Scaling Up: Strategies for Extended Enterprise Training

Scaling a business requires planning, funding, an efficient staff, robust systems and technologies, and interested stakeholders. According to McKinsey’s 2021 global report, around 80% of new businesses have not scaled beyond $50 million in annual revenue after four or more years of their existence. The reason? It’s challenging to grow.

And while scaling is a complex process that will look different for each organization, there are a handful of foundational truths. One of which is that companies must create a plan to equip and enable their extended network so that the brand’s message can move forward and the company can grow in a consistent way that earns trust. Extended enterprise training is a strategy that companies can use to grow their businesses through strong partner and customer relationships. Here’s how.

What is extended enterprise training?

Extended enterprise training refers to training companies use to equip their partner and customer networks. It can be conducted in a digital space (like online courses) or in person, like training workshops, and is an essential component of the partner and customer experience. Training topics may include brand messaging, detailed courses about products and services, and other business-critical learning initiatives.

• Partners: Partners need interactive learning experiences. Create courses in minutes and deliver important information and training on products, services, and strategy.
• Customers: Connect with customers on new levels with engaging learning courses designed to develop relationships and increase customer satisfaction. Leverage your customer learning technology through all customer lifecycle stages, from acquisition to retention.

The ultimate goal is to bridge the knowledge gap between an organization and its external stakeholders to create a stronger brand. The second goal is to ensure that the brand messaging is clear, unified, and consistent. Companies should make extended enterprise training interesting and engaging so that partners and customers can have a positive learning experience.

How extended enterprise training can help organizations scale and grow

As your organization grows, the best thing you can do for your team is to streamline operations. Yes, this means implementing processes to ensure that work is completed in a timely manner and to a set standard. But this also means you must streamline the process for growing your organization’s reach. You can do this through training.

Just like a clear plan for employee onboarding and development helps companies ensure that they can bring new team members on quickly and effectively, an extended enterprise training strategy helps organizations bring on new partners and customers at any time. When your business is reaching new markets and developing new customer relationships, the experience must be seamless for your network. Extended enterprise training ensures that every person within your network can understand your brand, gets a close-up look at your offerings, and has the resources they need to answer their most critical questions.

How to implement extended enterprise learning in your organization

There is no one-size-fits-all growth strategy—every organization is unique. Scaling a business requires setting clear priorities and making strategic decisions to prioritize investments in people, processes, and technology to drive growth. Here is where extended enterprise training has the most effect.

Keep a handle on compliance.

Compliance is an essential component of extended enterprise training across industries. Failed compliance programs are an existential threat to businesses. Without adequate training for employees, partners, and customers, businesses cannot operate. Compliance-intensive industries like healthcare, fintech, and insurance require concerted management of extended enterprise training. Through compliance training for extended enterprise businesses, stakeholders are authorized to sell a product or service because they are equipped and certified.

Unify the brand experience with customer service training.

Companies looking to scale can ensure that their customers have a positive experience through extensive customer service training. Using a digital LMS platform, companies can conduct rigorous customer service training programs and distribute them to a large volume of stakeholders so that the experience is unified no matter how, when, or where the customer interacts with the brand.

Standardize the branding of training programs.

Another benefit of using an LMS for extended enterprise training is the ability to customize the look and feel of the LMS to suit your audience. Organizations can utilize an LMS with customized themes and features that suit different audiences in the extended enterprise network and give them a unique learning environment. Make sure that your extended enterprise training assets are branded. With a digital LMS software platform, you can add company logos, specific messaging, and even branded gamification badges that align with your company’s priorities.

Make the learner your priority by personalizing experiences.

Your extended enterprise training strategy should serve the learner and be enjoyable for them, so make it a valuable experience. Personalization is key for delivering targeted, engaging learning experiences that provide learners with actionable insights and knowledge. With an AI-enabled digital LMS, information about each learner—topic interests, job title, and more—is used to create a tailored list of courses that best meet their needs and preferences.

LMS features essential for extended enterprise training

Before making drastic changes to your corporate learning strategy, you must first assess the capabilities of your current LMS platform. Even if it isn’t as extensive as an extended enterprise LMS, it might be capable of handling the requirements. With the ExpertusONE digital LMS, features on our platform that make extended enterprise training less complicated include:

• LMS Gamification: Incorporate game-like elements into courses to increase learner engagement and motivation, whether you’re an employee, partner, or customer. Using a point and badge recognition system that rewards rising stars and learning leaders across your organization incites friendly competition and users ready to learn.
• Insights: LMS reporting and analytics are necessary for extended enterprise training. This feature tracks learner progress, course completion rates, and other metrics that enable leaders to measure the effectiveness of their training programs.
• Interaction Studio: An LMS with a fully functional LMS authoring tool can help create and manage content more efficiently for increased learner engagement and interactivity. Utilizing an authoring tool also improves information retention, raising your learning program’s value.
• Intuitive User-Interface: it’s important to ensure that you create courses that are easy to use and access—if they can’t use the materials, they won’t understand them. An LMS mobile app allows learners to consume your training content on the go via their smartphones.

Ready to scale up your business and pave the way for growth? Implement an extended enterprise training strategy today. Contact us for a free demo to see how the ExpertusONE LMS can help you get started.