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anyone remains unconvinced that corporate training needs to be a priority, then it isn’t for a lack of warning. But knowing that you need to invest in training doesn’t position you at the first step of an obvious path. That part is easy. It’s what follows that can really test a business: namely, deciding how to handle employee training, figuring out everything from how much money to put towards the matter, to how to choose the topics that will prove the most impactful.",[183,191],{"start":184,"end":185,"type":186,"data":187},323,340,"hyperlink",{"link_type":188,"url":189,"target":190},"Web","https://360learning.com/blog/ultimate-guide-employee-training-program/","_blank",{"start":192,"end":193,"type":186,"data":194},371,411,{"link_type":188,"url":195,"target":190},"https://360learning.com/blog/training-as-an-investment/",{"type":99,"text":197,"spans":198},"The COVID-19 pandemic upended daily business operations everywhere, forcing companies to rely even more heavily on technology to keep the wheels turning. And most companies did just that, sending their employees home and tasking them with working remotely. While many people now embrace remote work with open arms, this shift also increased the urgency around cybersecurity, considering that even more of the average business’s operations have gone online. ",[199],{"start":200,"end":201,"type":186,"data":202},239,255,{"link_type":188,"url":203,"target":190},"https://360learning.com/blog/remote-management/",{"type":99,"text":205,"spans":206},"Knowing that they have good reasons to worry about online operations, smart companies have made substantial commitments to cybersecurity training, with the goal of protecting their interests through making their employees, partners, and clients safer. 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Sadly, this isn’t how it works. These days, everyone will need access to the company systems, and that could lead to vulnerability.",[],{"type":99,"text":243,"spans":244},"The tried-and-tested chain analogy holds sway here. Every route in and out of any part of your online operation (every user, in fact) constitutes a link in the overall chain, and one link being compromised can plausibly lead to the entire chain falling apart. Compounding this issue is the evident truth that the average person doesn’t know all that much about cybersecurity problems.",[245,250,252],{"start":246,"end":247,"type":186,"data":248},113,132,{"link_type":188,"url":249,"target":190},"https://www.techrepublic.com/article/cybersecurity-pros-are-humans-really-the-weakest-link/",{"start":251,"end":208,"type":210},119,{"start":253,"end":254,"type":186,"data":255},361,383,{"link_type":188,"url":256,"target":190},"https://upcity.com/experts/9-cybersecurity-risk-management-tips-smb/",{"type":99,"text":258,"spans":259},"Ask people if they worry about their online security, they’ll probably say yes—but this doesn’t tell you much. We all know that the ocean holds an astonishing range of threats, yet we mostly don’t fear it all that much because we assume they’ll never get us—and because we don’t know exactly what the threats are.",[260],{"start":201,"end":261,"type":210},257,{"type":99,"text":263,"spans":264},"If you aren’t aware of what makes something threatening, you can’t act appropriately, and so it is with the internet. You need people throughout your business to act appropriately at all times. Training them will increase awareness and knowledge in your workforce around these important issues. 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Phishing attacks spoof trusted email addresses to trick the unsuspecting recipients into providing their login details.",[283,288],{"start":284,"end":285,"type":186,"data":286},115,133,{"link_type":188,"url":287,"target":190},"https://www.csoonline.com/article/2124681/what-is-social-engineering.html",{"start":289,"end":290,"type":186,"data":291},243,259,{"link_type":188,"url":292,"target":190},"https://www.duocircle.com/content/protection-from-phishing",{"type":99,"text":294,"spans":295},"Suppose that one of your employees is taken in by such a phishing attack and ends up losing some money to scammers. How do you think that will impact their work? They’ll likely end up dwelling on the situation while they’re supposed to be getting things done. This also goes for issues that your employees’ friends and family members might face. Parents in particular are vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks.",[],{"type":99,"text":297,"spans":298},"You can’t take responsibility for what happens outside of work, of course, but you can make a concerted effort to train your employees in a way that helps them prevent such issues from occurring. They can pass tips to their friends and family members, for instance, making it less likely that problems will come up.",[299],{"start":300,"end":301,"type":210},83,87,[303],{},"text$f2376c40-e0d6-44b3-94fa-4dafedbec968",{"primary":306,"items":332,"id":334,"slice_type":231,"slice_label":41},{"text":307},[308,311,317,324],{"type":236,"text":309,"spans":310},"Behavior outside of work can affect behavior at work",[],{"type":99,"text":312,"spans":313},"Even when internet users do know what issues to look out for, there’s a lot of confusion about how to address them (and why it’s worth it). This is important since they can’t rely on corporate protection outside of work hours. Many of them would benefit from taking advantage of security software, yet they have good reasons for refraining, often involving pricing and no clear impetus. All those tips you provide can go to waste if your employees don’t actually act upon them.",[314],{"start":315,"end":316,"type":210},25,28,{"type":99,"text":318,"spans":319},"What’s more, even if you feel confident that you can initially strong-arm your employees into doing the right things at work, their overall attitudes will inevitably come to the fore in due course. In other words, if they don’t care about cybersecurity in general, they’ll eventually stop following your best practices (viewing them as alarmist inconveniences).",[320],{"start":200,"end":321,"type":186,"data":322},252,{"link_type":188,"url":323,"target":190},"https://www.upguard.com/blog/cybersecurity-important",{"type":99,"text":325,"spans":326},"Due to this, you need to ensure that your training is broad enough to help people understand why cybersecurity is important in all reaches of life. It can’t stop at basic comments concerning what can go wrong and tips about changing passwords. It needs to encompass everything from the costs of safeguards (time, effort, and money) to the potential consequences of failing to implement them: yes, this is where horror stories about identity theft are worth dredging up.",[327],{"start":328,"end":329,"type":186,"data":330},432,446,{"link_type":188,"url":331,"target":190},"https://www.aura.com/learn/what-to-do-if-your-identity-is-stolen",[333],{},"text$dc2d39c0-b3e2-4d98-8bb8-3373da158c9c",{"primary":336,"items":363,"id":365,"slice_type":231,"slice_label":41},{"text":337},[338,341,344,352],{"type":236,"text":339,"spans":340},"Using Collaborative Learning will increase efficiency",[],{"type":99,"text":342,"spans":343},"Productivity will always be a top priority: no company is so flush that it can justifiably waste resources and proceed at a glacial pace. And while the transition to remote working has been surprisingly smooth overall, it’s hard to make the case that most companies are making the most of the new standard model.",[],{"type":99,"text":345,"spans":346},"There are many reasons for this (including communication problems, weak motivation, and reduced creativity), but the most significant here is the administrative drain caused by workers not knowing how to get things done securely. If it takes someone thirty minutes to resolve a basic issue with their VPN software that should have taken them a few minutes at most, for instance, that’s a glaring weakness from an HR perspective.",[347],{"start":348,"end":349,"type":186,"data":350},301,313,{"link_type":188,"url":351,"target":190},"https://surfshark.com/",{"type":99,"text":353,"spans":354},"So you need to train everyone in capably handling their cybersecurity tasks—and just as everyone matters for productivity in regular workdays, full participation in the training effort can speed things along immensely. After one employee has been comprehensively trained in a given area, they can embrace a Collaborative Learning approach to provide reliable support to their colleagues, saving you time, money, and effort. 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Here's what this means for L&D leaders around the world.",[],{"id":103,"type":104,"tags":436,"lang":6,"slug":106,"first_publication_date":107,"last_publication_date":108,"uid":106,"data":437,"link_type":137,"key":450,"isBroken":139},[],{"name":110,"job":111,"portrait":438},{"dimensions":439,"alt":110,"copyright":41,"url":115,"id":116,"edit":440,"tile":441,"header":444,"xl":447},{"width":114,"height":114},{"x":61,"y":61,"zoom":118,"background":64},{"dimensions":442,"alt":110,"copyright":41,"url":122,"id":116,"edit":443},{"width":121,"height":121},{"x":61,"y":61,"zoom":124,"background":64},{"dimensions":445,"alt":110,"copyright":41,"url":128,"id":116,"edit":446},{"width":127,"height":127},{"x":61,"y":61,"zoom":130,"background":64},{"dimensions":448,"alt":110,"copyright":41,"url":134,"id":116,"edit":449},{"width":133,"height":133},{"x":61,"y":61,"zoom":136,"background":64},"d6b0e81d-4182-4785-bd94-a4ac3e9a9e01",{"id":141,"type":142,"tags":452,"lang":6,"slug":144,"first_publication_date":145,"last_publication_date":145,"uid":146,"data":453,"link_type":137,"key":454,"isBroken":139},[],{"name":148},"d25e0b23-3f22-4525-b5a5-3765b6d91f24",[456,460,466],{"tag":457},{"id":161,"type":154,"tags":458,"lang":6,"slug":163,"first_publication_date":164,"last_publication_date":164,"uid":163,"link_type":137,"key":459,"isBroken":139},[],"9dd2486d-d186-4ed5-a62f-5fd1806c79e5",{"tag":461},{"id":462,"type":154,"tags":463,"lang":6,"slug":464,"first_publication_date":171,"last_publication_date":171,"uid":464,"link_type":137,"key":465,"isBroken":139},"XtdbWxAAAF1ySE3N",[],"remote","79c914f4-2c57-44cc-b67e-cf340ea235ac",{"tag":467},{"id":168,"type":154,"tags":468,"lang":6,"slug":170,"first_publication_date":171,"last_publication_date":171,"uid":172,"link_type":137,"key":469,"isBroken":139},[],"de946951-c203-4292-97a1-b60fb294ab27","2020-12-02T23:00:00+0000",{"link_type":137},[473,504,521,542,575,594,608,622,666,697,710,726,741,746],{"primary":474,"items":501,"id":503,"slice_type":231,"slice_label":41},{"text":475},[476,482,485,488,490],{"type":99,"text":477,"spans":478},"Coming into 2020, the last thing our divided world needed was a once-in-a-generation pandemic. Lo and behold, along came COVID-19 to tear our best-laid plans asunder, making this year feel like a virtual write-off for many (pun firmly intended). In an effort to combat its spread, governments everywhere put their countries into lockdown, requiring citizens to stay at home whenever possible. The result? Boredom, frustration, and alienation.",[479],{"start":61,"end":480,"type":481},95,"strong",{"type":99,"text":483,"spans":484},"",[],{"type":99,"text":486,"spans":487},"Even so, every cloud has a silver lining, and there were indeed some positives to draw from the experience — the most notable being the glut of free time to spend however you preferred (within the confines of your home, that is). Playing games? Absolutely. Exercising? An excellent option. In a fast-paced world, this was a chance to breathe.",[],{"type":99,"text":483,"spans":489},[],{"type":99,"text":491,"spans":492},"On top of the many challenges, there were interesting opportunities in the business world, too. Companies had to make major operational changes just to survive. The move to remote working was a sharp shock, but it cemented an established trend towards working from home. Switching to virtual collaboration was trickier: a BCG study of the first COVID-19 lockdown found that while productivity stayed high for individual tasks, it dipped for collaborative tasks.",[493,496],{"start":494,"end":495,"type":210},188,191,{"start":497,"end":498,"type":186,"data":499},320,331,{"link_type":188,"url":500},"https://www.bcg.com/en-gb/publications/2020/valuable-productivity-gains-covid-19",[502],{},"text$6179ea6e-ceff-48fa-921e-d729e12d4131",{"primary":505,"items":517,"id":519,"slice_type":520,"slice_label":41},{"image":506,"has_grey_background":139,"caption":41,"cta_type":514,"cta_link":515},{"dimensions":507,"alt":509,"copyright":41,"url":510,"id":511,"edit":512},{"width":508,"height":494},512,"BCG Study","https://images.prismic.io/360learning/1bfd432b-322c-41ed-9f63-e00b50a43f58_Blog_In-Lockdown_graph.png?auto=compress,format","X8jzZxAAACIAInOU",{"x":61,"y":61,"zoom":118,"background":513},"transparent","link",{"link_type":516},"Any",[518],{},"image$0b2a5921-8b1c-49c5-8463-3ddd45a21bc9","image",{"primary":522,"items":539,"id":541,"slice_type":231,"slice_label":41},{"text":523},[524,527,529,532,534],{"type":99,"text":525,"spans":526},"This situation was a focus-sharpener for those with ambition. Business owners buckled down. They rethought and made adjustments. As a result, you can point to almost any business currently operating and know that people had to make some major changes during the frenzied midpoint of 2020. If they hadn’t, they wouldn’t have survived for very long.",[],{"type":99,"text":483,"spans":528},[],{"type":99,"text":530,"spans":531},"The real question, though, is what all of these changes mean for L&D. Allocating resources to different departments is a tricky task, and the relative importance of different areas of business has changed a lot this year. So, how has L&D fared?",[],{"type":99,"text":483,"spans":533},[],{"type":99,"text":535,"spans":536},"That’s what we’re going to consider in this post. Let’s take a look at how the lockdown has made L&D more important than ever before - and what it means for you in the coming year. ",[537],{"start":61,"end":538,"type":481},181,[540],{},"text$4e582bf8-469c-4b9e-8615-4aec09dcf665",{"primary":543,"items":572,"id":574,"slice_type":231,"slice_label":41},{"text":544},[545,548,559,561,567,569],{"type":236,"text":546,"spans":547},"How important was L&D prior to lockdown?",[],{"type":99,"text":549,"spans":550},"First up, a question: how much of a priority was L&D before all this craziness? Well, we can look at spending stats to get some ideas. According to Statista, the average annual training spend per employee per year rose incrementally between 2008 and 2018 (with 2010 being anomalously high), with the amount hitting just under $1,300 by the end of that period.",[551,554],{"start":552,"end":553,"type":210},53,59,{"start":555,"end":556,"type":186,"data":557},135,156,{"link_type":188,"url":558},"https://www.statista.com/statistics/738519/workplace-training-spending-per-employee/",{"type":99,"text":483,"spans":560},[],{"type":99,"text":562,"spans":563},"Accounting for inflation, these incremental rises don’t seem all that significant. Companies seemed to be in a rut with their training commitments, nudging budgets slightly over time without investing heavily. This is at odds with how important L&D should have been: employees are every company’s greatest asset, and nurturing their development should be a priority.",[564],{"start":565,"end":566,"type":210},249,256,{"type":99,"text":483,"spans":568},[],{"type":99,"text":570,"spans":571},"So, is it possible that 2020’s many strange developments have pushed companies to reframe their priorities? Let’s delve deeper and see exactly how L&D has changed.",[],[573],{},"text$b6aef79a-a117-47b8-9217-5a0c68200ac1",{"primary":576,"items":591,"id":593,"slice_type":231,"slice_label":41},{"text":577},[578,581,584,586],{"type":236,"text":579,"spans":580},"Supporting your people is tougher without physical oversight",[],{"type":99,"text":582,"spans":583},"Before lockdown, the average workspace was monitored from every direction. Managers buzzed around workers, office cameras ran non-stop, and colleagues could share each other’s struggles and triumphs in person. This made it easier to highlight competency gaps: if someone encountered a task they couldn’t complete, it was tough to hide.",[],{"type":99,"text":483,"spans":585},[],{"type":99,"text":587,"spans":588},"With most companies operating remotely, this kind of oversight isn’t possible. This makes it a lot harder to give people the support they need when they’re struggling. You can tell everyone to ask for help whenever they need it, but they might not follow through out of embarrassment. They may even fear for their position, regardless of any reassurances about job security.",[589],{"start":590,"end":538,"type":210},176,[592],{},"text$9f65c201-71d0-4d70-97f9-f870977e8ce0",{"primary":595,"items":605,"id":607,"slice_type":520,"slice_label":41},{"image":596,"has_grey_background":139,"caption":41,"cta_type":514,"cta_link":604},{"dimensions":597,"alt":600,"copyright":41,"url":601,"id":602,"edit":603},{"width":598,"height":599},1600,670,"360Learning","https://images.prismic.io/360learning/63eb595f-5787-4852-b090-84f3fcf58954_Blog_In-Lockdown_360L.png?auto=compress,format","X8j0BBAAACMAInZG",{"x":61,"y":61,"zoom":118,"background":513},{"link_type":516},[606],{},"image$13338913-17cd-436f-84cc-4dff76c873f6",{"primary":609,"items":619,"id":621,"slice_type":231,"slice_label":41},{"text":610},[611],{"type":99,"text":612,"spans":613},"This alone is certainly cause to invest further in L&D, putting more time and money into testing and improving each worker’s set of skills and capabilities - particularly through supporting collaborative learning over regular elearning. It’s no longer viable to simply sit back and let office life play out with physical oversight.",[614],{"start":615,"end":616,"type":186,"data":617},179,212,{"link_type":188,"url":618},"https://360learning.com/blog/covid19-collaborative-learning/",[620],{},"text$160485f0-31aa-4fa8-b031-21e1f0c822cd",{"primary":623,"items":663,"id":665,"slice_type":231,"slice_label":41},{"text":624},[625,628,636,638,644,646,649,651],{"type":236,"text":626,"spans":627},"Mental health has become an operational priority",[],{"type":99,"text":629,"spans":630},"Looking after mental health has always been a big issue, but it’s become even more important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Feeling safe and secure at work is key for keeping people calm and content, and in these circumstances, it’s tough for anyone to feel 100%.",[631,634],{"start":632,"end":633,"type":210},32,39,{"start":635,"end":300,"type":210},82,{"type":99,"text":483,"spans":637},[],{"type":99,"text":639,"spans":640},"In this context, companies wanting to support their employees — and help them to be productive — must invest accordingly. This is driving a significant bump in the importance of overall people development, including L&D and HR departments. Business leaders are taking great care to support their teams, ensuring that everyone can continue to grow and develop as professionals and as individuals.",[641],{"start":642,"end":643,"type":210},376,380,{"type":99,"text":483,"spans":645},[],{"type":99,"text":647,"spans":648},"Beyond simply being the right thing to do, offering this support also safeguards your business. It’s how you retain your best performers and keep them contributing to the long-term value of your brand, as well as maintaining your reputation with customers and stakeholders.",[],{"type":99,"text":483,"spans":650},[],{"type":99,"text":652,"spans":653},"Arne Stamer, an ecommerce expert at My Package Tracking, said this about mental health, \"You can't overestimate mental health in the workplace. This should be one of your top priorities. To achieve this, you can, for example, invest in team building activities, online and offline, such as online cooking events or team retreats. COVID can't be an excuse to neglect those things. It's the other way around: You have to put more focus on them than ever before.\"",[654,658],{"start":121,"end":655,"type":186,"data":656},55,{"link_type":188,"url":657,"target":190},"https://my-package-tracking.com/",{"start":659,"end":660,"type":186,"data":661},226,260,{"link_type":188,"url":662,"target":190},"https://snacknation.com/blog/online-group-games/",[664],{},"text$05a2871f-9550-4236-bbda-19181c1ad7d7",{"primary":667,"items":694,"id":696,"slice_type":231,"slice_label":41},{"text":668},[669,672,677,679],{"type":236,"text":670,"spans":671},"Lockdown has redefined task management",[],{"type":99,"text":673,"spans":674},"Now that remote working has become the new standard, it’s radically changed how businesses define productivity. So far, this has proven to be a mixed bag: some workers are able to be more productive while working from home, while others have struggled due to the loss of useful habits and lack of clear boundaries in their lives.",[675],{"start":676,"end":494,"type":210},183,{"type":99,"text":483,"spans":678},[],{"type":99,"text":680,"spans":681},"What makes this even trickier to get right is the lack of understanding of software resources and how they impact workplace culture. Managing performance and keeping people productive from a distance isn’t easy. You need tools for task management (GetBusy has a useful guide), time tracking (Toggl Track — formerly just Toggl — is a hugely popular option), training advancement (360learning), and more.",[682,685,689],{"start":683,"end":684,"type":210},199,200,{"start":686,"end":201,"type":186,"data":687},248,{"link_type":188,"url":688},"https://www.getbusy.com/guides/task-management",{"start":690,"end":691,"type":186,"data":692},292,303,{"link_type":188,"url":693},"https://toggl.com/",[695],{},"text$b2ff6116-945b-48c0-99cd-312fdc794fb2",{"primary":698,"items":707,"id":709,"slice_type":520,"slice_label":41},{"image":699,"has_grey_background":139,"caption":41,"cta_type":514,"cta_link":706},{"dimensions":700,"alt":702,"copyright":41,"url":703,"id":704,"edit":705},{"width":598,"height":701},774,"Toggl","https://images.prismic.io/360learning/b3de3067-d690-44ec-9c9d-f6928297639c_Blog_In-lockdown_Toggl.png?auto=compress,format","X8j0VBAAACEAIne6",{"x":61,"y":61,"zoom":118,"background":513},{"link_type":516},[708],{},"image$dbfdcadb-6d17-413a-ab06-8bf5215c4ab5",{"primary":711,"items":723,"id":725,"slice_type":231,"slice_label":41},{"text":712},[713,716],{"type":99,"text":714,"spans":715},"With the work environment changing so much, investing in L&D is critical. Your people need to be trained on building up new habits to suit fully-digital operation. They need to learn how to manage their time with limited oversight, stay motivated at home, and minimize distractions. ",[],{"type":99,"text":717,"spans":718},"Each of these things is a lot more challenging than it sounds. Getting it right takes active training; simply pointing people to some basic guides won’t give them the help they need.",[719],{"start":720,"end":216,"type":186,"data":721},86,{"link_type":188,"url":722},"https://360learning.com/blog/active-learning/",[724],{},"text$3ff8e5d4-1a86-413c-8ae5-61bf0c3854fb",{"primary":727,"items":738,"id":740,"slice_type":231,"slice_label":41},{"text":728},[729,732],{"type":236,"text":730,"spans":731},"L&D was always important; now, it’s critical",[],{"type":99,"text":733,"spans":734},"L&D is indeed more important in late 2020 than ever before. It has a huge effect on company performance, and more business owners are acknowledging the role it has to play in keeping them afloat. Though investment in L&D was flat in recent years, hindsight will likely show that it rose significantly in 2020 - and all in the context of a global recession. For L&D leaders determining their business budgets for 2021 and beyond, L&D has to be a top priority.",[735],{"start":736,"end":737,"type":210},108,109,[739],{},"text$c6bc9abc-2b6b-4dc8-8f8c-7eebfae075ca",{"primary":742,"items":743,"id":745,"slice_type":371,"slice_label":41},{},[744],{},"tags_section$ff51ea6e-5e64-4793-ba7e-959f64517318",{"primary":747,"items":748,"id":750,"slice_type":377,"slice_label":41},{},[749],{},"subscription_banner$bab88df2-fbee-4239-8bc4-e565fbf807ae","L&D Importance in Lockdown - Key Insights for You","COVID-19 has fundamentally reshaped the way we work. In this article, we explore what that means for L&D leaders - and why offering great learning support is more important than ever before.",{"dimensions":754,"alt":400,"copyright":41,"url":755,"id":402,"edit":756},{"width":381,"height":382},"https://images.prismic.io/360learning/652520b6-dd0f-4d2f-b9f4-06463f4731c5_Blog_lockdownnew.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,200,6000,3135&w=1200&h=627",{"x":61,"y":757,"zoom":124,"background":64},-40,{"id":103,"uid":106,"url":41,"type":104,"href":759,"tags":760,"first_publication_date":107,"last_publication_date":108,"slugs":761,"linked_documents":762,"lang":6,"alternate_languages":763,"data":764},"https://360learning.cdn.prismic.io/api/v2/documents/search?ref=aKOQ7REAACMAcCJj&q=%5B%5B%3Ad+%3D+at%28document.id%2C+%22X8jyUBAAACIAIm6f%22%29+%5D%5D",[],[106],[],[],{"portrait":765,"name":110,"job":111,"presentation_text":777,"linkedin_link":781,"twitter_link":782,"meta_title":28,"meta_description":31},{"dimensions":766,"alt":110,"copyright":41,"url":115,"id":116,"edit":767,"tile":768,"header":771,"xl":774},{"width":114,"height":114},{"x":61,"y":61,"zoom":118,"background":64},{"dimensions":769,"alt":110,"copyright":41,"url":122,"id":116,"edit":770},{"width":121,"height":121},{"x":61,"y":61,"zoom":124,"background":64},{"dimensions":772,"alt":110,"copyright":41,"url":128,"id":116,"edit":773},{"width":127,"height":127},{"x":61,"y":61,"zoom":130,"background":64},{"dimensions":775,"alt":110,"copyright":41,"url":134,"id":116,"edit":776},{"width":133,"height":133},{"x":61,"y":61,"zoom":136,"background":64},[778],{"type":99,"text":779,"spans":780},"Rodney Laws is an ecommerce expert with over a decade of experience in building online businesses. Check out his platform reviews on EcommercePlatforms.io, where you’ll also find practical tips that you can use to build the best online store for your business. Connect with him on Twitter @EcomPlatformsio.",[],{"link_type":516},{"link_type":516},1755562089321]