world scenarios that outsourced IT support teams may face.
When they practice these simulated issues, teams can build confidence and problem-solving skills without the pressure of dealing with real customers right away. This boosts their readiness to tackle actual issues with ease.
10. Use Social Learning Tools
“The best way to learn is from each other. Collaboration and peer learning drive not only personal growth but collective success.” — John C. Maxwell
Many LMS platforms come with built-in social learning tools like discussion forums or team chats. Encourage your outsourced IT team members to collaborate with one another, share experiences, and solve problems together. Social learning speeds up the training process by fostering peer-to-peer knowledge exchange and creating a sense of community within the team.
That was all about how you can train outsourced IT staff using an LMS. Incorporate these ways and you’ll surely watch soaring engagement rates and better learning outcomes. Having said that, let’s now quickly understand how you can choose the right LMS for outsourced IT support training.
Tips to Choose the Right LMS
In order to make the training of outsourced IT support teams successful, it’s essential to pick the right tool so you can leverage the ways/strategies that we discussed above.
● User-Friendly Interface
IT support teams may handle multiple systems and tasks daily. Therefore, choose an LMS that is easy to use and doesn’t overwhelm them. Make sure the platform has a simple, intuitive interface that’s easy to navigate.
● Mobile Compatibility
Another thing to look for in an LMS is whether it works perfectly on mobile devices. This will allow your IT teams to access training anytime, anywhere. Ensure the LMS offers full mobile access so your learners can complete training from their smartphones or tablets, no matter where they are.
● Customization
Since you will be training outsourced IT support teams, it’s good to look for features that can support IT-specific training content. Find a tool where you can create technical simulations, troubleshooting scenarios, and real-world problem-solving exercises.
● Integrated Communication Tools
Since outsourced teams may be geographically dispersed, an LMS with integrated chat and messaging tools can help facilitate communication among team members. With these tools, your IT teams can interact with their peers and also solve any challenges in real-time.
● Reporting and Tracking
To know how well your teams are performing, it’s important to track learner progress. The LMS you choose should provide detailed analytics to check the completion rates and knowledge retention. This helps in identifying areas of improvement and provides insights into training effectiveness.
● Real-Time Feedback and Assessments
Sharing feedback is crucial to correct mistakes and help learners improve. Your LMS should have features to add assessments and share automated feedback so learners can immediately understand their strengths and areas for growth.
● Security and Compliance
Outsourced IT support teams may be handling sensitive data. Ensure the LMS complies with industry standards and has robust security features to protect personal data and proprietary information.
Final Words
Training outsourced IT support teams doesn’t have to be a logistical nightmare anymore. You can transform the learning process into a dynamic and engaging experience with the right LMS.
By embracing on-demand learning, gamification, and real-time feedback, you’ll empower your teams to master the skills needed to excel quickly. Remember, an investment in your outsourced IT support team is an investment in your company’s success.
So, ditch the outdated training manuals and embrace the future of learning with an LMS that drives results.