Seven Most Critical Features A Modern LMS Platform Needs To Have

by Anwesha Guha

With every passing year, the number of organizations investing in a robust Learning Management System (LMS) is growing exponentially. According to LMSChef, 3 decades ago, there were only 15 notable LMS vendors and now, there are more than 700. All these vendors have their own unique LMS platforms with a wide range of differentiated features. For organizations looking to enhance their learning and development initiatives, it can get very overwhelming to make the right choice of features relevant for their workforce.

Hence whether one is looking for an LMS platform to work with or is looking for making certain upgrades and changes in their existing e-learning tools, it is important to select the platform with the right combination of features per the organization’s business context and workforce requirements, among other things.

Here is our pick of seven critical LMS features any LMS platform should have to make it future proof

  1. AI-based recommendation and personalization

Though known for its predictive function, AI in an LMS can do influence on several learning workflows such as:

  • accommodating personal preferences and learning styles for each employee
  • making personalized learning recommendations for them
  • tailoring each employee’s learning journeys based on their performance

None of these will be possible without the assistance of AI, bringing us to why it should be seen as an important feature in an LMS. To give an example of such personalization, think of an employee who lacks a particular skill and receives targeted recommendations that build knowledge. Furthermore, AI may help to recommend that a high-performing employee might be able to actually skip a module and directly get access to the advanced version to make the learning more relevant to him.

2.  Mobile-first learning experience

Virtual training is a tool that organizations have been leveraging for over a decade now. However, trainers are still sceptical about building and sustaining engagement during virtual learning sessions and their impact on the learners. Having an LMS that leverages mobile learning to facilitate virtual training can be an effective way to boost engagement in such cases. Mobile learning presents content in the form of enriched visuals, videos, audios or images, etc. making learning more effortless. Furthermore, imagine your frontline rep being able to learn on the go without having to take out time separately from their jobs!

3. Microlearning

Continuous digital transformation in organizations calls for continuous reskilling and upskilling of employees. Don’t you think repacking long and tedious learning content into bite-sized modules would make it more efficient? Hence, an LMS that leverages microlearning as a feature can play a crucial role in taking your learning and development programs to the next level. By reducing expansive content into short bites of information, you can make it easier for employees to learn and retain the information. Furthermore, this approach can address challenges with employees who are traditionally unable to find time to learn.

4. Flexible and detailed learning analytics

There is no bargaining when it comes to the capacity of generation learning reports as it is the most valuable source of insight into whether the learning experience is effective or not. However, an ideal learning management system should do more than just generating reports. For sales leaders to make an informed decision about L&D initiatives, your LMS platform needs to offer actionable insights for decision-making. These analytical reports could focus on a wide age of metrics like completion rates, time taken to finish each module, number of attempts to name a few. Furthermore, the LMS should present these analytics in an easy to understand and visually appealing dashboards making it easier for users to target relevant information.

5. Vast integration ecosystem

To define it in simpler terms, LMS integration refers to how well the LMS can be integrated or embedded in existing applications. Most organizations in today’s date have a host of applications for tracking sales, managing performance, and so on. These apps usually are rich in data which could make your learning initiative more comprehensive. For instance, through intelligent integrations, leaders will have total visibility of training information, giving them the ability to relate training data to performance outcomes.

6. Rich content library and ecosystem

Having the right content in the right format is a core element of any learning experience. Hence, you must choose an LMS that offers not only a rich content library but also content that is available in various formats. This can give the organization the flexibility to tailor modules as per the learning style of the employees. For instance, frontline employees may learn better through graphic and audio content, while for mid-level managers a blended learning journey with webinars and offline reading materials may work better. That makes your courses & learning experience more effective, thereby enabling employees to better retain skills they can use to improve their performance.

7. Automated or rule-based learning administration

The degree of flexibility of a learning program should always rest in the hands of the decision-makers in the organization. They may want the learning process to be precise and either have a structured but rule-based flow or be adaptive and intelligent to the response received from the employees (automated). Hence, the LMS platform should have the ability to administer both rule-based and automated learning as per what is relevant for a particular learning journey.

Master-O: Your New Age LMS

When it comes to ensuring an engaging learning experience for sales reps and tracking performance metrics, organizations in today’s times have an LMS in place. Master-O is one such platform.

Master-O ,over the years, has aided several enablement leaders develop engaging learning journeys for their frontline teams. The platform is a key driver of an interactive and impactful learning experience empowering the field force with the right tools and information they require for having compelling conversations with customers. Consequently, this leads to higher conversions and customer lifetime values.

To make the learning experience more personalized, Master-O helps managers tap into various data points and analyses. This gives leaders and managers the much-required objective perspective to reimagine their coaching approach and realign with the performance goals of the reps.

To learn more about Master-O along with microlearning and enablement in the flow of work, please visit masteroapp.com or schedule a demo to discover how Master-O can redefine sales enablement for your organization.