Do they have your back?
Of all the reasons companies bail out of their LMS contracts, the main reason people switch LMS providers is technical support. LMS technical support is a multi-layered necessity that, when put on the backburner, can have detrimental effects on company learning, cost, morale, engagement, safety, compliance, and more.
Everyone is familiar with painful calls that accompany bug fixes. Consider your expensive coffee machine that won’t grind your beans as fine as you expected, or your steadily increasing cable and internet rate. In almost every case, you want to talk to a human being who understands your product and is dedicated to quickly and effectively resolving your issue.
But when it comes to your LMS, industry standard support is much lower than you expect and require. When evaluating your current or future LMS, you should ask questions about your providers’ support process, cost, packages, and levels of support. Here are a few common pitfalls to consider:
No direct support
Clarify with your LMS provider whether you need tier one (administrator) or tier two (end-user and manager) support. If you want your administrator or end user to be able to pick up the phone and talk with a human who understands your LMS, make sure your provider offers direct support, either in addition to or instead of chat support, an 800 number, or email support.
Costly support
If your provider does offer direct support, it often comes at a steep cost. Investigate how your provider bills support hours and if your company can purchase a bundle or receive any complimentary support hours as part of your implementation.
Poor response time
Ask your LMS provider to quantify their response rate and time. You’ve surely heard horror storied of administrators needing help with an LMS issue and not getting a response until a week later. When your learners are entering your system for mandatory or vital training, you don’t have time to wait more than 24 hours for a response.
Poor resolution rate
Perhaps worse than a poor response time is a poor resolution rate. Here’s where vendor reviews and community groups come into play. Do your research and even ask for references before signing with an LMS vendor. When you ask about performance, make sure you ask how the company handles technical support requests. Are they completed in a timely fashion? Does the vendor take your requests into consideration, or just pump out quarterly releases to keep you complacent?
Lack of quality assurance
One of the greatest drivers of dissatisfied calls to technical support is a lack of quality assurance from your vendor. Ask your vendor how rigorous their QA process is and how they ensure that their systems are implemented smoothly and to clients’ expectations.
Get The Support You Need
One of our key differentiators is unequaled technical support for our LMS users and administrators. Every client receives a dedicated technical support specialist who is involved with the design and implementation of your LMS. Because of his or her involvement in your LMS project, the specialist will be able to answer all of your questions and support needs.
You’ll receive a direct phone number and email to your technical support specialist, and a guarantee that he or she will either answer immediately, or call you back within a business day. All clients receive 30 complimentary support hours as part of their LMS fee. We offer flexible pricing options for any hours required thereafter. Learn more about our technical support, today.
