If you find yourself scratching your head and wondering exactly what is LMS technology and how it applies to you, then it’s time to find out before your competitors leave you behind. LMS stands for learning management system. Think of it as software that helps you manage the learning and training programs your company needs to keep improving.

Need a shortcut to success? Get started with eLeaP LMS in minutes. Not sure what an LMS can really offer your organization? We’ll delve into that and more below.

What Is LMS Technology and How Does It Benefit You?

What is LMS technology? It might just be the critical component you’re missing in moving your company to the next level in terms of productivity and success. It’s a platform that allows you to connect the dots between your organizational objectives and employee training and upskilling, creating a holistic plan that allows you to build your talent pool and drive forward toward success.

Stepping back and looking at the big picture of your company, you established business goals for the organization. To reach those goals, you need all your employees to perform at peak levels. Some may be lacking the knowledge and skills they need to truly excel in their positions, while other times you have to get new employees up to speed.

In both cases, you develop and deliver various training plans and courses to equip your employees with what they need to succeed. A learning management system makes all of that much easier and more effective. It provides the framework necessary for learning delivery, as well as completion tracking and retention assessments.

What Is LMS: Facilitating Success

Your LMS facilitates all your company’s learning and training online by providing the necessary framework and infrastructure. The LMS manages the entire process of training from instruction to learning assessment to application and follow-up learning. It can aid in developing, delivering, tracking, and reporting on training and learning. The actual content delivered, however, is up to you.

Developing your learning and training content is a key aspect of the overall process. If your content is lackluster, you might overhear your employees saying how they hate the company LMS, when in reality what they hate is the terrible content it delivers! If you’re going to adopt a top-notch LMS for managing your learning and training programs, make sure your content is also top-notch.

Any LMS, however, is only as good as the features it offers, and there are definitely some “must-haves” when it comes to an LMS, including the following:

• Robust Assessment and Feedback Options: If your team can’t assess learner performance and information retention, there’s no guarantee that your employees are actually learning what they need to know or can apply that knowledge in their regular duties. Those are critical considerations. After all, the entire point of training is to give team members the knowledge and skills required to improve business performance and efficiency.

You also need to provide your learners and training team with the ability to give you feedback. Feedback on what, though? Everything related to the LMS. This includes the content itself, but also things like content delivery method (video, audio, gamified content, slideshows, etc.), communication tools, complications in the process, and so much more. When you give your team the ability to offer feedback, you empower them and tell them that their opinions matter and have value.

• Highly Secure Data Practices: Your LMS contains a significant amount of sensitive data, from personal information to company data. In an age where data theft is an all-time high, it pays to be cautious here. Make sure that the LMS you choose has industry-best encryption software baked in at the code level. It shouldn’t be an afterthought – it should be part of the system’s DNA from the very beginning.
• Strong Analytics and Reporting: How you track and assess learning matters as much as the quality of the content you deliver. You need strong analytics and a robust reporting system that makes it easy to get critical information. Your LMS should offer a central dashboard with immediate access to measurement tools, reporting, tracking options, and more.
• Additional Security Measures: In addition to encryption, you need to consider several additional security measures that impact data safety. For instance, how do you restrict physical access to the LMS? What about list control? Datacenter security practices? System and resource redundancy?

All of these speak directly to security and protection, and the right LMS will do more than just tick boxes. It will deliver robust protection and certification that proves it meets or exceeds industry standards.

Those are just starting points, however. In addition to those basics, you also need to consider things like scalability, price, your level of control over the LMS, and so much more. You need to think about the vendor and about how to implement an LMS, as well.

If you’d like to learn more about what is LMS and how to go about choosing the right one for your company, be sure to read our 7-part series How to Implement an LMS:

• Part 1: Laying the Groundwork
• Part 2: The Analysis Phase
• Part 3: Analysis Questions to Ask
• Part 4: The Vendor Search
• Part 5: Contract Review
• Part 6: Roll-Out Planning and Configuration
• Part 7: Final Steps

Learn What an LMS Can Offer You

eLeaP is an LMS that combines a reliable and effective service with devoted and trustworthy support to bring you the highest quality system possible. You needn’t take our word for it, though. Try it out now for free and let us know what you think. Kick the tires and put it through its paces – we think you’ll agree it’s a great fit.

Contact eLeaP to find out more about how it can meet your company’s learning and training management needs. We try to be as flexible as possible. Call us 1-877-624-7226 or email help@eleapsoftware.com.

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