Play to Win, Play to Learn In 2020

We can look forward to seeing greater traction with virtual reality (VR) in training toward the end of 2020 or possibly the year after.

What does 2020 have in store for trainers and learners?

Hands-on training experiences in real-world scenarios are one of the most effective ways to learn. Add in problem solving and challenges, and retention is even higher. Creating dynamic, interactive environments has been greatly simplified with the development of virtual labs, and content can be controlled and lessons reused for improved cost efficiency. And when completely segregated from a company’s infrastructure, games are safe—if a user makes a mistake, there’s no damage.

As such, we’ll see gamification—long a fixture in cybersecurity—being applied to many different training areas in 2020. We’ll see new technologies being applied, too. For instance, while virtual reality (VR) tools aren’t quite there yet, learners will understand more when they see “the big picture.” We can look forward to seeing some traction with VR toward the end of 2020 or possibly the year after.

For large and growing enterprises, a more blended training strategy will be needed in order to scale in the year ahead. From on-demand training to virtual instructor-led training (VILT), a multi-pronged approach is the smartest way to provide the assistance and reach necessary to handle larger groups with diverse needs. Training is becoming more sophisticated, and delivery strategy must keep pace.

We’ll also continue to see big commodity cloud service providers (CSPs)—such as AWS, Azure, Oracle, and Google—competing over price and offering incentives. They’ll try differentiators, whether it’s being more geared for artificial intelligence (AI) or storage, but all will sell themselves as one-stop-shopping.

However some clouds are better at particular tasks than others, and those in training know specialized environments and purpose-built tools are vital. Running best-of-breed platforms like virtual labs on top of, and together with, large providers would be ideal for organizations that have relationships with commodity players. But most enterprises don’t want to align themselves with one provider; competition means lower pricing and greater flexibility.

That’s why we’ll see many more companies adopting multi-cloud strategies in 2020, and, specialized and commodity CSPs forming valuable relationships.