Where to Get Online Content Your Learners Want
by Bob Shively, Enerdynamics President and Lead Facilitator
As discussed in an earlier blog post, utilities preparing for future success must focus on becoming digital entities. This includes ensuring that their training is available digitally and on the exact devices where modern employees want to learn. Utility training 
professionals are thus faced with the question of how to get the online content their learners want.
Unfortunately, this is not easy nor cheap. While eLearning avoids ongoing costs associated with classroom training such as booking hotel rooms, covering learners’ travel costs, and paying instructors, eLearning can be costly and time-consuming upfront. Outside development can run as high as $100,000 per hour for quality training. Alternative paths to acquiring eLearning are available, and learning professionals must be careful evaluators to get quality training at an affordable price.
Paths to filling eLearning content libraries include:
In-house development
Using in-house resources can save on costs and gives control over content. But it requires significant commitment of in-house resources, may take longer due to competing resource demands, and quality may vary depending on skills available internally.
Custom development by a vendor
Using a vendor to develop custom training provides significant control over content and can reduce development time, but it can be expensive. Costs are especially high if high-quality content is desired. While fewer internal resources are required than for in-house development, the need to commit resources to coordinate with the vendor and to ensure that content is as desired should not be underestimated. This is especially true if the vendor is unfamiliar with your industry – expect to spend a lot of time educating developers or editing content that does not reflect how your industry works.
Off-the-shelf content
Off-the shelf content is available immediately and can be cost-effective if bought in volume. Quality varies – it is critical to devote internal resources upfront to ensure the content is of the quality desired by your learners and works effectively on the devices your learners want to use. But once a selection is made, internal resource commitment is minimal. The biggest downside to off-the-shelf content is that the ability to customize training to your specific needs is often limited or non-existent.
A fourth and often times “best of all worlds” solution is eLearning provided by vendors of off-the-shelf content that allows for fast and 
relatively low-cost customization. An example provided by Enerdynamics is its Canadian and Global versions of Electric Industry Overview. The off-the-shelf course originally focused on U.S. markets. When approached by different clients active in Canadian and global markets, Enerdynamics quickly customized the training to broaden its focus and provide the learners with the content desired. Enerdynamics now has three available versions of Electric Industry Overview – U.S., Canada, and global.
To help you decide what source of eLearning is best for your situation, Enerdynamics has prepared a one-page infographic that you can download for free here. The road to becoming a digital learning utility is no easy process, and choosing the right path can literally save years and millions of dollars in development costs. We suggest you carefully research your alternatives.
Interested in learning more about Enerdynamics’ library of customizable off-the-shelf eLearning products? Please visit our website or e-mail us at info@enerdynamics.com, or call us at (866) 765-5432 x700.
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