Corporate training is gaining popularity among most of businesses - small, mid-sized companies as well as large enterprises. For some of them, it became an absolute necessity. It is thought that corporate LMS can significantly improve net income per employee, productivity and morale. As a result of the growing popularity of corporate training programs and emerging EdTech trends, Learning Management Systems are getting stronger. It is expected that by the end of 2022 the global LMS market will reach $19 billion.
Companies that deliver corporate training can get a 218% higher income per employee and a 24% higher profit margin than those who do not. However, corporate learning is changing. A shift from instructor-led sessions and in-person training to LMS has been made. This allows a more ‘anytime, anywhere’ approach.
This article will talk about what a corporate LMS is and why you should consider building your own.
What is a corporate LMS?
A corporate Learning Management System is software that helps to deliver online courses and learning content to employees. It also helps to onboard new employees, provide them with the knowledge and skills required to perform their roles and help to progress in their careers faster.
Corporate vs academic LMS
As the name suggests, academic LMS is most useful in an academic setting involving teachers and students. A corporate LMS, on the other hand, is used by corporations for job training. Since academic LMSs are designed for educational institutions they are used to schedule around time intervals like quarters and semesters. They allow students to self-register for classes and facilitate student-teacher communication. Those LMSs tend to put more emphasis on extending the classroom experience into the online world with the purpose of collaborating and discussing.
Corporate LMS will not have features that are unique to the academic setting nor its language will include terms like student, teacher or professor. Corporate LMS includes features useful for job training, putting emphasis on delivering online courses together with tools for designing and completing training courses. It will also include features to assign training to different parts of the workplace like individual employees or departments.
Why do you need a corporate LMS?
There are plenty of benefits of using an LMS for your corporate training and some of them are:
- Money savings - since there are no more travelling, booking accommodation and instructor costs you can save your company money
- Freedom - the learning experience is no longer dependent on a classroom. Employees can take a course at their own pace, whenever and wherever they like
- Location freedom - you can train your staff from various locations with no extra costs
- Free the seniors - reduce the workload of senior employees thanks to cutting down face-to-face mentoring
- Keep track of progress - thanks to LMS it is easier to keep track of who has completed a course and how well they are performing
Horizontal vs vertical LMS
Most businesses use horizontal learning solutions since they are designed to fit a wide range of industries and markets. Here, optimization is achieved by customization and scalability that companies perform on the software.
On the other hand, a vertical learning management system is industry-specific. Those systems are designed with a set of features that are particular to one industry, for example, the education sector. Vertical LMS systems are perfect for legacy companies like governmental organizations.
Extended enterprise LMS
When discussing the topic of corporate LMS, or enterprise LMS, we should also mention extended enterprise LMS. An extended enterprise LMS is a training system that is targeted at non-employees like distribution partners, sales representatives, service technicians, franchisees and customers who use the business’ product and services. An extended enterprise LMS can reach multiple audiences through the same platform and give them specialized training experience. It gives an opportunity to make outside employees and customers familiar with your products.
Who makes use of corporate LMS?
Fintech is a $109.8 million market so it leverages technology to offer quick financial solutions. Employees have to be aligned with the most recent regulations. Making use of LMS ensures every person is quickly informed about law changes and the coordination of training is much easier.
Healthcare is also making great use of learning management systems since providing training to millions of healthcare employees is a real challenge. LMS solutions are especially useful for always-busy health professionals, They are used to teach doctors and nurses new languages, protocols or provide cultural training remotely, easily and efficiently.
Must-have features of a good LMS software
A powerful training platform must manage complex workplaces, work teams and reporting demands. Let’s discuss some major feature of a corporate training LMS:
- Content creation and customization
- your corporate training system must have the ability to create new content and customize the existing ones to fit them to the personal needs of learners. Models should also be available in multiple languages.
- Progress assessment
- LMS should have tools to measure progress and comprehension through, for example, check-in quizzes, formal tests or group assignments.
- Multiple media capabilities
- the platform should provide flexibility with regards to the content. Businesses often incorporate learning materials like videos, text, photos or audio, so they must be able to link to external sources.
- Compliance management
- corporate training and development sometimes are required for the company to maintain compliance with federal, state or local guidelines and certifications.
- User feedback
- user feedback is a powerful tool to assess the effectiveness of training programs, provide insights on how to improve the content and its delivery. This creates a sense of being valued in employees.
- Mobile access
- the ability to access the platform or any mobile device is very important for on-the-go training.
- Course management
- you should be able to manage courses, make use of available tools to make compelling content and deliver needed information.
Buy or build an LMS? What’s better?
There are two ways to have a corporate LMS for your business: buy it or build it. LMS solutions can be purchased at a certain, usually recurring, cost. It is an instant solution. However, a custom-build solution will give you more flexibility and scalability.
Boxed LMS vs Custom LMS
Let’s take a look at the advantages of having a custom LMS.
As stated above, a custom solution will allow you to have a simplified LMS with only the features that your business requires. It is a one-time investment so better long-term value. In the long run, a custom-made solution is cheaper than a ready-made one.
You have total control over the feature set and content. No outside force will have an influence on your product. What is more, having a unique system means better security and lowers the chances of a possible cyber attack. No to mention that a custom LMS is a piece of intellectual property that increases the market worth of your business.
However, a custom LMS means higher upfront costs. It is a certain investment to develop a new product. You will also be lacking the community support you are getting with boxed systems. Going with boxed solutions means getting it instantly. The only thing you need to do is find the one that fits your company requirements and has a great reputation for its capabilities and support.
Our case study
Some time ago, we were contacted by a company wanting to build an online learning management system to integrate training across distributed workforces.
Together, we managed to create intuitive course creation tools with media libraries and assessments that are trusted by the world’s most innovative companies like Airbnb and Uber.
Northpass (formerly SchoolKeep) is an innovative learning management system (LMS) that enables organizations to train employees, customers and channel partners. The solution places the learner in the centre of the SaaS platform, resulting in more effective and satisfying learning experiences.
Northpass was looking for a software outsourcing partner, with an eLearning development background, to build a new category of learning management system.
The solution should deliver exceptional learning experiences and monitor training metrics. It was aimed to resolve challenges related to:
- workforce training that builds and delivers engaging contractor resources
- customer training that designs a learning experience for every stage of the customer lifecycle
- partner training that empowers companies to boost partner performance
If you want to find out more about Northpass, visit our portfolio.
Summary
Having a learning management system for your company is an amazing way to automate employee training, onboarding and simplifying the training cycle.
The concept of LMS is widely adopted by large enterprises where it helps the resellers, franchises and sales channels to stay up to date about new updates on product release, compliance requirements and more.
By using LMS companies save on training costs and empower their people to grow and adapt to the constantly changing market.
If you want to build a custom learning management system or customize a boxed solution, contact Selleo teams. We will work together to create a platform fitted to your business needs.
