Learning is done online, which saves the cost of trainers, training days, travel costs, training materials, location hire and more.
A learning management system (LMS) enables you to create, deliver, track and manage your organisation’s training courses. It can save employees time, as they can log in and learn wherever they are and whenever it’s convenient, with no need to travel or take time away from work.
With an LMS your course content, data, and training materials are all easy to access. Your learners can effortlessly access their courses and you can deliver consistent, effective training to everyone across your organisation. One of the biggest benefits of an LMS is the data you can collect. You can get reports on things like course completion rates, test scores, training histories, course progress, and so on.
Here are some basic rules to help you choose the right one.
1 What are your learning goals?
Think about who will use the LMS and what they’ll use it for. For example, you might use it to reduce the amount of time staff spend training. Or, if you’re a larger organisation, you might use it to track employees’ progress, including onboarding and compliance training. Some companies extend access to their clients, partners or customers. If you provide a product – e.g. software or a medical device – you might use an LMS to train customers.
2 What’s your budget?
Take into account the number of people who will use your LMS. Remember, if the number of users increases, the cost will increase too.
3 What features do you need?
Think about the type of content you will have (e.g. interactive elearning modules, video, PDF documents, PowerPoint presentations) and how people will access it. For example, will users access the system using smartphones or mobile devices? Do you want discussion boards or forums, tests/assessments, enhanced security, grading/scoring capability, data tracking or automated alerts and notifications? Does the LMS need to integrate with your existing system?
4 Plan for the future
What admin support is available? If you choose the right LMS, you hopefully won’t use it very often, but you will want good support when you need it.
Think about the scope of your training and any potential future needs. Do you need to account for future expansion planned? What about new systems? Will the LMS you’re considering now be able to serve your objectives for the next several years?
5 Try it out
The best way to decide whether an LMS is the right one is to try it out for yourself!
At Ashford, we provide the Abara LMS, an easy-to-use, yet powerful learning platform that can automate your organisation’s entire training workflow. It’s trusted by companies across the world. Give us a call on 01962 624268 to arrange a demo and schedule a free trial. We can also provide learning management systems from other vendors if preferred, after consultation and when we understand our clients’ needs.