All companies face challenges in effectively training employees, but those challenges become even greater as the size and complexity of the enterprise grows. However, as training becomes more difficult to manage, the benefits of an LMS, have greater impact as well.
A large company usually has a workforce that is geographically dispersed, making in-person training complicated and expensive. The workforce itself is diverse, spanning different cultures and generations who each have different preferences and learning styles. Tracking and verifying that training has been completed is difficult to manage manually, but important to meet compliance and regulatory requirements.
With all these competing priorities, a large enterprise must consider the benefits of using an LMS as the primary source of training and development programs for employees.
Online training programs are more cost-effective than traditional, in-person training, especially for a geographically dispersed workforce. Online training eliminates the expense of booking a venue, travel, physical training materials, catering – all expenses associated with conventional training programs.
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Rolling out training courses is streamlined with an LMS. New topics can be chosen from available courses or created from scratch, then distributed to all employees simultaneously.
An LMS supports a variety of training formats: text, video, and audio, among others, so learners can absorb material in the way that’s most effective for them.
Cloud-based LMS courses can be also accessed from any device connected to the internet, at any time, so learners can complete training at their convenience, without interfering with work or deliverables.
One study¹ even found that 99% of learners believe accessing courses on a mobile device increased overall learning. Many learning management systems also support advances in online learning including gamification, micro-learning, social learning, and analytics that help measure engagement statistics.
With conventional training, information may vary depending on the course, trainer or participants. That can lead to different ideas about how work should be completed and varying levels of proficiency between employees. With an LMS, every employee receives standardized, consistent content regardless of when or where training is conducted.
Companies can brand LMS systems with corporate logos and messaging content. Users access courses through a dashboard that’s customized to the enterprise so all employees receive a custom training experience unique to their company.
In addition to consistency and branding, an LMS system also provides flexibility and alignment to different departments. Depending on job needs, managers can choose specific courses and learning paths that align with their strategic values or departmental goals.
As employees progress in their work, managers can use the LMS to help with succession planning, ensuring that employees have the training necessary to succeed in the next stage of their employment.
Unlike traditional training methods, which can only gather limited information, an LMS can collect a large amount of data on the effectiveness of training programs. Metrics may include course completion and learner proficiency, time spent on specific courses or modules, student satisfaction ratings, and other key performance indicators.
Using the insights garnered from data and analytics in an LMS, employers can monitor the success of different courses and programs to continually retarget, adjust, and improve training and development.
Training and development programs can be complicated to manage and difficult to administer, particularly in a large corporation.
An LMS can help by making it easy for managers to deliver highly effective and cost efficient training. The best LMS will make all this easy by providing the tools companies need to upload and distribute courses as well as collect data so managers and trainers can better plan and improve in the future.
References:
1. Top 5 Corporate Learning Trends for 2016 (Infographic). https://www.knowledgeanywhere.com/resources/article-detail/top-5-corporate-learning-trends-for-2016-infographic.