LMS vs. LXP (Podcast)

Years after Josh Bersin coined the term ‘Learning Experience Platform’ or LXP, as it is popularly known, the world is still divided on its loyalty to the veteran player (read Learning Management System, LMS) vs. the new kid on the block (LXP). While both aim to solve the same problem – employee learning and development, the former were developed as “Management” systems for learning, focused on business rules, compliance, and catalog management for all ‘assigned’ training while the experience platforms revolve more around the self(content) ‘discovery’.

Accordingly to an article on Josh Bersin, “Both systems are needed (LXP and LMS), but over time these lines have blurred”.

How blurred?

To Josh’s point of LXPs’ USP being content aggregators and recommenders, David Perring, the Director of Research at the Fosway group, puts forth a thought provoking message in his article ‘LXP- Why buyers might need to look closely into the next "big thing"​ in learning tech?’

Admin-driven to learner-driven

It’s not just the content piece(yes, learning is more than just accessing content!), but the shift of learning “experience” from the admin in the hands of the learner which calls for reassessment. In an LXP, the key interactions with the end users are driven by ML and AI algorithms, not by a predefined design created by an instructional designer. Which means L&D is no longer in direct control of the moments and nature of the interactions, begging the question - what about the mandatory compliance training and the learning path? Do businesses leave the learning and development completely to the devices of the learners? Do you use an LMS to ensure ownership and control of the training instead?

Unfortunately (or fortunately) it’s not as black and white as it looks.

While it’s important to train your workforce on key pre-defined skills and competencies, ensuring learner engagement, self-discovery and self-paced-ness is equally important for the success of your training interventions.

So how do businesses, L&D in particular, choose between an LMS and anLXP? Or can you get the best of both worlds – a Learning Management System with the(artificial) intelligence ofa Learning Experience Platform?

In our April edition of ‘Let’s Talk Learn-Tech’ podcast, I chat with Sandeep Bhoyar, AVP Technology, Rajesh Shintre, AVP Client Communications and Iyyappan Arumugam, Manager – Business Analyst to dissect the Learning Management System and the Learning Experience Platform.

Listen to the full episode to learn:

• What is an LMS and an LXP? Key differences between the two
• Importance of personalization in the context of mandatory training (learner-driven workflow vs. admin driven) and to-dos for achieving a balance
• Which one should an organization choose – parameters for choosing one over the other
• Thefuture of the LMS and the LXP

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