How To Achieve LMS Implementation Funding
According to an Expertus survey, about 60% of corporate learning organizations want to either upgrade or replace their LMS if they can secure the necessary LMS implementation funding [1]. Fortunately, there are many ways an LMS can cut costs or generate revenue. It’s not as hard as you may think to make the business case for funds.
However, you may have to do some digging to find out how much money your organization is spending on learning today. Expertus compiled the free eBook LMS Buyer's Kit to showcase proven strategies that will get you the LMS implementation funding you desire. Further, to build your case you can’t solely look at an LMS as a technology purchase, but rather as a strategic business purchase that can reduce operating costs, generate revenue and have a true business impact. Knowing your organization’s business strategy, and not just its learning strategy, is essential to securing the LMS implementation funding you are working towards.
Once you have a firm grasp on the business strategy, there are four things to consider when making the business case for any learning platform investment.
1. Take Away The Pain
In this stage, it is crucial that you identify key business challenges, such as sales, growth, development and retention, that the LMS will help solve. An organization’s business strategy, goals and priorities inform how the learning leader or LMS project manager shapes their business case. So, if budgets are tight and money is an issue, you show the hard-cost savings first. Those savings come in various forms.
Firstly, a new LMS will reduce costs for travel related to training. A new LMS will also eliminate multiple systems, redundancies and staff needed to operate or maintain multiple systems. This will result in lower costs, more control over content development and delivery and standardized eLearning. In addition, investment in a new LMS will improve eLearning efficiency, which relates to learner acceptance and engagement.
An LMS also assists in better knowledge transfer and retention as well as user adoption. A new LMS will also add solid mobile functionality. It enables learners to access resources when and where they need them to increase productivity, reduce errors and upsell products and services. The right LMS enables your learners to apply skills learned on the job faster. And, it can skill-up sales and support staff on new product rollouts. As a result, products become available to customers in a timely manner.
2. Demonstrate Value
There are certain cost-saving or revenue-generating elements you need to show throughout your business case to acquire LMS implementation funding. Expertus designed the free eBook LMS Buyer’s Kit to provide insight into how the right LMS can prove to be a real revenue source for your company.
Firstly, better mobile learning leads to a more productive workforce and increased training adoption for customers and partners. It also provides learning at the point of need. An equally important element is social learning. With social learning, your training suddenly becomes more relevant and dynamic, which leads to higher productivity, lower costs and revenue growth. What’s more, gamification is another fundamental element for boosting an LMS’ worth. Gamification increases learning adoption, knowledge retention and motivation.
Try to get to your desired LMS implementation funding by also highlighting that the right LMS can aid in compliance training. Compliance training reduces risks associated with compliance fines, lawsuits and manual tracking. Last but not least, CRM and HRIS integration through REST APIs expands learning’s reach and impact. It also helps to fill your talent, skills and performance gaps.
3. Give Them Numbers
One reason learning leaders have such a hard time soliciting funding for new learning technology is because they’re not speaking the same language as the senior executives who hold the budgetary purse strings. The free eBook LMS Buyer’s Kit by Expertus fills you in on surefire strategies that will make your executives realize what the right LMS brings to the table.
Learning does have value for its own sake, but that’s not going to pay for the LMS. Showing business impact is what will make the difference. For senior level executives, at the end of the day, nothing else matters. Use that to your advantage in your efforts to get LMS implementation funding.
Senior leaders are more easily swayed by data than philosophical discussions about the value of learning. They’re interested in a different kind of value, namely monetary! You need to demonstrate how a learning investment will pay for itself. They also need to see how it will bring greater performance or productivity rates. Don’t neglect to present how the right LMS can lower turnover costs, error rates, redundancies and other cost-savings.
To make your business case and receive LMS implementation funding, show them hard numbers like the amount of money saved annually due to reduced costs in travel for training facilitators. Also, estimate top-line revenue benefits such as more relevant, targeted learning development via a convenient delivery system. The right LMS will give learners more time to do their jobs thanks to a lack of retraining. It will also improve job-related skills and on-the-job performance.
Offer senior executives the following equation:
Estimated Investment Gains - Hard Costs For The Learning Investment = ROI
You should additionally emphasize an array of benefits. The right LMS brings better customer training, which is synonymous to more satisfied customers and ultimately bigger revenue growth. In addition, an LMS that fits the needs of your company provides better partner training. This means more partner mindshare and revenue growth. In addition, the right LMS increases workforce productivity. This means lower costs and higher quality products. Ultimately, investing in an LMS leads to happier customers, fewer returns and increased profits and revenue growth.
The right LMS also brings increased salesperson productivity which contributes significantly to revenue growth. In addition, if you opt for an LMS with a robust eCommerce system, you can boost your revenue growth through selling your customer and partner training programs.
If you really want to make a business case for a modern LMS to acquireLMS implementation funding, offer your senior executives more sophisticated calculations based on real costs that currently affect the business. It would greatly increase the power of your argument if you could provide them with an ROI calculator that details the cost of the LMS investment against the savings it will produce in various aspects of the business over a one, two or three-year period. Start by finding a significant cost that the new LMS will remove.
Help senior executives see the value of LMS implementation funding by using annual itemized tallies. Clearly outline how much the organization spends hiring external facilitators or flying trainers from corporate headquarters to train and certify employees in different locations for mandatory modules. There are a variety of numbers you can use to make your case. Mention costs related to flights, venue rentals, training materials and food. Don't forget to include on-the-job productivity losses while employees are traveling to and from training.
Attach an amount to each of these costs, add them up and then show how the LMS will eliminate these costs. Using real numbers, show how investing in a new LMS will reduce or eliminate the need for trainers, flights, venue rentals and printed training materials. Last but not least, make sure to show a positive return on investment. Demonstrate how acquiring a new LMS will solve a business problem or reduce a repetitive cost. This will make it much easier to get the necessary funds.
4. Meet Business Goals
The right LMS can have multiple strategic benefits which you should mention to convince your executives regarding LMS implementation funding. Greater integration with existing systems increases ROI thanks to enhanced reporting functionality and information sharing. This enhanced analytic reporting functionality produces actionable data senior leaders can use to make sound decisions.
Modern LMS architecture can promote collaboration, knowledge sharing and consistency across business units, even in organizations that are geographically dispersed. With the right branding, an LMS can help build a beneficial learning culture internally via greater capability, productivity and career growth. Externally, an LMS can contribute via an enhanced ability to attract and retain top talent.
The right LMS can even position the learning organization as a profit center. Let senior-level executives know that signing off on a new LMS will not only yield workforce development, productivity and engagement, but it will benefit hard dollars as well. Learning is traditionally viewed as a cost center. But savvy organizations will have their training department and LMS do double duty. On the one hand, they will train internal assets. On the other hand, they will turn their quality workforce learning assets into external revenue generators. This can be achieved through delivery of their learning content and programs to customers, partners and even other organizations.
Developing learning for external parties cannot only turn your learning organization into a profit center, it can boost your company’s brand, improve relationships with external business partners and, in some cases, reduce risk and promote compliance.
Generating learning revenue via external customers and partners also helps to offset the costs of running an enterprise learning organization. Selling learning can have a significant impact on your organization’s bottom line, and not just in direct sales revenue generation. Leveraging a modern LMS externally can improve customer relations, increase product and service awareness, grow partner loyalty and sales and help maximize customer and partner retention.
LMS implementation funding is a complicated and demanding process. It requires a strategic approach and the presentation of convincing arguments, numbers and the right use of language to get to the desired result.
Download the free eBook LMS Buyer's Kit and get informed on important questions to help you prioritize your company’s LMS selection needs. The LMS Buyer’s Kit will further educate you on the deadly LMS selection traps you must be aware of.
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