The Rising Importance of the Learning Management System

It’s undeniable—training and development isn’t just important for a business—it’s absolutely vital.

A 2012 study conducted by the Harvard Business Review demonstrated just how important. In fact, the article, titled “Why Top Young Managers Are in a Nonstop Job Hunt,” provided a profile of 1,200 of the world’s brightest and most talented professionals.

What the research found was that much of the employees’ dissatisfaction and tendency to always be on the hunt for a new job was primarily because of their employers’ lack of development efforts and opportunities.

As more Millennials enter the workplace, they’re also placing an increasingly high premium on the value of comprehensive training and development efforts on the part of their employers.

Luckily, learning management systems (LMS), are providing innovative and powerful opportunities to deliver training and development.

The LMS Market

The market for delivering top-quality learning management systems has rapidly expanded in recent years. It’s ballooned into a multi-billion dollar industry, and in 2014 alone the LMS industry has grown more than 20% according to the Bersin Corporate Learning Factbook.

Additionally, the training market in general grew by 15% so far this year, according to the same research conducted by Bersin.

As it stands now, 2/3 of all corporate training is delivered in a multimedia LMS-based format.

The LMS market is one poised to continue its exponential growth, as employers recognize the value of training and development, but also delivering information through an LMS.

The LMS Advantage

When companies, large and small, opt to utilize an LMS to deliver training and development content to employees, the advantages are substantial. There are distinctive variations in learning management systems, but in general the benefits broadly applicable include:

• A delivery system that’s both simple and user-friendly, yet modern.
• There are a variety of tools available through an LMS that allow for comprehensive and customizable training.
• Learning management systems allow companies to not only deliver training and development, but also to track and report on the delivery of that training.
• An LMS can be designed with mobility, flexibility and on-demand convenience in mind.
• eLearning systems simplify the ease of restructuring or changing content to fit evolving needs of an organization.
• It’s easy to streamline human resources materials with the content and reports from an LMS.

Ultimately, multimedia training and development, primarily in the form of the use of a dedicated LMS is one of the best ways companies can get the most value from their training and development, and ensure an optimal return on their investment.

There are more innovative tools at the disposal of corporations than ever before thanks to the constantly expanding LMS market. If you are curious about how to get started, here’s a good read on “How to Implement a Learning Management System“.