Workplace learning is growing like never before and online learning here to stay. According to LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report 2022, 53% L&D pros suggest that the learning function has taken more center stage than ever before. With 48% of them hoping for an increase in their spending capacity, the L&D domain is focused on becoming integral to the business process. Starting from DE&I, workforce engagement, talent development, to talent acquisition – the cross functional role of the learning domain has now increased drastically which is raising the stakes higher for corporate training teams.

Technology has a definitive role to play in this journey as more and more administrative tasks have to be automated for the L&D function to dig deep into business impact. Learning management system (LMS) are the key drivers of learning and the last two years have seen phenomenal growth in the learn tech market. However, with so many players it can be confusing about to choose and what to use. In this blog, we have created a comprehensive list of the top Learning management system features that all learning pros should look out for while choosing their LMS.

What are Learning Management System Features and how do they help?

With the evolution of the LMS over the years, it has now become a lot more than just a training delivery platform. Learning management system features are the various functionalities that allows you to deliver learning or training to large groups of people in a virtual environment. The Learning Management System features can range from basic functionalities like user management to the advanced ones like learning personalization.

Learning management system features now have with greater capabilities of providing blended learning environments, larger batch management with evaluation, tracking of course completion and greater automation for overall better training management. There are a lot of LMS providers in the market providing a multitude of features, but it is important to understand which ones are important for your business. If you are a healthcare organization then you should probably look for an LMS with an end-to-end training compliance management feature as compliance trainings are a very important requirement for your industry. Similarly, if you are in retail business then having a channel training capability on your LMS is a must.

To choose the right LMS partner, it is important that you understand your needs first and what training objectives are you trying to achieve as an organization. However, there are a few common learning management systems features that are critical for all industries alike.

Top 5 Learning Management System Features to look out for in 2022

Integration

There are no organization today that does not have a business system integral to their day-today business functions. Be it an ERP, HRMS, CRM, DMS or any other technological system that helps in the various process management, companies are not only using these for data management but business agility, greater competitive edge and ease of doing business. The learning management system must come with easy integration capabilities to these business systems. In the current trend of learning in the flow of work, learning can not happen in silos and thus integration with business systems is the top priority to enable a learning strategy that has direct impact on business processes and results. Single-sign on with virtual meeting platforms like MS Teams etc have proved to increased learning uptake by 30%.

Analytics

According to more than 50% L&D professionals, analytics is the most important learning management system features. Understandably as a smart system, the LMS generates interesting data about learning, learner behavior and the learning strategy which learning professionals wish to use to drive further impact. Therefore, a robust analytics system is a business-critical requirement which will help the management slice and dice the learning data to understand the efficacy and shortcomings of each and every big or small decisions they are making.

Interestingly, recently one of our clients used the learning data of their sales staff from various regions to decide on the regional go-to market plan for their new product. With a well-trained sales team, the product launch went exceptionally well bumping up revenue for the client.

Suggestion

Employee learning has taken a new turn over the last decade. It is not only about mandatory product trainings or compliance courses but more about upskilling and reskilling. 70% workforces take it to be a personal responsibility but expect their organizations to play an active role in supporting their skill development effort. In this scenario, learning management systems have had to evolve to become more than a training provider but a coach who can guide you to a more fulfilling career path. Artificial intelligence-based suggestion engines are the perfect way to fulfill that role of a coach who can provide the right guidance for individual workforces helping them discover relevant content.

Notification

Not to overwhelm but to engage. That’s the modern philosophy for notifications and your LMS should do it in a smart way. Be it e-commerce or learning platform, the uptake of your system is dependent on you are engaging with your user and how well-timed are your notifications. Multi-channel notifications like in-app, mails, SMS and even WhatsApp is needed to keep your learners engaged but it is also important to ensure that they are not getting irritated with continuous bombardment of notifications. The modern LMS has to have a smart notification system for the right balance that can read the learner’s behavior and prompt actions accordingly.

Configurability

The right LMS will be powerful, yet simple. The less dependency you have on your LMS provider, the better will be your experience with faster deployment. An LMS that offer easily configurable modules, workflows, user management, system roles will definitely give you a better experience. Every organization has its own structure and process, and it is best managed by themselves. The pandemic taught the Learning professionals the need for agile yet resilient teams and processes where the turn-around-time to deploy learning made all the difference. Configurability is key to owning the process and making it faster which is an essential component of the right learning strategy.

With 20+ years of industry experience, Tenneo (formerly G-Cube LMS) has gathered intelligence and insight on the various learning requirement of our client partners across industries. We would love to share the same with you over a call. Write to us to set up a call with our learning consultants.