According to a recent study, “around 90% of C-suite executives believe their company pays attention to people’s needs when introducing new technology, but only about half (53%) of staff say the same.” Saurav Raj, product marketing leader at Whatfix, shared this disconnect during a From Day One webinar about Learning Through Practice. 

During the session, Raj shared how experiential learning can cut costs and time within organizations, especially when technology is constantly changing. “ The experience gap matters,” Raj said. When you don’t have a clear and accurate understanding of how your people use technology in their jobs, and what they need and want from those tools, their overall experience at work can suffer.” 

Digitalization Surges, Connections Lag

Worldwide software spending is expected to increase by about 10% according to Gartner. Meanwhile, research shows, the worldwide spending on corporate training expected in 2025 is 417 billion dollars. 

Raj highlights the balance between investing in technology and investing in training. Most employees use multiple software systems daily, meaning training is required for each application, says Raj. “So innovation can be a boon for us and for our customers, but at the same time, it can be a bane because we are continuously upgrading our software. The learners or the users need to be trained continuously so that they can use these new features,” he said. He emphasized that individuals learn differently, so training cannot be one size fits all.

The way we learn also continues to change. Consumption has shifted from passive to on-demand. Services like Uber and Netflix illustrate this new on-demand approach. “The way people learn has changed,” Raj said. This on demand approach to the world around us can be implemented in the training environment with technology. 

The need for hands-on and experiential learning has never been greater. Why? Rapid technological changes mean that without investing in training, investing in technology is pointless—people simply won’t use it. If employees aren’t engaged, they won’t perform better on the job, no matter the tools they have.

Additionally, information needs to be bite sized. “If you are imparting a hands-on learning, a hands-on approach to your learning, your employees are going to retain that knowledge, and they are going to implement that knowledge when they are going live in their working environment,” he said.

Reimagining Experiential Learning With Simulations 

You can’t train every employee the same way, and there need to be solutions that work for everyone. “Experiential learning needs to be scalable, and simulation is one way to do that.” Simulations make your training scalable and open up training for employees to make mistakes. 

In simulation learning, “your learners engage in real world role-based scenarios, where they practice on real world workflows, where they practice on real world customer conversations, or where they make decisions as they would do in a real world,” Raj said. “And based upon this practice, they get immediate and actionable feedback. They get to learn what has worked and what has not worked.” 

Raj shared details about Whatfix’s development of Mirror, a Gen AI simulation training platform for customer-facing teams. Mirror has three major capabilities. System Simulation lets you create replica training environments of your applications, providing risk-free process or back-end training for employees. Conversational Role Play allows your customer-facing team to interact with AI avatars for realistic role-playing scenarios. Analytics and Assessment helps evaluate and certify users, determining whether they are ready to use live systems or engage directly with customers, says Raj. 

In today’s fast-paced tech world, delivering scalable, streamlined experiential learning isn’t just about saving money, it’s about giving employees the time and support they need to thrive amid constant technology updates.

Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Whatfix, for sponsoring this webinar. 

Tabitha Cabrera, Esq. is a writer and attorney, who has a series of inclusive children's books, called Spectacular Spectrum Books. 

(Photo by M.photostock/iStock)