In a year of unprecedented change, businesses were required to adapt at a rate beyond estimation.

The vast majority of organisations implemented digital strategies to sustain their operations in a newly contactless world. Interactions with customers and colleagues became virtual, as mandated by lockdowns and restricted activities. For many executives, the pandemic was a reality check for those who had previously been reluctant to embrace digital transformation. On top of the stress of potentially health-compromised employees, compromised demand and economic uncertainty, many were forced to rebuild their operations and workforce in a virtual environment.

As such, digitised training functions proved integral to helping organisations transition to a remote workforce, shift in-person events to a virtual environment, and optimise safety and compliance training to another level. A paper published in the World Journal of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development notes how the ‘speed of acceleration’ and adoption of digital infrastructures speak to its ‘underlying and previously under-utilised need’. According to the article, ‘this has led to a recognition of the need for practically focused, effective inclusive digital interventions’, many of which now appear in platform-based learning tools.

In a pandemic recovery setting, the role of digitised training, learning and development continues to broaden, with many learning leaders facilitating change initiatives in their organisations. The pandemic allowed for remote and ‘deskless’ working to gain currency, and it is likely that we’ll see this gain traction in the years to come.

According to Jacob Waern, CEO of workforce success platform EduMe, virtual learning apps and integrated digital infrastructures will preface the way businesses upskill their employees for the future. Since founding EduMe over five years ago, Jacob and his team have seen the increased uptake of app-based micro-learning tools. In his estimation, Jacob believes that this will only continue. 

‘The market has an appetite for tools that will support workforce productivity at scale while being accessible to all. Going forward, organisations will need to invest in platforms that provide learning content that is easy to consume, engage with and share’

Working in the World of the Pandemic and Beyond

The crisis has tangibly accelerated the levels of digitisation to help reduce avoidable physical interactions. For employers looking to upskill and train their employees, this has translated into reinventing the nature of work. For some, this has also caused a shift in the way workers perform their roles and approach operations. According to a McKinsey report, many industries have had to ‘increase cross-training in specific services’ as demand for digital tools increased:

‘Sectors have had to train the workforce in new skills as they repurposed their operations to battle the pandemic. For example, [many] needed to increase employee cross-training in specific services as demand surged […] they also had to train employees in empathy as they helped distressed clients use digital tools and new products and services’

For many organisations, the pandemic inspired pause and motivation to create new ways of approaching work. Both the public and private sectors were pressured to automate and digitise their learning processes to see long-term benefit. The global health crisis demonstrated to all the importance of disclosure and easy access to training content in real-time to replace in-person discourse and communication.

From the beginning, Jacob Waern and his team committed their long-standing expertise to build up workforces that needed support. The EduMe team wanted to create continuity for businesses and employees throughout the entire learning and development journey. Since being founded in 2016, EduMe has developed app-based learning initiatives for household names like Deliveroo and GoPuff. 

‘We recognised that several companies were struggling to onboard and engage their new employees. When considering what was needed to train a disparate workforce, we couldn’t find an existing solution to fix this issue. So, we built a platform for creating and distributing effective training that could be shared on a mobile phone, creating a value-add to our offering.’

EduMe: The Hero Learning Tool

In context of supporting businesses throughout the pandemic, Jacob and EduMe continued to provide a solution that not only optimised workforce training but also provided solutions for longevity and future success. In observing the current problems businesses now face, Jacob and his colleagues continue to support a newly emerging workforce that was previously ignored.

There was little in the way of learning content in pre-pandemic days that targeted the ‘deskless workforce’. Jacob recognised this gap and created a digital infrastructure that could support future productivity.

‘We provide the deskless workforce with seamless access to relevant knowledge so that they could do their jobs better. Our end goal is true workforce success, in which employees feel empowered in the fact that they can perform to the best of their abilities with ease’

According to Jacob, EduMe’s digital offering redresses previous learning and development bottlenecks. By providing a simple solution that can be accessed wherever and whenever they need it, the EduMe platform ‘gives the workforce the knowledge they need, in real-time’.

‘In building EduMe, we wanted to make sure that companies and employees were empowered, effective and as productive as possible. We found that providing a highly accessible digital tool was the best way to support workers throughout their onboarding process’

Certainly, learning tools like EduMe hold profound advantages for both organisations and the workforce. According to a PwC study, businesses that have embraced digital development tools create invaluable ‘opportunities for lifelong learning’. The PwC analysts demonstrated that learning platforms permitted employees and prospective job seekers to:

‘Improve on their current skill set with desired skill profiles and work on closing the gap in their own time and at their own pace’

Most importantly, the study observes that platforms like EduMe ‘tap into people’s personal motivations for learning’. By embracing and encouraging the workforce’s commitment to growth and success, app-based development tools ensure long-term progress throughout all training endeavours. This was true for most organisations that participated in the study, which spans geographies across APAC and the EU; all of whom now enjoy increased efficiency, productivity, security and even customer benefits as a result of embracing virtual training solutions.

Looking Forward

The global pandemic has shown us how quickly work itself can change. Thankfully, it has also shown us how entrepreneurs like Jacob Waern and his EduMe colleagues can support us in adapting to unknown circumstances.

The workforce will likely continue to collaborate remotely for the foreseeable future. Consequently, it is an imperative for companies and individuals to embrace upskilling. Significant investments in virtual learning tools and digitised capabilities will surely help us survive in a ‘deskless’ and remote working environment.

Indeed, we cannot anticipate the complete long-term impact of COVID-19. However, it is now clear that organisations must lean on virtual platforms like EduMe to mitigate the pandemic’s effects on the workforce. By doing so, businesses will not only protect their employees, but empower them for the foreseeable future.