For organizations seeking to make workforce training as impactful as possible, eBooks and mobile apps from Index AR Solutions are a powerful approach.

That was one of many messages conveyed by Chris Biernacki, Senior Director of Client and Corporate Development for Index, at the recent AME Everywhere 2021 International Conference. Biernacki co-presented with Mike Hoff, Director of Health and Safety for MidAmerican Energy Company, a client who is using Index SuperApp™ solutions to transform apprenticeship training programs.

The pair discussed how Index eBooks™ and mobile apps significantly reduce the time needed to train a technically qualified, safety conscious and customer-centric worker. The digital solutions played a key role in how MidAmerican successfully combined two gas apprenticeships, each three years in length, into a single cohesive apprenticeship lasting two years.

The Index apps replaced static, paper-based material with interactive, highly visual content that boosts engagement and knowledge retention. The result is a more effective learning experience, particularly for younger hires – an important consideration for utilities like MidAmerican who are dealing with the bubble of an aging workforce.

Hoff also explained the challenge of having limited hands-on training available in a controlled classroom environment. For example, having rarely used meter set mockups available for training is difficult enough in a centralized location, but nearly impossible in a decentralized environment where workers are based in several states.

Index eBooks and mobile apps help overcome that challenge by capturing seasoned workers’ knowledge on video and in 3D animations, creating the best training platform possible for the classroom and beyond. New workers can now visualize how a specific brand of meter works while hearing about important service nuances in a training video. Installed on tablets assigned to each new apprentice, the solutions also allow a consistent training experience to continue remotely without disruption, anywhere at any time.

MidAmerican trainers note how the modern training offerings from Index also promote much more interaction and engagement in the young workforce. Not only do the videos and other digital training materials help ensure workers perform a task the same way every time, but they also help share workers’ passion across territories, fostering a valuable sense of esprit de corps.

Ultimately, MidAmerican expects to realize measurable benefits from their training investments in the form of greater workforce retention, fewer errors and more. To learn more about Index Apprentice Programs, visit indexarsolutions.com/apprentice-programs.