We’re all familiar with the top dogs: Office 365, Photoshop, Zoom — but did you know that the average company actually uses 110 different SaaS (Software as a Service) applications?
SaaS is all around us. But for all the tools you might be taking into your business portfolio, are you confident that your staff know the best ways to implement them?
If you’ve been adding to your stack over the past few years, it might be worth slowing the sprawl and reflecting on how best to use what you already have.
Software purchasing platform Vertice explains that “when a business reduces its software costs, it frees up cash flow and therefore funds that can be used to bolster other strategic investments, such as in training.”
And this is an essential step, they continue, because “software subscriptions can only provide positive ROI when they are well-implemented and utilised to their full effect by a competent workforce.”
So, the industry experts are in agreement — a big stack of software is only useful if the people at the helm know what they’re doing.
With that in mind, here are three reasons that you should consider investing in SaaS product training for your business.
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Boosts productivity
SaaS products can be difficult to get to grips with, especially for workers that aren’t well-versed in tech. Sure, most of us live on our smartphones nowadays, but there’s a marked difference between the skills required to scroll Instagram and to implement key business functions using different software.
For example, a SaaS sales strategy might see team members pulling lead details from the databases of Apollo, prospecting with Salesloft, and monitoring outreach performance with Gong.
Still with us? Our point is, your teams need training in order to fluently navigate the different functions, UIs and workflows of the SaaS tools in your stack. You hire for soft skills, but you’ll usually need to train up the hard skills.
Data from Gallup shows that targeted employee training can improve productivity at work by up to 18%, enabling staff to improve on their weaknesses and grow more competent in their daily tasks.
By providing dedicated IT onboarding and training, you can ensure that your workforce is putting the tools at their disposal to the best possible use.
Improves employee productivity
Comprehensive and ongoing training is the key to creating an engaged, satisfied workforce. Ultimately, you can’t expect your employees to be working to the best of their abilities if they don’t feel like they are doing a good job — creating a vicious circle of behaviour that nobody benefits from.
Instead, proper support can build employee confidence so that they feel more comfortable and satisfied in their roles.
To achieve this, you’ll need to provide the necessary SaaS product training.
IT services firm Custard explains that “employees who feel appreciated and challenged through training opportunities may feel more satisfaction toward their jobs and be more comfortable with the software and products they are using daily”.
As a result, you could also see less employee turnover — about 30% of new employees leave their job within the first six months, 21% of which citing poor training, according to recent data by BambooHR.
Promotes security and compliance
Data compliance is a hot topic in the IT world, thanks to updates to guidelines like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — as well as some historic cases of companies being fined for breaking compliance rules.
If your business lacks the disposable income of a retail giant like Amazon, as most do, you’ll want to make sure you’re sticking to the security and compliance guidelines imposed by your local authority. Part and parcel of doing so are using software safely.
This is because many of the tools that teams use on a daily basis store sensitive data, whether about your customers, clients, or your own company. Amazon had to learn the hard way, but incidents that put this data in jeopardy can prove costly.
Staff need to be made aware of the risks of using unvetted devices or software to store, transfer or manipulate data. Training your employees to safely use your IT products can help to minimise any risk of a data breach, saving your business from potential legal fees and reputational damage.
The bottom line
When it comes to going digital, procuring a great piece of software to streamline your business is only half of the battle — the other half is training up your staff to use it well.
There are plenty of benefits to SaaS product training, but these are the top reasons you’ll want to invest — for your productivity, your people, and your privacy.
