Why You Should Care About Apps
The skills shortage we all lament is a fact of life. And of the future of manufacturing. As our sector quickly transitions from ballroom dance to Whirling Dervish, we are required to master smart hiring and fast effective onboarding. This is where Apps can be a significant contributor to our success.
I am learning Spanish, admittedly for the second time. I started with a combination of Duolingo, Babbel, and Rosetta Stone. Why all three? My Rosetta Stone is old and requires I sit at my desk; the microphone doesn't work right so I can't practice pronunciation. DuoLingo is free and on my phone, but too leading in its instruction model. Babbel seems the best option, as it explains nuances of the language as I experience them. I expect to settle on it soon. I'm discovering which instructional design works best for the type of learning I am trying to accomplish.
Just as I learn Spanish via apps, apps can be leveraged to teach your products, your processes, your technology, and more. They can be used to help diagnose problems, and provide important reminders. They can explain distinctions. But all that only when you understand the issues in the first place to populate the app with logic. With constant feedback from the app, you can better understand and improve your business, if you design it that way. You'll know what people find difficult to understand, if you design it that way. And the app can help you see changes that should and should not be made within your business, if you design it that way.
You want people to learn and learn the right things quickly. You likely want to know what people find confusing, and what rules you've put in place that may not make sense. An app isn't for fun. It's for enabling your company to quickly and effectively onboard people. They will contribute more more quickly, and you will benefit from that, if you are clear on what you want them to learn and the instructional design that will best accomplish that.
It's not about the app; it never will be. Like most technology, it's about what it can do for your business if you utilize it well. Fast effective onboarding is a common problem that can be slashed via this simple technology. As our world continues to spin faster, overcoming this challenge is mandatory. An app is one way to attack it now.
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