Maximize Your Training Budget

How to Maximize Your
Training Budget

© Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Page 2
Presenters
Zane Schweer Ryan Day

• Understand the value of training, but….
o Organizing, prioritizing, distributing and finding funds is easier said than done
• Troubling trends from annual IT Skills and Salary Report
Why we’re here
IT decision-makers have a
budget, but didn’t approve
training
IT decision-makers have
no training budget
41% 42%
IT decision-makers have a
budget
59%

• We see a range of situations, and want to share best practices, tips and
resources to make sure your team and organization are getting the training you
all need.
• Help ID and utilize funds you might not even know are there
• Real-world scenarios
Why we’re here
For the 41% with no
budget
Cash alternatives
For the 42% who didn’t use
their budget:
Tips on how to prioritize and
realize training value

Ways to buy training
Ways to buy
training
À la carte
Pre-pays
Special
offers
Credits
and
vouchers
Private
group
Tuition
reimburse-
ment

Strategy
Ready, Aim, Fire!
Fire! Aim, Ready.

Strategy
1. What’s your most critical project?
2. Who should train?
3. What is your budget?
4. What does success look like?

What are your critical projects?
 List all known projects
o ID skills needs
 Speak with stakeholders (managers, employees, tech provider, etc.)
o Is it high-value to the organization? What is the priority level?
o Is it high-risk?
 Criticality of skills
o Your optimal training type is dependent on the criticality of skill you need to
add.
 Nice-to-have skills = Self-study (e.g., Google) and e-learning libraries
• Are you OK with no expert interaction or guidance?
 Need-to-have skills = Instructor-led training course

Who should train
 Does everyone involved in a project need training?
o Individual skill sets or team skills
o New skills or enhanced skills
o Number of people
 Desired learning environment / way to train
o Individual or group training
o What is the training provider recommending?
o Delivery formats
o Classroom, virtual, on-demand or blended

What’s your budget?
 Prioritize funding based on skills need
o Nice-to-have vs. need-to-have
o Less critical skills might get no training
o Project budgets
 Is it realistic?
o Set expectations – don’t set yourself up for failure
 If you underpay for training, it’s going to hurt you in some way
 Are you spending your budget in the wrong areas?
o Review on-demand and e-learning library reports and if usage is low, you may be getting
minimal return. Speak with employees to find if there’s value.

What does success look like?
 List your goal(s)
o Examples: Revenue growth, develop new product / product deploys on time
 Post-training debrief
o Did you reach your goal(s)?
 How does the result compare to your initial definition of success?
o How do you plan to maintain the skills?
o For managers:
 Is your team overcoming obstacles or finding more efficient ways to deliver results?
o For students:
 Are you more productive following training?
 Are you completing tasks more quickly?

Prepays
 Lock in discounted training rates by investing funds upfront
Benefits
 Reduces risk of “use it or lose it”
 Not forced to determine training needs immediately
 Protect against surprise budget “fluctuations”
 Reduced level of effort around payments and billing

Promotions
 Periodically check training websites
o Limited-time offers
o Website exclusives
o Membership discounts
 Social media

Tuition reimbursement
 No longer just for traditional continued education
 Top-tier training providers partner with accredited colleges
For employees
 Review your employee benefits
 Check with HR
For employers
 Attractive to larger organizations
 Tax deductible per employee
 Success is found when you develop a partnership, program and a strategy with
a provider

Private group training
 Highly valuable and critical projects
 Provides an environment geared toward your team’s specific needs
o Customized curriculum
o Can share internal company information freely
o Scalable for large or small groups
 Flexibility – choose your location
 Better rates than public training schedule
o Reduced cost per student
o Instructor-travel included!

Training credits
 What are they?
o Issued by tech providers as a way to help you drive the most value out of
investment
o Help reduce risk of technical debt
 Providers
o Cisco, Citrix, Juniper, Microsoft, VMware, Global Knowledge and more
 Do you have them?
o Not always easy to find internally—ask around!
o Be in constant communication with tech buyers in your org because you might have
a lot or you can start requesting them

Training credit best practices
 Know your balance and when they expire
 Know what they can be applied to
 Assign an internal contact
 Let your training account manager know!
 Only accepted at authorized training providers

Training credits vs. Prepay agreements
Training Credits
• Tied to one tech vendor
• Sometimes a better dollar for dollar deal
• Only accepted at authorized vendors
Prepay Agreements
• Flexibility to train on anything in training
company’s catalog
• Discounted rate
• Only accepted at that training company

Strategic partnering
Negotiate training into IT purchases
 Avoids/reduces drawing from standard development budget
 Opportunity for discounted rate on vendor training credits
Work with other departments
 Combine budgets

If you work in government
Don’t go at it alone!
United States
 Government and Military Smart Savings
 Federal Voucher Program
 Government Deposit Program
 SmartPay 503G
 General Services Administration (GSA schedule)
Canada
• Standing Offer and Supply Arrangement

SCENARIO 1
Year is ending, but you have funds remaining
If you know … book the course.
If you don’t know … prepay agreement.
Avoid this training purchase pitfall:
Buying specific courses without clearly defined organizational or individual needs.
There are a lot of "courses” out there. Some might look similar but are quite different.
When in doubt, speak with a representative at the training company to help find the
right course for you.

SCENARIO 2
You can only buy one course per employee
• As an employee
• Talk with manager, training advisor and view top courses / learning paths
• As an L&D/training coordinator
• Talk with management, training advisor
• Quizzes and assessments
• Subscriptions
• (e.g., Ultimate IT Skills Subscription)

SCENARIO 3
You have $15k, mix of SATVs, CLCs
Contact your account manager

SCENARIO 4
You have an 8+ person team that needs the same skills…
(e.g., certification prep)
Private group training
• Discounted rate
• Reduced travel
• Location of your choosing
• Only your employees

SCENARIO 5
No budget
Time to knock on doors
• Project and/or equipment purchase funds
• Combine department funds
• Vendor credits

Next steps…
1. Work on and answer questions about skills needs
2. Learn more and/or take advantage of:
• Prepays
• Vendor credits
• Private group training
• Tuition reimbursement
3. Talk with an account manager.
 If you don’t have one, call the company’s 800#. Ours is 1-800-COURSES.

Resources
A Complete Guide for
How Organizations Buy
Training
Special Offers
Training Credits
and Vouchers
Information
Training Planner

Maximize Your Training Budget

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