How Essential LMS Reporting Tools And Analytics Are
The modern workplace is getting extremely demanding day by day. Advancements in technology and increasing automation in business processes has made it imperative for employees to constantly upskill and reskill to stay relevant and competitive in the organization. On the other hand, organizations need newer and innovative approaches to train their workforce in order to achieve business sustainability and long-term growth and profitability. And, to do that, employees need to embrace a continuous learning culture, while organizations need to prioritize Learning & Development (L&D) and offer effective training programs and learning experiences, which ultimately calls for an innovative and state-of-the-art Learning Management System (LMS).
According to Market Research Future (MRFR), the global learning analytics market is set to grow by 26% CAGR by 2023, propelled by the explosion of smartphone usage across the globe. There is a definite need for organizations, especially the L&D teams, to understand if the workforce is effectively engaging with the training programs or whether any specific skills’ training is required so as to drive business growth.
All the answers lie in an LMS with built-in reporting and analytics tools.
Today’s LMSs are far from being just eLearning platforms; they are growth platforms driven by data, mobility and advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies. All these functions integrate into an LMS to offer the best possible learning experience. So, let us explore 5 key reasons to choose an LMS with built-in reporting and analytics:
1. Assessing Training Engagement
Engagement is often difficult to measure, yet incredibly important for the success of your online training. By using an LMS, which essentially is a centralized repository of eLearning programs as well as learners’ data, organizations have the ability to extract this data and analyze it to gain valuable insights into the learners’ behavior, on top of tracking completion rates, enrollments, etc. Learning analytics provide L&D professionals with instant insights into their employees’ learning patterns, their engagement with the training programs, which in turn helps assess the efficiency and validity of the eLearning courses.
2. Generating Real-Time Reports
The credibility of most modern LMSs is often gauged from its ability to offer real-time information about learners. L&D professionals are often questioned about whether employees are using the LMS, completing the assigned training programs, are the training programs progressing well, if so, what are the courses with highest rates of completion, are employees improving (productivity & performance) by taking the training programs, etc.
An LMS makes answering these questions much easier by its reporting capability. An LMS can provide real-time and accurate reports by tracking learners’ LMS activity and progress. By using an LMS, organizations can easily generate multiple reports, further categorized and organized based on courses, employees or business function. The prime advantage of real-time reporting is that it offers L&D professionals the ability to intervene right then and there whenever there is an issue or if a learner is struggling and needs immediate help. Moreover, today’s LMSs also come with the ability to generate custom reports as per the organizations’ specific needs.
3. Maximizing Training Efficiency
One of the major advantages of an LMS with learning analytics function is the measurement of training effectiveness because the ultimate objectives of offering any online training are to upskill/reskill the workforce and establish a learning culture across the organization. However, this is not a simple, straightforward process.
L&D professionals can extract and analyze the data trends across the training programs, and compare it at different stages of the training process to gain insightful information, such as the influence of eLearning programs’ design, instructional support or learner background on particular training results. For example, by assessing pre and post-course metrics L&D professionals can determine learner progress and improvement. This also provides insights for Instructional Designers and instructors to improve the training programs’ design and flow to suit the needs of the learners.
4. Recording Success Metrics Beyond L&D
Most global organizations offer extended enterprise training to their customers and partners, which makes LMS integration with a CRM tool all the more important so that they can track and record the effectiveness of training programs offered to them. Such integration enables organizations to answer questions like- Are sales channels generating more business by taking the online training? Are partners more informed about the organization’s products, solutions, values, etc.? CRM integration also enables organizations to efficiently measure the ROI provided by any training program.
Apart from CRM integration, an LMS also offers HRMS integration, which enables the organization to analyze the correlations between employee training and attrition, employee satisfaction, etc. L&D can use this information to improve the training being offered to specific employees (personalization) while offering valuable feedback to organizational leaders about certain employees capable of handling a leadership role or gaining new hard skill, and more.
5. Analyzing The Cost-Effectiveness
Organizations often seek in-depth information about the effective utilization of online training and all the resources dedicated towards that process; whether the workforce is accessing all the information provided or successfully completing all the courses or gaining knowledge and so on. And, the true reach of the training programs can only be realized through learning analytics.
For example, organizations know that sales reps need soft skills to handle prospects/customers effectively. However, whether they really need specific soft-skills training can be understood by conducting a simple pre-assessment on existing skill levels. If all stakeholders are satisfied with the existing skill levels then there is no need to invest in that particular training. Instead, organizations can offer training on customer-handling, which can then enable sales reps to effectively engage and satisfy their customers. Furthermore, learning analytics also offers insights into how organizations can effectively use available training budget, thus helping to maintain cost efficiency.
Today, data has the same value (if not more than) as most other enterprise assets, while modern LMSs infused with advanced reporting and analytics tools are capable of improving the overall learning culture of the organization as well as drive the ROI. In many ways, learning analytics has the potential to change the corporate learning landscape for the better. Be it through maximizing the impact of training programs or improving the engagement and performance levels of the workforce, an LMS with built-in reporting and analytics is a ‘must have’ when it comes to offering an incredible learning experience.
