In today's information-filled world, content has to stand out to be noticed, attract sufficient attention, and get people to take a desired action. Savvy business owners know that they have to refresh and redesign their content regularly to keep it aligned to their company's growth and direction. This is particularly relevant when it comes to education and training. If you're still distributing content in printed form or via e-mail, take note: there are many more innovative ways to get your people to interact with training material.
"Many companies have good-quality existing content that is presented to people in old-school formats like printed manuals," says Sharon Bierman, Business Unit Manager for Content Development at Bytes People Solutions. "This material could be put to much better use if it were given a 'facelift' to bring it to life in an increasingly digital world. The before and after effects of a content revitalisation process can be quite remarkable. It can transform the way old content is used by presenting it in a new and exciting format and on different platforms such as desktop computers, tablets and smartphones."
The best part is that a content refresh can be done cost-effectively. "Generally, companies invest a lot of money in developing all kinds of material for interventions in the business," says Dr Madelise Grobler, Managing Director at Bytes People Solutions. "Taking that material and creating a content development strategy that not only revitalises the content, but also makes it accessible from any number of platforms, is an exercise that is far more affordable than most people realise. Added to that, content can be 'facelifted' once and then ported to a variety of different media."
According to the IDC, 35% of the world's workforce will be mobile by 2013. In line with global trends, the demand for the design and development of digital content for learning has grown exponentially in South Africa too. Digital content is easy to transport and the global trend is clearly to move to one device that offers access to all reading materials. It provides for more interaction with the content as you can embed avatars, videos, and questions and answers to create a more interactive learning platform. It's also easier to customise digital materials than printed matter and changes can be made immediately at little cost.
Bierman notes that cost-effectiveness is augmented by the fact that users engage more readily with content that is interactive and stimulating. "By using tools like simulations, animations and QR codes, you can bring course material to life in an exciting way that makes users engage far more productively with the content than they would with a textbook, for example. It's really about taking advantage of all the new media that technology offers. This dramatically enhances the development of engaging content, which in turn facilitates the learning process."
Bierman says that "revitalised content can be made unique to South Africa, to the particular environment in which employees find themselves, and can be translated into several different African and international languages."
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Bytes People Solutions
Bytes People Solutions is internationally accredited as an education, training, skills development and people consulting firm. As a member of the Bytes Technology Group, the company is a leader in the education industry that provides excellent service to a large number of blue chip companies in South Africa.
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