Corporate training is about to get a whole lot smarter

Video’s power to engage makes it a go-to tool for employee onboarding and training, especially among companies looking to reach large groups through a single stream.
A majority of organizations surveyed by Wainhouse Research use online video for one-to-many training scenarios. But companies that merely accumulate volumes of training video, risk diminishing returns without a deeper understanding of the content. They are not deriving maximum value from it.
Generating and cataloging training videos, after all, does little good if companies have only a superficial understanding of what&8217;s inside. IBM Watson&8217;s machine learning and advanced analytics capabilities helps companies build and maintain a searchable, easily accessible library of video content.
Here&8217;s how:
Less searching, more learning
The ability to provide effective video training is important not only for employee retention and development, but also for preserving companies&8217; bottom lines. U.S. employers spent more than $70 billion on workforce training last year, and video was a top technology investment.
Some companies are going a step further to ensure that investment pays off. Using Watson cognitive capabilities — including facial recognition, audio recognition, and speech-to-text — companies can better index and classify new video content along with their existing videos. A benefit of Watson&8217;s analysis is the ability for HR teams and employees to easily search the library for specific topics or information.
If an employee wants to review a particular aspect of safety guidelines, for example, Watson could serve up a video clip along with instructions to tune in at the 15-minute mark to find the exact information requested. The payoff? More time spent learning and staying productive.
Longer live content shelf life
Companies can also extend the reach of their live content with Watson.
With speech-to-text capabilities, Watson can transcribe live-stream learning sessions and classify that information so employees can access it from the content library. Watson can also automatically clip specific highlights from a live event, whether it’s a training session or the CEO&8217;s company-wide address. It can then post those clips to corporate channels such as the company&8217;s intranet.
Smart, relevant recommendations
Over time, as Watson learns more about the learning needs and preferences of individuals or teams, it will be able to automatically recommend relevant videos, or even specific clips, to meet any corporate training scenario. Whether an inexperienced employee needs advice on how to fix the latest Internet of Things (IoT) enabled machine, or a customer asks an unexpected question during a demo, the answer is a simple search query away.
Training the trainers
Training isn&8217;t a static problem, of course, given evolving technological, demographic and market changes. Ineffectual training can have severe consequences. Research shows that businesses lose millions of dollars annually due to ineffective training. But Watson can help companies refine their approach. Soon, HR teams could gauge the social sentiment of participants in a live training event by analyzing their Q&A and social activity, for instance.
The insight Watson provides today and the advanced analytics on the horizon will help businesses develop more compelling video content for their workforce while avoiding investing in material that won&8217;t resonate. Companies will be able to efficiently identify gaps in their training programs and keep their content library fresh, ensuring it remains relevant to an evolving workforce.
Learn more about IBM Cloud Video solutions for the workforce.
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Quelle: Thoughts on Cloud