How to make practice-intensive software training online capable?

It is clear that no training sessions will be held in our own training center or at the customer’s premises in the near future. Training courses are currently only held online.

It is also becoming clear that online training (similar to the home office) is here to stay.
Training providers have already reacted and are already successfully offering many training courses online. The practice-intensive SW training courses often cause problems.

Zoom, WebEx, Teams and the like are not enough for practice-intensive training.

Theoretical training can be very well mapped with coloboration tools such as Zoom, WebEx, Teams,… can be mapped. Participants and trainers can communicate with each other and also exchange documents. It becomes more difficult when the participants also have to do practical exercises with the software to be trained. The Coloborations tools cannot help here. The software must therefore be installed on the subscriber’s end device. Participants often do not have the necessary end devices, unsupported operating systems or a lack of knowledge or the rights to install software. Installation at the subscriber’s premises is also not permitted under licensing law.

The solution: the training desktop from the cloud

Cloud desktops such as deskMate or Windows Virtual Desktop can be used to supplement these training courses. They can be used to make access to the software to be trained as easy as possible.
Cloud desktops run in the provider’s data center. A web browser is sufficient for accessing these, as the end device only serves as an output and input device. An installation of software or plug-ins is not necessary on the participant side.
During training, trainers can connect to individual participant desktops at any time to provide help and support quickly.
The cloud desktops are also managed from any location via the web browser. The training images, i.e. the environment that the participants see, can be created and managed by most providers themselves. Existing images can be imported so that such a virtual environment is ready to start within just a few days.

Cloud desktops and colloboration tools are generally billed according to the “pay-as-you-use” principle, so that costs are only incurred when training courses are held.

Conclusion

Of course, there are training sessions that require the trainer to be physically present. There are also training courses that require haptics or devices on site and therefore cannot be mapped remotely. But if you look into the matter, you will realize that many training courses can be held online with relatively little effort, quickly and at a manageable cost.
Once the current crisis is over, cloud desktops will also simplify the administration and handling of training courses in the company’s own training center and at the customer’s premises.