20 Jan 2023

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What must be banking training for mortgage lending?

Banking training is crucial so that the employees don’t cause any loss to the consumers.

For example, banks have to be careful while extending loans to consumers because any unlawful practice can land them in trouble.

For example, banking training must include the Truth In Lending Act(TILA) which states that loan providers must disclose certain facts to the borrower while issuing a credit card to him. This is necessary for the borrowers because hiding any charges from them is not ethical. This includes disclosing what the interest rate on such credit cards is. When consumers know what the APR on a credit card is, they can compare it with similar products.

Also,credit card companies also can’t levy an unusually high amount of penalty on the customers when the payments are delayed unless they have been disclosed before.

This kind of disclosure requirement also exists for other kinds of loans such as car loans which are close-ended because a borrower has to repay a specific credit amount.

Who is a loan originator?

A loan originator is also a very important person in a mortgage and HELOC. The loan originator can be a loan officer of the bank or any person working for a mortgage broker who has links with several lenders. He is the one who helps home buyers get the correct kind of loan depending on their income.

Also, the loan originator must provide the borrower with loan options with different kinds of lenders with whom he works. Generally, the borrower has no idea about which kind of mortgage options are present in the market and it’s the loan originator’s responsibility to make him aware of the same.

The loan originator is an important component of the mortgage agreement because there are various complications included. The lenders need various procedures to be completed. They can complete all the formalities which include submission of the financial documents and answering the relevant questions by the borrower.

With the loan originator at their end, the borrowers are easily able to close the loan.

They must help the customer and should not suggest those loans to the customers where their compensation is the highest. When the borrower is providing compensation to such a loan originator, he should not get compensation from any other party for the same loan.

Also, the banks that have hired such originators and pay compensation to them for closing the loans must have such records for 2 years so that no confusion is caused later.

Regulation Z about mortgages:

Transparency in transactions:

The banking officers have to be cautious with their advice.

As per this regulation, they can’t advise the customers about mortgage loans and home Equity line of credit(HELOC)which means paying a higher rate of interest even when making the latter get such a loan means a higher commission/compensation for the former.

In HELOC, the borrowers and lenders can establish a credit line at the time of the former taking a loan. When he repays his loan amount, his credit line is recharged. But he can only take a loan against the equity in his house till a certain time (draw limit). After that, he has to start repaying the debt portion of his house (repayment period).

Duties of the loan originator:

The loan originator must provide the buyer with the correct loan options as per his repayment capabilities and budget. It’s the duty of the loan originator as per regulation Z of the TILA act to prescribe the loan with the best options to the borrower. These options include a loan that has the cheapest interest rate and also no penalty on the borrower in case he prepays the loan. Also, the options must include the loan with the lowest compensation for origination.

Ability to cancel/rescind the loan:

The banks must also impart banking training to loan officer to inform customer of the right to rescission. The TILA also protects the customers in the case when they feel that the lender has pressurized them into getting a loan.

They can immediately give up all the rights to the loan and withdraw from it. For example, if the home buyers have taken a loan against the existing equity in the loan, they can back from this loan before the closing period. The borrowers have the right to cancel the loan 3 days before the closing period. This is an excellent option for home loan borrowers who have a certain amount of equity in their purchased property.

Banking training can protect the banks from suffering any jail term due to violations of the TILA act which can be 3 years.

27 Dec 2022

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What is the future of elearning in 2023?

Elearning will see a big change in 2023 because it will tremendously involve virtual reality now. So far, elearning has been used in a linear format with hurdles.

In this format, the learners must attempt a quiz before reaching the end of the module. Such tests are important to ensure whether the users have learned anything. After every 3–4 modules, there is a knowledge check to verify whether the learner has absorbed anything. When the learners are unable to clear any quiz, they can’t proceed to the second lesson consisting of more modules and hence have to go through the first lesson all over again. Including such tests can only ensure that learners can be trusted with work because they have completed a certain elearning assignment. In the future, following trends will be a part of the L&D:

Classroom training will be extinct:

Self-paced training will be the need of the hour because the employees prefer to work and learn from home. This has also become easier with so many elearning authoring tools becoming available so that the learning can be designed as per the course’s difficulty levels. Therefore, elearning is the need of the hour, and the days of classroom training are over.

If there is a problem with the computer, the employee can access the learning courses rather than sitting idle and zoning out. The scope of zoning out is even more in classroom training, where the environment is noisy, and not everyone can focus.

Necessary implementation of elearning due to a hybrid work culture:

We have embraced digital literacy since a long time now. Employees have started realizing that being digitally literate is no longer just a privilege but a necessity because companies are using hybrid work ways. Companies are now shifting to using more digital technologies at work, due to which employee training is also necessary.

Companies had to adopt a hybrid work model in 2022 despite the pandemic taking a backseat because the employees were not willing to rejoin the offices. In fact, they were leaving their jobs when asked to come to the workplace. 49% of employees consisting of millennials were not ready to rejoin offices, and the companies had to shift to a hybrid work approach because these people form a majority of technical employees.

When the employees don’t have any knowledge of the new software used to facilitate a hybrid work model, the companies can suffer. Hence, empowering employees is the only way before companies.

This is a serious problem because the employees seek those opportunities which provide them with growth opportunities. When the employees can’t get the knowledge they need to perform and grow in a job, they can quit. Every large-scale organization is providing employees with learning opportunities, either through an external vendor or a tie-up with an elearning partner that prepares the course. If the companies don’t focus on training the employees and retaining them, they are very much capable of doing it on their own.

Use of immersive technologies in elearning:

In 2023, extended reality(XR), which involves using AR, MR, and VR, will be used more. It’s because, in the coming year, employee experience will be at the center of learning. Employee training will be done using this technology for all kinds of industries.

In fact, since customer training has taken so much importance in these years, XR will be used for this purpose too. This kind of technology is useful when teaching people about dangerous jobs because it does not involve inflicting any harm. It is also less expensive, unlike actual equipment, getting used to training people for jobs such as operating flights.

Spread of gamification and mobile learning :

Moreover, mobile learning applications will increase because the consumption of mobile phones will enhance even more now. Even language learning applications are now using mobile phones.

Due to such easy accessibility of smartphones, gamification will assume increasing popularity in 2023. Games also provide a person with rewards, which is why people engage with them more to win points, which boost their pride also. It has been popular with people irrespective of age, a trend that will strengthen in 2023.

Immersive Games are getting used now to make people learn any foreign language. For example, gamers can see the background color of an environment change once they guess a new word. Since this involves a color change effect, the gamers are able to retain the word.

Cybersecurity training:

The elearning will become more employees centric in the future because employees are quitting jobs when not allowed to work from home.

With increased digitalization of processes, there will also be a high focus on cybersecurity training because the systems contain much more data than before. The entire customer and employee data is now present in a system that was not the case earlier. Hence, when a company’s systems are compromised, its servers can be used to get the payment information of customers.

Although employees will be trained in using digital processes, they will also be trained on how to keep the systems safe from any attacks. Due to this, cybersecurity training will form a major portion of elearning now. Companies can’t ignore the need for mobile learning solutions because they can be easily accessed by the work from home employees.

When its courses are not accessible in such a format, the work-from-home employees can feel that they are secluded, and the organization does not treat them as equal to the work-from-office employees.

Extensive focus on soft skills training for leaders:

Companies have to make employees stay and provide them with appraisal so that the former doesn’t bear the brunt of quiet quitting. It’s a troublesome scenario for a company when the employee is not willing to perform more than what is needed on the job. The employee has not resigned, but he is doing the least just in order to preserve his job and not be fired. In a Gallup survey that happened in 2022, 50% of the workforce was of quiet quitters.

Companies need productive employees who are willing to do more for them in times of recession rather than just stick to the job. Hence, when the company invests in the elearning of an employee, it’s a win-win situation for them because the employees feel associated with the organization.

Companies will also have to focus on leadership training so that they can prevent this trend of quiet quitting. Employees must get a positive environment at a workplace where the seniors are willing to listen to their problems genuinely. In that case, they can expect them to stay longer rather than leave at the first opportunity. So, leadership training, which ensures employees have positive and compassionate experiences at the workplace, is necessary.

21 Dec 2022

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3 mistakes to avoid while designing a sales training program

Sales training is a game changer for so many companies these days. But this needs to be done properly. Otherwise, the company cannot get the desired numbers.

The three mistakes a company should avoid while designing a sales training program are not teaching about sales targeting, having the same program for different employees, and not including senior sales employees in such programs.

Then, what should the sales training include?

Sales targeting:

Sales targeting included in sales training is teaching the sales personnel how to find the correct prospects and then convincing them to buy.

Therefore, Sales training is different from product training because every buyer has different needs. You can’t just make him buy the product by telling him about its extraordinary features or how it’s better than the competitors. A person might not need them or have the budget for them.

The employees not only need to be elucidated about product features but also have to know how to recognize the right leads(sales targeting).

They should not be wasting their time on someone with no requirements. Hence they should be given a detailed description of the buyer demographics in the sales training program. A proper process should also be included in such programs so that the trainees learn how to select the right prospects and how to solicit them. If the wrong prospect is selected, a salesperson can squander time.

Such prospects also have to be canvassed in the right ways; e.g. someone might need the product, but he has not been contacted at the right time, and a competitor scores with him. There’s also the problem of who makes the buying decision in a household or a company, whether the salesperson has approached that person.

Experience based training:

Similarly, all the employees can’t be given the same training because some have different needs as per their jobs and previous experience. The needs of the salespeople should be evaluated before training programs are prepared for them. This will help the company determine what skills are essential rather than serve them with a general sales training course.

The sales training modules also have to be designed in short modules. The sales guys just can’t digest the information in one long session. Just like Rome was not built in a day, nobody can make someone learn a new skill in a day.

Indeed, salespeople don’t have much time on their hands, but they can be asked to attend micro-learning sessions twice a week.

It’s also crucial that the salespeople are given knowledge checks to continuously make them remember what they learned in their last sessions. For this, they can be sent quizzes, and once they fail those tests, they can be given videos to supplement their knowledge. This way, the company can ensure that the salespeople perform just at the time when they are required to.

Knowledge of the senior sales persons:

The sales managers should also be made to participate in these sessions to provide effective mentoring to the trainees.

The new team members must know how the company’s sales veterans have attained their targets year after year. They must have some tricks up their sleeves.

A company has to include the sales managers in such training programs because they can solve the sales trainees’ problems when they cannot understand the process. They also act as relevant subject matter experts for the program. The course content of the sales training programs must meet their approval before it is scheduled for elearning so that the program has the desired effect.

Finally, designing a program as per the current market scenario

The company also has to evaluate their expectations from a program. If the company has not based its ambition on reality, then the sales training program is definitely going to backfire, which no company wants.

The company won’t invest its money in a sales training program knowing that its employees can’t meet unrealistic targets; hence, research about the market conditions is necessary before launching the sales training program.

Last, but not the least, selecting the right candidates for such programs

It’s also important that the company chooses the right candidates for the sales training program. During the hiring process only, if it does not find any candidate suitable for a sales process, it must refrain from selecting him. Also, if some of the employees can only count in average numbers, it’s better not to include them in any training program. A sales manager knows which employees can be groomed to get better numbers and who can’t. That’s why it’s important to judiciously select the trainees of such programs.

19 Dec 2022

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What are the major hurdles in rapid elearning development?

Rapid elearning is as good as classroom training. Every course can be taught through rapid elearning these days.

Therefore, rapid learning solutions are so necessary for every company, but they are not delivering the best results because of wrong output. Hence, there needs to be careful planning by the business and elearning vendor before they are purchased by a company.

Although rapid e-learning reduces development costs by using authoring tools, it does not have the same quality levels as a professional e-learning course. Hence, a business should not sacrifice the quality levels when it comes to rapid elearning.

If there’s a need for games and formative assessments, they can be a part of such an e-learning course.

It’s because even if it needs communication, with social media, rapid elearning provides an opportunity for it, too, like classroom training.

That’s why rapid e-learning has replaced classroom-based training in every sense of the word because learners also don’t miss any opportunities for interaction. The ability to integrate social media platforms with a course depends on which authoring software is used by your vendor to develop the course.

If there is the question of whether the learners can test their theoretical skills or not, it’s possible through virtual reality simulations. Checking whether the learners can practically use what they have learned theoretically is crucial to many jobs like nursing and flying airplanes.

These are the following issues which a business needs to address to ensure that its rapid elearning output is of the desired quality levels.

Challenges in rapid eLearning content development for a business

No clear strategy:

It could also be because it has not communicated clearly with the vendor. The business can’t leave everything to the vendor and needs to provide feedback at every stage.

Rapid e-learning is not about completing deadlines when the vendor is just supposed to deliver, but about creating something useful for the business. And that’s where the latter has to play a major role too.

The problem can arise when the business does not prioritize the elearning project and nobody from the company is assigned to manage the project.

So, allocate specific people to deal with the vendor’s queries, and have a single point of communication. With a project manager in place, the vendor knows that he has to get in touch with the former.

Also, with the project being developed and executed in stages, the project manager must be ready to review the vendor’s work after every step.

Not enough resources:

The business might not have enough resources for the project to succeed. For example, although SMEs from a company can do rapid e-learning because it’s done on an authoring tool, they can’t produce professional output.

For that, taking instructional designers’ help is necessary because the rapid elearning module needs interactivities and quizzes to test a learner.

Subject-matter experts can use the existing gaming templates; they can’t tweak them to create what’s best for the company’s needs.

The same rule applies to the content templates, which must be customized according to the company’s color scheme. Without professional multimedia developers of an elearning vendor company, businesses can be clueless about how to do the same.

Their designers are experienced in using graphic designing tools such as Photoshop to redesign the templates as per the required colors. He can even drag and drop elements on the template to modify their layout for a different look.

Unacceptable deadlines set by clients:

Also, if a vendor is not happy with the deadline, he will not give his best. Therefore, make sure that the deadline is established after the consent of both parties, so to avoid hassles and half-finished output. In the worst-case scenario, the vendor does not want to have any communication due to lack of time.

Cons of not hiring professional eLearning content development companies:

Lackluster training:

The companies need to rectify their rapid eLearning when the employees are not doing their jobs properly. It is causing problems for the other employees also. The content needs to have a sense to it because if the employees can’t put all the pieces together, it can lead to a lack of coherence for them.

The companies also must have the need-to-know information included in the eLearning module because otherwise, the employees feel bored with irrelevant data.

Irrelevant content:

When the employees are made to remember too much data than what’s pertinent to perform their job duties, it means cognitive overload. They might end up forgetting the things necessary for their job duties. Hence, including not more than contextual information is quite essential for businesses that need elearning content development companies.

Unorganized content:

The learners also need clear directions through the elearning module. The businesses can’t assume that the learners know how to go through an elearning module. They might not know how to proceed to the next module. Hence, there should be narration in the video, which can include instructions on how to move through the video, including attempting the assessments.

There can also be subtitles in the video containing instructions on how to attempt quizzes or what the next slide contains.

Adult learners need a reason to learn something. They won’t be interested in training when they are not given any reason. Hence, there is a need to have sessions with mentors/leaders to explain to the learners the importance of how attending a training module can benefit them because it will fill their performance gaps. Hence, this is how organizations can attain the best results with rapid elearning development.

Hence this is how organizations can attain the best results with rapid elearning development.

12 Dec 2022

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Six benefits of using storytelling in elearning

Storytelling is an intrinsic part of human culture. Generations have shared stories as heirlooms. So, it’s no doubt that it has become an inevitable part of elearning. The learners may not remember graphs and charts and their assimilated data. But they can remember a story because of its structure.

Moreover, storytelling is an interesting way to engage the audience because it takes the learners to a different environment. Employees are enthralled through simulations as they get some time away from the monotonous office environment. It’s also easy to get someone’s attention through a story because they have an element of intrigue in them.

Elearning content development companies also help organizations cash on this benefit of stories by curating those pertinent to their work processes.

Stories ensure people remember facts better; in fact, 63% of learners imbibe the data better in their minds when it’s interwoven with stories: These are the advantages of using storytelling in elearning:-

Get the audience hooked:

The elearning content development companies can prepare interesting storytelling scenarios for their clients.

Employees today face a lot of pressure at work for upskilling. But when the elearning module is not interesting enough, they don’t gain any knowledge. The learners’ interest can be grabbed at the beginning of the lesson when a story is told to them about another learner’s experience.

When learners listen to this story, they can learn how a subject working in a similar position faced a challenging situation.

The scenarios can help learners understand how complex situations can arise at the workplace because they contain relatable characters, or such stories can come straight from the horse’s mouth. When learners listen to someone’s experience who works in the same role, this has a profound impact on them.

Anecdotes can also be used in a module to inspire the learners because they can ensure that employees can learn how their seniors overcame problems. When senior employees share their experiences about solving problems by following a solution, they take an interest in upskilling themselves.

Explain facts:

It has been found that when facts are put into stories, learners retain them better; the retention rate is as high as 20 times. You can’t attempt to influence the learners by just stating facts to them through PowerPoint slides. Therefore, storytelling is an effective medium when the management has to affect the learners to modify their behavior radically.

With genuine stories, the learners are likely to be persuaded rationally and strongly to change their work practices. The company can narrate facts to the learners about how a certain skill can increase their productivity, but when they listen to someone’s similar experience, their perception of the same skill changes.

When seniors come out in the open about professional mistakes, the learners have the highest retention. The leaders and seniors inspire others to adhere to the company’s values.

Sharing such experiences is a positive way for organizations to make employees bond with each other. Employees prevent others from committing the same errors they did through such experiences. Hence, storytelling is the best way to teach others to escape such situations scot-free.

Spread awareness:

News can also be used to inspire learners. Such news can be any compliance lapses, including cybersecurity events in any organization, and have led to serious consequences for them. They can be video clippings of any real-life incident. You can teach compliance training interestingly through such videos because once learners have the backstory of how not following rules can cost a company; they are bound to be interested.

Explain the relevance of laws:

Detailed videos can also be shown to the learners, which let them know why a law came into place and how it can prevent negligence.

For example, a law regarding cybersecurity can be introduced to the learners about how it can prevent hackers from accessing the systems. It can prevent unauthorized access by only allowing designated personnel to use certain systems.

Through news bytes, the learners can learn how not following such rules has led to ransomware attacks in organizations.

Instill an understanding of the company’s values:

Stories can also be used to let the learners understand why an organization follows a certain set of values. There is always a reason why an organization believes in a specific value. When the organization’s history is portrayed through simulations, employees become empathic about the values and start believing in them. Sometimes certain values of an organization are very valuable for it because they have led to its success and hence should be followed by employees at all levels.

Stories spread easily:

Also, stories do get a word of mouth publicity rather than data. Once an employee attends a training session, he is bound to let others know about it, giving an incentive to the upskilling initiatives of the company. An organization can’t give data to people and expect them to remember it. But they will always remember it if data has been interspersed with a story.

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