How To Buy An Enterprise Learning Management System

Every organization works to optimize its resources and make the best possible use out of them. This is the highlight of a successful business enterprise. This reduces costs and helps to improve margins. What if there is a system that could also provide the managers with a similar benefit? The solution here is a learning management system.

A learning management system is a combination of a user friendly software application and a database system that aids in the administrative and managerial work. It is mainly used to impart online training and learning by the corporation. The benefits of using an enterprise learning management system are numerous. It offers economies of scale. The course content can be reused and reorganized. The online learning method overcomes the limitations of time, location, and access to resources. It eases in record keeping and report making. Moreover, it is free from human error. And, it also helps the managers and instructors to impartially monitor the employee engagement, participation and measure the employee performance in a learning task.

In a broader sense, an eLMS allows the company to keep a check on the skill gap management and competency management. The employee SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, threat) analysis helps to better align their skills with the company goals for the better outcome of co-ordinated efforts and achievement of company goals. A learning management system offers benefits to employees and corporate for their mutual growth and development.

Now, the question arises, how to buy a good enterprise learning management system?

This is not a difficult task, if you keep certain points in mind. In general, the various points crossing your mind could be the quality of the content, the number of courses available for purchase, the experience of the developer, references etc. All these are really important points that need to be considered while buying a learning management system. But, there are far more important questions that an eLMS should cater to. These concern the pricing, demo and test functionality, assessment and completion, and the extra content that comes with it.

For the pricing factor, you need to consider the following points:

• Are you purchasing unlimited use?

• Is your purchasing on a per user basis?

• Do they offer options for bundling course topics and reducing cost?

• Are you purchasing attempts?

• Does the price of content use in an LMS differ from the price of use in the provider’s delivery system? 

Next is the demo and test functionality. The following questions need to be pondered over:

• Does the provider give a demo to judge the quality and to test functionality in your LMS? Do they give access to demo content?

• How is troubleshoot and support system?

Next follows the completion, assessment and extras. Consider whether:

• there is a final assessment, checkpoints in the eLearning?

• the content comes with job aids and allows feedback submission?

• it supports multiple languages?

• it has any accessibility options?

By keeping these points in mind, you will surely buy an effective e-LMS that delivers what it promises.