Building A Dynamic Learning Ecosystem For Your Organization With An MLS Partner
Learning is becoming increasingly complicated for businesses nowadays. Global enterprises, especially, are experiencing pressure on a daily basis to build agile, scalable, and impactful learning ecosystems, all while dealing with multiple vendors, rising costs, increasing administrative responsibilities, and shifting expectations. As a result, traditional learning models and systems, built on a basis of siloed content and outsourced expertise with minimal visibility, no longer make the cut. It is time for businesses to take their learning ecosystems to the next level with the help of a Managed Learning Services (MLS) partner. In this article, we will discuss what MLS is, why legacy MLS models no longer suffice, and the main benefits businesses can expect to enjoy when using Managed Learning Services.
What Are Managed Learning Services?
Managed Learning Services refer to the process of a business partnering with an experienced provider of training content so that they can manage part or the entirety of their Learning and Development (L&D) strategy. The services an MLS partner offers are not limited to administration, but also include training needs analysis, strategy design, training delivery, technology enablement, reporting, performance analytics, and more. As a result, such a partnership allows companies to completely outsource the planning, execution, and management of their L&D programs, at times even completely eliminating the need for an internal L&D department.
EI's MLS Gestalt Framework
EI's MLS model promises a complete L&D ecosystem that combines central governance with flexibility and agility, ensuring high-quality learning experiences for any audience. To achieve this, they operate based on the MLS Gestalt Framework. This continuous feedback loop ensures that all parts of your L&D strategy are connected to achieve the best possible results.
Here are its four pillars:
- Orchestration – This framework allows for all training requests to be processed and accessed through a single interface.
- Curation – Vendors and the content they provide are constantly vetted and curated to ensure the highest quality.
- Intelligence – Real-time dashboards that include comprehensive data empower businesses to extract actionable insights that can kickstart meaningful change.
- Optimization – The MLS Gestalt Framework ensures that the management of all parts of the learning ecosystem, from suppliers and content modalities to learning demands, is continuously optimized to address changing needs and trends.
Why Do Legacy MLS Models Belong In The Past?
Before we dive into the reasons why you should be opting to outsource your L&D strategy to an MLS partner, we should first discuss why traditional or legacy MLS models are not enough to address the needs of the modern business landscape. Here are some of the challenges that are making these models obsolete:
- Fragmented vendor ecosystems that split your business in different directions, thus draining your budget, causing inefficiencies in the learning content, and ultimately creating inconsistent learning experiences.
- Lack of visibility into factors such as individual expenses and costs, utilization of resources, and ROI. This is usually a result of insufficient reporting and integrated dashboards.
- Knowledge and content silos across different business units resulted in the development of redundant training content and misplaced resources.
- Transactional outsourcing that focuses mostly on reassigning administrative tasks, instead of driving meaningful transformation.
In general, it is essential for businesses to have MLS partners that don't take on the bare minimum, but rather understand how to provide strategic value by integrating people, processes, and platforms into a cohesive learning ecosystem.
Benefits Of MLS Models For Global Organizations
Collaborating with an MLS partner that understands what you need and what you are trying to achieve with your L&D strategy is of utmost importance. Below are four of the many benefits that such a collaboration could bring to your organization.
Increased Efficiency And Decreased Costs
A Managed Learning Services partner can help businesses boost their efficiency and cost-effectiveness in multiple ways, compared to handling L&D internally. To name only a few, they can streamline processes, eliminate mistakes, and reduce the waste of resources. For example, an MLS partner can simplify the coordination and management of multiple vendors, freeing up more time for your team to focus on strategic tasks. Moreover, they can ensure that only the necessary content is created, helping you stay true to your initial L&D budget.
Consistent Learning Experiences
Organizations that operate globally often have to deliver training simultaneously to multiple and diverse audiences. However, everyone needs to receive training of the same quality and value, regardless of their location. An MLS model simplifies this challenging task by providing consistent learning experiences that address learning needs while adhering to business objectives and regulatory requirements. This ensures a robust culture across all branches of your organization, combined with an elevated and similar skill level.
Enhanced Reporting And ROI Measurement
Perhaps one of the most useful benefits of using a Managed Learning Services model is the ability to have a unified view of all metrics that hold importance for your organization's L&D strategy. These include learner performance data, such as engagement and module completion, costs per training program, time to competence, application of new knowledge in the workplace, and finally, Return On Investment (ROI). Measuring ROI is high on the list of priorities for businesses as it signifies that their efforts and resources were well spent. An MLS partner can directly link learning investments to business outcomes, providing clear data on compliance, productivity, and revenue.
Access To Innovation
The speed with which new learning trends and technologies emerge might be overwhelming for your internal L&D team. However, an experienced MLS partner can give you timely access to all the innovations you need, from AI-powered personalization to immersive learning experiences. They will know how to seamlessly incorporate these new technologies into your existing L&D strategy to help you achieve your learning goals. Not to mention that having an MLS partner introduce innovation to your organization means you won't have to spend additional time and resources to train your employees to implement, maintain, and update new systems.
Factors To Consider Before Transitioning To MLS
While there are many benefits to partnering with a business that offers Managed Learning Services, you can only enjoy these benefits if you make the right choice. Here are some factors that should drive your decision.
Balancing Federated Autonomy With Centralized Orchestration
Despite outsourcing a large chunk of your business's L&D strategy, it is still essential that you maintain a certain level of autonomy. Choose a partner that will offer flexibility to individual business units in different locations while still ensuring that they adhere to global standards.
Ensuring Agility And Scalability
Your business may be operating with a specific number of employees and clients at this point, but this may not be the case in a few years. In fact, you should be aiming for growth through your MLS partnership. Therefore, your collaborator must be able to support and adapt to your organization's growth and evolving needs.
Consider Long-Term Impact
For this partnership to be successful in the long term, you must establish clear KPIs and accountability mechanisms. This way, you will not only be able to track performance and measure ROI but also continue ensuring stakeholder buy-in and support.
Conclusion
In a time of connectedness and technological advancements, businesses must move beyond traditional eLearning products. To effectively engage the modern audience, they need to create comprehensive learning ecosystems that unify all elements, including the content, technology, strategy, and culture, to create a seamless learning experience. To achieve that, you need to explore the world of Managed Learning Services models. With the help of an MLS partner, you can achieve all that and more, as they can help your business transition into the new era of learning.
