Learning Challenges of Large Organizations
Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, once said, “An organization’s ability to learn and quickly translate that learning into action is the ultimate competitive advantage.” It’s so true. To respond to the intricacies of the competitive global marketplace, companies continue to spend on employee learning and development. However, the larger the company, the more difficult it is to train them effectively. These complexities depend on large geographies, diversity of employees, and rapid advances in technology.
The business challenges that emerge when organizations get big
Workforce diversity
Large companies have a workforce that includes a diverse mix of employees, not only culturally, but also generationally and linguistically. These employees may be geographically dispersed and some may even work remotely. Facilitating a training program that meets the diverse needs of different teams gets pretty daunting!
It is therefore important to find an approach to training that does not only focus on achieving the set objectives, but also takes into account the learning preferences of the employees.
Complex and varied learning processes and modalities
When it comes to training their employees, many large companies are often overwhelmed by the scale of operations and distance. They may need to adopt different training methods depending on the professional roles of their employees. For example, sales staff prefer content that can be accessed on the go while product development teams benefit from collaborative group training. Some will like access to succinct content, while others will prefer a detailed training program.
It is important to have learning processes and modalities that enable employees to meet their learning expectations and find them relevant to their job roles.
Huge amount of learner data
Large companies often deploy multiple systems to collect and store employee data such as HRMS, ERP, CRM, QMS, etc. To implement an effective training program, this data is needed in small chunks to understand the learners and their post-training.
The multiple stakeholders, business processes, and technologies controlling this data can pose challenges for training administrators.
Data security issues
Security of data and other intellectual elements is an essential aspect of large-scale learning operations. An increase in data security breaches around the world is calling for companies to become more vigilant when it comes to hosting and sharing learning content. This is more pronounced for highly regulated industries which may also have geographic restrictions.
Learner requests and support
Training improves productivity, but just organizing training is not enough. Employees need help knowing how they are progressing and where they are failing. Without adequate training and post-training support, training can lose its effectiveness.
How a corporate learning management system solves these problems
To get the most value from learning and development, it is necessary to facilitate training and its administration. While many organizations already use an LMS, it has been found that a traditional approach of a single LMS is no longer effective for large enterprises. According to research43% of large organizations want to replace their learning management systems.
Large companies mainly need a Enterprise LMS to deliver, track, report, manage and control the overall learning process for the entire workforce. Here’s how adopting an enterprise learning management system solves these problems.
Highly configurable user management system for a diverse workforce
An enterprise LMS comes with a complete user management system that can be standalone or integrated with existing systems using single sign-on. It can record a variety of user data points, including their roles, skills, competencies, behaviors, performance metrics, and more. This helps in the categorization and personalization of learning content delivery and can effectively manage any kind of diversity.
Flexibility and accessibility to manage learning processes and modalities
A enterprise learning management system enables effective management of the learning process by developing content in multiple formats (video, audio, PPT, PDF, etc.) and styles such as instructor-led, virtual instructor-led and other learning environments at the request. Large enterprises also prefer responsive and intuitive LMSs to encourage participation. For example, mobile learning has helped increase overall time spent by learners on trainings. Localization and translation features ensure content is readily available to the diverse workforce in their native language.
Employees feel empowered when they have the flexibility to complete assigned courses at their own pace.
Data integration with existing tools and file types
An enterprise LMS provides integration capabilities to develop and launch courses quickly and easily. It fits seamlessly into learning workflows and integrates with existing tools, file types, and data. It is an ideal platform that supports and allows downloading the content in any format, such as PDFs, video files, Google Docs, HTML packages, SCORM packages, etc.
Data Security
With an enterprise LMS, piles of organizational data are completely secure and stored in one place. Access is controlled to protect privacy. A single platform also reduces the possibility of technical issues. In addition, the shift to cloud technology also improves online collaboration.
Real-time progress tracking
An enterprise LMS can report and analyze learner data and verify knowledge retention. It fits seamlessly into the learning workflow and integrates with existing data like APIs etc. to monitor performance. In addition, it allows obtaining progress reports, closing gaps, recommending individualized trainings and issuing certificates to learners at the end of the training. This helps measure the overall impact of training on organizational goals and aids in continuous improvement by allowing learners to provide feedback via automated surveys etc.
Foundation for Interactive and Social Learning
In his recent studyDavid Wentworth, principal analyst at Brandon Hall Group, said: “Social and collaborative tools have become essential to the overall employee experience, and the learning will follow.”
An enterprise LMS allows large organizations to supercharge learning journeys by giving them access to various social and collaborative learning tools, online tutorials, peer-to-peer discussions, and more. LMS. This improved interconnection allows users to easily capture new information and quickly apply it to the job.
Strengthen corporate culture
An enterprise LMS enables delivery of standardized content with appropriate branding, ensuring that employees across all locations receive personalized training experiences. This helps build ownership and cultivate strong corporate ethics.
Although there are thousands of LMS available in the market, not all of them support large-scale operations. With configurable learning experiences, automation, and insightful reporting, an enterprise LMS is the right tool to manage employee learning and development. Due to its scalability, it allows greater control by seamlessly integrating with other performance systems to improve group productivity.
The G-Cube enterprise LMS platform offers comprehensive learning technology with easy-to-use features that meet the needs of a large workforce. Browse our unique case studies understand how our teams have developed programs, strategies, modalities and tools to achieve measurable results.