Corporate eLearning: Save the environment (and save money)

There are lots of reasons that a learning management system may be a sensible option for your organization - cost effectiveness, consistency of employee training, convenience, measurable results, etc. - but here's one benefit you may not have considered: reducing your carbon footprint.

This isn't a brand new idea, but even two years ago it was still somewhat of a novelty.

According to Rick Nigol, blogging on BreakthrougheLearning.com in 2008, it was an "aha moment" for him when, on a consulting gig, he heard a pair of vice-presidents explaining how eLearning software would help them meet their strategic focus of becoming an environmentally sustainable company.

These days ­- despite recessionary pressures (and possibly, in some cases, as a result of them) - the idea of sustainability continues to grow.

What in it for you?

Here are some green benefits of using an LMS for computer-based training:

Stay home: eLearning is available anywhere you have employees, so travel and lodging costs associated with training - and their resulting environmental impact - are no longer an issue.

Save paper (and ink, and energy): Who needs handouts - which often need to be updated multiple times during a product rollout or large-scale training effort - when you can keep everyone on the same (virtual) page with an easy-to-update LMS? Going this route means using less energy to produce and distribute training manuals and other documentation, as well as less waste.

Green culture: Beyond using an LMS for your regular training and employee development needs, consider creating some green training modules to give your employees practical ways to reduce the company's carbon footprint in their daily activities.

Carbon offsets: If you want your business to be as carbon neutral as possible - whether out of environmental concern or simply as a pragmatic marketing decision - there are several calculators and companies out there that can help you understand what you need to do and certify the results. No matter how intense you want this effort to be, eLearning tools are one of the easiest, most obvious ways to cut your carbon footprint.

When you look at the above list, it's obvious that many of the benefits of learning management systems - such as increasing productivity through reducing travel - transcend reducing carbon emissions and can save your business time and money in other ways, as well.

 

The bottom line

We've come across some companies - mainly outside the U.S. - that are promoting the environmental benefits of eLearning as central parts of their marketing efforts.

That's all well and good, but while LMS vendors may no longer be surprised to hear customers talk about sustainability, one point Rick Nigol made two years ago still holds true: Using eLearning simply to reduce travel, while noble, isn't in the best interests of any organization.

Finding a robust eLearning system that can meet all your training needs is the real holy grail of corporate learning, and anything else is gravy.

Green gravy.

A review from the world of eLearning and Learning Management Systems

In case you missed it, here are some recent e-learning-related blog posts and articles that are worth a look:

The big picture

Writing in the Upside Learning Solutions Blog, Amit Guatam poses an interesting question: Do customers look at a Learning Management System (LMS) as simply a tool to get specific things done more efficiently, or as part of a larger overall learning strategy?

All of the above

It takes a good degree of skill to write effective multiple choice questions that fully meet your employee training goals. Check out this list of 10 Rules for Writing Multiple Choice Questions from The eLearning Coach and see how many you are (or aren't) already following.

By design

Along the lines of the previous link (i.e. making sure your e-learning tools are the best they can be), listen to Cammy Bean's interview with Will Thalheimer on common mistakes e-learning designers make.

Just thinking about eLearning?

Tom Kuhlman offers more than a dozen reasons Why e-Learning is So Effective.

Metrics matter

Listen to this podcast from American Society for Training and Development on how technology has advanced the analysis and evaluation of computer-based training and development programs.

World of eLearning

Depending on where you fall on the e-learning spectrum, this may be really interesting or really, really yawn-inducing. A group of researchers at Anadolu University in Turkey has put together a two-volume survey of e-learning in 39 countries. The first volume of the book called E-learning Practices, is available for download at Scribd in multiple formats. Thanks to Gary Woodill's writing on the Workplace Learning Today blog for pointing this one out to us.

There's a LOT of eLearning chatter out there, so we'll keep an eye out for the most relevant information to share with you. And, of course, please post a comment if there's anything you want to share.

Five Reasons Your Department Needs Its Own Learning Management System

OK, your company already has an enterprise learning management system. So why would you even consider a separate training software for a project rollout in your department? Believe it or not, there a several instances where using a separate LMS could save you time and money, as well as potentially increase product sales.

Intrigued? Here are five things to take into account when weighing the costs and benefits of sticking with your enterprise training management system for your specific project or using a web-based training funded by monthly costs:

1. Training-dependent launch delays: Can you afford to wait?

You're a department manager in a Fortune 1000 company - or any large organization, for that matter. You want to deploy e-learning tools, either for staff, clients or maybe even your vendors. You've defined goals, set up a project plan, and assembled relevant subject details. You've got a tight deadline.

That's when you hit the bottleneck. Learning departments, training departments, and even IT departments have been decimated by the layoffs of the past two years. Because these departments were probably already operating at low staffing levels, their lead times are longer - much, much longer. (Chances are, companywide workforce reductions didn't take your department's project into account.)

Since training often can't be designed until a product or software implementation is near completion, it's naturally one of the last steps on a project plan. When training gets delayed, it can delay product launches or internal cost-saving software implementations, or even risk expensive compliance issues.

2. Customer training solutions: Do you want your customers to use the same LMS as your employees?

As a product manager, you might want your customers to experience the look and feel of your specific product, rather than the look and feel of the company as a whole. You may want to have customer training data separated from employee training data, keeping each statistic pure. Further, if this is an early experiment into training customers via e-learning, your internal training systems may not have adequate security to allow non-employee access.

3. Compliance: How close are you to compliance deadlines?

Government-imposed compliance deadlines frequently underestimate deployment time lines. What are the penalties and risks of non-compliance? What are the public relations and brand implications of non-compliance?

4. Temporary, quick time-frame training needs: Is the web-based training need permanent or temporary?

Training initiatives can be implemented by e-learning at rollout to quickly train large employee groups. A web-based learning management system that allows fast deployment can be cheaper than hiring consultants to implement temporary training needs into a corporate e-learning system.

5. Customization: Does your company's enterprise LMS meet your department's needs for this project?

Trying to fit a square peg in a round hole can only lead to frustration and delays. Working directly with the provider of your department-level LMS cuts through several levels of red tape and allows you to get exactly what you want, when you want it. And because the LMS is dedicated to a specific project, it is faster and easier to handle any upgrades or updates.

    

  

Summary

When faced with one or more of the above issues, a responsible manager may be forced to consider other alternatives to their existing corporate learning system.

What if the opportunity costs or hard costs of delay override the actual cost of the web-based training solution that could prevent the delay? What implications would this have to your project, your department, your boss, or your entire company?

If the implications of delay are large, then the ROI of an alternative training development solution can quickly become significant enough to gain top management support.

A number of vendors offer web-based learning management systems that can be used as a stand-alone LMS, and can eventually interface with an enterprise solution if necessary, when learning and IT staff become available.

A stand-alone, easy to access, web-based LMS supported by a monthly subscription may not only be cost-effective, it may also provide the custom solution for your particular need.

Has anyone out there gone this route? We'd like to hear about your experiences.

Learning Management Systems More Relevant Than Ever for Employee Training Efforts

Blogging on Bersin.com, Karen O'Leonard recently wrote about the need for a new breed of L&D professional. In O'Leonard's estimation, the ongoing global economic downturn has led to a more centralized approach to learning management as businesses cut back on training development staff to save money. This shift has led to the need for traditional training personnel to evolve into performance consultants who can assess the needs of individual units - and employees - and align them with the overall corporate strategy.

While that may be true, another implication to reductions in employee training personnel is the need for companies to have a scalable, customizable Learning Management System that can handle and track company-wide training development initiatives, as well as specific modules for individual departments and executive training and employee development efforts. In other words, the right training management software for multiple challenges.

Think about it. Everyone is doing more with less, so taking the time to find the right LMS to meet your needs is more crucial than ever. In fact, it's a decision that will have long-term implications for your ROI.

And forget about cutting back on the amount of training you provide - your competitors certainly aren't. An ongoing corporate learning program remains a must-have in the toolkit of any business or organization - large or small, global or local - that wants to remain competitive in a 21st century economy. However, the economic upheaval of the past two years has changed the way that training is delivered, with e-learning and virtual classroom training accounting for one-third of training hours delivered in 2009, which represents an all-time high. That trend is expected to continue, as evidenced by recent projections in the growth of spending on self-paced e-learning tools and services over the next five years.

At Ziiva, we're confident our product and ongoing customer service can meet the needs of your organization.

Ziiva LMS Favorite Reads

Here at Ziiva, we're constantly scouring the web looking for great articles about LMS and eLearning. Here are some of our most recent favorites.

1. Learning Tools Directory 2010

Jane Hart of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies collected and organized a list of websites and tools to help you, your employees and your clients better and easier ways to learn.

2. 10 Ways to Learn in 2010

The eLearning Coach understands that in this day and age there are a slew of new and exciting ways to learn through searching Web sites and social networking sites to get right to the content that you want without having to shovel through search results that aren't relevant to you.

3. Learning Discovery - The Art of Defining Work Context

A recent post on Living in Learning's blog stresses the importance of learning and training and that it should not be crammed into such a small time frame of someone's work time.

4. Social Learning in the Enterprise in Four Minutes

The Internet Time Alliance produced a great 4 minute video about the ways that work, learning and collaboration have evolved dating back to the times of Socrates and Plato to today.

5. Get Your Audience Pumped: 30 Ways to Motivate Adult Learners

The eLearning Coach has another great article, this one about how to motivate adult learners. Sitting in a classroom or an elearning session can be both intimidating and draining so educators need to make their lessons relevant, interesting and fun.

How Learning Management Systems Can Drive Customer ROI For Application Development Vendors

Not your father’s Learning Management System – LMS’ aren’t just for your employees anymore

Learning Management Systems have evolved since first development in London during the 1970’s. Later that decade, LMS’ were adapted to adult learning in corporate employee training.

Today, Learning Management Systems provide training solutions for customers as well as vendors.

What types of training makes sense for customers? Software (and SAAS) companies provide an excellent example of how a LMS can add increasing value to a client’s software choice. While different clients each have their own unique customer needs, some general categories have proven valuable for customer end-user training.

Customer-side ROI:

In today’s economy, business software (and SAAS) vendors have a tough sell. Often, it’s all about ROI. As corporate IT budgets have come under greater scrutiny, ROI has an increasing influence on a client’s decision process between competing vendors. In addition, demonstration of increased ROI may be necessary to surpass current client finance department internal hurdle rates for capital investment.

End user e-learning is often offered by software vendors, but what does a Learning Management System add? e-Learning on its own can be a cost-effective delivery method, which is why many software vendors provide some sort of web based training. Can a software/SAAS vendor develop additional value adds to build competitive advantages through a Learning Management System?

Software vendors who deliver training through a LMS platform can provide additional ROI to their clients. Savvy business application development companies can deliver additional ROI to clients through tracking/reporting completion, knowledge gains, basic competency, retraining schedules, and training on new software features. Software/SAAS vendors can allow their clients to schedule training notification emails, reminders, and management reporting by adding a learning Management System to the customer experience.

Well designed web training delivered through a modern LMS can increase compatibility with client LMS systems, providing the client an integrated experience (look for SCORM compliant systems).

Once Software/SAAS vendors estimate the ROI added by the LMS, they can then determine how they want to deliver that value. This value can be realized by offering as an additional free service to clients, utilizing as a feature to close client on the cusp of a decision, or by monetizing it through additional fees or subscriptions.

Software application vendor-side ROI:

Well designed and deployed Learning Management Systems can actually save hard dollar costs for application development companies. Better trained client users make fewer technical support calls.

Software vendors who make LMS provided training information available to technical support staff can gain insight to end-user proficiency, which may decrease call times. In addition, technical support staff noting high number of user error generated support calls can notify client management of productivity increase opportunities by providing retraining feedback. Since retraining is typically more efficient than gaining education through repeat technical support calls, the vendor can reduce costs, as well as the client.

Think about that for a moment … A well designed LMS with built in feedback loops can reduce vendor-side costs by making the client happier.

Some might call that the holy grail of training … would you?

Readers, please share your comments below about how you’ve applied e-learning or Learning Management Systems to drive customer ROI.

12 Questions - Choosing A Learning Management System

Choosing the right LMS for your organization isn't easy.

There are numerous choices, from vendor systems, to open source, proprietary systems, even "free" learning management systems.  There are many stakeholders whose needs should be considered. Worse, much of the information is conflicting, and product information from competing competitors starts to look all pretty much the same.

Organizations invest significant time to investigate providers of eLearning content.

Choosing a LMS can be just as critical of a decision, significantly affecting organizational benefits, ROI, and effectiveness of an organization's training strategy and goals.

To make a better decision, answer these questions before you choose a learning management system.

Knowledge Management Software Overview:

1. What are your training goals?  Typical goals include regulatory compliance (OSHA, EEOC, other), risk avoidance (harassment, diversity, safety), quality/efficiency (ISO, Lean, or Six Sigma initiatives), increased sales (sales techniques, CRM), customer service (corporate procedure, handling difficult customers, issue tracking software),  manufacturing processes, new hire training, software/equipment training, corporate policy training, and customer product training.  Are your goals to increase learning retention?  Cut learning costs?  Develop future management?  Increase sales?  Cut manufacturing/service/delivery costs?


2. How many students do you expect now and five years from now?  How many courses?  There's a big difference in the amount of complexity a mid-sized organization will need (up to around 5,000  students) vs a large organization (tens of thousands of students).  Number of courses will also have a direct impact on the amount of complexity your LMS will need.  There's no need to purchase an "atomic fly swatter", when there are simpler, more cost effective, easier to deploy and manage solutions available on the market.


3. How much will your content change?  Are you a fast growing young business whose needs will likely change within the next 5 years?  Or are you more a stable organization where your needs and size may change more slowly?  If you expect your content to change, you'll want a LMS that can manage content changes easily.  If you expect your business to significantly change within the next 5 years, you'll want a LMS that can be easily modified as your needs change.

Learning Management Constraints:

4. How much budget and time do you have? Do you have the time and budget needed to create and support a fully customized solution - do you have significant support of your in-house IT staff, or a budget to hire teams of consultants?  Unless your organization has made training a priority over most other projects, you may not get as much IT implementation and service support as you need.  If you see a risk that your IT support may be insufficient or may shrink, a hosted solution can take some of these risks off your shoulders.


5. How much of your content is developed in-house?  Most organizations have both in house developed and vendor provided content, but which is the most important to yours?  Is your custom training developed in-house or by outside vendors?    Organizations that develop significant in-house content themselves will want a LMS with features to make content authoring easy and efficient.


6. What's more important, ease of implementation, or really cool features?  Bells and whistles catch our attention when selecting a product, but ask yourself - how often will features be actually used?  Will specific features better engage students and result in greater usage and retention?  Will specific features provide information that is actually used to manage employees or help you make decisions on your training programs?  Be careful of being drawn to attractive features that will be seldom used by your organization.

Additional eLearning Strategy Details:

7. Is customization important, or is off the shelf ok?  Most organizations want the ability to tweak the system, especially if it will be used for a number of years.  Today, many companies are used to the benefits of site customization, especially for systems that will be used for a number of years.


8. How detailed do management reports need to be?  Will you publish summary or granular training information to other parts of the organization?  Organizations having a complex organizational or cost structure are more likely to require more granular information.  While many companies may only need summary information, organizations that allocate every expense into product costs, who have a matrix organizational structure, or who have many departments based on products/functions/regions may need very granular information.


9. How easily will an LMS work with your existing training content?  If you've already purchased content, consider how well it will integrate with your LMS.  Ask potential e-learning vendors for sample course that you can test on a demo of an LMS that you are considering to make sure it works.


10. Does your LMS need to be SCORM compliant?  If your training needs to be SCORM compliant, your LMS needs to be able to work with SCORM compliant training.


11. How important is security around your training systems?  How much of your training contains trade secrets?  Would the risk of even minimal training downtime significantly impact your company?  Most organizations find that training, while important, won't contain the secret recipe to Coca-Cola and isn't so mission critical that investing in 100% uptime provides a strong ROI.  For most organizations, security, while important, isn't the central deciding factor when choosing a LMS.


12. Who is the company behind the LMS?  Have they been around for awhile?  Do they have a track record?  Will they still be here in 5 years to support my investment?  Do research beyond the website and product literature to find out how long the company has been in the LMS market, talk to customers, and research the web for customer reviews.

The best computer based training content in the world can fail to deliver intended benefits if paired with a learning management system that doesn't meet your organization's needs.  Many organizations invest more time and resources to examine eLearning content than to study the system that organizes that content, as content typically carries a steeper initial investment.  HR and training managers can avoid expensive pitfalls by asking the right questions before choosing a LMS.