A finding by Degreed shows that when employees don’t know something on-the-job, 55% ask their colleagues for the answer. But such peer learning doesn’t always have positive results. Apart from an absence of knowledge/skill, misinformation can affect the performance of your employees – this is where LMS service comes into play.
Comprehensive training and upskilling can be the best way to ensure your staff has the sharpest skillsets in the market. This is where Learning Management Systems (LMS) can help. Today, almost 83% of organizations use LMS services.
As your competitors start to partner with LMS service providers and bring on-board world-class L&D solutions to empower their employees, it becomes imperative for you to do the same. With the right competitive advantage offered through LMS services, your company can thrive against any competition.
In this article, we offer key tips to help you choose the best LMS services for your organization.
What is an LMS Service?
An LMS, or Learning Management System, refers to software designed to manage an organization’s start-to-finish learning and development needs. It is estimated that the LMS services industry will be valued at $23.21 billion by 2023 and $40.95 billion by 2029.
When selecting an LMS service, companies often make a couple of mistakes, which can impact the development of their talent. These mistakes typically include:
- Only considering the company’s short-term L&D needs.
- Not having the technological prowess to manage and use the chosen LMS.
- Selecting the LMS with the wrong set of features or insufficient features.
- Not providing sufficient learning flexibility, personalization, and engagement.
- Making the LMS only laptop/desktop compatible and ignoring mobile compatibility.
- Not investing in L&D analytics and reporting.
- Not upgrading the LMS as the company grows and L&D requirements change.
Knowing how to circumvent these issues can help your organization select an LMS service that perfectly fits your company’s changing needs.
Factors to Consider when Choosing an LMS Service
Based on these commonly made mistakes, companies should consider the following factors when investing in their LMS:
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The Specific Needs of Every Type of Employee
Each type of employee – front-line, middle management, C-level, people-facing, technology-oriented, etc. – will have unique L&D requirements. You need to consider if the LMS service you pick is flexible and scalable to suit the distinct needs of each user group.
Essentially, the LMS service should cater to employees’ different technical and soft-skill levels at different points in their careers at the company.
Your LMS should cater to both individual and group learning sessions as needed. The LMS service should also support in-office, remote, and hybrid learning environments.
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The Personalization Requirements of the Content
Speaking of personalization, every learner has a unique learning style. While some are visual, others are auditory. While some learn better through detailed text, others respond very well to games and quizzes.
The LMS service chosen must have the features needed to customize the learning experience. You should be able to create and share different types of content based on the audience and goal of training.
If you have employees working across different time zones or within unconventional team structures, the LMS must be able to support their learning needs.
Consider the differences in training requirements for teams and individual contributors as well. The LMS service must allow the creation of personalized learning paths that support employees at the learning stage and career path they are in.
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The Access Needs of Different Teams and Employees
L&D has gone beyond the conventional boundaries of boardrooms. Today, more employees take up corporate training and skills development either from their homes or when on the move.
Teams such as sales, event management, or security will find mobile training ideal when on the field. In fact, research shows that when companies make training accessible on mobile devices, it increases productivity by 40%.
McKinsey calls this “mEducation” – an L&D solution available to learners anywhere, anytime, through 2G/3G/4G/5G.
Your LMS service should not only support mobile learning but also have options for content download for offline viewing. This can help your employees access their lessons and skill-development tasks wherever they are.
In the age of the digital nomad, such an LMS service can help organizations gain a tremendous competitive advantage.
3 Options Available for Companies Looking for LMS Services
There are three things a company can do when considering investing in an LMS service:
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Create Your Own Corporate LMS
Instead of choosing an LMS service, you could build one from scratch. Building a bespoke LMS service for your organization can give you the highest degree of customization possible. Your LMS service can be anything you need.
However, building an LMS can take a lot of time, money, and effort – which many organizations may not have. Additionally, companies must have a high degree of technological savviness to manage such a custom-built LMS service.
If your organization is not tech-centered, the LMS can quickly become a legacy system that ceases to benefit your firm. From software integration issues to data security concerns to scalability problems, there may be many costly issues to contend with.
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Purchase an Off-the-Rack LMS Service
Another option that companies have is to purchase an off-the-rack LMS. Such a service can be great if you’re on a tight budget or need simple features for your L&D programs.
This type of mass-produced LMS can be implemented very quickly, with the least technical training, and can be perfect if you need a short-term LMS service.
On the other hand, an off-the-shelf LMS service can offer the least degree of personalization. The LMS may possess only a handful of features and may put a wrench in your corporate training and upskilling plans.
So, despite saving a few thousand dollars at first, you may spend more than your budget later trying to upgrade the LMS service you do have.
Other issues with off-the-rack LMS are infrequent updates and security patches. Plus, the service may not be as scalable as you need, making it necessary to find another LMS service later.
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Choose a Third-Party LMS Service Provider
The final option companies have, is to hire a third-party LMS provider who offers a customizable LMS at an affordable cost.
An LMS is an integral part of a firm’s technological repertoire. Having a bare-bones model off-the-rack may not give you the competitive advantage you seek in the long run.
Similarly, a custom-built LMS may drain your resources too much, making it unsustainable in the future. A third-party LMS provider forms the perfect middle ground that organizations can benefit from.
It’s best to select an LMS service provider that offers a fully-managed, open-source LMS. This ensures you have the highest degree of customization and quick software updates thanks to open-source technology.
Since these LMS providers often work with multiple companies, their solutions are also budget-friendly. They offer installation support and can help you scale your LMS needs as your company grows and transforms.
Plus, if you have any concerns or challenges, a customer service representative is always available to help you at any time.
Choose Hurix for the Most Supportive and Personalized LMS Services
Choosing an LMS service is one of the most important tasks for any organization. By following these points, you can make sure to select an LMS service that helps you help your employees.
Hurix is a reputed LMS service provider with almost two decades of experience. We offer a fully managed, open-source, white-label LMS, which is:
- Fully-scalable
- Feature-rich
- 100% customizable
- Protected by a Perpetual IPR
- Completely integrateable with existing systems
Also read, best LMS features and tools for mid-sized enterprisers.
With Hurix, your can create and share custom learning paths, replete with multi-media integration and easy-to-take self and peer assessments. Our identity-based distribution and content encryption features ensure your L&D assets are safe at all times.
The Hurix Moodle-based LMS also supports multilingual translation, mobile content access, and comprehensive post-subscription maintenance and updates. Connect with your team, create valued L&D experiences and help your company grow with Hurix.
