Hello SimDevGroup Community-
This is more excitement for us than anything, but as of 2:33am this morning, all of SimDevGroup's backend management systems is 100% completely in the cloud. So, what does this mean and why did we do it? Here's why this matters:
- This reduces our IT costs by approximately 27% per year - Lower cost to us means lower costs for business simulation users
- This reduces our time on IT projects by about 73% - This is HUGE! This means we'll spend more time creating business simulations
- This reduces our Carbon Footprint. Its hard to measure and exact amount, but we don't have to run a closet of computer systems any longer.
- Since we're in the cloud, all computer systems sync in realtime. This means all simulation projects for training and development or leadership development are all in sync, all contacts, appointments, etc.
Overall, yes, we're excited, but anyone that uses SimDevGroup for custom business simulations or leadership development simulation should also be excited because this keeps our time to delivery down in addition to our costs of development.
Have a great weekend!
Friday, January 13, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Formats and Methods of Business Simulations- The Big Debate!
Hello SimDevGroup Community-
What format do you deliver your business simulation for training and development? Paper, Visual Basic, Flash, Flex, Compiled C, Cocoa, C#, Java, Sign Language? We have to ask: Does this really matter all that much? If the end product is exactly what you were looking for, why do people care? We use all of the above and aren't married or religious about the method and we'd suggest that you shouldn't be either.
Different business simulations have different outcomes (aka: Goals for training). Shouldn't this alone dictate the idea that different tools should be used depending on the outcome specifics of your training program. Note: Not the outcome of the simulation, but the outcome of your training and development objectives. Why do we point this out... Because business simulations should be a second priority, not the first! The first priority is ensuring the goals of your training and development program are met. Then comes business simulations.
Why are we writing about this? Because this old argument keep reappearing and we just kind of roll our eyes. The only time this really matters is if ERP or LMS integration is ABSOLUTELY essential. Why are we shouting absolutely? Because we're not a huge fan of massive overkill in any situation much less for Training and Development. These systems are huge and often massive overkill. Just IOHO ;D.
Anyway... why worry about the development environment? You should worry about the outcome and alignment. This is the most important part. Go with the 80/20 rule and you'll be happy.
Hope this helps. Have a great week!
What format do you deliver your business simulation for training and development? Paper, Visual Basic, Flash, Flex, Compiled C, Cocoa, C#, Java, Sign Language? We have to ask: Does this really matter all that much? If the end product is exactly what you were looking for, why do people care? We use all of the above and aren't married or religious about the method and we'd suggest that you shouldn't be either.
Different business simulations have different outcomes (aka: Goals for training). Shouldn't this alone dictate the idea that different tools should be used depending on the outcome specifics of your training program. Note: Not the outcome of the simulation, but the outcome of your training and development objectives. Why do we point this out... Because business simulations should be a second priority, not the first! The first priority is ensuring the goals of your training and development program are met. Then comes business simulations.
Why are we writing about this? Because this old argument keep reappearing and we just kind of roll our eyes. The only time this really matters is if ERP or LMS integration is ABSOLUTELY essential. Why are we shouting absolutely? Because we're not a huge fan of massive overkill in any situation much less for Training and Development. These systems are huge and often massive overkill. Just IOHO ;D.
Anyway... why worry about the development environment? You should worry about the outcome and alignment. This is the most important part. Go with the 80/20 rule and you'll be happy.
Hope this helps. Have a great week!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Business Simulations New Year's Resolution
Happy New Year SimDevGroup Community!
We've had a terrific 2011 and 2012 looks to be even better. This year, we are cutting back the number of business simulations we create (gasp!). Traditionally, we only do a handful. The reason is that we spend about 25% of our time doing research and development. The goal is to create the world's finest business simulations or leadership development simulations for training and development at the lowest price possible (aka: focus!). 2011 we only spent about 15% of our time in R&D and we want to ensure this doesn't happen in 2012.
With this in mind, we would like to solicit your help!
Please send us an email and tell us what you'd like to learn more about. Most of the business simulation research and development is dedicated to finding ways to teach others how to use a business simulation or leadership development simulation within training and development. To drop us an email, just use the contact form that is at the bottom of most any of our web pages. We use these forms because if we don't, we get an uncontrollable amount of spam.
Again: If you'd like to learn anything about using a business simulation or leadership development simulation, please send us an email and we'll do our best to create a method to share this information.
Happy New Year!!!
We've had a terrific 2011 and 2012 looks to be even better. This year, we are cutting back the number of business simulations we create (gasp!). Traditionally, we only do a handful. The reason is that we spend about 25% of our time doing research and development. The goal is to create the world's finest business simulations or leadership development simulations for training and development at the lowest price possible (aka: focus!). 2011 we only spent about 15% of our time in R&D and we want to ensure this doesn't happen in 2012.
With this in mind, we would like to solicit your help!
Please send us an email and tell us what you'd like to learn more about. Most of the business simulation research and development is dedicated to finding ways to teach others how to use a business simulation or leadership development simulation within training and development. To drop us an email, just use the contact form that is at the bottom of most any of our web pages. We use these forms because if we don't, we get an uncontrollable amount of spam.
Again: If you'd like to learn anything about using a business simulation or leadership development simulation, please send us an email and we'll do our best to create a method to share this information.
Happy New Year!!!
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Happy Holidays from SimDevGroup
Hello SimDevGroup Community-
Wow! The phones and emails sure have slowed down this week! This suddenly caused us to poke our heads out from building business simulations to realize that the holidays are here :) .
This is a just a quick note to say thank you and happy holidays! We've had a great 2011 and have built many exciting business training simulations and leadership development simulations. Thank you for trusting us as your partner. We've had a great time.
Happy Holidays!
- SimDevGroup Team
Wow! The phones and emails sure have slowed down this week! This suddenly caused us to poke our heads out from building business simulations to realize that the holidays are here :) .
This is a just a quick note to say thank you and happy holidays! We've had a great 2011 and have built many exciting business training simulations and leadership development simulations. Thank you for trusting us as your partner. We've had a great time.
Happy Holidays!
- SimDevGroup Team
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Collaborating on Business Simulations
Hello SimDevGroup Community!
Again, sorry for the lag in posts... again, its the run up to developing business simulations for January delivery. Anyway, we just wanted to quickly talk about the importance of collaborating on projects. We don't know it all (Gasp!). Far from it. We know how to build business simulations, but you know your business, your needs, and your company better than anyone else: Especially us!
Thus, we cannot over emphasize the importance you should feel when working with us. When we create business simulations, we hope to get as much input, ideas, and nutty concepts from our customers as possible. Through collaboration, we hope to learn from each other and build the best business simulation or leadership training simulation possible. We're very un-uptight, we don't take ourselves very seriously, and we love learning from others! Thus, don't hesitate to jump in with us, give us some ideas, and learn.
Have a great half week!
Again, sorry for the lag in posts... again, its the run up to developing business simulations for January delivery. Anyway, we just wanted to quickly talk about the importance of collaborating on projects. We don't know it all (Gasp!). Far from it. We know how to build business simulations, but you know your business, your needs, and your company better than anyone else: Especially us!
Thus, we cannot over emphasize the importance you should feel when working with us. When we create business simulations, we hope to get as much input, ideas, and nutty concepts from our customers as possible. Through collaboration, we hope to learn from each other and build the best business simulation or leadership training simulation possible. We're very un-uptight, we don't take ourselves very seriously, and we love learning from others! Thus, don't hesitate to jump in with us, give us some ideas, and learn.
Have a great half week!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Happy Holidays for Our US Based Customers
Hello SimDevGroup Community-
Specifically our US based community. We'd like to wish you a happy, safe, and most of all, FESTIVE holiday season. Apologies we've been quiet lately. Its our usual pre-January new business simulation development madness. We'll try to post more often.
Have a great holiday!
- The SimDevGroup Team
Specifically our US based community. We'd like to wish you a happy, safe, and most of all, FESTIVE holiday season. Apologies we've been quiet lately. Its our usual pre-January new business simulation development madness. We'll try to post more often.
Have a great holiday!
- The SimDevGroup Team
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Business Simulations and 2012
Hello SimDevGroup Community-
We're hard at work creating new business simulations for 2012. Here's what we're seeing in terms of trends for 2012:
- Business Simulations for self facilitation are back on the rise- This is great, but we're being very careful about who facilitates and ensuring the readiness.
- Business Simulations for assessment- This is a new one. Companies are starting to use business simulations for situational assessment. Its fun and interesting to use business simulations in this way.
- Business Simulations for Leadership Development- Nothing new here. Just seems to be on the rise.
Those are our top three so far. It seems that companies are getting their 2012 programs off the ground a little late this year. Usually by November, we're most of the way through development. This year, we're about halfway through which is late. No big deal. Just a little different.
Have a great week!
We're hard at work creating new business simulations for 2012. Here's what we're seeing in terms of trends for 2012:
- Business Simulations for self facilitation are back on the rise- This is great, but we're being very careful about who facilitates and ensuring the readiness.
- Business Simulations for assessment- This is a new one. Companies are starting to use business simulations for situational assessment. Its fun and interesting to use business simulations in this way.
- Business Simulations for Leadership Development- Nothing new here. Just seems to be on the rise.
Those are our top three so far. It seems that companies are getting their 2012 programs off the ground a little late this year. Usually by November, we're most of the way through development. This year, we're about halfway through which is late. No big deal. Just a little different.
Have a great week!
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