The training industry has a problem: A technology deficit.

accessplanit’s annual training industry benchmark report survey highlighted a number of issues facing the industry. Did you know, for instance, that the two most pressing challenges for training companies were promoting their courses (52 percent) and increasing competition (42 percent)?

Yet, despite those challenges, we’re facing a two-fold threat from the lack of technology: internal operations and external marketing.

Internal Operations

“Which type of system do you use to manage your training?”

The survey asked this question of training professionals, and the results may surprise you. Filling them out may be time-consuming, clunky and require you to duplicate data across the system, but according to this survey, the most popular method to manage all those courses, resources, trainer and learners was spreadsheets (37 percent).

Using spreadsheets instead of systems designed for the training industry is a lot like pedaling a bicycle at a NASCAR rally. It’ll get you around the track, but it won’t do it quickly or elegantly. In short, it just about manages, but it’s far from competitive, and it probably underperforms.

Service goes beyond simply administrating courses. There needs to be a focus not just on what learners are doing but also on how they’re doing it. It’s important to find the time to seriously develop training and grow your business in new and exciting ways.

“That’s fine,” you might think. “We always collect feedback, both pre- and post-course, to evaluate our offerings.” That’s great; not a single training professional surveyed didn’t collect feedback in some form. The problem is a lack of technology in this department. More than half (52 percent) of respondents still rely on paper feedback forms.

The effect of traditional, paper-based evaluations is that, under a watchful eye, learners give the answers they think you want to hear, and they rush completion instead of considering the course’s benefits, as they do using online evaluation systems. The result impacts your business, clouding your judgment. Yes, your data is technically accurate, but when you are considering spending real time refining your courses, it’s far better to ensure the data is genuinely meaningful and valuable.

External Marketing

How do training companies raise brand awareness? Social media marketing? Email blasts and pay-per-click ads?

No. There exists, even today, a reliance on two forms of course promotion. Forty-two percent of respondents said that company reputation is the best way to promote courses, while referrals made the most impact for 32 percent.

Notably, both of these tools are offline marketing methods. If you think relying on offline tools shuts out the largest part of the market, consider the fact that 32 percent of those surveyed stated that they do not offer any type of online booking process. To put it another way, 32 percent are actively restricting potential sales.

The online shopping economy is rising fast; in the U.K., it’s expected to rise by 14.2 percent to £230 billion in 2017, and in North America, online sales this year will net businesses $459 billion across all devices. For dedicated training companies, the popularity of online shopping opens an untapped revenue stream. We buy our books and films online; why not our training?

This report shows that we’re reducing our visibility and ceding ground to our competitors by refusing to invest in omnipresent digital marketing tools like search engine optimization (10 percent of participating training companies do it, and none finds it effective). Sure, you have a great website, but can anyone actually find it when searching online?

Either existing training companies address the threat of techno-ambivalence, or they’ll be queue-jumped by start-ups that are more than willing to deliver the service best-suited for modern-day learners.

Reasons to be Cheerful

As those who’ve spent all their life online begin entering the training industry, they’ll bring with them the digital knowledge and experience that comes from being marketed to across social media platforms and the internet at large. Compared to last year’s report, technology is beginning to dominate the discussion. In 2016, 58 percent of companies didn’t offer online booking and payment, and Google Ads have grown, if not exactly soared, in popularity over the last 12 months.

It seems that the training technology’s revolution is coming, but the going is slow.