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Controlling IT Training Costs in a Difficult Economy - Are you Keeping Score?

The economy is in a shambles and you’ll likely be called upon to cut your computer training budget in days ahead. How you cut it can deeply affect your company’s ability to work efficiently in a time where efficiency is urgent. Learn how to measure and assess your learning and development programs so that you can make the best decisions possible.

No doubt, your IT training budget is likely to take a hit in the coming months as the economy continues to suffer. At a time when you need to add value to your company and do more with less, you’re also being asked to reduce spending in critical areas like computer training. But, how will your team know how to work more effectively without the right training?

Training executives know that staff levels and training budgets are being cut. While your company may not have been affected yet, chances are high that budget and staff cuts will come your way. In this climate, attitudes surrounding spending must change and you must become smarter with your training dollars.

You can take two steps right now to control IT training costs:

• Keep score through measuring and tracking spending
• Access the value of your computer training programs

Keeping Score

Each month, use a Learning and Development (L&D) scorecard to measure and track your training costs, productivity, and other financial metrics. L&D scorecards are monthly reports that give you an “at a glance” view of performances, costs, and progress toward reaching goals. Typical business scorecards usually address internal business processes, financial concerns, learning and development, and the customer. A Learning and Development scorecard is more focused on the training aspect of the business along with associated costs.

Metrics often addressed on L&D scorecards include:

• Voluntary turnover
• Retention of high performing employees
• Promotions
• Infrastructure costs
• Expense reduction
• Cost per training activity
• Total training cost per new hire
• Total training spending represented as a percentage of total company revenue

Each metric also has a clear goal upon which the monthly scorecard is compared to. For example, if the goal for voluntary turnover is less than 10% and the monthly scorecard shows a turnover rate of 20%, then you can make several assumptions and decisions based on this knowledge.

Assessing the Value of IT, Computer, and Soft Skills Training

In addition to measuring and tracking the true costs of any training program, it’s critical to assess the value. Are your employees getting relevant training? Are your employees retaining the knowledge? Is the training delivered in an efficient manner? Is the curriculum cost effective? Are you investing in the right training for the right people?

For example, if you’re regularly sending your best sales people to expensive week-long retreats where they learn more of the same, consider a more efficient approach. Online computer training completely eliminates travel expenses and is readily accessible. In addition, your best sales people don’t need to learn the skills they already possess. By assessing what’s working and what’s not working and evaluating costs, you’ll be able to build a more efficient training program at a lower overall cost. Online computer training and computer based training programs are an excellent alternative that can help you to control IT training costs in a difficult economy.

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