Learning Systems Blog

Learning management systems didn’t die.  They evolved, and today we recognize them. Brief LMS History Corporate LMSs were invented almost [...]

Consider creating training modules which are, in effect, focus group vehicles. Introduce your customers to the product ideas you are considering through online training, and leverage embedded surveys, quizzes, social media, and mobile enablement technologies to have conversations with your customers.

My best recommendation is to fully develop your business model, LMS use case scenarios and resulting requirements before engaging LMS vendors so you can find the best-qualified options to drive your online learning business.

Integrating training workflows and data with customer and sales-related data elevates training from a cost center to a profit center, because it helps prove the business value of learning.

For LMS, instead of a having nothing, Workday chose to identify quality LMS partners, primarily Saba and Cornerstone, to provide that piece of the solution if LMS was important to the opportunity.

An LMS vendor must derive the majority of its revenue from association clients, and publish top-notch client case studies on its website as proof of excellence in serving member-based organizations.

Association LMS systems are similar to employee LMSs but have richer features sets to attract voluntary learners and members, build a community, integrate with an AMS and sell complex continuing education.

These organizations have proven that educating their channel provides a measurable return on investment and more importantly a significant competitive advantage, and as a result, these organizations treat channel learning as an ongoing mission-critical initiative.

The nominated LMS solutions all have varying degrees of sophistication in core channel functionality including domain segmentation, ecommerce, social learning, globalization, broad content support, integration, analytics, mobile delivery, dynamic audience grouping and ease of use.

Educating members, selling content, providing continuing education credit and managing tradeshow activities are all challenges that associations and institutes face but not typical corporations. As a result, association LMSs need an enhanced feature set to support and they are tough to find.

Avoid sticky situations and reduce inter-reseller conflict with educational resources that cover these topics; for example, you'll want to clarify the rules of engagement, how to register customer opportunities and how to resolve disputes when two or more partners claim the right to call upon a customer.

Unique LMS differentiation is based on varying combinations of the LMS vendor’s experience, services provided, regional focus, industries served, functional capabilities, technical sturdiness, license approach, and ongoing support provided.

To deliver and manage this kind of training, it's wise to invest in an extended enterprise LMS -- a learning management system designed specifically for this purpose.

In my estimation they do most everything right -- prepare, understand business needs, know their solution at all levels, engage the audience, tell great stories and win.

The implementation team includes subject matter experts, project managers, learning technologists, project consultants, trainers, account executives, executive sponsors and data integration/migration specialists.

You can’t do too much research on your prospect, their business and their industry before and while engaging in the sales cycle -- the more you know, the better chance you differentiate from the competition.

Individuals are ultimately responsible to know their own ongoing continuing education requirements, take the required training, maintain ongoing proof of completion and submit to appropriate accreditation body to maintain their license or certification.

With each incremental accrediting jurisdiction the problem compounds and becomes so complicated that many organizations can’t use a commercially available LMS to manage CEUs but rather are forced to cobble together spreadsheets, home-grown custom systems, specialized commercial CE trackers and manual processes to bridge the gap, connect the data and ensure compliance. 

In the accounting industry, most accounting firms set up a National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) license and grant continuing professional education (CPE) credit based on the NASBA standards, rather than maintain the complex CPE rules of each state

The emphasis on the bridging “Skills Gap” has put new life into workforce development programs globally -- and no matter what size of a population you’re targeting, in a modern world, an online platform and delivery option has to be considered – gone are the days of just meeting with a counselor to develop a plan and then sit in a classroom.