Gary Boomer says training budgets may be “tempting targets during tight times.”
But should firms really cut expenses in this area?
Boomer, citing Gartner Research, says every hour of IT training provides 5.75 hours of increased capacity. Do the math:
- 4.5 hours of experimentation – it takes an untrained worker twice as long to figure it out on his or her own.
- 0.25 hours of support – for every hour of training, help desk or support time is reduced by .25 hours.
- 1.0 hour of rework – review and fixing errors is reduced by 1 hour for every hour of training.
Boomer charts the areas where firms will see immediate, productive results in the technology:
| Time | Topic |
| 6 hours | eMail Management |
| 1 hour | Document Storage/Records Retention Standards |
| 1 hour | Search Techniques |
| 1 hour | MS Word tips and techniques |
| 1 hour | MS Excel tips and techniques |
| 10 hours | TOTAL |
“You will note that a significant amount of time is devoted to email management, because email is where most users (and particularly partners) spend a significant amount of time on a daily basis,” Boomer says. “Most have not conducted training, and a majority use email (MS Outlook) as a records management database rather than a mailbox.”
You don’t leave your paper mail in your mail box for months or years and sort it every time you need a letter or document. The same should be true for email.
