VoIP technologyUpgrading your hotel's communications network to utilize a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system can make a huge difference in your ability to attract new guests, and in the way you do business. VoIP allows for numerous competitive advantages, as well as new technologies and features that can both improve guest experience and smooth over your day-to-day operations.  

Making the decision to switch to VoIP is only half the battle, though. Unless you take the time to carefully train your employees and inspire them to get the most out of all that VoIP has to offer, you could end up losing out on your investment. To ensure that you get the most bang for your buck and remain relevant within the hospitality industry, we strongly urge you to approach VoIP training with employee engagement in mind. Here are a few tips for doing so:

Present VoIP In a Practical Way

There's nothing that non-technical employees hate more than being forced to sit through a complex training session or read through a challenging manual that's filled with highly technical terms. There's absolutely no benefit to you or your staff in stuffing their heads with terms and concepts that don't actually apply to their everyday job duties. The smarter thing to do is to determine how you can reframe your VoIP system's features in such a way that they make good business sense to each of your team members. Demonstrate which features apply to individual work duties and how they can make the user's life easier. This will motivate your staff to learn and make use of the new system.

Consider Interactive Training

If your training sessions involve rolling out a projector and requiring your staff to sit through a monotonous lecture, it's time to change your ways. With advancements in technology come advancements to our training techniques. Today's workers respond best to interactive practices. Replace still photos and diagrams with hands-on, tablet-conducted training, and swap out stiff slideshows for humorous yet informational YouTube videos. The more engaged and involved your employees are, the more they'll retain.

Let the People Choose

Sometimes scheduling a training session for all employees just isn't practical, and it becomes even more complicated when multiple training sessions are required. You may find that it's wiser for your hotel to provide self-serve training methods that empower employees to choose when to brush up on new technologies. In this way, your team can access training information and exercises whenever they have free time available. Shorter training sessions can be made available in order to accommodate these smaller blocks of time and help users to more readily digest information. 

A major perk of self-serve training is that each employee can learn at his or her own pace. This is great because it means that those employees who are more technically inclined won't end up being held back or frustrated by other staffers.  As some users complete training faster than others, they can provide assistance and guidance to those working at a slower speed. Ultimately, this will bring the entire hotel up to speed much faster than if you had relied on traditional training practices. 

Above all, remember that a switch to VoIP will require some extra time, effort, and training in order to be utilized to the maximum benefit. Providing your team with practical, engaging, and flexible training will provide you with the highest and fastest success rate possible while ensuring a smooth transition. Talk to the experts at PhoneSuite for more tips on VoIP training and to learn more about what VoIP can do for your hotel today.