How to Choose the Best LMS for your Organization

The eLearning market today has abundant learning management systems (LMS) and in such a scenario finding the best one for your organization is a daunting task.

Selection of the most appropriate LMS can take up a great deal of money and time. Several things need to be kept in mind to ensure that the learning management system that you choose proves to be the most beneficial for your company.

Here are some basic tips on choosing the best LMS for your company:

1. BRAINSTORM ON HOW YOUR COMPANY WOULD BECOME MORE PROFITABLE

Once your business starts to become more and more profitable, you must ensure that the LMS you are considering has the potential to grow with your organization or you will have to repeat the tiring experience of searching and shopping again in a couple of months’ time. It is very important to consider and affirm what you want to provide to your customers in the near future rather than just thinking about what you want to offer them right now while planning the perfect software for your company.

2. SELECT THE ESSENTIAL FEATURES WHICH YOU REQUIRE

Organizations must deeply observe everything they need before they start shopping around, as this will enable them to slender down their potential options. This step is to ensure that you think about what your essential features are for your new LMS. You must explore all options and the type of eLearning you want to propose and what you want to deliver to your customers. For instance, if an organization wishes to adopt an online training software for WordPress Training, the relevant LMS will be the best option.

3. CONSIDER THE SUPPORT

If at any point a problem arises or something goes wrong, you would definitely need to get it fixed and sorted out as quickly as possible, so it doesn’t negatively impact your clients. You would also want to know that if at any point you find yourself stuck in a problem while using the software, you will have the help you need.

Support is something you may not immediately consider when you’re looking at a potential new LMS. You must ensure that you examine the level of support they propose, and the various methods you can get in touch with their support team to ensure that you pick the best available option for you.

4. TAKE INPUT FROM EVERYONE INVOLVED

It is very significant to ask everyone who will be working directly with the LMS what they want from the new software. You might know what you would want to see in a new LMS, but other colleagues or teams around your business might have very different ideas. This is one of the reasons that you must have this discussion before you start the shopping process, and ensure that everyone is on the same page!

5. REVIEW FEEDBACK AND READ REVIEWS

You can read some reviews of the people who are using the LMS to know how good it actually is. Each Learning Management system has a review section on its website. You can also check out the exclusive software reviews independently so you can have an impartial assessment of both its negative and positive reviews.

It is very important to get a full view of what your potential new software is like to use, and the best way of getting that is by reviewing the feedback of the current and past customers to gain some extra insight.

6. TRY A FREE RUN

Sometimes you can use a free trial of a software and know if it is going to be good for you or not. Try to get a free trial of LMS if available and try out the available features and see if it works for you.

7. IS IT COMPATIBLE WITH THE COMPANY’s OTHER SYSTEMS?

Another important and vital point is that you must consider whether your LMS will integrate with other systems that you use as a business, so you don’t make life more difficult for yourself.

8. HAVE A REALISTIC BUDGET

You must have an idea of how much you are willing to spend on a new software, and also consider all the features that you expect your LMS to provide and research whether you can get anything near that for the money you would like to spend. It is very important to ascertain what is more important- saving a little money on software costs or not getting the key features you need to run your show.

Final Words

Keeping all of these useful tips in mind when searching for the best LMS will allow you to avoid expensive trial and error. With some research, assessment, and internal auditing, you can select the best solution for your company that will offer the best return on investment.

Ehsan Memari is a blogger for SkyPrep, a provider of leading online training software for organizations to train employees partners and customers. Ehsan is a regular contributor to blog posts related to knowledge sharing, L&D and eLearning. Follow him on Twitter @ehsanmemari.