2024 saw many businesses, from an array of industries, embracing remote working due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With more and more employees relying on their screens to carry out their responsibilities, training within the workplace has also seen a dramatic shift to the virtual landscape.
Over the course of last year, we saw businesses from the commercial sector embracing virtual training over traditional in-person training as an answer to the restrictions brought about by Covid-19.
With many companies seeing dramatic increases in productivity due to the benefits of remote working, the virtual workplace outlook in 2024 - including company training - looks very optimistic.
At MDA Training, each of our sector-specific courses, from banking to manufacturing, feature interactive digital business simulations as part of a course structure. These experiential activities provide learners with an essential opportunity to put the course material into practice.
They are also a crucial reason why our virtual training solutions can help your company maximise commercial productivity.
How virtual simulations differ from traditional workshops
Traditional business simulations are set in a physical environment, where participants will work to solve a series of problems to either learn by doing or to demonstrate learning already undertaken.
In a virtual workshop - where the business simulation is delivered through some form of a screen - those involved will be required to engage with online content before making informed decisions based on their learning. To solve the simulation’s problems, they’ll need to correctly apply their learning from throughout the course.
Experiential learning, whether virtual or physical, mirrors reality, produces predictable learning and requires deep involvement. The virtual environment lends itself so fantastically to business simulations because of its versatility, accessibility and affordability.
Virtual courses can be styled to match any company brand guidelines, while their duration and content are carefully controlled.
They are accessible remotely at any time of day, anywhere, and only need to be recorded once to be delivered multiple times.
The benefits of business simulations in virtual learning
The simulations that are an integral part of our virtual training programmes have numerous benefits that range across the industries we work with, like facilitating collaborative problem solving, improving learning retention and connecting employees who otherwise would never meet.
The Research Institute of America researched retention rates in virtual learning, revealing increases of 25 to 60 percent - compared to retention rates of 8 to 10 percent with more traditional training routes.
The reasoning for these increases? Better control over the learning process for the employer as well as the fact that learners can revisit training as needed.
Connectivity and collaborative working are vital to improving productivity, especially in the current climate we find ourselves in.
As more and more of us continue to work from home and increasing numbers of new-hires start their careers working remotely - feeling like ‘part of the team’ is becoming ever more difficult.
We’ve discussed the benefits of interactive training in the banking sector at length, but the simulations incorporated into our courses are applicable across multiple industries.
From team-building exercises and developing a management mindset, to learning critical financial concepts or exploring commercial decision making - these skills aren’t restricted to one industry alone and are essential tools for running any successful business.
Head to our Learning Lab for five more reasons to leverage digital business simulations for your business this year.
Our digital business simulations
We’ve worked hard to create a series of engaging activities that give real-word experience within our virtual training courses.
Through blending activities designed to spark interpersonal communication with facilitator-delivered content, digital business simulations are a versatile tool to be used across the virtual environment.
Whether your sector is banking or insurance, asset management or manufacturing - we have a range of simulations explicitly tailored for your employees’ development.
From ‘run the bank’ and ‘client centric banking', to our ‘driving commercial success’ simulation or leading an international insurance business for the insurance industry - each sector-specific course is enriched with its own digital business simulation.
Some elements are incorporated into a broader programme to cement the learning carried out during the course.
Other simulations run as standalone activities, such as our bespoke manufacturing business builder, or our highly successful ‘DigiPark’ simulation.
If you’d like to learn more about how our carefully tailored business simulations could be utilised to maximise productivity in your business, get in touch with the MDA team today.