Client Input

Key to eLearning

By Mike Sederholm on Feb 9, 2018 in News

The user experience can make or break a piece of software, and user feedback is of key importance to the software development process. Companies strive to learn how customers respond to products wherever possible, be it through social media, focus groups, surveys or client conferences.

Without input from users, software developers can miss out on opportunities to innovate new features that take into consideration the unique needs of their users’ daily workflows.

Chris Ulep, Yardi vice president of multifamily product development, describes how a strong client involvement benefits his team’s development process. “Clients have a strong voice in the design of Yardi solutions. We value their input because it makes our development process faster and more responsive to their immediate needs. We embrace the opportunity to engage clients during development process, and leverage their vast experience and understand their requirements,” Ulep said.

That philosophy is also evident in how Yardi develops content for its online staff training platform, Yardi eLearning. One of the main ways the Yardi eLearning team solicits input from clients is through monthly roundtable sessions, available to any client free of charge.

“Our monthly client roundtables are interactive, informative and collaborative. Leading trainers and content designers from around the country gather for quick, one-hour sessions that cover a variety of topics. Our roundtables bolster creativity and foster new ideas by sharing new ideas on the screen for everyone to see. Prioritizing those ideas as we develop features and curricula is just one of the ways we ensure Yardi eLearning content stays relevant and in alignment with our clients’ needs,” said Patty Evans, director of corporate training and eLearning for Yardi.

While inspiring conversation is valuable for participants, the camaraderie of the events is even more important. “The opportunity to meet regularly with a community of professionals who have similar goals, challenges and interests is refreshing and inspiring,” Evans said.

Topics for the highly interactive roundtable discussions change each month. A session in early 2018 focused on how clients can use Yardi eLearning to manage staff talent. The session presented how Yardi eLearning can support comprehensive talent management strategy with tools for record-keeping, communication, data transfer and reporting.

“With these features, clients can track staff goals, assign new challenges, document and deliver feedback, honor employee achievements and schedule records to be emailed to supervisors and synced with HR systems nightly,” Evans said.

Roundtables for February and March 2018 will cover how to use the enhanced course authoring tools available to Yardi eLearning clients, as well as QA testing for the newly authored courses.

The eLearning team provides links to register for monthly roundtable sessions via a client newsletter, sent via email. If your company is a Yardi eLearning client, be sure to look each month for the newsletter and register to attend. Yardi eLearning SuperAdmin users can also use the chat function on their dashboard to quickly access a registration link for each month’s roundtable.

Not an eLearning client? Log on to yardi.com/eLearning and learn how to deliver an interactive and effective learning experience to your employees. Yardi eLearning is also a central platform for trainers to broadcast live training classes, administer webinars and report on learning data from any web-connected device.