Elearning! Magazine: Building Smarter Companies via Learning & Workplace Technologies.
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Business of Learning Four Considerations Before You Buy Your Next LMS DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFORE YOU COMMIT TO A DIRECTION, AND DETERMINE HOW YOU WANT TO INVEST YOUR STAFF'S TIME. BY JOE DIDONATO A cquiring a new learning or talent management system is still part of this year's agenda for nearly half of our readers. Reasons include first-time acquisitions, consolidations of multiple systems, the need for expanded functionality, and similar organizational needs. Here are a few of the broader issues that seem to come up when a new LMS or TMS acquisition is considered. CLOUD/SAAS OR ON-PREMISE? Tere is a rapid and growing trend toward cloud-based LMS (or SaaS) solutions in most enterprises. "SaaS" means "soſtware as a service, " and "cloud" means that your LMS application and databases usually reside at the vendor's site. "Usually" simply means that hybrid solutions are always available, especially when custom elements are involved. According to vendor and user data, more than half of all new installations are now cloud- or SaaS-based. Some vendors are reporting that cloud solutions represent as much as 75 percent of their new business. Here are some of the reasons for the trend: >> Speed of Implementation - What used to take an average of six months or more has now been shortened to three weeks, as a result of vendor-hosted services. Much of this is done via "wizards" that step users through the implementation process. >> Maintenance and Update Services - It's not unusual to see an on- premise installation fall as much as two years behind in application of new patches and system updates. With a cloud/SaaS solution, the vendors provide those updates and patches on behalf of their clients. Tus, SaaS eliminates getting locked into an old and unsupported release. But probably the most beneficial aspect of these services is less visible until users actually face an upgrade. To explain, a move to a new version of an LMS may also require a move to a newer version of the database platform used by a vendor. Tus, it might be necessary for your entire enterprise to move to a newer version of Oracle in order to install the latest LMS release. Good luck, if IT has that in next year's budget. In the cloud/SaaS version, that's the vendor's problem — not yours. >> Accommodations for Scaling – Many learning organizations experience a "busy season," where student registrations peak for any number of reasons. Before SaaS/Cloud, you needed to ensure that you had the total computer and soſtware resources available to handle those peak situations. Tose resources would remain a permanent part of your installation — including support and maintenance resources. Tat's not the case in a cloud/SaaS scenario. in order to accommodate these variations in training loads. Instead of having to pay for your "worst- caseload scenario, varies from 1,000 to 10,000 people trying to register for classes, your costs also change. >> Other Considerations – Tere are quite a few other items that come packaged in the cloud/SaaS solutions, from global cloud capabilities, complete with multiple secure data centers around the world, to easy conversion of content — one of the largest headaches in an LMS implementation. Government Elearning! July / August 2012 11 Many vendors have also changed their pricing models from the per-seat or user subscription models " some vendors are now charging by the number of class registrations. So if your load