While the year may have changed on calendar, what hasn’t changed is the
role of a learning management system (LMS) in employee training and
development. The right LMS plays a crucial role in helping your organization to
streamline employee L&D by delivering and managing training programs. With
the lessons of the recent past in terms of digitization, it’s more important
than ever to invest in robust LMS platforms required to support workforce development,
whether that’s in the office or remotely.
Nevertheless, it may not be easy to figure out which LMS is right for
you or what sets one apart from the others, especially today.
If you are one such organization, we have a checklist of 6 must-have features
that will be important to maintain a flexible and scalable LMS platform in 2022.
Mobile First
We are in the era of remote/hybrid working which means a mobile-friendly
LMS for on-the-go learning is not just a perfect fit, but an imperative one. The
need of the hour is an LMS that offers a complete learning experience with a
fully responsive design that allows users to access their learning via PC,
laptop, tablet or mobile and provides them with the flexibility to complete
their courses anywhere, anytime.
Learners can benefit majorly from an LMS that will offer effective
training by providing them access to real-time data, letting them download
resources and videos to view offline later, and syncing everything once they
are online to update the progress in the LMS.
Blend it Well
While Blended Learning has always been the cornerstone of learning
programs, the pandemic has reiterated its demand. It has become clear that organizations offering an ensemble of
learning methodologies instead of one single mode can yield more paybacks. Combining traditional in-person learning with
online methods aka Blended Learning works well for varied L&D needs.
It makes learning more flexible, improves knowledge retention in
learners, creates a repository of resources that are available to learners at
the moment of their need and helps put together a mix of learning modules that
meet organizational learning goals.
Reporting & Analytics
Good Reporting is one of the most important functions of an LMS. Reports and analytics feature are necessary for
keeping a tab on learners’ progress and also to drive the team to complete
outstanding training.
Reporting & Analytics feature in an LMS is a must to generate
progress reports for individuals or groups and can be linked to how active the
learner is. Learner activeness is an important factor of Curriculum
Completions, CPD Points, and Gamification Points. Learning analytics helps access
learner behaviors to improve the training quality and delivery methods.
Get, Set, Gamify
Though Gamification has been a part of L&D strategy since long, it has found more takers during the
pandemic as an innovative way to upskill the workforce. Gamification takes employee engagement levels
to a new high and can transform dull and boring training content into engaging
experiences by encouraging friendly competition among colleagues.
Given remote/hybrid nature of work landscape, Gamification is a
must-have to develop employee skills such as leadership, communication, stress
management, teamwork, and negotiation. In the absence of a regular office
environment to interact with colleagues and pick new things from them,
gamification will help employees apply lessons into real world like situations
to bring the subject matter to life and retain the knowledge better.
Go Local
As the workforce and business is scattered across the globe, diversity
in the workplace is a necessary outcome. It’s imperative for an LMS to provide
support for multiple languages to ensure that learners are able to use their
learning platform the right way in ‘their local language’, thereby increasing
user adoption.
Another necessary element for a seamless learning experience is
personalizing your LMS as per your brand by creating custom login pages with
complete branding set-up, setting up custom logos, color scheme and background
along with options for user login screen, portal promotions and SMTP settings.
This makes the system familiar to your learners and reduces the alienated
feeling of the LMS being another system to be managed.
Integrate All
One feature that will enhance the capabilities of your LMS by offering
more returns is its ability to seamlessly integrate with others apps, tools and
systems while reducing manual efforts in the process. These can be any apps and
tools like web conferencing and virtual classroom experience, virtual labs,
payment gateways, HRMS and HRIS and Performance Management platforms.
In Conclusion
Even though most of the must-have LMS features will depend on your
specific training goals and requirements, it is necessary to consider the
ongoing evolution of technology. To choose the right LMS, you will have to
consider the greater role of remote working, and the unique needs of remote and
hybrid workforce when it comes to their L&D.
Before you pick an LMS, be sure to ascertain the features you want as
well as those you will need.
Loved what you read? Don’t forget to check out the other insightful resources on our website. https://www.upsidelms.com/webinar
Sandeep Bhoyar
