Software is priced lower than ever. The nation's largest software manufacturers have created a competitive system of low-cost software. Formerly $495 software products are now available for $150. In some cases, products sell for only $99!

Now, the top products are available to everyone, even start-up businesses and home users...and the volume of sales is way up!

Popular software titles are upgraded usually once a year, and in some cases, interim releases are available quarterly. Each software release includes new features that are designed to make life easier for the computer operator. But this isn't always the case.

The current versions of the leading software programs are very powerful tools. We would never think of giving our teenagers the keys to the family car without first teaching them how to drive, but many of us would purchase a software program and expect to sit down and use it.

Most business software is too complicated to effectively learn without professional help. The software includes user's manuals; however, these are not designed to be all-encompassing learning tools. The manuals are designed to answer specific questions; they are more of a reference tool than a learning tool. While some products include tutorial programs or materials, the writers are principally responsible for creating software, not learning materials, and the tutorials often fall short of their mark. Computer users are forced to seek outside help.

The age of toll-free customer support may be coming to an end. Most software manufacturers are instituting a pay-per-call system for technical support. Questions are fielded either by long-distance or 900 numbers. If a business makes 25 technical support questions per year and each call averages 15 minutes at $2 per minute, the company has spent an additional $750 annually!

To help businesses effectively use software products, computer training companies have opened their doors. As of this article, I was able to find nine Howard County-based computer training firms actively advertising their services within the county.

Both individual and group training programs are available at the computer learning facilities. Also, a number of the centers offers on-site private tutoring and group training, as well as customized programs that meet special needs.

However, one of the greatest values of attending computer training is an understanding of which functions and operations are important to learn. Your software program has more functions that you will ever need, so a good computer trainer acts as a guide and presents those functions that are important to you. For example, all word processing users benefit from using a spell checking or grammar checking operation; however, not many will regularly use the automatic indexing and table of contents generating option. Experienced computer trainers understand this and will present the most-often used functions in an introductory seminar. The indexing, table of contents, and other advanced topics are saved for a later seminar.

Trainers often ask each student to describe his or her general duties and computer background during the class introduction. Using this information, the lecture and examples can be tailored to the class participants' needs. Each participant then has specific work-related examples of how to apply the functions and capabilities of the software at hand.

Class participants also learn from each other. It's surprising that most computer users have very similar needs. We all share common difficulties using a software program, and it's these needs that are best addressed in a group setting.

Another advantage to group training is the networking opportunities that present themselves. Participants often share phone numbers at the end of class and use each other as a personal support group. Especially after multi-day training classes, participants have established a rapport with each other that becomes an extra bonus after the class.

It's important to recognize the benefit of training all computer users. If training classes improve an employee's efficiency by only 25% that's a $5,000 savings for an entry-level employee! If an entire office staff's productivity were increased 25%, imagine the savings!

Here is a list of the Howard County-based computer training companies and the publishing firms that produce self-study and instructor-led learning materials. Howard County-Based Sources Of Computer Training:

Computer Perfect Learning Center
10500 Little Patuxent Parkway
Columbia, Maryland 21044
(410) 740-7373

Damar Group, Ltd.
PMB 616
6030-M Marshalee Dr
Elkridge, MD 21075-5987 USA
voice 1.888.290.6200
voice 410.567.5366
fax 801.650.0423

Future Kids
Suite 103
4785 Dorsey Hall Drive
Ellicott City, Maryland 21043
(410) 997-1400

Hammerman Associates, Inc.
6925A Oakland Mills Road
Columbia, Maryland 21045
(301) 596-2070

Howard Community College
10901 Little Patuxent Parkway
Columbia, Maryland 21044
(410) 992-4800

Manpower Temporary Services
5950 Symphony Woods Road
Columbia, Maryland 21044
(410) 997-0200

Scientific Systems & Software Corporation International
Woodmere II, Suite 405
9891 Broken Land Parkway
Columbia, Maryland 21046-1165
(410) 381-2342

Tectrix, Inc.
Suite 410
10320 Little Patuxent Parkway
Columbia, Maryland 21044
(410) 995-0200

Training To Go
3410 Orange Grove Court
Ellicott City, Maryland 21043
(410) 750-0184

Howard County-Based Sources Of Computer Learning Materials:

Damar Group, Ltd.
PMB 616
6030-M Marshalee Dr
Elkridge, MD 21075-5987 USA
voice 1.888.290.6200
voice 410.567.5366
fax 801.650.0423

Tectrix, Inc.
Suite 410
10320 Little Patuxent Parkway
Columbia, Maryland 21044
(410) 995-0200

David Stephen Murphy is President and CEO of Damar Group, Ltd. which presents computer training classes, publishes computer learning guides, and helps organizations do business on the Internet. The website is http://dgl.com, and Mr. Murphy may be reached at dave@dgl.com or 410.567.5366.

updated November 2, 1996
http://dgl.com/tbm/tbm9401t.html

Return to DGL homepage
Copyright © 1996, Damar Group, Ltd., All Rights Reserved