Are you needing to keep track of information or disseminate training to people within your organization? If your current process to do so involves emails, checklists, or a spreadsheet of who has completed the necessary training, you know all too well the difficulties inherent with such a cumbersome, manual process. What if I told you there was a digital solution to streamline the process that could save you time and energy?
A learning management system, or LMS for short, is a software system used to develop training, deliver training, and track the training of individuals. It is a powerful repository of information and can provide a variety of benefits for businesses of all sizes. Let’s explore six benefits of an LMS to small and medium-sized businesses.
Automating your training and save money and time
By implementing an LMS, your business can automate the training process. Instead of being a manual process, the LMS allows you to save time and money through automation. Practically, this could look like auto-enrolling new hires in onboarding training to ensure compliance and that the new employees are properly and consistently trained.
You could also offer virtual training using pre-recorded videos or voice-over PowerPoints as an alternative to face-to-face instruction for some topics. Going virtual would use fewer company resources and can achieve comparable results to traditional forms of training. Self-paced training helps people to move through the information at their own pace. When they have a satisfactory level of understanding, they can move on. They do not have to wait on the whole class to understand to move on as is common in some classroom training sessions. Alternatively, if a person needs more time to understand a concept, self-paced training can help them more fully understand and not be rushed just to say they understand in order for everyone to move on. Regardless of the training method utilized, the goal is to help people perform their jobs better. In turn, this saves time and money. Delivering quality training via an LMS is beneficial to all involved in terms of understanding, time spent, and money invested.
Use Your Existing Training Content
If you choose to incorporate an LMS at your business, you do not necessarily have to create all new content. You can use your existing training content to prepare a new medium of delivery. For example, you could upload a PowerPoint that was prepared for face-to-face instruction to the LMS for virtual training. Alternatively, you could upload information or handouts that you have already developed into the LMS for people to be able to refer back to later. There are a variety of ways that existing content can be incorporated into the LMS for the benefit of everyone. It does not have to be for an assigned training. Instead, the LMS can serve as a reference repository for people to refer to when they have questions or need additional information.
Centralized Data Storage
You can also use an LMS for centralized data storage. This software system can be used to keep track of training completed and store data related to training materials or other company-specific information that people need quick access to. Consider storing information related to the business that will help enhance the customer experience (e.g., Frequently Asked Questions documents) in the LMS. It is very helpful for people to know they can just go to the LMS to find supplemental resources to help them perform their job better.
Extend Training to Your Customers and/or Partner Organizations
If you develop training that would benefit more than just your employees, you can extend the training to others through the LMS. For example, maybe customers would benefit from watching a training developed related to how to use your company’s product. You do not have to invite them to sit in on the next face-to-face training session. Instead, just invite them to view the training on the LMS. Alternatively, a partner organization may find certain training materials you have developed helpful in their context as well. For example, research-based training that you have developed could prove beneficial to partner organizations too. Send them a link to the information and have them up to speed virtually.
Track Employee Progress
The streamlined nature of an LMS allows you to easily track employees’ progress with training offered or required. Instead of a manual process that relies on signing in at a classroom-based training, participants’ activities are digitally logged. This means you can quickly generate reports to see who has completed certain training or who still needs to review certain documents. You can also track how long people spent on certain training or activities to ensure people are devoting sufficient time to learning the material. If you are offering optional training or development opportunities via the LMS, you can also keep track of who is accessing the information and when.
Improves Customer Service
One goal of training employees is to help them perform their job more effectively and efficiently. This should translate to a superior customer service experience for external constituents. Better trained employees who apply what they have learned to their job should do their job better and offer customers a superior experience. This has many implications for the business as well.
Conclusion
According to Statista, the annual amount spent on workplace training is over 82 billion dollars. That means that companies spend a large amount of money training their employees to hopefully see a return on the investment. Adding an LMS offers many benefits for businesses of all sizes. Such a technological platform can help training be more efficient, data management be streamlined, and training to be offered to external parties as well. If you are sold on the benefits of an LMS for a small or medium-sized business but cannot find just what you are looking for, contact us for Custom LMS Development. We can build an LMS to fit your unique needs.
