An article published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics claims that big data will play a decisive role in the labour markets by 2040. In reality, though, that has already started happening on a large scale. Big data tools are already mainstream in a lot of administrative tasks including recruitment, productivity management, corporate strategy and marketing.
One segment that has relatively been untouched by big data is corporate training. The past decade has seen a dramatic transformation in the way workers are onboarded and trained at corporate workplaces. Classroom training has been overwhelmingly replaced by learning management systems and remote training tools. Despite the ubiquity of technology, big data has not been extensively used.
That may, however, be changing. Experimental use of big data analytics in universities like Georgia State University has helped increase the overall graduation rate by over 22 points. Predictive analytics based on big data have been used by educators to identify course recommendations, student learning patterns and so on.
These lessons may now be used to optimize the pedagogical approach for corporate training as well.
Identifying Training Needs
Workplace training is a continuous process, and the objective here is to upskill or reskill employees to make sure that their skill sets match future business needs. However, training costs money and time, and it is critical for an organisation to identify the right training programs to be imparted at the right time. Training your employees on a technology that is too far away from becoming mainstream is a waste of resources.
To overcome this, organisations make use of millions of publicly available data points (from website traffic reports, Google search queries, research reports, client tenders and journals) to predict the growth and fall of various technologies. Such big data analytics projects help an organisation plan a training strategy that will provide them with a competitive edge over ill-prepared competitors.
Tracking Performance
Customer transactional data can provide businesses with millions of data points that can come in handy while tracking business performance. For instance, customer transactions on Walmart generate nearly 2.5 petabytes of information each hour. This data provides a business with loads of information that can assist in corporate training.
For instance, a business may benchmark the conversion rate of various product lines to identify employees who are sub-par. More importantly, the performance of employees in their training courses may be aggregated using big data predictive analytics tools to gauge their potential performance on the job.
The objective of such performance tracking projects is to improve the reliability of sales prediction. Also, the results from such studies may be used to benchmark the potential performance of job applicants so that potential bad performers may be rejected upfront.
Training Personalisation
The success of an organisation depends on how solid their leadership is. Identifying leaders early on, helps a business nurture the right candidates which ensures continued success. One of the biggest advantages of big data is its ability to benchmark individual reports against those aggregated from thousands of sources.
A number of organisations today require their employees to undergo standardised aptitude and technical tests to assess their capabilities. This can then be benchmarked against aggregated data points sourced from thousands or even millions of employees from the industry to assess the employee’s leadership potential.
Big data analytics also plays a very critical role in identifying the pedagogical approach that works for any particular learner. Assessing the employee’s test score and historical performance with the help of big data tools can provide insights into the right training methods that shall be effective for the learner in question.
The Future of Big Data Training
Big data analytics is here to stay, and future corporate training programs shall be heavily influenced by these technologies. Organizations that adopt these tools shall gain a competitive advantage in terms of human resources.
Does your organisation use big data analytics for corporate training? Share your use cases and experiences in the comments below.
