We are in the midst of unprecedented change due to the COVID-19 health crisis. Many employees are working from home and remote learning of all kinds is on the rise. Given the risk associated with traveling and gathering as a large group, many traditional training sessions have been postponed. It’s difficult to predict the next time we will all safely be able to gather in a classroom setting again.
The good news is, this crisis has proven how effective we can be at virtual communication, collaboration and most importantly, learning. Technology has advance at a rapid pace to meet the growing needs of a virtual workforce. People have become even more comfortable communicating and working virtually.
While there are certainly benefits to coming together in person, online learning has its silver linings:
- Flexible: Virtual training can be conducted during any hour of the day, split into multiple short sessions or condensed into a smaller number of longer sessions. This allows companies to plan training around other critical meetings and commitments.
- Economical: With virtual training, there is no need to fly participants and instructors to a central location. Participants can join from all over the world, without investing the time and resources to travel.
- Efficient: Online learning allows your company to train more people, more efficiently. Given the flexible nature of online platforms, trainings are more easily scheduled. Participants can join training sessions from the comfort of their own homes or offices.
Many sectors of our economy have seen a slowdown, leaving many workers with reduced workload and perhaps with some bandwidth to invest in learning and professional development. While the economic impact from this global health crisis remains to be seen, businesses with a customer-centric mindset will come out ahead when we emerge on the other side of this crisis. Voice of the Customer is a systematic method for listening to and empathizing with customers to identify and prioritize which unmet needs to focus on.
Over the past 25 years, AMS has trained well over 3,000 product development, marketing and customer experience professionals in our acclaimed Voice of the Customer methodology. With roots in the MIT Sloan School of Management, our experienced consultants can help your team be more effective innovators. And, we have adapted our methods and materials to be able to do this virtually.
As product developers, marketers and brand professionals, we have an important role to play to ensure our teams listen to and understand customers’ morphing needs as we navigate these unprecedented times. For more information on how our virtual training courses can bring your customer-centricity to the next level, visit our Training and Coaching hub, or reach out to our team of expert VOC consultants today.
