Technology in learning is a big business enabler if done well...
Technology in my view will dominate and influence every aspect of workplace and learning, therefore, it cannot be an exception.
Technology is playing the role of an enabler to give a concrete shape to the larger agenda of consumerization of learning.
Learning in times to come ought to get much more on-the-go, fast paced, responsive, experiential and engaging to meet the capability requirements of any business or organization. Knowledge, Skills, Competencies that are relevant today are likely to get largely irrelevant tomorrow in the new competitive context in which businesses gets done. The speed of replacement and enablement of new knowledge and skills can be managed only with a robust, technology-led learning tools, systems or infrastructure.
Organizations have a big role to play in creating an ecosystem that enables leveraging of technology in the area of Learning and Development. With passage of time we will see greater investment by progressive organizations in creating a learning ecosystem, infrastructure encompassing contemporary tools and technologies so that they are able to aggressively work towards realization of their growth ambition of becoming a significant player at the market place. The L&D strategies of such organizations need to ensure that technology is adopted in the learning space to the extent that every single member of an organization has access to the relevant content and tools that make him have a contemporary perspective, knowledge and capability to be able to make a significant contribution to the business growth.
The starting point to driving adoption of technology is the Management or Leadership’s commitment and appreciation of the fact that technology is going to be a game changer going forward in the learning space as well. This then needs to result in the requisite investment needed to bring the latest technology tools at the work place for adoption. It, however, needs to be supported by a large scale change management initiative to bring the rest of the stakeholders around to the contemporary perspective that technology is getting indispensable for the business.
The conventional ways of doing things or learning will lead only to conventional outcomes and the radical shifts needed for the competitive edge can happen only through an aggressive ownership technology in learning and development. There needs to be a realization across all the stakeholder segments that technology in learning has a unique value proposition for each of them and is a business enabler in terms of ensuring the capability bandwidth needed for the business to perform and deliver in the global market or landscape.
With so much happening in the technology or digital space, technology adoption will always be a journey. The digital disruption coming in various shapes and forms, like Internet of things or artificial intelligence and more will continuously challenge organizations to review and upgrade the technology infrastructure and support systems to ensure that the tools, techniques, processes, content etc. are latest, contemporary and relevant. There has also been a realization that no single technology or solution meets all the learning requirements. Organizations will, therefore, have to continuously look for various Cloud based solutions to make the learning journey engaging, innovative and transformational.
While technology enablement is the starting point, the way it gets applied is extremely crucial to its being effective and purposeful. L&D professionals need to reach out to all stakeholders to understand the unique requirements and ensure that the tools deployed, the content provided is relevant, meaningful and unique to each segment of the population of the stakeholders. When things don’t go well, technology cannot be blamed. What really makes the difference is in the innovative application of the technology to the unique situations and needs of the various organizational segment. If that gets done well, it will ensure that learning is purposeful, engaging and impactful for the business outcomes.