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There is a great level of Learning Management System (LMS) choice out there, so here are ten top tips to help you choose and implement your next LMS.
Latest trends are interesting, but don’t let them rule you; experiential learning, compliance management, mobile delivery, cloud resilience and security, multi-activity tracking, gamification and social features all have their place, but which are important to you and your learners?
Decide what you want yourself, don’t let suppliers’ marketing teams decide for you.
There’s been a revolution in cost models over the past couple of years with the newer, modern cloud-based LMS providers being able to implement new systems quickly and at much lower cost than previously.
Check the full cost of implementation alongside the annual cost to get a full three year cost of ownership. Don’t be fooled into thinking the highest priced product is the best product.
The new cloud-based providers tend to have smaller functionality sets and emphasise the sort of features that weren’t around when the older systems were built. The flip side of this is that the older systems tend to be mature products with long feature lists that cover a lot of traditional requirements.
Don’t just buy in a list of old-fashioned functionality requirements, invest some time in deciding what is important to you and what will really make a difference to your audience.
Check out the service level. Speak to actual customers and get a feel for the warm and fuzzy stuff, how good are they at communicating, how do they respond when there’s a problem?
Some suppliers are not in control of their product. Get past the reseller and talk to the people who own the LMS and find out what are their plans for it, how committed are they to it, are they investing, is it important to them?
If you’re going the best of breed approach, make sure your new system has a modern set of APIs to integrate to your other HR or accounting systems. Some integrations will require technical support, so make sure your supplier can do this for you.
If you already have an LMS, then you will have a library of content that is probably SCORM compatible. With the newer LMSs taking advantage of the latest experience API capabilities to deliver and track all sorts of extended learner activities, it’s essential that your old content is still supported. Load some examples of your content onto their LMS and test what happens.
The world’s increasingly security sensitive. Your new system needs to be safe, particularly if it is cloud based. Make sure your supplier can protect your content and your data, locating it in the jurisdiction you choose (US, EU, Africa, Asia etc).
Awards Tend To Be Driven By Marketing Teams. Take industry awards with a pinch of salt and talk to real customers about their experiences.
Users will use a solution if they like it, so go for a system with fast performance and a visual and very attractive user interface. Always remember the user is the important person here.
