9 Steps To Choosing The Right LMS

9 Steps To Choosing The Right LMS

9 Steps To Choosing The Right LMS

What's The Right LMS For You? 9 Ways To Figure It Out

It is important that all companies, both profitable and non-profitable, pay attention to educating their staff and make learning available to all their employees at any time and through all day. That's why it's important that companies invest in a Learning Management System (LMS) for this purpose.

A Learning Management System (LMS) is a software that allows companies and other educational organizations to manage, distribute, and track educational materials. It facilitates the learning process. Private companies unrelated to the field of learning also use these systems to help employees improve their work skills and train new employees on programs used within the company.

Commercial software companies compete to sell their Learning Management Systems to companies and educational institutions, while other non-profit companies have launched free and affordable systems to facilitate and disseminate education worldwide.

The choices are therefore increased, and the task of selecting the appropriate LMS for your company is not an easy one.

In this article, we will discuss some of the ideas and points to consider when adopting one of these systems to facilitate the process of selecting the best Learning Management System that suits the needs of your organization.

1. Define Your Goal Behind Owning An LMS

In order to determine your goal of owning an LMS, answer the following questions:

  1. What is the goal of employees/learners entering your site?
  2. What is the scientific content to be taught?
  3. How will you upload this scientific content?
  4. How many users are there?
  5. How much time is available to complete the selection process?
  6. Will you host the software or will you use an external host?

2. Your Budget For Purchasing This Software

When determining a specific budget for the software, you must take into consideration the number of users that will use your LMS. In other words, if the number of users increases, the cost will increase too, and it is necessary to plan well and determine the number of users before purchasing any LMS. If you decide to use free LMS software (open source), you should keep in mind the cost of hosting this software, the price of the training, and wherever you are going to purchase a third-party support tool for it or you will solve all its problems by yourself (in case you have a good technical team).

3. Needed LMS Features

The LMSs may differ from one provider to another, but these systems share several basic characteristics that must be provided in any distance learning system. But what if your company needs a particular feature? For example, your company may need to be able to use the system through smartphones or mobile devices, so you should make sure the system is compatible with them.

Some companies may require the presence of an online classroom in the system to listen to lectures. Others do not care, because all lessons will be in the form of educational videos uploaded to the system and used by the teacher wherever he/she wants. So at the planning stage, make sure you know what you want from the system so as to choose the perfect one.

4. Skills That LMS Users Must Have

You might like a system on the internet and want to buy it, but have you thought about whether it's suitable for teachers? Is it easy to use or does it require training? Will it meet all your organization's needs or only a small part of them?

5. Adaptability

Is the software able to adapt to the company's requirements? Is it easy to reset it to fit a larger number? Or is it designed to handle a certain number of users? Also, find out how stable it is when dealing with large numbers of users. Does the program hang or does it work properly?

6. The Possibility Of Tracking Learning Process

The goal of the LMS is to be able to track learner progress in the learning process. Therefore, it must be able to produce reports and data that can guide you in the event that the educational process is going well or when there is difficulty in using the system.

7. The Possibility Of Integration With Your Current System

If you already have an existing system, you must ensure that the new software integrates well with it. To know the answer, talk to the Learning and Development experts in your current company to learn about the hardware capabilities currently available and the software currently in use. Also, know about the problems they face with the current system so that the new system can overcome them.

8. Consult Previous Buyers

If you decide to buy one of the systems available on the market, you should consult one of the current users to see all the advantages and disadvantages. Getting an opinion from a company that already interacts with the software is far more important than listening to the opinions of salespeople.

9. After-Sales Service

If you have a commercial software, you must check the technical support or after-sales service. Will the support be 24 hours, or at certain times? Will you be able to use the software in a trial period for free, or should you buy the full version? Will the company train your users on the program, or will it just leave them a manual without further guidance?

If you purchased a non-commercial LMS, make sure that the software is robust and that people in your company are fully aware of it and have the ability to solve any current or future problem.

Finally, you must know that there is no software better than the other, each one of them has its advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, you have to choose the software that commensurates with the needs of your company and its budget. It takes good planning to choose the best, and there are a lot of websites that provide software reviews and consultants that can also help you out.

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