How Does the Cloud Promote Employee Learning and Development?

Remote working is not a new concept to a large number of companies which have already discovered the many benefits of deploying their IT services to the cloud.

Due to the restricted movement of people in the beginning of 2020, imposed by local lockdown restrictions as a result of the pandemic outbreak, there has been a massive surge of businesses switching to a new remote working dynamic. This has been a challenging undertaking for many, due to the concerns raised by how the company data is being governed and managed in end-point devices, provided to the employees. Because of that, solutions like desktop virtualization have become the preferred tool for increasing the flexibility at which employees perform various tasks, but also train and receive valuable feedback from their superiors.

Staff training

Pre-pandemic times, on-site training was utilized by the majority of businesses. There has been a ground set of operational procedures for training, probably developed over a continuous length of time, which were proven to be effective in that particular setting. However, face-to-face training is no longer possible for many companies, which needed an adaptation of a new approach. For many organizations, the answer to that has been deploying their desktop environment to a third-party, ensuring an even service to all trainees accessing the cloud. Requiring no more than an uninterrupted access to the internet, trainees could simply use an HTML browser to make their way onto the training platform (i.e. Deskmate).

Customized training

Cloud computing service started off as a last resort to many companies, needing to evolve in the rapidly evolving business landscape. Eventually these solutions turned into a real revelation for developing fast, accessible and scalable applications for the learning and development programs of these companies. Managing their virtual classrooms from the cloud and designing the layout of the training portal, made many people in charge so much more confident with the new learning process. In no times, the benefits of a personalized learning environment have become evident to employers, who have reportedly noted a higher level of employee satisfaction to do with their greater learning progress.

Feedback

Another great benefit to using a cloud service in a training context is making employee appraisals more straightforward to complete on a regular basis. The common way of doing this for many companies is completing forms annually, and returning them back to their employees for review. This can be a valuable feedback to them, improving their performance significantly! The traditional ways of handing this information back to the employees require a longer time frame, due to the hefty outdated feedback processes in place. Being no longer the case for those deploying their virtual desktop architecture from outside, there have been much faster and effective ways to provide important feedback and resolve problems on the spot, via the new modern training applications provided by cloud services.

Talent retention

As a heavily discussed topic in the business space, the issue with talent retention of women in the childbearing age may have come to a final resolution, thanks to the great flexibility of the cloud computing solutions. Many of these women have stood out with great talents and qualities at their workplaces, but due to their shifted priorities, and their inability to attend regular days in the office, a lot of them have already excited the workforce. Similar case scenario takes place with elderly staff members in retirement age, or ones with disabilities, who are also not in a position to work on-site. In all of the above cases, cloud solutions and virtual desktop environments appeared to be a great location-independent gateway for many people to continue working, training and progressing at their workplaces.

Extra benefits for the employees

Through the cloud, training materials can be made accessible promptly, and based on their individual learning needs. Storing all of the important training materials in a cloud space, accessible to all, has made learning and development a far easier and better communicated process for both trainers and trainees. Using cloud computing solutions such as Desktop as a Service (DaaS) has also made it possible for employers to utilize various useful applications to their staff, but also ones that allow employers to monitor their staff performance at all times. Because of how well data is being processed and stored via cloud –based services, employers can make a great use of various analytics services in order to improve every training and working method that was previously ineffective.

To sum up, moving to the cloud has proved to be a largely positive change for many businesses in the last year. Opposed to initial worries from employers, using cloud-based services have actually endorsed training and promoted effective learning and development programs for a lot of employees, driving businesses to thrive and succeed.