Alternative Education -- Virtual Classrooms

by chris bauer

Managing Editor

Companies that fancy themselves as being on the leading edge of technology have to keep their employees as well-trained and up-to-date as possible. While it is not always feasible to send employees off-site to attend training programs, other options are available.

Computer-based training opportunities, such as popular Webinar sessions, are available from industry associations, vendors and even printers. They allow attendees to learn the latest industry skills without taking time out of the work environment or having the company foot the expenses involved with traveling.

"Webinars are becoming a more popular option for all industries—not just printers—because of the ease and relatively low cost for companies to train their entire organizations," advises Dave Haradon, Webinar producer at IPA, the association of graphic solutions providers. "Historically, companies have sent a few key representatives to face-to-face conferences to gain the latest information about new products, or services and/or best practice improvements. These representatives were responsible for absorbing the conference information, returning to the office and disseminating this information to other members within the company."

In reality, however, only a small amount of this information is ultimately shared with the organization—and even less is applied for future business improvements.

Affordable Training

"Managers find it difficult to find the money and, particularly, the time to train, especially with leaner workforces and the increasing demand for faster turnaround," adds James Workman, director of training programs for the Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF).

"As a result, Webinars become an appealing option. You don't have to leave the plant, the costs are affordable, one fee accommodates many people and archived recordings can be listened to by staff members that missed the live presentation."

PIA/GATF research in 2004 showed that profit leaders had reduced costs as a percentage of their sales on all items except training and education. On average, profit leaders spend twice as much for education and training—4.1 percent versus 2 percent of payroll for profit challengers, Workman points out.

In today's competitive printing marketplace, frequent hardware and software upgrades are necessary. Printers have seen the impact of these upgrades on their employee productivity, and have realized that continual training is essential to efficient production. Add to this tight production deadlines, and printers are required to find an efficient, effective manner to offer training to their employees.

"Since many online course offerings are available 24/7 through any computer with an Internet connection, and online training is often more affordable than traditional in-house training methods, it has become a popular method of addressing upgrade issues," states Julie Jankowski, vice president of strategic development, Prepress Training Solution.

Software upgrades are occurring every 12 to 18 months, Jankowski says. Therefore, ongoing training is becoming more important. Online training allows production employees to get up to speed quickly, on their own schedule, without affecting production deadlines.

"For example, Prepress Training Solution offers training online 24/7, thereby eliminating the need to schedule training time—users can train whenever they have a few minutes," Jankowski reports. "In addition, the training is delivered in five to 10 minutes, with 'bookmarkable' training modules available for unlimited review—perfect for a production environment."

Almost any informational or educational content can be transmitted by the Internet and offered to printers, Haradon contends. The only exception would be actual hands-on training—for obvious reasons.

"You can explain to someone how to ride a bike a thousand times, but until they actually get on one and start pedaling, you don't really know if you can do it or not," Haradon observes, noting that the same philosophy applies to online training. "If you are looking to train a pressman, I would not suggest you entrust your press to someone who has only listened to a Webinar. But all other information and knowledge can be communicated via the Webinar environment."

PIA/GATF, for example, has programmed 16 Webinar sessions in 2005 that cover a range of topics targeting the pressroom, prepress, new technology, and new products and services. The lineup is as diverse as "Value Added: Mailing 101" to "Getting Started with Hybrid UV Printing."

Many companies are using online training to ensure that all employees have the same baseline of knowledge, Jankowski explains. Following an online course, printers will often utilize in-house sessions to expand employees' knowledge regarding their own production nuances.

"Online training cannot, and does not, replace on-site training where the trainees have the ability to ask questions of a real, live person," Jankowski admits. "In addition, packaged online training cannot address workflow-specific issues that differ from facility to facility."

Although online training is gaining popularity, Workman states that PIA/GATF has not experienced a big drop in attendance at its live conference sessions. In fact, he reveals that the association's conferences did quite well in 2004, and so far in 2005, its workshop attendance is ahead of last year.

"People seem to know that a Webinar is no substitute for an intense, hands-on program in our training facility or the networking and education that occurs at one of our conferences," Workman assesses. "Webinars provide a quick dose of information—I would expect that in-person seminars that try to do the same thing would be affected."

In fact, Haradon feels that an online training implementation strategy can be a significant contributor towards increased attendance at live events for associations, equipment manufacturers and printers.

"Webinars provide for an on-going training dialogue with an organization's constituency that keeps their constituents engaged with the organization year round," Haradon advises. "So when a live, face-to-face event does occur, people are encouraged to attend in order to personally network with their industry partners."

Printer's Web Presence

Printers are also finding Webinars as a good way to provide training for their customers. St Ives US Division, based in Miami, and Prepress Training Solution have partnered to offer online prepress and graphics training to St Ives customers through St Ives University.

Thanks to St Ives University, St Ives clients can take advantage of premium testing and training in courses such as Mac OS X, Adobe Creative Suite, QuarkXPress and a variety of other prepress and graphics software for PC and Mac platforms.

"By offering access to online training, we're empowering our customers with 24/7, 365-day access to continuing education on the latest graphic arts applications," says Cecil James, director of digital prepress. "St Ives University is an extension of our efforts to simplify the lives of our customers while bringing them new levels of success."

Another printer that provides Webinars for its wide-spread customer base is Banta Corp. Since Banta's customers are located over a large geographic area, the company brings training right to the customer's location—online.

"Webinars offer an educational opportunity (for customers) while sitting in their office," notes Nancy Wiggins, marketing communications manager at Banta Corp. "We also record our Webinars and offer them as a replay for those who aren't able to 'attend' live."

Banta's Webinars cover a variety of subjects, although Wiggins recalls a course on digital photography being one of the most popular. Other current hot topics include digital workflow and color management. Banta has also done Webinars on choosing the right personalization technology, print and promotions management, as well as updates on the paper market.

"We are currently doing one each month and are considering adding additional sessions," Wiggins says. "They're an effective, inexpensive way to reach our markets."