Elearning! Magazine: Building Smarter Companies via Learning & Workplace Technologies.
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TipsLMS Evolution or Extinction?
Is It Time to Use Your LMS Outside of the L&D; Silo To Make It Worthwhile Across the Enterprise? BY ALEX POULOS
Over the last two years, the rapid consolidation of the talent management market and the rise of informal and social learn- ing within organizations around the world has prompted discus- sions about the relevance of Learning Management Systems (LMSs) in today's corporate learning, performance, and workforce support programs. Ask Google the question "is
the LMS dead?" or type in "death of the LMS" and you will get a combined total of almost three quarters of a million search results. And this is by no means a unique count of references to contemplations about the role of Learning Management Systems nowadays.
THE NEW ROLE OF THE LMS
So, is the LMS dying? Far from it. According to the Brandon Hall Group, demand for LMS solu- tions has been higher in 2011 than ever before. But the role of the LMS within organizations is clearly evolving across a number of very important aspects:
mental to the enterprise level and beyond, addressing learning & performance support needs of what is known as the extend- ed enterprise - the value chain of suppliers, partners, dealers, resellers, and customers.
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The ROI of LMS is increas- ingly changing from learning- related metrics (e.g. % of courses
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LMS implementations are moving from the depart-
policy workflow to initiate a transfer request, communicate the reason of the transfer to the respective manager, and notify transfer approvals to the HR & Finance departments.
completed, time to complete a learning program across a division) to business-related ones (e.g. incremental revenues achieved, operational cost sav- ings attained) involving not just L&D; executives, but also CIOs, CFOs, and legal & compliance officers among others.
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course catalogues and towards learning at the point of need by integrating social learning envi- ronments, supporting mobile learning models, and delivering performance support.
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that of a destination anymore, but that of a service that is eas- ily integrated into portals, cor- porate Intranets, Knowledge Management Systems, Talent Management Systems, and HR Management Systems.
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In essence, the role of the LMS is not expected to be
The key driver for deploying sophisticated LMSs is and will
continue to be compliance. With the rise of regulatory require- ments (for example title 21 CFR part 11 that covers electronic records and electronic signatures) as well as the adoption of best practices by companies world- wide, corporate training is at the forefront of these initiatives.
Some innovative LMSs are starting to expand beyond
INNOVATIVE LMS USES
We repeatedly have conversa- tions with organizations 1
swine flu vaccinations for all their employees. The company created a class called "Flu Vaccination" that was available on certain dates & places, and they were able to successfully track the vac- cinations of over 7,000 employees in just two weekends.
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to manage temporary employee transfers between their differ- ent locations. They do that by using the course enrollment
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An electrical equipment dis- tributor is using their LMS
about interesting / unconven- tional / innovative ways they use their LMS for. Here are some of the cases that have come up:
An airline is using the LMS for Dangerous Goods
Handling (DGH) compliance training. When an employee fails to complete the required training on time, the LMS revokes securi- ty clearance so that the employee is automatically locked out of the airport's goods handling areas and a manager is notified for further action.
An insurance provider used their LMS to co-ordinate
nate their regular Investor Relations events by creating courses for the different sessions, assigning investor-related mate- rials to these courses, and track- ing registrations to these courses for all the required stakeholders.
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tion by matching people to dif- ferent volunteering activities and assigning relevant workflows to take action when disaster strikes. So, it's time to rely on your
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LMS to break out of the L&D; silo and make this investment worthwhile across the enter- prise. Evaluate business needs, consider the reach of the system inside & outside of the enter- prise, rethink workflows, revisit unused functionality, consult with your vendor. Don't stay still. Evolve or be extinct!
Alex Poulos is Chief Marketing Officer at NetDimensions. www.NetDimensions.com alex.poulos@netdimensions.com Twitter: @alexpoulos
An automotive parts provider is using their LMS
to manage their franchise net- work, certify franchisees, col- lect franchise fees, and per- form equipment audits.
An airline is using an LMS for disaster volunteer coordina-
A financial services provider is using their LMS to co-ordi-
