Get the blueprints for building modern, revenue-driving enablement with outcome-focused hands-on experiences.
Outdated technical enablement programs for sales, customers and partners have direct business impacts, including longer sales cycles, increased support costs and customer churn. In addition to being a key indicator of company health, customer retention is a key revenue driver. A five percent increase in customer retention can increase company revenue by a whopping 25% to 95%.
To combat customer churn, organizations need to accelerate time to value – fast. Read on to find out how.
Statistics that show what's delaying time to value for software customers.
Don’t bulldoze! Start with the framework you have in place.
A lot of time, effort and expertise has likely gone into the enablement program you have. Despite what many vendors want you to think, you don’t need to bring in a bulldozer. But, candidly speaking, the “status quo” isn’t going to get you to the next milestone either. Put that heavy machinery in “park” and, instead, think about building upon your existing framework of product documentation, training content and customer-facing teams.
Infographic: Why renovate your customer and technical enablement?
Accelerate time to value with hands-on software environments.
Hands-on learning is a critical element often missing or underutilized in customer and technical enablement programs. Without a hands-on component, you’re missing out on a core element in the science of learning and retention. According to the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve, 70% of new knowledge will be forgotten within 24 hours if it is not applied. Make sure the time and money you put into delivering Instructor-led and on-demand training pays off by reinforcing knowledge with memory-enhancing hands-on experiences in real-world scenarios.
You may already be employing some hands-on methods, such as simulations and sandbox environments that allow users to explore possibilities in a risk-free setting. To expand your hands-on strategy, consider scalable sandboxes or outcome-oriented hands-on labs that use live, in-application environments that stay up to date with your evolving technology.
Here’s a high-level overview of the levels of hands-on environments from sandboxes to virtual labs with high-stakes performance testing.
The levels of hands-on learning: Sandbox environments, guided learning labs and modern software labs.
- Sandbox environments – Create a foundation that gives users an opportunity to interact with real software in a risk-free environment without guidance.
- Guided learning labs – Build onto a sandbox environment with guided learning paths that can include embedded step-by-step instructions, helpful support and hints to help end-users build new skills.
- Modern software labs – Advance from guided learning labs to outcome-oriented labs with integrated skill validation, scoring and/or performance testing.
Learn more about the differences between sandboxes and virtual labs in our exclusive enablement guide.
Renovate your enablement program with hands-on learning – one room at a time.
Hands-on virtual labs can improve any room in your customer and technical enablement house. Where you choose to start depends on your organization’s goals and KPIs. Consider these key use cases for renovating your program with hands-on software experiences, and learn more in our free enablement guide.
Empower customers to get more value out of your product (inspiring expanded and deeper usage), while freeing up your Customer Support team to address more complex issues.
Accelerate sales cycles, drive successful implementations and troubleshoot faster with live, guided environments of your software capable of validating seller and partner skills.
Enhance Instructor-led and on-demand training experiences with contextualized learning paths, real-time feedback, automated scoring and skill validation – all at scale with hands-on labs.
Create a user-first experience with hands-on sessions that drive attendance, engagement and customer loyalty. By enabling attendees to interact with your software firsthand, it transforms abstract concepts into concrete experiences.
Improve credibility, counter cheating and bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and applicable skills by giving certification candidates a safe space to practice and demonstrate skills in realistic scenarios and live, in-application environments.
Build enablement programs that deliver results.
Ready to accelerate time to value, improve product adoption and increase software utilization with a modern approach to enablement?
