Will Chadwick, Vice President of Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) explains, "Many organisations are challenged daily to enhance the skills of their workforce against a backdrop of limited resources and increased compliance and regulations, when it may not always be possible to schedule down time for training. TIS creates over 3,000 hours of learning content across 160 projects every year, and our data shows that organisations genuinely benefit if they review how training is delivered to their workforce and question whether there's a better, smarter, and more innovative way of meeting their objectives."

According to TIS there are seven distinct approaches to learning. They usually do not deliver a perfect training solution in isolation, but have maximum impact when blended into an effective training programme. The approaches are

• story-based learning - appropriate for training with long shelf life, such as a company introduction;
• application training - appropriate for the rollout of a new system, such as SAP, where employees need to practice in advance and get the functionality right the first time;
• 3D animation - appropriate for teaching "hard" skills as it enables learners to visualize sequences and manipulate objects in a realistic setting;
• serious games - appropriate for teaching business-critical skills that are otherwise difficult to learn, be they knowledge, process, concept, or strategy;
• interactive portals - act as a wrapper around clunky LMS interfaces so that employees can share their own content and experiences using informal learning;
• business simulations - most appropriate for experiential learning, where the application of conceptual knowledge is used to solve real business problems;
• mobile learning - appropriate for providing knowledge and skills training to a mobile workforce within short time increments.

Chadwick adds, "The key to getting the best learning solution without encountering risk is to understand when and where to apply different learning techniques. Another big factor, of course, is risk. Employee training and skills enhancement within a large organisation that operates across multiple sites can be a complex and expensive business. While getting it right can deliver massive dividends, it may be considered too risky to contemplate experimenting with a different approach."

"However, dismissing new and innovative learning techniques as too risky could mean that learning professionals miss out on the opportunity to optimise their training programmes. New methods can maximise the effectiveness of learning interventions, stretch the learner, and deliver a fresh perspective in achieving business goals."