If you’re interested in the question, “How to choose the right learning management system (LMS)?” there is no need to dwell on such topics as “What is a learning management system?” and “Why are LMS solutions important for education and business development?” Instead, let's dive in with two key statistics to introduce the subject and align our focus.
Companies that use the LMSs see revenue growth ranging from 18% to 42%, according to various estimates. 90% of students prefer learning online to traditional learning methods while 77% of educators consider their LMS essential for teaching.
Sounds impressive, isn’t it? The concern is that the benefits of using an LMS hinge on how well the system aligns with the organization's educational needs.
In the article, we’ll focus on the criteria that you can use to match LMS platforms with your goals in learning to choose the best one.
What we see as truly important is that our insights, we hope, will be equally helpful for representatives of both business and academic education.
Key Requirements to an LMS
Does an ideal LMS exist? If we tend to avoid wearing rose-colored glasses, the most adequate answer is no.
One of the reasons is that learners’ and educators’ needs shift instantly in response to evolving demands in learning and the corresponding development of technologies. Hence, there is always room for improvement.
On the other hand, some of the LMS’s features are essential. When choosing the right LMS, it’s critical to focus on core LMS requirements that ensure the platform evolves alongside your organization’s learning and technological needs.
Essential Blocks
Can you think of an LMS software that doesn't contain features for structuring the learning materials, tracking progress, or providing user management (assigning users’ roles)? Right. All mentioned capabilities are compulsory for a user-friendly LMS.
The following list contains key features that make a learning platform efficient and easy to use.
Content Creation and Management
This feature allows instructors or administrators to create, organize, and manage course materials, such as videos, documents, quizzes, and multimedia.
These are examples of tools used in this suite of features:
- tools for authoring content;
- functionality for organizing materials into modules or lessons;
- capabilities for scheduling content release and access permissions.
Content management also involves version control, categorization, and search capabilities, making it easy to update and maintain course materials.
The content management functionality on the Canvas LMS dashboard: the creation of modules - the blocks of content that are used to organize content by weeks, units, or a different organization structure.
Progress Tracking and Reporting
Progress tracking monitors the online learning outcomes: learners’ activities, including course completion, time spent on modules, and quiz results.
Reporting tools compile the data into reports that provide insights into learner performance, engagement levels, and completion rates.
This set of features is a kind of analytical suite for administrators and instructors since it provides insights on the following topics:
- Is the learning process successful?
- Do learners/organizations hit their goals?
- Are there bottlenecks in the process of knowledge and skills delivery?
- What should be improved to enhance user engagement and learning efficiency?
The example of the student’s progress bar in Moodle LMS.
Automated Administrative Tasks
Automation is a life-saver when it comes to handling plenty of routine tasks. Automation is a life-saver when it comes to handling routine tasks. It streamlines processes like user management and enrollment, scheduling, notifications, grading, and certification issuance.
Gamification Features
One Monday morning, a workplace professional named Joe walks into work and is greeted by a roaring applause. Balloons, streamers, and cheerful shouts of “Congratulations!” fill the room. Bewildered, Joe looks around, then asks, “Did someone win a million dollars in the lottery?”
A colleague laughs and replies, “Even better, Joe! You scored the highest on last week’s ‘Cybersecurity Awareness’ course!”
Everyone loves to compete. (And to win, of course.) According to statistics, gamification can increase user engagement by up to 48%. No wonder that friendly competition is at the heart of a gamification concept in e-learning.
Gamification incorporates such game-like elements as points, badges, leaderboards, and rewards, into the learning experience to motivate and engage users.
By the way, here the ending of our story about Joe:
Joe pauses, sighs, and says, “Well, I’ll celebrate… just as soon as I figure out how to change my password again.”
There is no place for joking when it comes to choosing the right learning management system for your organization. Selecting an LMS with effective gamification features can transform training into an experience that is not only educational but also enjoyable and motivating — just ask Joe!
Examples of badges on Docebo LMS
Integration with Third-Party Tools
- Integration features allow the LMS to connect with external applications. The following list include the most essential ones:
- HR systems;
- CRMs;
- single sign-on (SSO) tools;
- student information systems (SIS);
- external databases;
- payment gateways;
- content libraries;
- communication tools.
Integrations enable data sharing, streamline workflows, and support a more cohesive learning experience by embedding essential tools directly into the LMS environment.
Mobile Access
Mobile access enables learners and administrators to interact with the LMS from smartphones and tablets, supporting mobile learning. A mobile-friendly LMS with a responsive design or a dedicated app for mobile devices allows users to complete courses, participate in discussions, and access resources on the go.
It supports flexible, anytime-anywhere learning, which is particularly beneficial for busy professionals or remote learners.
Many systems also support social learning features, letting users engage in discussions and collaborative activities from mobile devices, enhancing team interaction and knowledge-sharing wherever they are.
LMSs’ for Business and Academic Education: Features Differ
The essential LMS’s features derive from the learning system goals, as you could see earlier.
In particular, the goal of streamlining the learning process gives rise to a range of features for training content management.
Similarly, the need for learners’ progress evaluation leads LMS developers to create reporting tools within the LMS system.
Although the key functions are common to most of LMS platforms, there are considerable differences in functionality and interfaces among platforms created for the following two domains:
- Corporate LMSs are used by businesses for the onboarding process, upskilling and reskilling, compliance training, client and partner training.
- Academic learning systems are related to formal education; hence, they’re used by schools, colleges, and universities to deliver academic content.
We bet you can name at least a couple of differences between the two, thinking intuitively. Is it possible for a specialist to stick to the thirty-minute lecture while onboarding? Hardly. Yet, such a long lecture is easy to imagine as a part of the university curriculum.
Another example is progress evaluation and tracking. Businesses are interested rather in acquiring skills by specialists than in the comprehension of knowledge rooted in theoretical fundamentals, which is a core of academic learning. Respectively, the approaches to progress measuring and providing LMS reports are different: quick practically oriented tests vs comprehensive assessments.
Let’s sum up the key peculiarities of corporate and academic platforms as two types of learning management systems. Let’s keep in mind that you can use the following table as a guide to composing your own list of essential capabilities for your learning application.
A corporate vs academic platforms: peculiarities in goals and LMS features
It’s impossible to create an exhaustive list of LMS’s features and capabilities for different domains in the blog article. It’s even more challenging to compose such a list for a particular organization unless you have expertise in learning platforms development.
Thus, it’s worth considering contacting an LMS development services provider as a first step to outline the general learning system’s features and capabilities and to map the whole project properly.
Technical Considerations
There are plenty of different learning management systems, from a technical point of view: on-premises and cloud-based, open-source and commercial, built from the ground up and customizable. Each approach offers its own set of benefits and challenges, impacting LMS cost and control over data. What approach will work for your organization?
Key Technical Approaches: Comparison and Summarization
We summarized key technical approaches' advantages and challenges in a table so that you could find the answer to the question “Which LMS is best?” depending on your priorities.
The technical criteria for LMS selection
The chosen LMS, as a result of careful consideration, meets three critical technical requirements: data protection, flexibility in functionality development, and cost-efficiency. (We consider a selected learning platform’s high performance to be a default property.)
The Importance of Integration Capabilities
Pay attention to the importance of integration capabilities. What if you need your learning platform to be integrated with custom software that is too custom to be integrated easily? This issue is potentially possible if you’d want to connect your learning platform with, let’s say, a custom CRM or a Custom Student Information System (SIS).
When choosing the right LMS, it’s essential to ensure the platform can support integration with any custom software your organization uses, as this may require specialized API support or middleware. Considering the costs and technical expertise needed for custom integrations upfront will help avoid delays and unexpected expenses in the implementation process.
The Benefits of Customization
As you can see from the table, LMS customization is an actionable strategy in most cases regardless of the approach to hosting or the commercial/open-source nature of the learning management systems.
When you choose an LMS, customization becomes a win-win opportunity because it allows organizations to tailor the LMS to their specific needs, ensuring a personalized user experience while enhancing overall efficiency.
This flexibility not only improves learner engagement but also helps the organization align the system with its unique workflows and branding, leading to better adoption and long-term ROI.
Critical Technical Requirements Your LMS Should Meet
Regardless of your choice based on your educational goals keep in mind that some requirements are essential - remember them as you consider how to choose a learning management system:
- Security: Strong data encryption, secure user authentication, and role-based access control are essential to safeguard sensitive information.
- Compliance: Adherence to industry standards such as GDPR, FERPA, SCORM, xAPI, or ISO certifications ensures regulatory alignment.
- Scalability: The LMS must be capable of scaling with an increasing number of users and courses without compromising performance.
- Accessibility: Must comply with standards like WCAG to ensure it’s usable by people with disabilities.
If the list of technical requirements seems overwhelming to you, consider discussing your educational needs with a team of developers who have the expertise not only in customizable LMS development but also in LMS consulting services.
Communication with LMS providers who base the development strategy on an in-depth analysis of your expected outcomes and available resources will pay off, especially in the long term.
A piece of Advice for the Road: How to Choose an LMS?
In this article, we focused on the essential criteria and considerations for selecting the most suitable platform to support your learning and development needs.
We did our best to provide you with the following insights:
- Which features are best for your solution depends on your learning goals.
- Some of the functions, such as course management or reporting, are compulsory for any software for learning.
- When it comes to differentiating LMSs into two major types — corporate and academic — the sets of features are distinct as well.
- Such technical requirements as data security and compliance, are vital for a learning platform.
You may exclaim, “The insights and the stuff are good, but where do I start when choosing an LMS?”
If we were choosing a learning platform for our own needs (if we weren’t LMS developers), we’d take these steps:
- Studying the ratings of solutions (like those on Forbes or Gartner) for a general understanding of learning platforms and their capabilities.
- Examining user reviews on the platforms and business directories like those on G2 or Capterra.
- Using free trials to test the software firsthand.
- Requesting demos from LMS vendors and deciding which company is most suitable for a partnership.
The strategy will be different in case you decide to develop software for education from scratch. (You’re brave — our respect!) In this case, the question “How to choose the right LMS?” doesn’t make sense at all.
The strategy will be different as well if you decide to host software on your servers. (A feat that flirts with insanity — our respect twofold!)
In any case, you can contact AnyforSoft as a vendor who will gladly support your inquisitiveness and provide a full range of services, from a discovery phase to the MVP and building a well-rounded LMS solution for your organization.
FAQs
Firstly, it’s essential to keep in mind that the best LMS is the one that relates closely to your educational needs that, in turn, hinges on the goals of your business development.
Secondly, make sure that the your educational platform you’re planning to implement offers the following blocks of functionality:
- content development and organization;
- tracking progress and generating reports;
- automation of administrative functions;
- gamification;
- accessibility on mobile devices;
- compatibility with external applications.
Moreover, the LMS interface is a key characteristic to consider since an intuitive, responsive, and easy-to-navigate interface enhances user retention and directly influences learning efficiency.
Finally, take into account such technical LMS requirements as data security, scalability, and the learning system’s compatibility with your internal software.
Firstly, it’s essential to keep in mind that the best LMS is the one that relates closely to your educational needs that, in turn, hinges on the goals of your business development. Secondly, make sure that the your educational platform you’re planning to implement offers the following blocks of functionality: content development and organization; tracking progress and generating reports; automation of administrative functions; gamification; accessibility on mobile devices; compatibility with external applications. Moreover, the LMS interface is a key characteristic to consider since an intuitive, responsive, and easy-to-navigate interface enhances user retention and directly influences learning efficiency. Finally, take into account such technical LMS requirements as data security, scalability, and the learning system’s compatibility with your internal software.
The second option is more cost-efficient and easy in maintaining. Pre-built LMS platforms are also faster to deploy and often come with built-in support and regular updates.
However, custom-built LMSs offer unmatched flexibility, allowing you to tailor every feature to your specific needs.
While a custom LMS can be highly effective for unique requirements, it requires a larger investment in both development and ongoing support.
Organizations should weigh their budget, timeline, and customization needs carefully. In most cases, a customizable pre-built LMS strikes the best balance between flexibility and practicality.
The second option is more cost-efficient and easy in maintaining. Pre-built LMS platforms are also faster to deploy and often come with built-in support and regular updates. However, custom-built LMSs offer unmatched flexibility, allowing you to tailor every feature to your specific needs. While a custom LMS can be highly effective for unique requirements, it requires a larger investment in both development and ongoing support. Organizations should weigh their budget, timeline, and customization needs carefully. In most cases, a customizable pre-built LMS strikes the best balance between flexibility and practicality.
When it comes to LMS’s cost considerations, there are a few big factors to think about. Here’s how they break down:
- Initial Costs. Some LMSs cost more upfront, like custom-built ones, while pre-built options usually have lower starting fees and often include setup help from the provider.
- Maintenance Costs. Pre-built LMSs usually come with support and regular updates, so you don’t need a team to handle that. Custom LMSs, though, need ongoing maintenance and updates, which can get pricey.
- Scalability. As your organization grows, you’ll probably pay more if you need extra users or storage. Make sure to ask your potential LMS provider about these costs.
- Integration with Other Systems. If the LMS connects easily with your current systems, it can save you money by reducing the need for expensive custom development.
So, balancing these factors can help you get the best fit for your budget and needs.
When it comes to LMS’s cost considerations, there are a few big factors to think about. Here’s how they break down: Initial Costs. Some LMSs cost more upfront, like custom-built ones, while pre-built options usually have lower starting fees and often include setup help from the provider. Maintenance Costs. Pre-built LMSs usually come with support and regular updates, so you don’t need a team to handle that. Custom LMSs, though, need ongoing maintenance and updates, which can get pricey. Scalability. As your organization grows, you’ll probably pay more if you need extra users or storage. Make sure to ask your potential LMS provider about these costs. Integration with Other Systems. If the LMS connects easily with your current systems, it can save you money by reducing the need for expensive custom development. So, balancing these factors can help you get the best fit for your budget and needs.
