How remote training became normal training in 2021

• Teammates and trainers no longer need to live in the same city, travel to a specific location, or even work in the same office to receive effective training
• Remote training tools use online training tools like webinars, online training courses, virtual training programs, and more to deliver onboarding and ongoing training to employees
• Tel Aviv-based Strigo has built a platform that enables software companies to onboard customers and teaches them how to use their software

The global pandemic in all its disruption has seen online communication tools take front and center as companies have been forced to embrace the challenges of remote working. Tools like Microsoft Teams and Zoom have been a savior for many organizations since the onset, with platforms seeing an unexpected lease of life despite their unintended uses. And while some companies have benefited through unideal circumstances, others are busy designing tools that can best serve customers in times of need. Enter remote training.

We have all gone through laborious resource-intensive training days where specialists have been sent to provide in-person training. For better or worse, the traditional practice is now no longer viable.

So how do you allow trainers to communicate, share content, and collaborate in real scenarios involving software?

In a bid to resolve the gap in software training left by the pandemic, Tel Aviv-based Strigo has built a platform that enables software companies to onboard customers and teaches them how to use their software.

The company says the platform can be used for in-person software training sessions on a customers’ own premises, without the need for local IT teams to facilitate sessions or dedicated lab spaces. This allows employees to simply turn up with their laptops and Strigo provides full access to the software from their browser with no installations required.

“It’s really about providing hands-on training in which customers learn by practicing within actual product environments,” said Strigo cofounder and CEO, Nevo Peretz in an interview with Venturebeat.

The company hopes to remove the tricky task of switching between multiple applications like video tools, remote support, and virtual lab platforms, to instead condense them into a simple and seamless experience for customers, none too dissimilar to a classroom setting.

“The patching together of these tools creates a poor training experience, inability to see the training operation as a whole and identify problems, and it is also difficult to scale,” said Peretz, before adding, “With Strigo, students who are working on a lab exercise can call for assistance, and trainers can seamlessly enter the student’s lab, open a one-on-one communication channel, and work together to address the question or issue. This experience mirrors a real classroom, where a trainer can come to a student, look over their shoulder, and work with them.”

The company has most recently raised US$8 million in a Series A round of funding led by Greycroft and Velvet Sea Ventures. The Israeli startup also said it has tripled its customer base during the COVID-19 crisis.

Training tools

Besides training tools for software, there are plenty of staff training tools out there for companies to utilize. Learning management systems (LMSs) are perhaps the most important, or the most well-known training tools. If you’ve ever conducted an online course it most likely would have been hosted on an LMS, which is a virtual space where employees can go to learn, collaborate, and assess their knowledge.

TalentLMS is an award-winning, cloud-based learning management system that can train both in-house and remote employees while providing easily accessible tools that anyone with zero experience can use. According to a survey conducted by them this year, 42% of companies have stepped up their reskilling and upskilling training efforts after the coronavirus outbreak.

Remote training tools can use online training tools like webinars, online training courses, virtual training programs, and more to deliver onboarding and ongoing training to employees. This means teammates and trainers no longer need to live in the same city, travel to a specific location, or even work in the same office to receive effective training.

In addition, remote training software makes it easy for companies to create, store, deliver, and manage content for employee training. The impact of COVID across offices globally has meant that the health and well-being of employees have taken priority, so it’s vital to ensure that teams are still able to stay aligned and complete training, even if they aren’t in the office.

With a looming skills gap threatening businesses in an era of COVID, upskilling and reskilling programs from remote locations becomes an almost essential part of the employee training cycle. Highly tailored remote training tools can provide organizations with an affordable, yet effective, means to provide the highest level of training anywhere at any time.