Cloud Based LMS For Small and Medium Businesses
Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) are important for economic growth. They make notable contributions in determining the global business conditions. In the face of growing number of competitors and volatile market conditions, SMBs have to take the conscious step towards perennial learning to be able to survive and thrive among the big players. But can smaller organizations afford the big investments that come along with the implementation of enterprise wide Learning Management Systems? In the face of budget crunching, cloud based LMS can be the suitable answer to the training needs of SMBs
Though a growing number of smaller organizations are becoming serious about training and workplace learning, there are some misconceptions that often lead SMBs to disregard the value of training such as:
- "Training is for the Bigwigs, Not for Smaller Players"
There are several reasons behind this misconception, the biggest being the costs associated with creating sufficient avenues of organizational learning. Most SMBs have home-grown training content available, but cannot channelize funds for disseminating it strongly among their employees. Also, in addition to the content, a training initiative needs people to drive or manage it. Smaller organizations often have a dearth of available people within the organization who can manage the training function. So it is easier to reach the conclusion that ‘Training is not for small players – but for the bigwigs’. - "Let’s just concentrate on Production"
With the eye on the prize, many SMBs concentrate their strengths on channelizing all their resources into maximum production capabilities, and hence maximum profits. But this strategy is often restrictive for employee development and the organization stagnates over time. Moreover, without a training strategy and the proper avenues of dissemination it is difficult to imbibe latest skills or knowledge required for maintaining a winning edge.
The good news is that many forward thinking SMBs are realizing as well as reaping the benefits of sustained training in their organization to get a competitive edge among bigger players as well. With the advent and growing popularity of Technology-aided learning, training modules can now be created faster and disseminated more efficiently. But having said that, SMBs need to keep in mind that they have limited resources and often, insufficient infrastructure to sustain a technology-aided training initiative. Learning Management Systems can create a uniform platform of learning within an organization, but deploying an on-premise system does not come cheap. Added to that is the cost and time of creating impactful technology-enabled training content as well as managing the system to reap its benefits fully. So, how can SMBs avoid heavy overheads and still create a sustainable training platform within the organization?
A Cloud based LMS can be the perfect solution for organizations who want to reap the benefits of training without incurring overhead costs and avoid losses in the mercurial market. According to the 2014 LMS Trends Survey conducted by the Brandon Hall Group, organization size is the biggest influencer of deployment – on-premise or Cloud Based. Almost 60% of medium-size businesses and 54.5% of small businesses prefer Cloud Based LMS. This preference stems out of the many benefits of the Cloud Based LMS – especially for SMBs.
- Cost Benefits.
Savings are the biggest advantage of cloud based LMS. This is often the deciding factor that clinches the deal for or against deploying an enterprise-wide LMS. Since cloud based LMS have minimal investments and pay-as-you-consume payment options, it is perfect for SMBs who want to embrace sustainable training options. - Time benefits.
Cloud Based learning solutions can be deployed quickly, with no additional hardware requirements. The organization thus saves time and can quickly get their employees up to speed with the new system. All fixes and updates can be accomplished remotely and quickly. Thus it does not affect the learning experience of the employees by unnecessary wasting time on system upgrades. - Flexible solution.
Cloud Based LMSs are scalable and thus suit the changing needs of smaller organizations. SMBs can have the option of beginning small, and test waters as they go. If the system suits their requirements, they can increase LMS capacity as per their growing numbers.
Big or small, organizations now have to keep learning to keep evolving as per the needs of the market. Realizing this, SMBs are now adopting newer ways to learn and technology-based cloud solutions can lead the way here!