Think of extended enterprise training as a solar system. Your business’s training is the sun at the center, radiating its energy outward, while the gravitational pull keeps everything connected. The planets in this solar system are your partners, distributors, customers, and suppliers. They all revolve around your business, kept in orbit by its gravitational pull.
Just as the sun’s rays provide energy to its system, your extended enterprise training empowers your external stakeholders, giving them the resources and know-how they need to contribute to the overall success of your business.
When training moves beyond your internal teams to your external partners, it keeps everyone contributing to the health of the business.
What is extended enterprise training?
Extended enterprise training is training that educates the external stakeholders in your business— customers, distributors, suppliers, vendors, partners, etc.,— so they have the knowledge and skills to best present your products or services. Because extended enterprise learning goes beyond your internal workforce, it helps align the entire business ecosystem with your company’s goals.
The goal of extended enterprise training is to make sure everyone involved understands your company’s products, services, and processes. Using an extended enterprise learning management system enhances collaboration and drives business growth.
Extended enterprise training vs. traditional training
The common internal training you see in business involves upskilling a company’s employees. Things like onboarding, improving performance, and increasing productivity are the focus.
Extended enterprise training goes a step further by targeting external stakeholders. The goal is to ensure that everyone who interacts with your brand has the same understanding of the products, services, and processes.
For example, in the manufacturing industry, extended enterprise training comes into play when you consider the many groups of people that come in contact with their product. The manufacturing company may work with resellers, and need to provide these resellers with the proper product training so that they can present the machine effectively.
The manufacturer may also outsource the technicians and repair people responsible for fixing and maintaining their machines properly. These employees will need proper training to ensure that the machines are not returned to the manufacturer unnecessarily.
To effectively manage this complex training landscape, many organizations opt for an extended enterprise learning management system (ELMS). An extended enterprise LMS delivers, tracks, and optimizes external training, unlike a standard LMS designed for traditional training.
Benefits of extended enterprise training
Extended enterprise training offers many benefits that can help your organization drive growth and maintain a competitive edge.
Let’s take a look at the top five benefits it offers:
- Standardization and consistency give stakeholders a uniform understanding of your products and services. Customer experience becomes consistent across all touchpoints.
- Increased revenue is a result of external partners having the knowledge and skills to perform their roles effectively. Sales, customer satisfaction, and more boost business growth.
- Strengthened relationships come from more collaborative relationships through meaningful training.
- Enhanced brand loyalty and trust occur when you deliver consistent training that aligns all stakeholders with your brand’s values. You increase loyalty and trust among customers and partners.
Scalability becomes a natural byproduct when you deliver quality training across a diverse audience. Using an extended enterprise learning management system helps you achieve this growth without compromising on quality.
Challenges of extended enterprise training
While the benefits of extended enterprise learning are clear, it’s important to address the challenges it can bring head-on. Let’s explore these challenges so you can prepare yourself beforehand.
- Content relevance is of the utmost importance when it comes to extended enterprise learning. To keep it relevant, you must adapt content to suit diverse audiences. Always consider who your training audience is, and adjust your core materials accordingly.
- Engagement and retention levels can make or break the success of your training. Keep the same practices you would for your internal training sessions. Create interactive content with engaging delivery methods and regularly assess outcomes. The goal is to maintain high levels of participation and knowledge retention.
- Measuring effectiveness and calculating ROI across a dispersed audience can be difficult. You need to be able to track performance to identify areas for improvement and to know the value of training efforts. Having a powerful enterprise LMS in place will provide you with the reports and analytics you need.
- Maintaining compliance is always a consideration in training programs. When it comes to extended enterprise training programs, there are even greater potential challenges. Complying with local regulations and protecting sensitive data is essential. Regularly updating content and using secure platforms can help mitigate compliance issues.
- Scalability is both a benefit and a challenge with extended enterprise training. Managing a large number of external learners can strain resources. To scale the program effectively, a LMS for extended enterprise training is a must.
Although these challenges are real, they shouldn’t be a reason to discount training your external partners. Implementing effective global training strategies can help ease the difficulties you might encounter.
What topics should your extended enterprise learning include?
To maximize the impact of your extended enterprise training, you need to cover topics that simultaneously align with your organization’s goals and the needs of your external stakeholders.
Here are some common topics covered in extended enterprise training:
Product knowledge
Update training regularly with the product features and benefits. With this knowledge, external partners like distributors and resellers can effectively represent and sell your products.
Sales and marketing skills
Your products or services are unique, and so should the way you market and sell them. Train your partners on negotiation tactics, customer relationship management, and digital marketing.
Customer service
Your customer training should offer best practices on communication, covering both how products are presented, and how issues are resolved. You want to maintain brand standards and deliver a high-quality customer experience across all touchpoints.
Compliance training
Standards and regulations will be unique to your industry and region. Training your external stakeholders mitigates risks related to non-compliance. Prioritizing things like safety and compliance training across your audiences is a must to avoid potential harm to your customers and your business.
Technical training
When you work with specific tools, technologies, or systems, your external stakeholders need to have targeted training. Help your partners, suppliers, service technicians, and more perform their roles effectively.
An extended enterprise training platform can deliver these topics effectively by offering customized learning paths for diverse audiences. By covering these essential topics using the right training platform, you can enhance the performance and alignment of your entire business network.
What role does technology play in extended enterprise training?
Technology is crucial in any training program. It becomes critical for the success of extended enterprise training. The tools and infrastructure needed to manage, deliver, and measure training across external audiences can be vast, but this shouldn’t discourage you from implementing it.
Here are the key ways technology supports extended enterprise learning:
- A robust LMS for extended enterprise training is non-negotiable. An enterprise LMS can host multiple learning modules tailored to:
- Provide a centralized learning platform
- Reach different audiences
- Track progress
It also supports multi-tenancy, allowing you to create customized training environments.
- There’s no way to truly know how effective your training program is without advanced analytics and reporting tools. Data-driven insights help track performance while measuring effectiveness. Armed with this information, you can then make continuous improvements.
- Prioritizing mobile learning and accessibility to training anytime, anywhere is the key to successful extended enterprise training. The ability to access training materials on smartphones or tablets means learning can happen at any time with increased engagement. This flexibility is especially important for those needing to complete training while on the move or outside of traditional work hours.
- Having an enterprise LMS with strong integration capabilities like customer relationship management or enterprise resource planning systems streamlines workflows to provide a unified training experience. Seamless integration allows for:
- Automatic transfer of data between systems
- Synchronizing information across platforms
- Reduced manual work
- Improved efficiency
- Data security must be a top priority when it comes to your business. Compliance and data protection regulations are nothing to ignore. A quality enterprise LMS comes with robust security features, so you never have to wonder if your information (and the trust of your stakeholders) is safe.
How to roll out your extended enterprise training
To implement an effective extended enterprise training program, you’ll need to combine careful planning with the right tools.
Here are steps to get your successful program started:
1. Identify training needs and objectives
As with any training, you need to know what your learners already know, what they need to know, and any existing gaps. With this knowledge, you can write targeted learning objectives.
2. Identify target audience and develop content plan for each one
First, segment all external stakeholders into groups (customers, distributors, resellers, suppliers, etc.) Create customized content for each group that addresses their unique needs and challenges. The more tailored the content is, the more likely it will be engaging and effective.
3. Choose the right technology
Figure out which training management software for extended enterprise training is right for your business. Look for an LMS that meets the needs of your business and the external partners who will be using it.
4. Create training content
When creating engaging training materials, be sure to use a variety of formats. Videos, e-learning modules, webinars, and interactive simulations are a few to include.
Different groups of learners come with different learning style preferences. Address this by using a blend of instructional techniques and ensure the content is easily accessible.
5. Make continuous improvements
Use the analytics and reporting tools in your LMS to track metrics. Things like learner progress, completion rates, and knowledge retention will help you know if your training is effective. Make continuous improvements based on learner feedback and performance.
FAQs
- What is the difference between extended enterprise training and traditional employee training?
Extended enterprise training focuses on teaching external stakeholders like customers, partners, distributors, and suppliers. The organization provides everyone in the broader business ecosystem with the knowledge and skills to contribute to its success.
Traditional employee training is for the internal workforce. Its primary goal is to improve the skills and performance of employees.
- How does an extended enterprise training management system improve outcomes?
An extended enterprise LMS handles your external audiences and offers features like:
- Multi-tenancy for customized training for different groups
- Mobile-friendly access
- Advanced analytics
A standard LMS is great for your internal training, but when you’re trying to reach a diverse audience, you need the elevated features of an extended enterprise learning management system.
- How can extended enterprise training help increase revenue?
Enhancing the performance of your external stakeholders will benefit everyone in your organization.
For example, training partners on product knowledge and sales strategies can lead to more effective selling. When educating customers on product use, the goal is to reduce support costs and increase customer satisfaction.
- What industries benefit most from extended enterprise learning?
Industries like manufacturing, software & tech, healthcare, finance, and retail experience significant benefits from extended enterprise training management.
Because these industries often rely on a wide network of partners, they need to provide consistent training.
Strengthen and reinforce your entire business ecosystem with extended enterprise training
For organization leaders, the task of training external partners, customers, and suppliers is no small feat. Without the right plan in place, training can fall flat.
Extended enterprise training answers the call to set up your business training ecosystem. By investing in this powerful training model, you unify the experience of your organization across every touchpoint.
With the right tools, you can scale your training efforts. Once in place, you can watch your business thrive with engaged and empowered partners by your side.
Key takeaways
- Extended enterprise training helps educate your external stakeholders.
- Benefits include standardization of training, increased revenue, and stronger relationships.
- An extended enterprise learning management system is needed to deliver effective training.
