Top 10 Features you want in your Learning System

By Craig Weiss, CEO for The Craig Weiss Group, and FindAnLMS.

I see it all the time. Folks sending out requests on LinkedIn seeking features they want in a learning system (an umbrella term for an LMS, LXP, Learning Platform, Training Mgt system, Skills platform, LCDS, Learning Experience system, digital learning platform, VR learning platform).

Often it is features that exist in every system out there, currently 1,300 plus worldwide. Many times the requests seek one for X industry or for X number of learners. Then there are those requests were ambiguity plays an important role.

Invariably, responses are all over the place. From vendors pushing their system, to people trying to discourage the question asker from buying a learning system, to people stating the infamous "everyone hates their system - often with LMS as part of it", to well, a lot of statements that are unaware of the current state of the industry.

All of them are trying to be helpful, and that is a plus, but unless you know the industry inside and out, and can separate hype from reality in the space, it is easy to be misinformed.

Here is why it was created (Learning Systems)

To identify learning gaps (skills too) with employees and customers. Find what is working with course content and what isn't. Learn what they know and do not know, and then create content to solve that challenge.

Capture data - analytics that will tell the whole story. Not just views - which honestly is worthless, rather how many times they went into the content, where did they go in the course, how often, and so forth.

The Power of WBT (web-based training aka as online learning) is to allow the learner to bounce around the content, focusing on what they are interested in, what they need to know, or what to gain from a knowledge perspective. We call this non-linear in the industry. WBT solved the big problem in ILT, which is it eliminated the need to go linear, A to B to C and so forth, where the learner follows the agenda of the ILT instructor and allows the learner to take as much time as they need.

Keys to Remember

The Client drives the system. If you want your learning system to be only assigned learning, that is your choice. Today, nearly every LXP and DLP (digital learning platform) in the market offers assigned learning, it is not limited only to LMSs. They all offer compliance content (free or you pay for it - for your learners). You desire only formal, guess what they all do it - as in the corporate side of learning systems (yep, about 1,000). You want it only for your employees, well, congrats because the market is heavily skewed to this audience segment.

You want a system focused only on customers, a smaller segment, but more than enough to pick from. You want a system that does both i.e. employees and customers, very doable, but certain feature sets are needed to achieve it.

Do you desire a system that can integrate with your HRIS, HCM, Payroll, CRM, and so on? Guess what, over 70% are able to achieve it (but not all do a great job at it - over-promising is the key reason) through APIs.

Need a system that meets all your security requirements, no problem, plenty in the space offer it, because most systems today use AWS. Data centers needed in your country, due to privacy laws? Again, plenty of systems are able to achieve this.

Seek a system that can meet your use case and business outcomes? Wow, get ready, there are more than a couple of hundred who can meet nearly every use case out there. I know, because I've heard a lot of use cases from readers of my blog, and clients. Think that nobody can meet what you need or doesn't exist for a certain feature - I've only seen one request that I knew doesn't exist today.

The key here is that you need to look at where you want to be in three years (when selecting any learning system) and not today. This is one of the biggest reasons why people despise their system. This is why I push so heavily with NexGen features and publish a T-Grid every year.

Top 10

I know plenty of people will disagree, and I am totally cool with that. This is based on experience in the industry (my analysis of the market on-going) At the end of the day, it is all about the usage of your system. If no one is using it, then you picked the wrong system. If you hate your system, then somewhere along the way, you made a mistake and picked the wrong system.

I should add this is in no particular order. Oh, when I say "company", please note that I am using it as a universal term for corporate, associations, non-profit, government, etc)

1. UI and UX Leader and Administrator. UI means user interface. Is the system visually appealing, easy to navigate, makes logical sense for the learner, enables you to achieve your use case and business outcomes? All this is for the learner. Not you, the head of L&D or Training or HR or Sales or whoever is the head of buying this system. You have one shot when employees, customers, members, students, etc. come into the system. If it looks outdated, you are going to have a miserable experience - okay they will, some will gripe, others will remain silent (the majority). If it is compliance only, then they will use it, but just go in, take the content, and leave. The learner side is where vendors tend to focus all their energies on a modern UI and UX (user experience), not the admin side, which can be a hodgepodge of modern and old, updated, and ignored. Every vendor will tell you they have a modern system, after all, who wants someone saying, "Yeah, we still believe in the design of 1993, uh, by the way, do you still own a VCR?"
2. Nearly 75% of LMSs and Over 50% of the LXPs offer the following learning environment features (these are the ones you must have, and LE is for the learner BTW)

• Courses have standard attributes regardless of delivery mechanism including Title, description, length/duration, pre-reqs (if applicable),
• Curriculum or learning paths can set by courses, content, etc..
• Learners can see content targeted just for their department, job role, group, department, location, and so on, and thus other learners can or cannot see it unless they are in that specific department, job role, group, etc.
• Every system has a learning path (some call it a curriculum path)
• Learner progress bar or circle (or similar)
• Search capability - some are better than others - here is what you want with your search: Search functionality allowing learners to find specific courses, materials, delivery format, based on keywords, title, delivery format, and other tagged identifiers
• Support for the hierarchy at the enterprise, business unit, or other desired levels
• Learners can be assigned content (including courses, videos, books, PDFs, documents, and so on)
• Assigned learning- tied to a job role, the ideal system can tie it to skills too

On top of these - for folks wanting NexGen feature sets (which means the vendor is forward-thinking and either has it today or will by the end of 2021).

• Learner home dashboard (this means that when the learner enters the system, they see a home dashboard that contains high-level information, including their current courses). Vendors today are playing heavily with playlists (or channels of content)
• Support for multiple catalogs (for content)
• The ability for development paths or curriculum/learning paths to have contents placed in a specific order/hierarchy of learning. The top vendors will offer two options, Grid or Vertical (Hierarchy). Always go Grid, it is more pleasing to the eye.
• Playlists or Channels focused on skills/interest that the learner selected, most recommended by other learners with your company, most popular - again with your company, recommended based on what the learner is taking or completed. Some vendors are now adding Podcasts to a playlist, which is a cool option.

3. If you want a system that is available for employees and customers or members- where they see different looks/views - you will need multi-tenant. Think this way, the Parent - you, have children - each is a tenant, you set the rules, the child can only see themselves, you as the Parent can see everything.

If you are planning on charging for the content, you need e-commerce. A lot of systems offer it, some will charge for it (but you can negotiate this out - i.e. the fee), and they usually come with promo codes, discount codes, etc. Oh, and they usually have checkout too.

4. Mobile-Learning - with native apps for iOS and Android. The top ones offer on/off synch where you take the content or whatever, and if you lose the net connection no worry, you continue. When you get back a net connection the data gets pushed to the system. Anyone who says this isn't needed, i.e. native mobile apps, has to remember it is not about you - the vendor nor who is running L&D. It is about the learner, the student, who are using native apps all the time with their smartphones, tablets, etc. They drive here. Not you. If a vendor asks you what is on/off synch, that should be a red flag. This tells me, they are not up to date on the jargon/lingo of the industry. I mean would you want your mechanic to ask you what is rotating the tires?

5. Social - Look everyone has it. The newest capabilities are communities tied to job roles, or skills or interests. You will want to seek this out. Tied to a group, the system, or specific content has been around for more than a decade. Even a chat room specific to that community and discussion board. Ignore the need for a discussion board that is text-driven. I had one on my web site in 1994. The ideal (which appears only in a few Edtech systems, is voice-driven) - but good luck finding it on the corporate side. How many vendors you wonder are tied to Instagram? Less than 10. Tik-Tok similar capabilities? Did you find a $20 dollar bill under your foot, as you read this post?

6. Skill Features - I refer to it as skills development - You want these if you are wanting skills capabilities in your system.

• Skill ratings - The learner sets their rating. The ideal option is that the manager can review and change the rating, and the admin can too. Most people rate themselves higher than they really are.
• Import skill dictionaries and job definitions and link definitions to competencies
• Create your own library of skills, including definitions 
• The system comes with a skills library (For example, one vendor has a skills library with over 45,00 skills, some vendors use IBM Talent Watson). Please note, that skills libraries will often include job roles, titles, etc.
• The system can generate a playlist based on skill rating, skill level or any other skill related variable (achieved via machine learning)
• Link to a career development framework and match skills, job level, and job role to available courses

7. vILT - Ignore classroom management it is not the same thing as vILT, so you will want a term called "Event Management" as part of the vILT experience. I have included the features you want in a template that you can view and download - they are highlighted in yellow.

8. Digital Coaching. This does not mean just a webcam, where the learner talks into it, and the coach or mentor, responds by text. However, you need a webcam feature in the system or the ability for the learner to upload their video. By the way, video assessment is becoming part of this "digital coaching" and video assessment means the system extracts data based on the person speaking, presenting in a text transcript and highlighting words to consider changing, etc. Usually comes with metrics that the learner can see. For video assessment, the best system out there is called Bongo (the site is bongolearn, if you just type in Bongo you will visit a Russian Jeans company). Numerous vendors are adding Bongo into their systems, so if you like what you see, ask the vendor if they have it in their platform.

9. Content Curation, and Learner Creator - this means the learner drives the content, they create it themselves, find it on the web and share it, upload it via video, and then they share it with their Peers (aka as P2P) or group, etc. This will be a big trend in 2021. Total learner-centric here. A must.

10. Machine Learning - Vendors are calling this A.I. but, it isn't. It is based on an algorithm that they trained. Always ask how they trained it. It is that important.

To save time and the length of this post, I have included my Template of Features that I use when seeking out systems for folks, where fellow readers and people seeking systems use as their RFP, and where vendors who submitted to be a NexGen system use. All NexGen features are highlighted in yellow. They are the same the NexGen vendor sees. I should add that the template is the exact one I use when identifying the Top systems in the industry. It plays a very important role as part of the analysis.

Again, highlighted in yellow are the NexGen feature sets. The non-yellow are features you will see in many systems, but clearly it is not universal. Select the ones you see as essentials are include it in your RFP, your research, your talk with a vendor, and so forth.

Always see a demo of the system. Ask questions related to your use case. Provide the vendor ahead of time, with your use cases and see if they integrate them into their demo, or go in a step by step covering each one. You want the former. The latter screams script. If you already have content, send it to the vendor ahead of your demo, and tell them you want to see it in the demo. Ask them to add dummy data (which means some fake humans and other content). You can't judge a system, with no fake learners in there.

See if they skip areas, anyone who runs training or L&D knows that you should always test to make sure everything is working prior to doing a session. Why would you allow it during your demo?

Ask if what you are seeing is part (included) in the system you want to buy. There are vendors who turn everything on (i.e. additional add-ons for a fee) and never mention it during the demo.

Toss out some tough questions, that are not deal-breakers, but are general, honestly, you do not care about the answer, but it will tell you quickly if they are following a script. For example, while they are in the demo, "Do you find that your clients prefer to use blah blah".

Another script tester is when they say "feel free to jump in and ask questions" and then they ignore you. Or they follow a path showing the system, with items you do not care about. I see this all time, and frankly, it is a time-waster.

Vendors will show you a list of their clients (a small sampling, usually with the most well-known). This is to impress you. If you want to pay attention, then see if they are in your industry. A smart vendor will show only those related to you. Do not assume that this vendor is the only learning system with that company. Ask.

Every vendor will tell you they have high usage, high renewal rates, and outstanding support. Some now pitch NPS (Net Promoter Score). Do not allow this to be a key decision factor for you. No one is going to say, "yeah are usage is 35%, the renewal rate is 65%, support is mediocre, and we tend to ignore your requests for follow-up."

Lastly, you want everything itemized in the proposal the vendor sends you. This includes a discount. Vendors will offer a discount (okay most do) if you sign three years. But there is a gotcha. Often it is only for the first year, then it disappears for years two and three, where most folks will see an increase in the number of learners. Negotiate this for all three years. If they want your business, during this global recession, they will agree to it.

Everything is negotiable, except for the setup fee (if the vendor charges you, and not all do). Remember that pricing is not using some magical formula. There are vendors who will price gouge if they can get away with it. Today, vendors will pull the $3 or some low number in their proposals and then put it this way $3/m/u or $3 per user, per month. This means the actual cost is $36 per user per year. Which is high. They are tapping into how your brain thinks - it is called neuromarketing. And it works.

In Europe and the UK, it is common for vendors to charge more, than the states. Be aware of this. Vendors in the UK have a tendency to charge for their mobile app, more so than anywhere else. Not every vendor based in the UK or Europe will do it, but too many will. Never pay for a mobile app.

Here is the Template

Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn, I prefer it via LinkedIn message. Contact is open too, but please do not try to sell me something.

Finally, for your research in your system search, I strongly recommend using my platform, FindAnLMS, which provides details including implementation time, user ranges, price ranges, feature sets, and more for vendors in the LXP, LMS, Training Mgt., Skills platforms, learning platforms, Learning Experience and many more. Vendors include Cornerstone, EdCast, Degreed, Absorb, SAP Litmos, Learn Amp, THRIVE, Docebo, Biz Library, D2L, Access LMS, GO1, and so on. The Top 10 systems for 2020 are on the system, as well as 49 of my Top 50 for 2020. You can compare the systems, save them as your favorites, and even engage directly with them. 100% FREE. Go to FindAnLMS and start your search today.

The blog is located here. It is read in 174 countries, territories, and colonial territories.