The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week that, although the US unemployment rate is high, there are 3.7 million job openings still available. What is preventing these positions from being filled? The US workforce’s lack of training, suggests the Bureau.

ON24, a leading technology company that provides virtual and webcasting solutions, has announced that its newest social media tool which includes a Cover Flow widget for virtual training through webcasting, could be a solution to these hard times.

“Cover Flow enables the addition of a playlist of on-demand videos to a webcast and features a carousel-style presentation that creates a visual content library. The widget allows the audience to browse thumbnail images of the videos and then play them immediately within the webcast environment, increasing engagement and helping to deliver a cohesive story by providing relevant background and/or refresher information,” said ON24.

Virtual training can be an effective solution to training problems. According to a survey of professional trainers, 88 percent stated virtual training lowers overall training costs while 85 percent stated they believe virtual corporate training is more convenient than in-person training.

“With these new widgets, we are enhancing the power of virtual communications solutions for enterprise business applications,” said Tom Masotto, vice president of product management at ON24. “Our focus is on building widgets to support employee training and collaboration specifically.”

ON24’s social networking widgets that integrate with ON24 Platform 10 additionally include Salesforce.com Chatter, VMware Socialcast and Microsoft Yammer thus improving social networking opportunities during online events hosted by ON24.

“Social media is playing an increasingly important role in enhancing the effectiveness of enterprise webcasting,” said Steve Vonder Haar, senior analyst with Wainhouse Research. “By providing tools that enable the integration of enterprise social media applications, such as Chatter, SocialCast and Yammer, ON24 is supplying solutions that make it easier for employees to be engaged with virtual events and corporate webcasts.”

Source: Business Review US Edition