The Evolution of Learning Management Systems

I know many small employers (<500 employees) do not have an HR Information System and even fewer have a learning management system (LMS). The larger the employer and / or the greater the importance of managing training, the more likely it is that employers will need to create an IT architecture for their people applications.

Bersin Associates recently published their LMS 2009 report, highlighting the continued evolution of these tools from back-office training management to online training infrastructure to its present form incorporating talent management and, because of the web 2.0 social networking boom, a focus on social learning (communities of practice, content, and knowledge sharing).

Essentially all the vendors are converging on functionality, regardless of where they began (ERP, pure talent management, or pure learning management). Bersin tracks the top 30 providers which, in my mind, means that we'll see further consolidation and greater functionality as firms scramble to remain competitive. Large organizations want one system and home grown systems never really seem to scale at a rate equal to what you can get with an enterprise provider (my personal experience, at least), so I think we'll see some deep pocketed companies scoop up some of these smaller players to augment their offerings (see Bersin's blog on the Sum Total bidding war). Even ADP is getting into the business!

I've often wondered whether an organization could simply use internal social networking technologies instead of having to have an LMS. There is functionality like reputation, thumbs-up/down tracking, voting, download stats that could allow an organization, in principal at least, to roughly approximate a large percentage of LMS benefits without actually having to deal with installing and running one. Obviously, if you're a hospital or some other organization where tracking of learning and accreditation is critical, then you need something like an LMS, although again I wonder how creative an organization could get with existing web 2.0 tools.

Last point, and I experienced this the hard way at all my employers: it's critical to invest in your people applications early and in a sustained manner because you'll wake up one day and realize that the business has grown faster than the capability of your tools and you no longer can accurately understand or rely on your data. It's exciting for me to see these tools covering a larger functionality set at a better price point, freeing up HR people to focus on strategic items and key talent needs versus back-office, transactional work.