Is A Learning Management System A Smart Investment?

Most business owners agree that employee training is important, yet it is easily overshadowed by more urgent priorities. Even those with the best intentions get sidetracked by resource, money, and time limitations.

Although it may not be immediate, there are long-term consequences for businesses that ignore or downplay employee learning. Once workers realize that there is no upward career path, satisfaction drops and employee retention becomes difficult, leading to a costly turnover cycle.

Poor training is reflected in business performance. For example, an IBM Smart Workforce survey revealed that in poor-performing organizations, only 16% of employees said they received the training needed to be successful. By contrast, a skilled workforce leads to faster processes, improved customer satisfaction, greater productivity, and project success.

And when it comes to safety and compliance, poor training increases insurance premiums, the risk of lawsuits and fines, and reputational damage.

Bottom line: A poorly trained workforce is expensive.

While there is growing evidence to support the business case for creating a culture of learning, the effort required may not seem practical for some small and medium-sized businesses. That’s where an LMS comes in.

What Is An LMS?

A learning management system or “LMS” is a software platform designed to manage, distribute and track employee training and development online. Storing and delivering coursework created internally or from professional course providers, it streamlines organizational goals, tracks their progress, and offers data-based results.

An LMS is the perfect tool for onboarding and keeping track of training associated with compliance. It’s also useful for upskilling, reskilling, and leadership development.

Top 5 Reasons to Use An LMS

There are many ways to deliver training: in-person versus online, one-on-one versus one-to-many, and internal training versus professional instruction. Each comes with its own set of pros and cons. An LMS aims to combine the best aspects to create training as efficient, convenient, and effective as possible. Here are the top 5 reasons businesses choose to implement an LMS.

1. Avoid Hidden Costs

Businesses without an LMS are usually still employing old-school training methods. Because it’s “always been done this way,” they may not even realize the hidden costs involved: the resources used on repetitive one-off sessions, travel costs for remote workers, instructors, and printing. Plus, it takes time to manually coordinate training courses and keep track of outcomes.

An LMS eliminates these unnecessary expenses. Recorded sessions are used multiple times and all course collateral is maintained digitally. The online platform keeps remote workers looped in while eliminating the need for travel. Best of all, administrators can automate workflows to assign and track courses with very little effort.

2. Customize and Control Coursework

Delivering effective training is a challenge for any business, particularly SMBs. If the content is boring, generic, out-of-date, or inconsistently applied, it will either be forgotten or ignored. It becomes even more difficult as employee numbers grow.

An LMS solves these problems by allowing administrators to control the coursework. Learning paths can be customized so that trainees are only served relevant content. Interactive methods can be used to make learning less boring. And the online platform allows materials to be updated in a snap and available to users at scale.

3. Data for Decision-Making and Compliance

Decision-making without data is like throwing darts blindfolded. It’s tough to hit a target without insight into the environment. Without data from an LMS, you won’t have metrics to show whether your training program is working. It may also be hard to pull together accurate reports for compliance purposes.

The beauty of an LMS is that everything is automatically tracked digitally. You can easily find out an individual’s course progress, anticipate when they’re struggling, and test their competency. You don’t need to worry about producing reports for compliance because the data is readily available. With these metrics at your fingertips, you will be able to measure return on investment and incrementally improve your training program.

4. Employees Actually Like It

Traditional learning methods aren’t cutting it for today’s workers. Lengthy, boring sessions held at specific times prevent employees from doing the work needed to upskill. If you really want employees to take learning seriously, you need to remove the barriers that get in their way and make the experience less painful.

An LMS allows employees to access online training wherever they like, even on mobile devices, and progress at their own pace. Instead of housing training in various systems and documents, everything can easily be found in one portal. Administrators can customize learning paths that uniquely align with the needs of the company, department, role, or individual to ensure content is always applicable. They can also apply elements of gameplay such as points, prizes, and competition (known as gamification in learning) to make training more fun.

5. Better Business Outcomes

Poorly trained employees hurt your business. This may manifest in unhappy customers when employees don’t have the company knowledge required to respond to their needs. It may manifest in unhappy employees when leaders lack the skills to appropriately manage teams. It may manifest in workplace lawsuits or fines due to unsafe or illegal practices.

Because an LMS mimics real-world challenges, it allows employees to work through solutions without fear of consequences. Plus, teams that are trained in the same way are better at self-management and communication which enables a more productive work environment. These skills translate into higher business performance and financial success.