Focus Magazine - Winter 2014 - 45

VIRTUALHOW

reporting usability metrics.

FIGURE 4

WHAT DEPARTMENT MANAGES THE LMS SYSTEM?

Present & Future Capabilities
When asked what next-generation LMS
functionality would be most important to the
future of the organization (Figure 5),
respondents ranked mobile integration and
tracking at the top of the list (6.7 on a scale of
1-7, with 7 rated "extremely important").
Companies have made substantial
investments in iPads and Smartphones, but in
order to maximize ROI, they must also invest
in applications that offer content specifically
designed for these devices and ensure
tracking and reporting back to the LMS.
Knowledge/content management is ranked
second most important (6.2), followed by
virtual classroom integration and rapid
content development (6.1).
Employees want quick access to data for their
daily job activities similar to what they
experience in their personal lives. Despite an
extensive library of approved content,
however, many training organizations find
they are hampered by limited search
capabilities and poor user interface design.
Progressive organizations are moving closer
to knowledge management, building in deeplevel search capabilities for accessing
just-in-time data.

System Integration
Another key component is how well a
company's LMS integrates and pulls from
other corporate systems. We found that of the
24 organizations that do integrate with other
systems, the most common (79 percent) is
with evaluation and testing. (Figure 6)
In cases where the LMS has a poorly designed
interface that is not learner-friendly, some
organizations have designed front-end
learning portals that then become the
primary interface. Another growing trend is
the linkage between training data and CRM
data. This is especially valuable for sales
representatives, who want all their data and
training in one flexible, easy-to-use system.
A few companies have moved to a learning
record store (LRS), a separate repository that
captures and stores data and links back to the
LMS. This is useful in companies seeking to
track and report mobile training usage and
web analytics based on new application
solutions when their current LMS does not
provide that ability or it is too complicated to
implement. The LRS data store offers tracking
capabilities and seamlessly links back to the
LMS via the Tin Can API or next-gen SCORM
protocol.

Commercial
Sales Training

33%

HR

17%

IT

17%

Operations

10%

Other

23%

FIGURE 5

RATE "NEXT GENERATION" LMS FUNCTIONALITY IN
TERMS OF THE IMPORTANCE TO THE FUTURE OF THE
ORGANIZATION. 1=Not Important, 7=Extremely Important

Mobile Integration and Tracking . . . . 6.7

Adaptive Learning Engine . . . . . . . . . 5.2

Knowledge/Content Management . . . 6.2

Open Source Integration . . . . . . . . . . 4.9

Virtual Classroom Integration . . . . . .

6.1

RSS Feeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Rapid Content Development . . . . . . .

6.1

Discussion Forums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4

Advanced Search Capability . . . . . . . 5.8

Social Networking Tools . . . . . . . . . . 3.3

Video Streaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5.7

4.1

3.1

Polling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5

Wikis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5

Learning Controlled User Profiles . . . 5.5

Blogging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2

Gamification Framework . . . . . . . . . . 5.4

1
Not Important

FIGURE 6

2

3

4
Neutral

5

6

7

Extremely Important

IS YOUR LMS INTEGRATED WITH THE FOLLOWING
CORPORATE SYSTEMS?

Evaluation/Testing System

79%

LRS (Learning Record Store)*

38%

HR Systems

38%

LCMS

29%

SharePoint

29%

Other

25%

CRM System (Veeva)

17%

Social Media Application

8%

Note: Six of the companies
queried do not integrate
their LMS with any of the
systems listed.
*Separate depository that
captures and stores data,
linking back to LMS

The benchmark study also assessed LMS
capabilities. (Figure 7) We found that 61

FOCUS | WINTER 2014 | www.spbt.org

45
http://www.spbt.org
Focus Magazine - Winter 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Focus Magazine - Winter 2014
