How can you make your LMS initiative a Success? (Infographic)

The LMS market is a competitive space, and according to the market research analysts at Technavio, the North American region alone will account for more than 59% of the total market share by the end of 2020. The study also states that, as more and more enterprises look out for cost-effective training solutions, the corporate segment alone would hold a significant share of the LMS market by 2020; a whopping 71%!A good news for LMS vendors, one would think, right? But there's another side to the coin.

A recent Expertus survey revealed that there is a high level of dissatisfaction among LMS users especially in the areas of LMS reporting capabilities (81% of respondents), Integration issues (49%), limitations in data collection (48%), customization requirements (47%) and usability (46%).This when compounded with technology changes, learning trends and approaches makes it exceedingly challenging for LMS vendors to ensure that their systems succeed and survive.

However, the good news is that ensuring LMS success is not rocket science. It's a mix of processes, open communication (between the vendor and the client), a couple of steps and a whole lot of coordination.

5 Steps to LMS Success

1. Presales and Sales

‍The journey towards a successful LMS initiative should start with 'Solutioning', wherein the vendor Pre-Sales and Sales experts perform a complete L&D and business need analysis of the client with a strong focus on the LMS users. This understanding should be used to propose the right modules, features and functionalities in the LMS that fit the client's requirements.Throughout this presales and sales cycle, a full-featured branded trial link (with 24x7 technical support) along with multiple rounds of product demonstrations should be made available to the client to ensure thorough qualification of the product. Any technical questions relating to the LMS and its compatibility with the technical, hosting, security and infrastructure of the client's company should be answered and even encouraged.

‍2. Client Onboarding

‍An essential part of 'Handholding', Onboarding is a process that involves the LMS vendor representatives to work alongside clients as a part of their team, helping them take the first critical steps to LMS success. Setting aside ample amount of time for needs assessments, providing assistance and offering them a great custom experience can be quite helpful.

‍3. Implementation

‍For successful LMS implementation, proper planning, solid testing, communication, and active participation of all key team members is equally important, and it should be ensured across the 3 phases of the Implementation, namely - Planning, Review and Collaboration, and Rollout.

‍4. Support & Services

‍LMS implementation is incomplete without proper support and services to deliver customer satisfaction. To ensure that the LMS support received is second to none, providing exclusive customer support, where the LMS vendor's support representatives work with the clients, side-by-side, to help them get the most out of the LMS, is crucial.

‍5. Ongoing Consulting

‍The final goal however, can only be scored by going an extra mile by creating a trust-based relation with the client. Offering a helping hand even after the project is delivered, assisting clients in making better choices, taking their feedbacks to improve the product are just few of the things an LMS vendor should do. In an open environment, this means that the clients may even want to use the LMS vendor's team as a shadow team while analyzing future requirements.

As an LMS vendor ourselves, a leading provider of the Best Value, SaaS LMS at that, we have honed our solutioning, onboarding, implementation, support and consulting skills over the past 12+ years. It's this experience and knowledge that we have beautifully encapsulated in an infographic, titled 'The 5 Steps to LMS Success'.

Check out the infographic. Click to view the complete infographic.  |  Infographic by UpsideLMSSo, are you ready to take the right steps towards LMS success?