Training and development are inseparable parts of healthy and productive work culture. Continuous and relevant skill training of a company’s employees ensures that the company stays ahead of the curve in its industry and helps its employees grow. The learning process needs to be in sync with the individual goals of employees and the broader objectives of the company.
Since the training and development process has shifted to the digital medium in the last few years, given the extraordinary and unavoidable circumstances, the need of the hour for every business is to ensure a smooth learning experience for its employees irrespective of their location — be it the office or a remote location. Therefore, a Learning Management System(LMS) is an important investment for your organization.
An LMS is software that helps you design, propagate, track, and evaluate the training process of your employees. A capable LMS can ease and enhance the overall process of training and development. There’s no shortage of LMS software in the market, and thus, you need to be aware of the necessary features that must be present in a good one.
In this article, we will list out some of the unavoidable features to look for in your new LMS.
How’s the overall ease of using it?
t’s a no-brainer that any software is supposed to ease the work that you could do manually. The same goes for an LMS. It must be easy to use for the training designers, and they must not need extensive assistance in learning its ins and outs.
Similarly, the learner should also not face any difficulty in using it just because its user interface is not smooth enough to enhance the user experience. UI and UX of an LMS must be designed to make training easier for designers and learners alike.
Integration with pre-existing software
In a digital century, every organization uses various sales, HR, and other software to make operations more efficient. Since an LMS will be a new addition to your organization’s software pack, you need to ensure that it can be easily integrated with the pre-existing software.
An LMS won’t be successful on its own as there are tons of additional tasks that are reliant on training modules in a company. Therefore, it’s vital to be aware of a given LMS’s capabilities in this regard. There is this software called Articulate 360; it is trusted by organizations for this purpose. You can read various Articulate reviews to crosscheck.
Efficiency of Automation
Automation of various repetitive tasks in the complete learning and development process is one of the most vital functions of an LMS. It is the prerogative of an LMS tool to make work easier for the trainers and learners.
Your LMS must be equipped to remove repetitive admin tasks to allow HR managers to focus on more important things that need a human touch. Triggered notifications, auto-enrolments, feedback windows are some examples of the tasks to be automated.
Effect on a learner’s experience
It all boils down to the experience of the target audience of a learning and development process. An LMS should be able to improve the learning experience of an individual in comparison to the pre-existing learning methods.
A learner must be satisfied with the outcomes of a given training process and should be able to improve his retention capability based on the methods of learning provided by an LMS, such as gamification and interactiveness.
How good are the security features?
The security of an organization’s data is probably the most important consideration of employees and management. An LMS must come loaded with the best cybersecurity features to protect the confidential data of a company from leaking and reaching undesirable hands. An LMS must be amply equipped to prevent data theft and provide recovery options.
Is it future ready?
At the end of the day, technology is always evolving, and new versions of any given software keep entering the market, each iteration having more features than the previous one. In such a scenario, you need to be sure that your investment in an LMS tool will pay off. Ensure that an LMS will stay relevant and capable for long enough to give you a sizable ROI.
Conclusion
Don’t forget to keep all of these features in mind whenever you go hunting for a new LMS for your organization’s learning and development processes. You will be able to make an informed decision.
