A new year usually means new budgets. Many organizations right now finally can upgrade their learning management system (LMS) platforms or purchase digital training software for the first time. However, with so many options available, the decision on what system to choose can be far from easy. That’s why Software Advice surveyed nearly 200 corporate LMS users to learn what prospective buyers should know entering 2017 (http://www.softwareadvice.com/resources/lms-user-trends-2016/). Here’s what we found out.
The most significant challenges users have faced with their LMSs are:
- Difficulty learning the system (reported by 61% of users)
- Technical bugs (58%)
- Integration with other software (57%)
Buyers need to vet LMS vendors thoroughly to learn what training and support options they offer in order to avoid these hurdles. Different user types in an organization (e.g., content creators, learners, administrators) also should demo the system to determine how easy or hard it is to pick up.
Device usage is also important. Despite many LMS vendors promoting their system’s mobile capabilities, only 9% of administrators and learners said they accessed their organization’s LMS on a mobile device. If mobile is important to your employee training program, ensure your vendor can deliver mobile-optimized content. (Hint: Responsive design does not equal mobile-ready.) If mobile isn’t important, don’t pay big bucks for bells and whistles you don’t need.
Lastly, if you’ve done your due diligence and selected a good-fit LMS for your organization, don’t worry about buyer’s remorse. More than 90% of users in our survey said their LMS has had a positive effect on things such as training content organization (96%), training efficiency (93%), and even job performance (92%). This tells us that, in most cases, LMS platforms ultimately are meeting buyer needs. Happy LMS hunting!