With the development of Cloud applications, or Software as a Service (SaaS), the need for a different type of training for companies is beginning to emerge. As companies make the move from their legacy system to Oracle Cloud applications, many companies find themselves asking several questions about Oracle Cloud Training, like:
- What is the real difference in the training needs of an on-premise application and an Oracle Cloud application?
- Why can’t we just train the traditional way?
- How do I keep my training up to date without a large team dedicated to the need?
If you have found yourself asking any of these questions, Oracle Cloud Training (or Oracle Cloud Training as a Service) may be the solution your company has been looking for.
Training as a Service is a subscription-based, on-demand training service. Traditional, static training can’t keep up with constantly updated Oracle Cloud applications. Training has to be maintained and kept up to date to maximize ROI on Oracle Cloud applications.
What is the real difference in the training needs of an on-premise application and an Oracle Cloud application?
Companies with on-premise applications get to decide when they will purchase the updates for their software. Since on-premise applications do not change, training for on-premise applications does not need to be updated until the company updates their software.
On the other hand, companies with Cloud applications receive updates delivered by their vendor. For Oracle Cloud, the application updates are pushed quarterly. After a Cloud application has gone through four updates, go-live training will be irrelevant because it looks vastly different from the application. Training on a Cloud application has to be updated which each server update.
The amount of time taken to review and update each application’s content can be significant. There is also a small window from the time your test instance updates to the time your production environment updates. Your company would need a team solely dedicated to updating training content. Additionally, the modes of training your team can create for your end users may be limited unless you want to purchase subscriptions to external tools
What training options are there for my company as we move to an Oracle Cloud application?
You have two options. You can create a large internal team to update your training content quarterly, or you can find an Oracle Cloud Training partner who provides Training as a Service. With subscription training content, your training documents are updated quarterly by your Oracle Cloud Training partner. This allows you to leverage up-to-date training content without the high internal cost of maintaining the training content yourselves. This however does lead to another question often asked; Can generic content work for my company? Yes, many standard processes work for any company. However, if you find areas where your company is truly custom, you will need to look for an Oracle Cloud Training partner who offers the option to create custom content that follows your business processes.
Why can’t we just train the traditional way?
Cloud application updates are not controlled by the company that purchased the subscription; they are controlled by the company supplying the access. This means two things:
- You must abide by your vendor’s update and upgrade schedule. There is often little adjustment you can make as a company to that schedule.
- Your company’s training will be outdated faster than ever before. Your users will be left with a training gap that often leads to a lot of unplanned effort updating the training.
If my company is moving to a Cloud application, do we need Training as a Service?
The simple answer is Yes.
Without an Oracle Cloud Training as a Service provider, your team can’t focus on business initiatives. Your training team will be too focused on updating training content, and your IT team will be overwhelmed with IT support tickets. Your Oracle Cloud Training as a Service partner can help your team reap the benefits of your Cloud software while empowering your team to work on business initiatives.
What types of assets are offered by an Oracle Cloud Training as a Service vendor?
A great Oracle Cloud Training as a Service vendor will offer several on-demand training options. This gives your employees the ability to train at their own schedule, at their own pace, from any location they are working from. They also offer training content in various modes for different learning styles. A great Oracle Cloud Training as a Service vendor should offer the following elements:
- Documentation
- Documentation provides a user with information about what an application, task, or process does. It also helps them gain a better understanding of how the system works.
- Simulations
- Simulations provide the user with the look and feel of the real environment where they can practice a business process or task. This is a great way to start training your team before they have access to a live environment. It is also a great way to onboard team members into an area without risking your production system. Simulations are great for users who learn best with a hands-on approach.
- User Guides
- User guides provide the same information as a simulation, but in an easy-to-read view. This can be used as a guide when running the live process in your production environment. User guides are perfect for users who like step-by-step instruction.
- Video
- Video content contains the same information as a simulation but requires no action from the user. Videos work well for people who learn best visually.
- Learning Paths
- Learning paths can be created to teach your users only the information that is relevant for their jobs. Your Oracle Cloud Training vendor may have standard training paths, but a great training vendor offers the option of customizing training paths according to your company’s needs.
- In-application guidance
- In-application guidance lives on top of your live Cloud application to provide real-time guidance for your end users. This tool can guide your end users through business processes. You can also work with your training partner to link training documents, data spreadsheets, and videos to the in-application help. This is a great option for high-error tasks, high-question areas, and tasks that are irregularly run. In-application guidance works well with self-service areas such as printing a paycheck stub, updating employee profiles, and enrolling in benefits.
How can I keep my training up to date without a dedicated internal team?
The only way to have updated training content on Cloud applications is by using an Oracle Cloud Training as a Service vendor. Your training partner will take ownership of updating standard training content without any effort from your company. If your company has custom content, you will need to work with your training partner to verify all changes during the two-week window between the development server update and the production server update. During this time, your training partner will work with you to update any simulations that are affected by an upcoming system update. This empowers your company with the knowledge of any big system changes before it affects your employees.
My company wants custom training content, what would we need to do?
There are three main phases to creating custom content: Needs Identification, Asset Creation, and Learning Path Creation.
- Needs Identification – Your team will need to review your company’s needs. Your team may want to customize accounting, payroll, or hiring processes according to your company’s business processes. Once your team has identified all of the custom business processes, your team will complete an order form.
- Asset Creation – Once your Oracle Cloud training partner has created the assets, your team will get a chance to review them for accuracy. This give you an opportunity to confirm accuracy as well as add informational messages for your team members. Your training partner will publish the training content to your team. When your company goes through updates, this step is when your team and your training provider will identify how a system update has affected existing business processes. This allows your team to stay ahead of changes and manage those changes for your company.
- Learning Path Creation – Your team will work with your training partner to create or customize learning paths for the various job roles at your company.
Is an Oracle Cloud Training as a Service vendor right for our company?
If Oracle Cloud, or Oracle SaaS, is right for your company, chances are high that your team needs Oracle Cloud Training as a Service. The benefits your company has identified for moving to Cloud software are the same reasons you should consider Oracle Cloud Training or Oracle Cloud Training as a Service. Oracle Cloud Training, like Oracle Cloud applications, lowers your capital and operational expenditure and decreases IT support tickets. Without proper training on your Cloud software, your company will not see the anticipated high ROI or user adoption. If your company is making the move to an Oracle Cloud application, Training as a Service is right for you.
Maverick Solutions is the premier leader of Oracle Cloud Training or Oracle Cloud Training as a Service. We provide on-demand training across all of the Oracle Cloud applications from your project team members to your core users. We take on the responsibility of updating your custom training content, so your team doesn’t have to. Contact Maverick Solutions today to schedule a free consultation with one of our training experts!
