Are your colleagues using Microsoft 365 as much as you would have hoped?
Despite the widespread success of Microsoft’s cloud platform, many organisations still experience lower-than-expected user adoption rates. In many companies, employees use the platform’s most essential features (Office, SharePoint, Teams…) but rarely venture beyond that to use all the other tools available to them.
Microsoft Learning Pathways is an attempt to address this issue. It provides a way to offer Microsoft 365 training for your employees that they can access whenever they want to learn how to use a specific tool.
So, what is Microsoft Learning Pathways, and why do you need it?
Suggested: Are you REALLY using your Microsoft 365 licences to full effect?
What exactly is Microsoft Learning Pathways?
Learning Pathways is a fully customizable SharePoint online communication site. It is essentially a training portal where you can post your own Microsoft 365 training, as well as using content delivered through Microsoft’s online catalogue (which is updated quarterly).
Employees simply visit the SharePoint site where they will see training content about different apps in Microsoft 365, plus your company’s own custom training. They simply click on an app they’d like to learn about, and begin a training course.
Administrators can easily customise Microsoft Learning Pathways to the needs of their organisation. You can remove Learning Pathways for apps that your company doesn’t use, and also set up your own personalised training playlists.
Why use Microsoft Learning Pathways?
Imagine a factory that had bought a big piece of packaging machinery, but then didn’t train any of its workers to use it – this would be an obvious a waste of money. By analogy, investing in Microsoft 365, then failing to train people about how to use the apps they have access to seems similarly wasteful.
The trouble is, many companies offer little to no IT training, simply expecting employees to figure things out by themselves. Troublingly, surveys suggest that almost half of office workers in the UK have never received any kind of Microsoft Office training – let alone guidance on using other Microsoft 365 apps.
This issue is further compounded by the fact that there’s often a mismatch between how the C-Suite thinks that people are using technology, and how regular staff actually adopt tech. A PwC study found that 90% of senior executives believe their company pays attention to people’s needs when introducing new technology, but only 53% of workers agree.
The good news, however, is that people are keen to learn. The same PwC survey reported that most employees are curious about using technology, and are willing to spend up to two days per month upgrading their digital skills.
And this is where Microsoft Learning Pathways can help. By directing people to the SharePoint site – and keeping the training up to date and relevant – you can provide a way of offering useful training that people will actually learn from. That in turn should mean they’re more confident using the various apps in their subscriptions and improve the return on investment you’ve made in Microsoft 365.
Do you really need Microsoft Learning Pathways?
Microsoft Learning Pathways certainly isn’t the only way for people to learn to use Microsoft’s products. As part of a cloud migration strategy, it’s normal for people to get some training on how to use the apps. There is also Viva Learning which is available in Microsoft 365 (although this is more focused on general employee learning rather than IT adoption training), as well as, of course, the Internet where people can find plenty of decent tips for using Microsoft 365.
Nonetheless, Microsoft Learning Pathways should be part of the mix. Since it’s regularly updated with new content – while also being customised to the needs of your organisation – the training available is evergreen and relevant. Getting your employees to use Microsoft Learning Pathways also means that they will be learning from a reliable source that you control – rather than reading potentially incorrect information found online.
To decide if you really do need Microsoft Learning Pathways, a good place to start is by checking your Microsoft 365 Adoption Score, which tells you which apps people are using and how often. Having a good old-fashioned face to face chat with employees to learn what IT they use and what pain points they experience is invaluable.
Related: How to monitor Azure cloud adoption
FITTS helps you get up and running with Microsoft Learning Pathways
At FITTS, we have helped many of our customers launch Microsoft Learning Pathways and run campaigns to get people using the environment. We help businesses to customise Learning Pathways to their specific industry and can maintain and update the platform so it stays relevant and useful for employees.
Read more about our Learning Pathways services, or contact us today to get started.
