After a new employee is hired, they aren’t left in a vacuum to create a project or perform a task. No, they are working with teams of various sizes and developing skills. Beyond that, employees new and old, need to receive training to reinforce previously studied concepts and expand their horizons with new ideas. The problem presented today is that the traditional path of taking small classes is no longer easy or effective for modern workers.
Instead, the world is saturated with technology in all corners, and it’s changing how people consume content of all kinds. Content is packaged in small bits, often less then 3 minutes long or a few hundred words at most. Participating in a training session is not only more time consuming for most employees, it’s in opposition to what they’re confortable with, slowing down the learning process dramatically.
That is why companies are rising up that specialize in Learning Management Systems, or LMS. These systems are designed to hold a large amount of data, whether it be videos, short summary documents, or a series of slides providing bite-sized learning opportunities for employees.
Saba Software, a company based in the UK, has created a system called TIM the Intelligent Mentor, a set of algorithms that learn from each and every user, creating custom learning profiles for every employee that uses the software. The value in this kind of software reaches into multiple areas. Employees can engage in training in whatever way they want, confident that the intelligent system will help them learn what they need. Employers can also dig into analytics provided by TIM, and tailor their content within TIM to fit employees’ needs as necessary.
In addition to providing complex systems for each user, learning on mobile devices is a highly requested feature for companies that take their work on the road. In other LMSs, there are accompanying mobile apps that allow employees to quickly glance at material before they launch into important presentations or meetings.
However, be careful when investing in an LMS. The goal of new learning software is not to use learning software. Purchasing a LMS has the express goal of making training opportunities easier for employees so that they may fulfill the needs of the company better and better with each training module.