Owning a small business is not easy. The business is trying to grown with minimal resources and every decision to move forward in one direction might close a door for another direction.

A learning management system can be a great decision that allows your company to streamline training and catapult growth. Or, if it is not used properly, or the cost of resources isn’t properly planned out, it could hurt your business.

This article is an great resource to help you be informed about finding a training solution that fits your needs and your budget as a small business.

We will go over:

  • What cloud-based training is
  • The different types of eLearning options for small businesses
  • 6 reasons that an LMS can be worth the cost, even when you are a small business

Now, let’s start by defining what cloud-based training is so that you can articulate its benefits to your leadership team as you rally support for a learning management system for your small business.

What is cloud-based training?

Cloud-based training, unlike in-person training, is learning that is delivered via the internet. A cloud-based LMS, or SaaS (software as a service) LMS is a training platform that helps a business organize, assign, delivered and track that cloud-based training through their personal online portal.

Similar to in-person training, cloud-based eLearning helps facilitate the exchange of knowledge between subject matter experts (or instructors) within your organization, and less knowledgeable employees or new hires. The primary difference is in how that knowledge is delivered, tracked, and managed.

Cloud-based training makes the training process more accessible, reliable and consistent within your small business.

Now, that we’ve covered what cloud-based training is, let’s dig deeper into what the options are for a small business looking to move from traditional, in-person training to online, cloud-based e-learning.

Cloud-based eLearning options for small businesses

If you’ve started searching for an affordable LMS, you’ve likely come across an array of online training software options ranging from $0/month to upwards of $10,000 or more a month. While this array of options can appear overwhelming at first, as a budget-conscious Training Manager you’ll want to get the most bang for your buck. In this case, there are two clear options to evaluate — an open source learning management system and a SaaS learning management system.

Open-source learning management system

An open-source learning management system is a low cost, or free downloadable LMS software.

Open source LMS includes basic learning management features and can often be download directly from the providers website and start using it right away. 

  • PROS: Using an open source LMS is FREE! It won’t cost your organization anything to download the software.
  • CONS: Although open source LMS solutions don’t require an initial investment, they only offer the most basic learning management features—making it difficult for organizations to get what they need out of the system without customizing it. Often, corporate customers that use Moodle invest a large chunk of change into integrating it with other software programs and making it more applicable to their business needs.

SaaS Learning Management System

As described earlier, a SaaS (software as a service) LMS is a cloud-based learning platform.

For most, a SaaS learning management system is going to be the best platform to deliver corporate training materials. This type of LMS often has more robust functionality, with the ability to integrate with other software programs that your business uses every day. You will also get access to onboarding training and customer service representatives.

There are many options for a SaaS-based system in the market, though many of the options are catered toward medium to large organizations with a bigger budget for cloud-based training delivery. However, there are a variety of LMS providers that offer reasonably priced options for small businesses. For example, Knowledge Anywhere offers the following pricing options for small businesses:

SMALL BUSINESS JUMP START - $790/mo.

  • 100 Active Users
  • 1 Administrator
  • 50 Course Uploads
  • 25 professionally made courses of your choosing
  • 1 year of free SCORM conversion tool, Scormify

EXPRESS - $950/mo.

  • 500 Active Users
  • 2 Administrators
  • 200 Course Uploads
  • Free SCORM conversion tool, Scormify

To see more on our LMS pricing, visit here.

 

6 reasons why an LMS is worth the cost

As a small business with less than 500 employees, you’re running on a much tighter budget than the giants. As such, you may wonder whether or not a learning management system falls under the list of things your business genuinely needs or if it’s something that you can do without. Here are 6 benefits an LMS can provide to your small business.

 

1. Keep All Your Training Materials Together and Easily Accessible

A learning management system allows you to more effectively manage employee access to vital training materials—that is, it allows them easy access to everything they need to know at any given time. Not only are all the materials in the same place, which means there’s no need to go digging through several people’s offices to find the relevant materials, organizing your training materials in a learning management system offers some other benefits.

  • Ensure that you can always find the materials when you need them, rather than needing to “wing it” or recreate them every time you offer the same training
  • Offer employees who have been with the company longer the ability to access information from old training modules, refreshing their knowledge and understanding when necessary
  • Ensure that every employee is using the most up-to-date version of your training materials, rather than the outdated version they just happened to get their hands on

2. Streamline the Training Process

In many training sessions, employees find themselves listening to information they don’t need to get the information that they do. For example, the employee may already be familiar with safety regulations in the industry (and able to pass a quick quiz to prove it) but struggle with the specific procedures for your organization.

By providing only the information that employees need to know in a smooth, efficient manner, a learning management system makes it much easier for employees to complete the training process. That means they can get back to work faster!

3. Cut Organizational Costs

When you decide to use a learning management system, don’t just consider the initial cost of the project. Consider the costs that it saves you in the process! This might include:

  • Travel costs for a trainer
  • The cost of hiring a trainer in the first place
  • The cost of printed materials

The up-front cost of a learning management system is designed to be manageable for businesses of all sizes. Before deciding that it’s “too expensive,” consider what you’re spending on training already. You might be surprised by what you can manage!

4. Track Your Training More Effectively

Some types of training, like safety training, are required on a regular basis, whether by your business or by your industry. Other types of training are mandatory for new employees to complete within a specific period. Still, others must be completed by all employees before they can use new equipment or engage in new processes. Learning management systems don’t just allow you to provide the information to your employees. They also make it possible to track it! They can:

  • Show you how employees scored on assessments
  • Send employees reminders of the fact that they need to complete specific training modules
  • Determine which employees have completed training and which ones still need to do it
  • Give you the dates when specific employees last completed annual training requirements

5. Offer Better Feedback Opportunities

Learning management systems allow you to provide the same training to every employee in your company. They also provide you with the opportunity to collect feedback from your employees as soon as they finish a course.

Rather than bringing it up in the discussion later or telling them to submit information that they might later forget, you can assess employees’ understanding of each module along with their final material assessments, completing it as a natural part of the process. This will allow you to refine your training to offer exactly what employees need to be successful, ensuring that there’s less wasted time both throughout the training and after, when employees may need to go back and revisit information.

6. Update Training Materials More Easily

When you use a learning management system, updating your training materials is as simple as altering the document, then making the new copy available. Updating paper training materials can be complicated: you have to track down every copy of the materials and replace it with a new one, then make sure that everyone knows not to use the old copy of the materials.

That means that small changes are more trouble to make than they’re worth, and big ones get put off for as long as possible! With a learning management system, however, you can update your training materials with ease and get them in your employees’ hands fast, whether you’re creating an update in answer to a common question, correcting an error, or providing updated information.

 

Conclusion

If you take the time to do your research and find a platform that fits your current and future needs at a cost you can afford, a learning management systems are a great option to increase efficiency and consistency in your small business.

Whether you are just starting your search or have already looked at some platforms, sometimes it is nice to talk to an expert to help prioritize needs and see what your options are. If you would like to talk with someone about your needs, feel free to reach out to us. With over 24 years in the eLearning business, Knowledge Anywhere is happy to help you achieve your training and development goals.

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