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How to find the best LMS for employees & get better corporate training

What's the best learning management system for corporate training? How can you find the best LMS for your employees?

On this page we'll dive into the most important things to consider in your pursuit of the best LMS for business.

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01.

The best LMS for employees depends on your needs & goals
02.

What kind of LMS training do you need?
03.

The best learning management systems are easy to use
04.

Features and benefits your LMS for corporate training should have

Introduction

What is the best lms for your employees?

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It's complicated to decide what LMS would work best for you. You can find plenty of lists on various review sites with tons of options, but yet find yourself in a jungle of similarity. 

For example, eLearningindustry has 884 LMS systems in their directory. How are you going to choose between that?

You probably have more questions than just looking at a menu of platforms, like what LMS is most used by companies, what LMS has the best user experience or what LMS is the easiest.

Here we guide you in how you should select an LMS especially for bigger and complex organizations. Important areas for you to choose a platform for your corporate training is: 

  • Defining your strategy, needs & goals
  • Clarifying what kind of learning you need
  • Focus on easy usability & great user experience for employees
  • Look for popular features & benefits which could suit your business LMS
Define strategy, needs & goals

The best LMS for employees depends on your needs & goals

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Your needs and goals will determine the best LMS for your staff. Simple as that. Or is it? The only constant is change, and your company and workforce is changing too.

Why companies choose other LMSs for their business

Learning for the entire employee journey has never been more important but it needs to be right fit for your company, employees and learning goals. Here are some facts:

Why companies shift learning platform

Why is that? When companies find out their current platform isn't the best or easiest LMS for their business, it is usually due to the following reasons: 

  • Low adoption and usage
  • Poor user & learning experience
  • Poor analytics possibilities
  • Time consuming to administrate and use
  • Lack of features

Identify your needs & goals to find the right LMS for business

First of all, you need a plan - both for the search after your new learning platform and the
implementation/onboarding after signing. 

What do you want to achieve?

Next you need to know what you want to achieve – what problem should the best learning management system for your employees solve?

For inspiration, there are great cases out there, just to give you an example:

How 7-eleven did it

7-eleven wanted to save time and money through interactive learning, so they chose Learningbank's platform, because of the gamified learning content that could be used on all devices, anytime.

This meant that their employees could finish hygiene training whenever and wherever, saving training costs for 7-eleven while getting better employee training. 

How will this support your overall strategy

You should have your learning strategy in order, before you go ahead and find the LMS that suits your business best. 

If you are new to this, it's a great idea to create a business case for your digital learning. You can find an e-book on how to it here, or you can download our free template to create a business case for your LMS.

Start simple and build on – be aware of your
limits & resources

Start off with a specific problem. 

Example, you want to improve your employee retention. Preboarding is a great opportunity to give employees a fantastic start, and it's proven to make them stay longer with you. 

So start with a preboarding universe, build your first version of the new LMS on that project, and then start building more learning over time. 

Also, you don't want to make a project for your LMS without the right time or budget for it. Try and be as realistic as possible about the beginning.

Want to learn more? Check out our webinar with 8 steps to find the right learning platform.

 

 

Find the right learning content

What learning & training do you need?

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Okay, so now you your needs and goals for what and how you will use your new corporate learning management system for. Next up; What learning content do you need?

If you think of your new LMS like a restaurant (yes, I, the writer, was hungry when I wrote this) the learning content is the quality menu you serve your employees.

You know what audience you want to serve, and if you want people to return to your restaurant, you better make something they like - not the other way around. You want to move away from classroom training and make training better digitally. 

This is about thinking of learning content receiver-oriented rather than the pushy sender-oriented way. It's a fine balance.

A classic example is how we make compliance intros physically and give participants text-stuffed pdf material before the course to prepare for, and after 2 hours physical course they are industry experts in compliance.

No, of course it doesn't work like that. Let's go from "have to learn" to "want to learn". 

How do you find the right learning content for your Corporate LMS?

  • Is the learning content interactive and gamified? Can you use quizzes, drag n' drop or other features. 
  • Can you mix your learning with video and catchy visuals?
  • For what kind of people, departments or job functions do you need to design the learning content? 
  • Can you conceptualize it with your employer brand, so you create a holistic feeling with your overall workplace culture?

 

Make it easy to learn

The power of an easy learning management system

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When deciding for the best LMS for your employees, one of the most important areas is how easy it is to use. You want to remove the daily hassle of 'another system', and you want to make it engaging and available on any device to make it a real learning enabler.

Would it really matter how much learning content you have, if it is difficult for your employees to use in your corporate learning tool? That's why most argue that "the Netflix of learning platforms" isn't quite the wow factor their marketing tends to give it.
 
If user experience isn't properly designed, it's like a child in a toy store that can't decide on what awesome toy to choose.
 
So, if we make it pleasant and easy for our employees to use the business LMS, the engagement will follow. 

If you are able to engage more with your online training, you will most definitely see a better outcome of it. 
 

"Don't judge a man before you have walked miles in his shoes" the famous proverb says. You should think of and understand the journey you send your busy and impatient employees on - ask these important questions when you try the learning management system for your business:

  • How easy is it to find the learning content?
  • How easy is it to complete the learning content? 
  • Can learners access the learning in an all-in-one platform and even well through mobile?
  • Is the platform able to mix learning content, also known as blended learning. 
  • Is the learner going to be onboarded in using the tool, or can she use it intuitively right away? 
  • Does the system help them figure out what's next?

Making sure people gets a nice experience is key to make them want to come back and learn with your new platform. 

Features & benefits to look for

Features & benefits your LMS for corporate training should have

There's an ocean of features and benefits that the many platforms out there offer. But you shouldn't go for the one that support the most features and benefits of an LMS for businesses.

It should be chosen on the features and benefits that are right for YOUR ideal corporate training platform. 

Consider your situation: 

  • Do I know what integrations I need?
  • How many layers, markets and countries of my organization should the platform support? 
  • What kind of content should be supported that matches my employees best ways of learning?
  • Do I need to combine physical and digital learning? Should I be able to administrate events?
  • Do I need micro, blended, mobile, gamified, interactive learning? 
  • What will I primarily use the platform for? (sales training, onboarding, it security etc.)
  • How does the platform support my employees' lifecycle journeys?
  • Can I automize the learning with the platform so I can scale the learning easier?
  • What security measures must the platform live up to?

Yes, that was quite a list. But you should really make your own, so you know what to look for. 

There are some popular and universal features in corporate training LMS platforms that are very beneficial for most companies, which also makes you ready for the future demands for training your workforce. Check them out below!

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Features of course depends on the system you are looking for in the context of the challenges and learning goals you have. There's a difference, for example, between being a growing company with 100 employees and being a larger organization - or maybe even a network of organizations in an extended enterprise.  Let's dive into the features of LMS systems. 

 

Features you should look for in a Learning Management System

Automation of learning

Easily schedule and automize learning journeys based on e.g., job function or department – for both new hires & current employees. 

Creating learning content

Look for how your next platform can give you the best options for creating content. This feature should be user-friendly, it shouldn't require special skills to utilize. And wouldn't it also be nice if your platform has tips and tricks or easy support during your creation of learning?

Gamification & interactive learning

With gamification and interactive features you are able to engage the learners better, and improve the knowledge retention of your learning - employees simply learn better this way.

Does the platform use elements like drag n' drop, quizzes, spotting and clicking errors in photos. And can the platform provide you learners with rewards or certifications?

Analytics & measuring your learning outcome

Following up on your learning is a must. You have to be able to prove your progress, and figure out what you can do better or what is giving you the best outcome. Ways of analyzing fast and reporting to your leader or board members is a high-level feature to look for. 

Platform support

Most negative reviews of learning platforms are about support. Like any other platform you can't just jump into it, any tool requires help once in a while. So what are your options of support from the vendor when things go wrong? You save a lot of time choosing vendors that can support you more than just through email tickets.

Prebuilt learning content

One feature was about how you build learning. Another is ready made content by the vendor. Some platforms provides just the shell which you need to fill with learning. But some platforms also offer prebuilt learning paths you can adapt - this makes your platform launch quicker and more effective with learning from experts. 

Integrations & SSO

You probably have quite a few platforms to work with. Many corporate training tools needs to have integrations, so they become easier available for employees, share data better and provides secure access. Check for integrations vendors offer and save time. 

White label & customizable platform

Especially medium sized or large companies require learning tools to be on brand. They need their colors, fonts, logos, images and more. And sometimes you need a more specific setup than others, so white label and customization features are a must have if this is your situation. 

SCORM support

SCORM files are the most widely used way to make learning modules in learning platforms. If you already have learning content, but you wish to switch for a new platform, the SCORM support feature is necessary. 

Blended, social, micro & mobile learning

Mixing various ways of learning is important to have success with learning and training in general. Make sure you find tools can support these variations - also for offline learning, depending on what needs your company have.

Want to learn more about features? Book a free demo and let's show you how it works

Benefits from the best LMS system for corporate training

  • You save time on administration

  • You can scale the learning 

  • Employees can get learning and training they need anywhere anytime 

  • With a great user interface you can engage learners to do more training and online courses

  • You get insights on performance and development of your learning activities in the company

  • You can tailor learning to be relevant specifically for the end-user

  • You save money on costs, lost work hours, and transportation you usually spend on physical employee training 

See how our Learning Lifecycle Platform can help you

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