The Value of a Learning Management System
When a company is considering whether or not to implement a new learning management system, they have to look at the value it’s going to create for their organization. Executives and company leaders may be wondering what the value of a learning management system is, particularly if they’re not familiar with common features and functionalities.
The following is an overview of some the ways a learning management system (LMS) can create value across industries and for organizations of any size.
Creating Talent Pipelines and Filling Gaps
We’re at a time in the business world where some key concepts are taking center stage. First, the unemployment rate dropped below four percent, which shows the strength of the overall economy. At the same time, it’s increasingly difficult for employers to hire the talent they need. Employees are in the driver’s seat right now, and even when businesses can find new talent willing to come on board, they may not have the necessary skills upfront.
It can require some training and development to get new employees where they need to be. However, this process of onboarding employees and preparing them for their job role can’t be too time-consuming.
These problems can all be dealt with through the use of a learning management system. With a learning management system, training and development can be rapidly deployed and customized. Onboarding can be done in a thorough, comprehensive way, but it can also be done quickly.
A learning management system doesn’t require expensive training materials and instructor-led training. It also doesn’t require employees to be away from work during their training. Employers can, in turn, create their own talent and leadership pipelines, and fill gaps that may exist through their own training without slowing down the business.
Flexibility
In a fast-paced and technologically driven work environment, flexibility is a priority. Employers need to be able to change how and when they’re delivering training content as needed. They need to be able to update training content quickly to ensure innovation and relevancy. Outdated content or training that doesn’t speak to the current needs of the business is a waste of time, money and other resources.
With a learning management system, employers have that important sense of flexibility. Rather than having to completely redo courses every time an update is needed, businesses can go into a learning management system and make the necessary updates or changes within a matter of minutes.
If a company goes with a cloud-based learning management system solution, they can also scale up or down on their service depending on their current needs. For example, with a cloud-based LMS, if the employer expands their business, it’s easy to expand their training and development without major investments of time or money.
With the flexibility of a cloud-based learning management system, there’s also the associated cost savings related to IT investments and hardware. The services provider easily manages everything, and businesses aren’t having to invest in expensive hardware or software, or the support staff to maintain these systems.
Performance Management
Employers need to be able to see relevant data, and a lot of that data pertains to performance management of employees. Employers’ biggest asset but also their biggest expense is often their employees, yet they don’t know the ROI for this asset.
A learning management system can be an integral part of a strong performance management strategy. Employers can create customized training and development materials, but can then go in and see who’s completing what, and how they’re interacting with the training content.
That information can then be connected to the employees’ overall performance. This allows employers to adjust training as necessary and make important talent management decisions based on facts, rather than emotion.
Innovation
Innovation is the only way for businesses to stay competitive. There’s so much innovation happening in the world, and it’s essential that companies can keep up. By training and developing employees properly, they’re confident in their jobs and how things are done. That then frees them up to be more innovative and think outside the box.
There’s another way a learning management system is valuable within the framework of innovation, as well. With a learning management system, not only can employees be trained and developed, but partners and sales staff can be as well. This increases the overall time to market for new products and services being introduced. Get a free eLeaP sandbox account to see the value your organization will achieve.
Employee Retention
Touched on a bit above was the idea of using training and development as a way to fill talent gaps and create a talent pipeline. Also relevant to the discussion of a learning management system and its value is the fact that L&D is a key way to retain employees. Employees in the modern workplace tend to jump from company to company quite a bit. It’s not a shortcoming, but they have the opportunity to do so, and they take advantage.
Now, more than ever before, it’s up to companies to try and keep them onboard because the cost of high employee turnover can be astronomical.
When employers invest in learning and development, employees see it as them investing in their future. It’s a relatively cost-efficient way to show that you see the value in your employees, and you’re investing in them personally and their future career.
Along with showing employees you’re interested in seeing them succeed, a learning management system can also improve employee engagement and overall satisfaction. They’re going to feel more prepared to do their jobs, and they’re going to be more interested in what they’re doing and more motivated.
Finally, a learning management system is one primary element a business can put in place to increase efficiency. It helps efficiency in multiple ways. Not only are employees not having to participate in long in-person training sessions or having to go offsite for training, but they’re also learning in a way that’s relevant for them so retention will be improved and the entire process will take less time and be more streamlined. Also, if employees are well-trained, there are likely to be fewer slowdowns related to a lack of knowledge.