When companies start to evaluate new technologies to implement, depending on the complexity, many will ask the question, “Should we build or buy the technology we need to succeed?” During the proof-of-concept phase, it might make sense to build technology to save money. But, as a business grows and scales, homegrown technologies can quickly become unmanageable and expensive to maintain.
This is definitely the case with learning technology. Whether your organization has homegrown solutions in place first or not, investing in online learning technology can reduce overall learning costs and increase return on investment (ROI). Other benefits of investing in online or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) learning technology include long-term cost savings, lower risk, increased out-of-the-box functionality and faster time to market.
How Using SaaS Technology Reduces Online Learning Costs
There are a number of ways your organization can expect to save money upon investing in online learning technology with a SaaS provider. Read our list below:
- Off-load technology work: If your organization is migrating from homegrown technology, you might feel this benefit the most. Investing in online learning technology can offload the technology and maintenance work from your organization’s shoulders, freeing up time to focus on subject matter-expertise, instructional design and other aspects of content creation.
- Distribute work to different groups: By utilizing SaaS technology for technical work and support, your organization is able to properly parse out learning-related work. For example, instructional designers and content creators are able to focus on their core tasks without having to understand a homegrown platform inside-and-out. This helps your organization provide a better learning experience to learners which, in the long run, results in better ROI as your organization becomes more efficient, produces materials faster and is able to scale.
- Decrease travel costs on both ends: When your organization does in-person training, travel-related costs can add up. Reduce spending for the learner and your organization by adding online learning experiences—or by moving current in-person learning experiences online. Since online learning experience eliminates travel costs for learners, they might be encouraged to spend more on additional learning, services or products. Online learning also reduces travel costs for your organization’s educators and eliminates the need for booking venues and other amenities for learners.
- Improve scalability: In-person training limits you to a certain number of people in a single location, whereas SaaS technology has the capability to deploy learning to multiple regions and in multiple languages. The technology allows your organization to create content in one language and then quickly deploy the same learning experience to multiple regions and territories in their native language. Instead of creating the content in each native language, set the language on the back end of the SaaS learning technology. This reduces expenses and improves time-to-market.
When your organization possesses special subject matter expertise or offers unique learning experiences, it’s valuable to consider implementing SaaS technology for online learning. Hosting learning experiences online reduces spending associated with building technology in-house or orchestrating in-person learning experiences. It also reduces spend for the learner—something that will have them coming back for more.
