Last Thursday, 10th July we held a knowledge share forum at the Resource Centre in central London.  Over 30 individuals attended this customer event including three potential clients interested in finding out more about how our training management system could support their businesses moving forward. 

With a minimum cost of £9,000 per year for student to attend university full time, the debate remains healthy on the merits of vocational qualification v’s university education.  Although slightly out of date, I think this infographic from the AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) is food for thought University Education - is it the best route into employment?

Effective customer service should be a must for all trainers and course providers, and getting it right could be easier than you think.  Training management software has the functionality to support any business with a keen eye on customer service.  We’ve all done it; you call up to register on a course and can’t get through....  You try few times, then decide to try later.  The question is do you, or do you find an alternative?

The mutual benefits of training employees and up-skilling have been well documented. Retention rates rise, motivation is bolstered and productivity heads in the exactly the same direction. Today the question is this: what role is technology and in particular LMS playing in simplifying learning and development, and perhaps more importantly, what should this look like?

OK, so sometimes it might be hard to take, but we all know the truth: If you want to improve at something and be sure that you are performing at your very best, you need to accept some good old-fashioned honest feedback once in a while.

Localised businesses are very rapidly becoming a thing of the past as companies take full advantage of progress in communications and infrastructure to enter new markets and create new opportunities. Whilst these opportunities are seen as positive by many, globalisation does have a sting in its tail creating new challenges for business leaders. How can you stay ahead of the game?

Whilst training management software may be useful in reducing the amount of admin that trainers have to deal with, it can also be a crucial part of the marketing function too. Online surveys are growing in popularity, and here’s why trainers should be tuned into them, and some useful tips on generating content...    

I guess when the results don't actually tell you anything!  My last blog suggested that the role of the traditional happy sheet distributed at the end of a training session was limited if not dead.  And, some of the feedback I received confirmed that I’m not alone in this assessment.      

5 questions to ask I would be interested to hear your views on your experiences when purchasing your last software system, and what you would do differently if you undertook the same process again.  Sure it’s important to dive in and take a good look at any prospective system, what better way to really find out if you like the software and if it could work for you.  But do you do this in the early stages of the research stage, or towards the end of your investigations when you have narrowed down the field?  

Text messaging is such a common form or communication today, so much so that it’s not limited to social use between friends and family.   Receiving text messages is now perceived as a normal customer services function, used for appointment reminders or an alert from a retailer regarding orders, or tracking parcels.       

This week we held a customer training day at our head office in Lancaster to explore reporting.  The reporting tool can sometimes appear daunting due to its powerful nature, and even customers who use it regularly were keen to learn tips and tricks to improve their current practice.  The course was well received evaluation confirmed that attendees felt more confident after the event.

Did you know that this week (20 - 26th October) is Get Safe Online Week.   The aim is to draw attention to the importance of protecting your personal information online.   E-commerce is growing rapidly and is currently estimated to be worth over $220 billion in the US and $112 billion in Western Europe! Checkout this great infographic which has some fascinating statistics.    

Email marketing for any business is both an art and a science.  So much can go wrong and the overall results can very often result in a poor return on investment.  Perhap now is a good time to evaluate what works and what doesn't, then move forward armed with ideas to put into practice.

This week I was privileged to attend a celebration event with a group of individuals not directly involved with training management software, although on the receiving end of support and training as part of the Dolphins’ Den project.    

The day-to-day running of a training company can be so hectic that often certain elements of business management can be neglected.  As a training expert you have the creative flare to generate exciting new ways for delegates to get more from learning, and you’re probably happy to burn the midnight oil perfecting your training proposition.       

Christmas holidays means something different to everyone.  For some it means doing absolutely nothing, and for others it’s a great opportunity to catch up on the things you mean to do, and just never find the time.  You could say it’s the ideal time for individuals to search for training courses online and make a booking to do something either work or leisure related!            

Do you have goals?  Have you even thought about it?   Have you set new ones for 2015? These questions may start you thinking about this more seriously.  Howver, the good news is that we all have goals either consciously or sub-consciously. They are based upon our expectations of ourselves, our desires, and the ‘wish to meet’ expectations that others have of us.    

If you are then make sure you call into see us on stand 143 to take a look at our Course Manager training management software.  The annual Learning Technologies exhibition, held at Olympia London later this month on 28th and 29th January is a must for learning and development professionals.        

We all know that the secret of a good training session is preparation.  A professional trainer will leave nothing to chance.  The subject will be familiar, the presentation honed and the delivery unquestionable.  But what about the delegates?

He’s all over my Facebook newsfeed, my Twitter timeline and my Instagram feed. So why is the silver haired, channel 4 newsreader everywhere I look lately and why does everybody suddenly think that he is the biggest hunk since Brad Pitt in his prime?  Oh, a different Jon Snow? My mistake.       

Today marks the final day of Administrative Professionals Week, the week that celebrates all office professionals for the hard work and tremendous effort that they put in to support their organisations. We asked the social media community ‘what are you most thankful to your administrators for?’. Here is a roundup of the top 6…

As a provider of training management software, it seems logical that we put a great deal of emphasis on training and supporting our customers.  We do this in a number of ways, but one of our most popular resources are shared customer training days.    

Training is training, and whether you manage in-house training or your organisation sells training, the way you manage the administration surrounding courses often takes a poor second place to the actual course content. 

You’ve got your shiny new CRM up and running. It’s great for keeping on top of your ever increasing amount of leads and prospecting new ones but now you’re having trouble with the administration of the courses that you’re pitching. The main issue with a CRM for training providers is that delegate information is often out of context and not logically linked to the courses that you run.