Talking Training

Spotlight on Yardi eLearning

By Patty Evans on Apr 21, 2014 in People

Technology provides many different ways to improve our lives and business processes.  Yardi recently launched an exciting new training product that offers both our clients and their employees the chance to improve new hire training and ongoing employee development.

Yardi eLearning, developed internally at Yardi with the invaluable input of industry experts, is changing the way real estate professionals are educated on how to best use our market-leading software products. This intuitive learning and content management system provides easy navigation, quick access to training related information, course authorship and publicity for live training events.

This flexible system allows clients to use Yardi eLearning for a wide range of training topics (e.g., leasing agent, maintenance, and soft skills training), making it the centralized training hub in your organization. Use it throughout your business to resolve training needs with just-in-time solutions. Whether your goal is to provide new employees with orientation courses or add intermediate to advanced level curriculum to your course catalog for current employees, this solution can handle it all.

With multiple offices around the world, Yardi has embraced eLearning internally, as a supplement to our existing instructor-led training efforts. This option allowed us to address a broader range of training needs while directing our resources where they are needed most. While live training will always be our preference for certain topics, we are finding that our employees react well to a blended approach to learning, with some interactive live training and some engaging self-paced courses.

Self-paced training offers freedom and flexibility when it comes to scheduling, allowing Yardi employees to meet their clients’ needs while investing in their own professional development. Self-paced courses can also be set up for recertification purposes. When you have a human resources course, like ergonomics, which must be completed every two years, you can provide a set schedule. The user will receive an email when the course is due once again.   The Live Event module allows us to publicize our live webinars across multiple offices, incorporate online testing, and include attendance details in Yardi’s training activity reports.

Yardi eLearning is highly customizable and fully branded to the client’s specifications. All email communications and the platform itself contains client logos, color scheme and word choice that match the client’s mission and culture.

All of these learning activities feed into a centralized reporting system that is available at the Supervisor, Administrator, or Super Administrator levels. This empowers managers and team leads to review the learning progress of their employees and provide necessary and appropriate coaching.

At the heart of developing this product has been client input. Each client brings a new perspective and creative ideas on training to the table. We are thrilled to provide high value technology and a relevant course content library as they implement new training initiatives. Clients are trained on how to add custom content, including hyperlinks to important web sites, internal documents, videos, and webinars. Robust assessment tools allow authors to require successful completion of hands-on learning exercises, knowledge check questions, and online tests.

“We wanted a new training solution because our platforms for property management and accounting, revenue management, resident screening and other operations aren’t beneficial if our employees don’t know how to use them,” said Catherine Harris, vice president for Summit Management Services.   “Since adopting Yardi eLearning we’ve seen new hires perform at a high level sooner.  The training platform helps them bond immediately with our company’s values and creates a positive relationship that supports our retention efforts.”

The experiences of clients using the software to train first-time users of Yardi have been informative.

Cindy Sheehan, national trainer for Simpson Housing, used the eLearning platform to help implement Yardi Voyager throughout Simpson’s portfolio. She found that when employees complete eLearning courses in advance of an in-person training class, they grasp the concepts faster and have a much more productive experience, easing the entire implementation process.

“This gave them a step up on the system even before the trainers arrived at the offices for advanced training,” Sheehan commented.

To further expand the reach of eLearning, we’re developing an industry-specific soft skills content library that clients can customize. Management, leasing, maintenance and other vital real estate skills will all have compelling and informative coursework. We’re looking forward to transforming the way real estate companies train and educate their employees through the use of smart technology.

Patty Evans is a senior trainer at Yardi and the Team Lead for the Yardi eLearning product.