Before we can explore the video growth trends for learning, we must first confirm that the use of video for learning is indeed growing. The eLearning Guild, the oldest and most trusted source of information for 70,000 + eLearning professionals and practitioners in enterprise companies and higher education, recently published a report called, “Using Video for Learning.”
After surveying their membership, they found that over the past 10 years the use of video in learning has more than doubled. 92.4% of respondents are using video as part of their training and development strategy--compared to just 41.3% back in 2009.
What is causing this growth?
They concluded that the top benefits driving the increased use were to deliver a richer learning experience for their employees along with offering training where and when the audience requires it.
Why is a richer learning experience “a must have” in today’s marketplace, and why is flexibility for delivering training so important? Companies are realizing that in order to attract and retain top talent--their most valuable asset--they must do a better job connecting and cultivating ongoing relationships with their new hires and employees. Doing so successfully means not only the ability to stay competitive, butalso equals massive cost savings realted to productivity losses that are caused by having disengaged employees.
Digital workplace transformation
In order to develop deeper relationships with employees, top notch digital learning and development experiences are key. Re-imagining what those digital experiences should look like is at the center of what is being called digital workplace transformation. And according to 2017 Deloitte Human Capital Trends research, the digital transformation of learning and development is top of mind when it comes to Enterprise CEO’s and HR leaders with more than half of the leaders surveyed rating learning and development transformation as “urgent,” a remarkable increase when compared to just 11% last year.
Digital transformation is now a competitive necessity due to the emergence of digital platforms, tools, and content combined with the changing behaviors and expectations of today’s increasingly digital, mobile, and flexible workforce. The benefits that come from video learning parallel these trends. Let’s break down each of these trends that are fueling both the growth of digital transformation and the use of video.
An increasingly digital, mobile and flexible workforce
The global workforce is evolving. By 2020, it is estimated that the majority of the workforce will be made up of millennials, and studies find they are influencing a mobile, digital workplace. They want to work where they want, when they want, with user-friendly mobile devices and applications. Why? Because they grew up digitally connected and online, and they expect the same digital accessibility at their workplace as in their personal lives.
The number of young professionals that are working remotely is also increasing. According to a forecast of employment trends by the World Economic Forum, work flexibility, including telecommuting, is “one of the biggest drivers of transformation in the workplace.” The number of people telecommuting in the U.S. increased 115% between 2005 and 2015. 4 million U.S. employees, or 2.9% of the total U.S. workforce, work from home at least half of the time, up from 1.8 million in 2005 (115 percent increase since 2005).
Christopher Schnell, President of HP and contributor to CIO from IDG, explains the trend within global enterprise companies best;
“Companies globally are embracing mobility as a strategic tool to recruit top talent, automate processes, and improve operational efficiency. The workspace today is collaborative, flexible, project-oriented, and unbounded by time or geography. In fact, 94% of millennials say collaboration is “critically important” to their work, and 40% of their time is spent in conference calls. Mobility allows businesses to stay connected with employees around the globe, improve response time, and lower the cost of operations.”
Video and interactive video: A close second to human interaction
By going mobile, employees interact with colleagues and customers anywhere at anytime, and the use of mobile productivity apps make physically communicating and collaborating in traditional office settings less of a requirement. As companies embrace the digital workplace and reap the benefits of an expanded talent pool, cost savings, and increased employee productivity and satisfaction, they are also encountering the drawbacks of losing face to face interaction.
Something is lost when human interaction goes away. Trust, relationship building, and the passing of institutional knowledge between employees are costly risks that cannot be ignored. This is where video and the growth of video comes into play. Video is a close second when compared to face to face communications and training when connecting and cultivating relationships, and interactive video pushes the envelope and benefits even further. There are five key reasons why:
- Video vs. text drives increased engagement
- Video vs. text has the potential for authenticity and ability to build trust
- Video vs. text is superior for concept visualization
- Video vs. test is superior for knowledge retention
- Interactive Video further impacts all of these key areas
Forbes Insights interviewed Erika Trautman, CEO and founder of Rapt Media for their report on Digital Transformation, asking about the potential for two way conversations when using interactive video. Here's a snippet from the interview:
“What interactive, personalized video does that broadcast video and most online video doesn’t do is it really becomes a two-way conversation, where the data that the video is able to deliver to the end viewer is much deeper, much more relevant, more powerful because it’s driven by our understanding of the viewer. Simultaneously, the viewer is able to make choices within the video, self-customizing his or her own experience. And when the viewers interact, they offer up a little bit of information about themselves, providing insight back to the company that created the video. What we find happens is that the return on the investment for that video is an order of magnitude higher for both parties.”
Conclusion
What is most compelling is that these trends and the increased use of video for enterprise training are relatively new. According to The eLearning Guild’s report, Using Video for Learning, the majority (67.4%) responded that they had been using video for less than five years, indicating that much of the growth of video use has happened in that time. The transforming workplace, improved technology, and a wider range of software options for creating animations and editing video are all factors contributing to this growth. As we move towards 2020, I expect that we will continue to see video and interactive video grow exponentially--not only in enterprise learning, but in driving new processes and operational efficiencies as well. If your company hasn’t yet begun the investment in video, 2018 should be the year to start.
