A study conducted by Ken Research revealed that the corporate sector will contribute the highest revenue share to the overall e-Learning industry in South Africa by year-end 2023. The research further states that due to the growing demand for online courses, the adoption of Learning Management Systems (LMSs) by companies across various sectors will also increase.

It has been anticipated that the share of LMS will reach over 55.0% by the year 2023.

What is an LMS?

Often called an LMS for short, a Learning Management System is a platform that provides the framework to handle all aspects of the learning process – administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, and delivery of training programs. LMSs specifically manage training and educational records, distributing online or blended online courses over the Internet with features for online collaboration. You name it, and an LMS can do it.

Designed to make life easier for those in charge of training and development, a comprehensive LMS can do everything from identifying and assessing individual and organisational learning goals, to tracking progress toward meeting those goals and collecting and presenting data for supervising the learning process. In addition to delivering content, an LMS can also handle such things as registering for courses, course administration, and skills gap analysis. In today’s fast-paced environment, there is no time to duplicate efforts. Who wants to mess with multiple systems, passwords, and formats?

If you’re still wondering what a Learning Management System is and why you should have one, let’s discuss the benefits. The LMS market has been on fire and that mainly is a result of the increased adoption of e-learning, a strong emphasis on continuous learning, accountability, and the trend of employing cloud technology to streamline the learning process.

A few benefits to consider:

  • Administration: Easily manage and administer the learning function including classroom, enrollments, course catalog, instructors, and more.
  • Facilitate learning: Facilitate, manage, and build all e-Learning programs and courses.
  • Company-wide solution: An LMS can be used throughout the entire company, rather than only for the learning/training department.
  • 24/7 Access: Most LMSs are Web or cloud-based applications that allow access to e-Learning and training courses anywhere, anytime.
  • Consistency of training: Training and course delivery via an LMS is consistent since it is centralised. It delivers consistent training and learning quality to all employees by supplying a single source for content, course materials, and instructions.
  • Tracking and reporting: LMSs allow the company to easily generate training reports on an overall or user/student level basis. By utilizing an LMS for e-Learning courses and/or online training, trainers can easily track goal progress, knowledge gains, ROI, and more.
  • Meet regulatory compliance: Many industries may be required to train, assess, and report for compliance purposes. Just a few of these industries are oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, communications, and building and construction. An LMS can help you satisfy these legal and regulatory requirements.
  • Cost savings: Training and teaching via an LMS reduces employee travel, optimises training expenditure and usage, and minimises facilities and instructors to pay. From the cost-savings aspect, an LMS is a no-brainer.Generally, Learning Management Systems have many more capabilities than these listed. However, these are the most popular selling points and the top identifiers to whether or not you and your organisation can benefit from an LMS.

What is a the Return on Investment?

If you’re not sold yet on why you should invest in a Learning Management System, let’s discuss the numbers. Simple as it may be, the numbers don’t lie!

Take a look at this example:

Let’s say that your company sends a group of 40 employees to a one-day training conference.

  • 40 people @ R2000   =  R80 000
  • Course development   =  R15 000
  • Trainer cost   =  R30 000
  • Equipment   =  R4 000
  • A total of   R129 000

With an LMS and e-learning, this same training can be completed in ½ day with a cost savings as follows: 

  • LMS Monthly Subscription =  R1200
  • (40 users, unlimited courses)
  • Course development   =  R30 000
  • Trainer cost   =  R0
  • Equipment   =  R0
  • A total of   R31 200

Just this small change in the process saved R97 800 or 75% percent.

While this is a very simplified example, there is a multitude of ways to figure out the return on investment of a Learning Management System including lower administrative costs, reduced travel, and facility costs, faster time-to-proficiency, the less financial risk associated with compliance, and decreased employee turnover to name a few.

There you have it. You can now officially scratch off  “What is a Learning Management System?” from your to-do list.

Do I need it?

Not only do you know what it is but also the benefits to your company along with important return on investment information. As to the “why do I need an LMS?” ask yourself these questions:

Q: Does the information in my company change faster than I can communicate it?

Q: Do I need to reach people in the next cubicle and a world away?

Q: Do I “grade” assessments by hand or physically issue completion certificates?

Q: Do I have minimal time, a small staff, or a limited budget for creating online learning?

If the answer is yes, consider learning more about how Accelerate Solutions can help you save time and money by using an LMS.

For a free demo account contact us today.