1. Position Paper
Value of E-learning and Technical
Publications in the Training and
Education Industry
2.
3. Introduction
This position paper presents the value and need for TWB – Leading Technical Documentation
qualitative e-learning and technical publications in the
training and education industry. Outsourcing Company
In e-learning, learners decide how, what, and when TWB is a leading technical communication
they access information. E-learning is a dynamic outsourcing company that provides services in
process that is platform independent and provides technical documentation.
users with the advantage of reusing content
depending upon the environment and functional TWB is the pioneer and a leader in providing world-
needs. class e-learning services in technical
communication. TWB helps customers with all their
E-learning provides an effective classroom alternative e-learning needs such as ILTs, WBTs and CBTs,
to increase employee knowledge and skills. Industry along with process and workflow documentation.
reports show that by implementing e-learning, may
organizations have experience 50-75% reduction in TWB works closely with client teams located
training costs as compared to classroom training. globally, and assists them in meeting their worldwide
product announcements and launch deadlines. We
However, may organizations have fallen short of work round-the-clock with client teams and help
achieving effective e-learning training due to them with quick responses that facilitate timely
difficulties in implementing and lack of expertise in distribution of documents around the globe.
integrating technology.
“Knowledge is people, money, learning, flexibility
Effective implementation of e-learning necessitates and competitive advantage. Knowledge is more
the creation of training materials such as workbooks, relevant to sustained business than capital or
exercises, assessments, and demos for students and labor. And yet knowledge remains the most
employees. Meta-analysis states that the students in neglected asset of a business. TWB helps you
e-learning perform better than those in classroom unlock and share your technical knowledge with
courses. the world.”
“Overall usage of e-learning in Asia is expected
to reach a compound annual growth rate of 25%
to 30 % through 2010, according to a survey.
Worldwide that rate should hit between 15
percent and 30 percent, the report states.”
The rapidly growing need for effective e-learning
education makes quality documentation important for
employees and students. The training documents
need to be effective and interactive to the learners,
which necessitate the involvement of Instructional
Designers who specialize in creating these materials.
In this paper, we will discuss the importance of
technical believes that providing effective learning
“TWB publications in technology cannot exist
with respect to growth, implementation, and
without being communicated effectively.”
solutions.
“The global market for corporate e-learning will
grow nearly 27% compounded annually.” –
McGee, 2004.
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4. E-learning Industry – Technical Publications
Growth of the E-learning Industry Challenges and Solutions
Organizations are increasingly shifting their staffing Some of the greatest documentation challenges
models away from a dominant focus on trainers and faced by organizations today include:
are now more focused on e-learning services and
support activities. Governments and schools have Creating effective training and keeping the
added more online courses due to the fall in the audience engaged
cost of implementing e-learning tools.
Creating compelling and convincing training
material
“IDC forecasts that the e-learning market, which Enhancing the audience interest while
was about $21 billion in 2008, will increase to
explaining complex topics
more than $52.6 billion by the end of the year
2010.” TWB provides e-learning solutions with
professional quality which makes learning
simple. Interactive presentations are created to
make the learning more effective.
E-learning systems are standardized, which
often require modification to suit the different
types of training requirements of a specific
organization. It is essential that the training
materials are updated accurately and efficiently.
"According to Dr. Ronald Marks, marketing
professor at the University of Missouri, studies
claim that people learn up to 200% faster, pay Benefits
26% more attention, retain 38% more and
reduce their learning time by 25-40%, since TWB provides effective e-learning material to
multimedia presentations engage all the transfer knowledge through simple training.
senses." Producing professional training materials
The ratio of moderate increase to moderate benefit in:
decrease in e-learning industry is 41:1 with
significant increase of 23% annually. Understanding complex technical data
easily and quickly
Visualizing concepts or working on newly
developed products
Significant interactive experiences
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5. Value of Technical Publications
Technical Communication for Communication for Different Levels of
Transferring Product Knowledge Technical and Product Knowledge
The purpose of technical communication is to In technical publications, audience is the focal
transfer product knowledge to end users in a point. Hence, the style, language, and content
comprehensible manner. The strategies of must vary depending on the type of audience
communication and levels of information vary being addressed. It is because every user has a
depending on the type of product and audience. specific role in the implementation and usage of
the technology. Therefore, it is important that
Providing end users with information about a documents be created keeping in mind the role of
product’s operation and maintenance is critical to the person who will use the document.
the market performance of the product. Hence, the
need for quality documentation is imperative. For example, when you document a software
application designed for highly technical users, it
In today’s business scenario, technical publications is sufficient to provide the users with quick
are often developed as an afterthought. This reference information to use the application.
usually results in inaccurate and incomprehensible
documentation, which, in turn, renders the users For users who start without technical or product
incapable of using the products. knowledge, it is important to provide detailed
product information along with instructions on
Accurate, readily understandable, and quality how to use the product.
documents determine how a product sells in the
market and result in increased customer
satisfaction. Attractive Publications as Useful
Marketing Tools
Faulty Assumptions that Result in Faulty
Documentation Besides transferring knowledge, technical
publications are also used for marketing a product.
Before a product is released in the market,
The faulty assumptions listed below result in information about the product needs to be
incomprehensible documents: effectively communicated to the customers.
Developers know their products better than Well-designed, accurately presented, and attractive
anyone else – due to time constraints and limited marketing collaterals increase the market prospects
resources, many companies assign their of a product and reduce support costs.
documentation tasks to the programmers. This
more often results in the creation of technology-
centered information, while end users require
task-oriented information.
Documentation of complex applications requires a
longer learning curve for the writer - learning the
product will not be a major obstacle for writers
with the right technical background.
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6. Conclusion
Importance of e-learning: E-learning systems are often customized to meet the specific needs of
organizations. With the reduction in implementation cost of e-learning tools, businesses, educational
institutes, and government organizations have added more online courses and computer-based distance
learning to their training needs. Effecting e-learning implementation helps users operate and maintain
systems with ease, and improve work efficiency and business.
Value of Technical Publications: Technical Publications are very essential for transferring product
knowledge to end users. Provisioning of proper material to use the technology and products enables the user
to accept and efficiently use the product. Faulty assumptions about documentation lead to inaccurate and
incomprehensible information. This also decreases the chances of marketing the products in the global
market.
Role of Documentation Outsourcing: The complexity involved in implementing an e-learning system
requires that vendors and purchasers consider outsourcing their development needs to well-established
technical publications solutions providers. This helps the company cut costs and at the same time deliver
their products with quality documents.
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7. TWB Services
TWB is India’s leader in technical communication outsourcing and education. TWB offers a complete suite of services that
allows our customers to effectively publish their technical knowledge with their people and processes. TWB’s customers range
from Global 500 – including Cisco, Accenture, McAfee, LG, Samsung, Citrix, SAP, Siemens, AOL, Intel; Indian technology
majors – including Infosys, Wipro; Global defense majors - Pratt & Whitney, Honeywell, DRDO, HAL; and exciting technology
startups. TWB's expertise in technical communication ranges from IT Products and Outsourcing, ITES, Banking, Financial,
Aerospace, Defense, Ship Building to Hi-tech Manufacturing, and Discrete and Process Manufacturing.
TWB’s services include:
Technical Marketing Technical Product Documentation Quality
Solutions Documentation Management
Datasheets
Administrator’s Guide
Datasheets Copy Editing and Proof Reading
API Document
Cheat sheets Managing Writing
Configuration Guide
Solution Briefs/Solution Brochures Editing Services
Functional Specifications Document
Presentations – Layout and Design
Products/Corporate Profile Installation Manual
Creating SLAs
Brochures and marketing collateral Interface Document
Web content Interactive Electronic Technical Business Documentation
Manual (IETM)
Audio and video scripts
Maintenance Manual Business Proposals
Press releases
Online Help Legal Disclaimers
Direct mail
Operation Manual Policy Manuals
Newsletter design copy
Product Demo Style Guide Design
Sales catalogues
Product Specifications Document Template Design
Sales sheets
Product Overview Document
Quick Reference Guide
Business Communication Content Management
Release Notes
Short Reports Requirement Analysis Document
Single Sourcing
Proposals SDK Document
File Version Control
Case Studies Troubleshooting Manual
Document Naming Conventions
Lab Reports User Manual
Consistent Document Formatting
Memos Open Source Documentation
Data Transformation
Progress/Interim Reports Programmers Guides
Writing for Electronic Media Functional Specifications Document
Use Cases Web site Development
Illustrations Online Help /Context Sensitive Help
Web 2.0 development
Troubleshooting Guides
Graphic Designing Web content
Info graphics Web applications
Qualitative Analytics for
2D & 3D animation
Decision Support Translation and Localization
Line drawings and illustrations
Services
Economic Business Research
Process Documentation
Industry Analysis Software Translation Services
Workflows Market Opportunity Analysis Document Translation Services
Standard Operating Procedures Competitive Business Analysis Localization (L10N) Testing
ISO Documentation Company & Prospect Profiling Internationalization (I18N) Testing
CMM Documentation Reporting Solutions
Assessment of Unmet Market Needs Records Management
Deployment and Support Status and Potential of Technologies
Document Management Solutions
Benchmarking of Strategies Vs
Record Management Storage and
Installation and Configuration Competition
Retrieval
Guides Forecasting
Operations Manual Sales Force Effectiveness
Market Assessments
Competitive Intelligence
Opinion Leadership
Emerging Markets - evaluation and
research
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9. Technical
Communic
ation for
Industries
Transferrin Served
g Product
Knowledge
TWB services a wide range of technology and knowledge-driven industries, helping them meet their markets better. These
TWB services a wide range of technology and knowledge driven industries, helping them meet their markets better, these
include:
include:
Banking, Insurance and Financial Services ITES/ KPO/ BPO
Consulting and Business Services Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology
Defense, Aerospace and Hi-Tech Manufacturing Process Manufacturing and Allied Industries
Education and Learning Steel, Ship Building, Construction and Aviation
IT, ITES Telecom and Digital Communications
TWB has been the preferred technical documentation outsourcing company for:
TWB has been the preferred technical documentation outsourcing company for:
The TWB Building US Office:
No: 4062, 19th Main Road, TWB
HAL 2nd Stage, 11701 Norwegian Wood Drive
Bangalore – 560008 Austin, TX 78758
India.
Landmark: Behind Carlton Towers
Telephone: Telephone:
+91.80.40741400 / +1.512.586.8357
+91.80.41256367
Corporate Enquiries:
corp@twb.in
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