LMS Or LEP? How The Learning Engagement Platform Differs From A Learning Management System
The Learning Engagement Platform is rumored to be the saving grace of eLearning and will hopefully provide L&D professionals with the KPI numbers they so badly need in order to earn a seat at the table. On top of that, the LEP is expected to change the mindset around corporate learning in general, taking it from being program used for “mandatory trainings” to a platform used for true learning and career development.
At first glance, you might be inclined to think the introduction of a new learning solution seems a bit redundant, given how many learning solutions already exist today. And since you’ve most likely already invested in a Learning Management System tool, and hired professionals who are skilled at LMS administration, why in the world would you consider evaluating another tool?
Because the Learning Engagement Platform will do for learning what Airbnb has done for the hotel industry, and what Amazon has done for the retail industry: it will create a more user-centric experience and put the power of knowledge sharing directly into the hands of Subject Matter Experts and learners.
4 Differences Between A LEP And An LMS
While the LMS and LEP are both corporate learning tools that appear to share a similar objective, they differ in several fundamental ways.
Let’s take a look at how.
1. Administrator Vs. Global Authoring
When it comes to the LMS, course creation is a costly and time-consuming process. Often requiring the assistance of external training resources and several weeks for the SCORM course to be created, administrators serve as Project Managers of sorts. Should something need to be changed or updated, it takes several steps and quite a bit of time to be completed – talk about exhausting!
On the contrary, the Learning Engagement Platform is designed to allow anyone to create course material and launch a training course in a very short amount of time with little to no training because the LEP includes an integrated cloud-based authoring tool. We’re talking Operations Managers, Sales Reps, Front Of House Staff, and Chief Baristas: anyone in your organization who has expert knowledge will be given chance to share their knowledge and shine. Those best suited for creating these trainings will finally be empowered to do so, without being limited by the chain of command or time constraints of the past.
2. Baseline Training Vs. True Learning Development
When we talk about increasing productivity and effectiveness, driving engagement and employee happiness, improving sales and increasing bottoms lines – it all comes down to one thing: learning. Seem like a bit of a stretch? It’s not!
How does one become successful anyway? Through improving and adjusting, through growth. When we view it that way, it becomes clear that learning is the essential driver of success. And it is by learning new skills and improving techniques and methods that employees will be able to increase engagement, efficiencies, and productivity.
Yet with the current state of digital learning, training courses aren’t being used to their full potential. Many companies use LMSs for regulatory compliance courses; trainings that are legally required, like OSHA-administered safety courses or internal company policies.
The LEP will open the doors for learning to be used as a way to truly develop your people, allowing them to be better at their jobs and improve their skills. Those who want to become more effective or move up the corporate ladder will have easy access to a wealth of information created by the experts within the company, that they can use whenever they need it. The Learning Engagement Platform will seek to remove the rigidness and limitations of traditional eLearning and replace it with practicality and user-friendliness, making the learning experience both more engaging and more impactful.
3. Speed
Say you’re a Sales Manager and you want to train your team of reps on how to negotiate a sale. You, being the expert and boasting a record as the top closing sales rep in your company, are clearly the person best suited for this particular type of training. But you don’t have the power to author your own digital course, so you’re forced to take the long-and-slow-route through the L&D Department. Your digital course may take several months before it is ready to be deployed, yet your need for training is now.
If we could predict what training needs we’d have months in advance, the world would be a much happier place. Training would be ready to go at the exact moment that we need it, new software/SaaS tools would be implemented and adopted in a jiffy, and employee onboarding would be a breeze. Unfortunately, life doesn’t work like that.
Processes change constantly and new tools are introduced multiple times a year. A company cannot stand still if it wishes to succeed, but with agility comes the stress of constantly updating your entire workforce on the changes.
The LEP will allow digital courses to be created exactly when they are needed, which will in turn speed up the productivity of all involved. And when you are able to share knowledge more quickly, you’re able to spot problems and make adjustments earlier on, meaning your teams will be inherently more effective.
4. Complement, Not Substitute
While the LEP sounds like a Human Capital Manager’s dream, I’m sure you’re asking yourself what you’re supposed to do with the very expensive LMS you’ve already invested in and use daily. I couldn’t possibly be suggesting you abandon it, right?
Bingo! The LEP was created to be used in conjunction with an LMS, not instead of. Learning Engagement Platforms are designed to integrate with existing LMSs so that none of your existing content is gone to waste. The combination of the two will allow for your existing process to remain in place while enabling your internal Subject Matter Experts to begin initiating elective training simultaneously.
If you want to learn more about how the LEP is changing the future of learning, watch the webinar How The LEP Is Disrupting The Digital Learning Market Now And Why You Should Care As An L&D Professional.
