Hi all - I am trying to understand if employers are seeking to provide more or less learning resources to employees, if employees take advantage of these resources (to justify the expense to the employer) and which content management system/LMS is considered the best. I am particularly interested in Skillsoft and if their product/platform has improved based on recent investments. I appreciate any advice anyone has.
Thanks very much.
Hi Don - I really appreciate your response, it was very helpful. I would love to be able to pick your brain about how the companies which provide off-the-shelf content differ from each other and which ones offer the best value proposition. If you could email me at mkaplan@cifc.com to set up a quick call it would be hugely appreciated.
This is not a simple question. I will try to answer as simply as
possible. If you require more information, please let me know. Also
check out my list at www.trimeritus.com/vendors.pdf.
Skillsoft is primarily a company that offers off-the-shelf or generic
courses on a wide range of topics from technical, to communication, to
sales, etc. While there are many companies offering similar products,
Skillsoft is by far the largest and offer the broadest selection of
product. Their courses offer sound content but not the most exciting
design. Other vendors offer more engaging interactive product.
Skillsoft systematically updates its courses but can't do them all at
once so some will seem dated. For many years, Skillsoft has offered an
LMS called SkillPort designed primarily to deliver their own products.
Not long ago, they also purchased SumTotal Systems - one of the largest
LMS providers. SumTotal offers a comprehensive and expensive product
that is widely used by large organizations.
It is clear that companies are increasing investment in self-learning
solutions. Some estimates suggest that such solutions represent 50% of
the training offered by companies. Generally such training has two
components - 1. generic, off-the-shelf courses including those from
Skillsoft and/or other providers, and 2. proprietary training developed
in-house.
There are more than 700 LMSs available on the market and the best is the
one that best matches the needs of the company using it - cost,
implementation (in-house or cloud), features, etc.
I hope I have at least scratched the surface of this question.