A training video alone does not make effective online training. It is only the starting point. Good online training only works when employees can quickly find the content, easily understand it and use it again later.
How can companies achieve this? With a clear structure, suitable video formats and a platform that makes learning easier instead of more complicated.
Table of contents
- What is online training?
- Why is online training becoming increasingly important for companies?
- What are the benefits of online training?
- Where is online training used?
- What role do videos play in online training?
- Online training, digital training or online continuing education: what is the difference?
- How can companies implement online training successfully?
- Online training with VIMP: Providing training content securely
- Conclusion: Online training requires structure
- Frequently asked questions about online training
What is online training?
It is is a digital training format that allows participants to access and complete learning content online, regardless of their location. It can either take place live, for example as a webinar, or on demand as a recorded training session. In practice, companies often combine videos, presentations, documents, quizzes, and certificates in order to create a structured digital training experience.
| Training format | Description | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Live online training | Training takes place digitally at a fixed time | Workshops, product training, webinars |
| On-demand training | Content is available at any time | Mandatory training, onboarding, continuing education |
| Video-based training | Knowledge is delivered through videos | Processes, software, products, compliance |
| Blended learning | Combination of in-person training, video and digital learning modules | Extensive training programs |
| Interactive online training | Content is supplemented with questions, tests or certificates | Training requiring proof of completion, e-learning |
Why is online training becoming increasingly important for companies?
It is becoming more important because companies need to share knowledge faster, more flexibly and more consistently. Especially for hybrid teams, multiple locations or recurring training topics, digital training helps companies provide content efficiently and make it available for long-term use.
Typical reasons for online training
Knowledge needs to be shared regularly
Recurring training topics can be created once and used multiple times.
Teams work remotely or across different locations
Employees can access content regardless of location or schedule.
Content changes frequently
Training materials can be updated centrally and made available quickly.
Training progress must be documented
Questions, tests or certificates can show whether participants have understood the content.
What are the benefits of online training?
It gives companies more flexibility, better scalability, and a more consistent way to share knowledge. When companies use videos, they can present content in a more visual, practical, and reusable format.
1. Flexible learning regardless of time and location
Participants can complete online training flexibly — regardless of location, work model or time zone. This allows companies to provide content on demand and reach teams across different sites, in the field or in international structures.
2. Consistent knowledge sharing
Digital training ensures greater consistency because all participants receive the same content, explanations and basic information. This is especially important for compliance topics, product training, process changes or security-related information.
3. Better understanding through video
Videos explain processes, software features, or complex topics more clearly than text documents because they combine explanation, example, and application. This makes them especially useful for content that participants need to understand and apply in practice.
4. Reusable training content
Once created, training videos can be used multiple times. New employees, existing teams or external partners can access the same content, while companies save time and reduce the workload for specialist departments, HR, support teams and internal trainers.
5. Better traceability
Training can be supplemented with questions, tests, or certificates. This helps companies see whether participants have completed and understood the content—especially for mandatory training, compliance topics, or internal qualification programs.
For companies that want to establish online training as part of a broader digital learning strategy, VIMP offers various options for media-based e-learning.
Find out more on our page about the e-learning solutions from VIMP.
Where is online training used?
It can be used in many areas of a company. It is especially useful wherever knowledge needs to be shared regularly, updated quickly or documented reliably.
Employee training
Employee training is one of the most important use cases. Companies use it to teach internal processes, software tools, safety requirements, product information or new ways of working digitally, ensuring that all employees share the same knowledge base.
Onboarding new employees
Onboarding becomes easier because new employees can access key information in a structured format at any time. As a result, teams, managers, and HR departments do not have to explain the same content repeatedly, while all new employees receive a consistent knowledge base.
Product training
Product knowledge changes constantly, as new features, use cases, or target groups need to be explained clearly—both internally and externally. Digital learning formats help companies share this knowledge quickly with sales, support, partners, or customers. Videos are especially useful here because they show products directly instead of just describing them.
Compliance and mandatory training
For compliance and mandatory training, it is not only knowledge transfer that matters, but also proof of completion. That is why companies often supplement digital training with questions, tests or certificates. This allows them to document that employees have received, completed and understood specific content.
Continuing education and knowledge transfer
Online continuing education supports long-term knowledge transfer because companies can collect, structure and provide specialist knowledge centrally. As a result, internal know-how remains available over time and depends less on individual employees.
Would you like to take a closer look at how learning videos can be used in education?
Then read our article: Why learning videos improve lectures.
What role do videos play in online training?
Videos make learning more visual because they do not just explain content—they also show it directly. As a result, they are especially useful for processes, software features, product explanations, or complex topics. However, videos become truly effective when companies not only combine them with clear learning objectives and a meaningful structure, but also with supporting elements such as documents, questions, or short summaries.
Suitable video formats for online training include:
- Screencasts for explaining software, tools or digital processes.
- Explainer videos for introducing basic concepts or new topics clearly.
- Product videos for presenting features, use cases or sales knowledge.
- Process videos for showing workflows, standards or internal guidelines.
- Recordings of live training sessions for making content available again later.
- Short microlearning videos for delivering compact learning impulses.
Further questions?
Online training, digital training or online continuing education: what is the difference?
The terms sound similar, but they have different focuses. While Online training usually helps participants develop practical skills, digital training typically describes specific training content delivered in digital form. Online continuing education, on the other hand, often goes further and focuses more strongly on long-term competence development.
Online Training
…is usually practical and helps participants apply specific skills directly. It is therefore especially suitable for software training, sales training or product training.
Digital training
…provides specific content on a defined topic. Companies use it, for example, for mandatory training, data protection training, internal processes or safety briefings.
Online continuing education
…often includes several modules and supports the long-term development of knowledge and skills. It is therefore particularly useful for personnel development, professional qualification and continuous learning.
How can companies implement online training successfully?
Successful learning programs need more than good content. Therefore, companies should first define the training objective, the target group, as well as how learning success will be measured. Only then should they decide on media, structure, and technical implementation.
- What should the online training achieve?
The learning objective comes first. Companies should define what participants should know, understand or apply after the training. This creates content that provides real value in everyday work.
- How should content and media be structured?
Good digital training consists of short, clearly structured modules. Videos are especially useful for processes, software or products, while checklists, PDFs or infographics can provide helpful additional information.
- How can online training remain clear and secure?
Companies should provide training videos and supporting media centrally. Categories, Channels, Playlists and clear access rights ensure that content is easy to find and only visible to the right target groups.
- How can learning success be tracked?
Questions, tests or certificates show whether participants have completed and understood the content. This is especially useful for mandatory training or compliance topics, where training results need to be documented reliably.
Online training with VIMP: Providing training content securely
A structured digital training setup only works well when participants can quickly find the right content—and when companies can control at all times who is allowed to access what. This is exactly where VIMP comes in.
With VIMP, companies, public authorities, and educational institutions can centrally provide training videos and supplementary media and manage them securely.
VIMP supports digital training with:
- Central media management: Training videos, documents, images, and other media are stored in one structured location.
- Clear organization: Categories, groups, channels, and playlists help to structure training content in a meaningful way.
- Targeted access: Media permissions can be used to control which individuals or user groups are allowed to view specific content.
- Flexible integration: Videos and media can be integrated into existing learning environments and digital training processes.
- Secure delivery: Content remains controlled and accessible, instead of being scattered across external platforms, file storage systems, or individual links.
Conclusion: Online training requires structure
Digital learning makes knowledge more flexible, easier to understand, and usable in the long term—especially when videos are integrated in a meaningful way. However, it is not only the content that matters, but also the way it is provided: in fact, those who organize training videos centrally, make them securely accessible, and structure them clearly thereby create a strong foundation for digital learning. With VIMP, training content can be centrally provided, managed, and made accessible in a targeted way for exactly this purpose.
For more structure in your training programs
Frequently asked questions about online training
It is a digital form of training in which learning content is provided via the internet. It can either take place live or be available as an on-demand training independent of time.
It enables flexible learning, while also reducing organizational effort and making training content reusable. As a result, companies can deliver knowledge in a more consistent and scalable way.
E-learning is the umbrella term for digital learning. An online training, by contrast, is usually a specific digital training measure on a particular topic, such as data protection, product training, or employee onboarding.
Companies should first define the target group, learning objective, as well as the content. After that, suitable media such as videos, documents, or quizzes are created and then centrally provided via an appropriate platform.
Videos explain complex content clearly and practically. They can show processes, demonstrate products, and convey knowledge in a form that participants can watch multiple times.
Suitable content includes, among others, onboarding materials, product training, compliance topics, software tutorials, process training, safety instructions, as well as internal training measures.
Important are clear learning objectives, understandable content, secure access, central management, good findability, as well as—if needed—options for evaluation or certification.
Would you like to provide video-based training in a secure and structured way?