5 Factors to Consider When Choosing an eLearning Provider

Nowadays, eLearning has already proven its effectiveness in raising employees’ professional level. Hilton, Coca-Cola, Heineken and other giants spend millions on online learning – and they wouldn’t do it without successful results. In addition to improving professional skills, eLearning encourages a sense of team among employees, deepens their commitment to the company and proves to be very cost-effective. According to Bersin by Deloitte report, there are more than 600 eLearning providers on the market, so the choice of supplier for your employees can seem incredibly difficult. But don’t be frustrated! We made a list of tips on finding the right eLearning provider so that you can make your purchasing decision easier: 1. Work with a supplier that provides both courses and software for learning process management. When you consider ordinary learning, you don’t separate classes from school – you take both with the education system. Arrange the same for eLearning! When you have the same supplier both for courses and Learning Management System (LMS), you guarantee that the courses are compatible with the learning system. It saves a lot of time and efforts on courses adaptation, finding courses that work well with any LMS and fixing the mistakes. Managing eLearning becomes more effective when you communicate with one provider instead of several teams. The provider gets deep understanding of what you and your employees really need in training. 2. Consider supplier’s size, reputation and industry expertise. Big eLearning suppliers seem more credible and reliable. They can afford working with numerous lecturers on courses covering most areas of business knowledge. So, if you want to train all the staff – from the C-Suite to blue-collar workers – large suppliers are a better fit. A small provider, on the other hand, can offer an individual flexible approach to you as a customer. A team with up to 50 specialists would respond faster on all your inquiries and tasks. Such suppliers usually specialize on certain areas of business training. If you need to train staff on, say, workplace health and safety standards or sexual harassment prevention, a small company is a perfect solution. Always consider the provider’s main clients and ask for references. Choose those who have expertise in your industry and who are experienced in making global market players’ workforce engaged and productive. 3. Choose a technologically advanced provider. Modern eLearning can give you much more than just lectures to watch with a laptop – it creates the whole educational experience. LMS administrators and T&D specialists should be able to quickly choose courses from an extensive online library and make an individual program for each employee. They should have 24/7 access to statistics dashboards to analyze employees’ results through numbers, charts and graphics, and provide recommendations for further education. Your employees should be able to learn with any devices. Unlike the office team, blue-collar workers rarely have access to computers and Internet on the job. eLearning should be convenient and easy to use via smartphones, tablets, laptops and PCs. Certainly, the customer support service of the provider should be responsible for solving any technical problems as soon as possible. 4. Pay attention to the course quality. First, look at the speakers’ profiles. What is their educational and professional background? Are they well-recognized experts in subject? Keep in mind that the best ones usually either teach at well-known universities or consult big successful companies. Pay attention to courses’ interactivity and engagement. Demand high gamification level. The right tasks and tests after each course make education effective. Business simulations help employees see the real outcomes of their choice in close to real-life conditions. If the supplier’s courses are available in SCORM, you can implement them in most LMS without additional money and time spent. 5. Look for a user-friendly interface. No one enjoys learning with a poorly-managed educational system or inconvenient interface. Employees find interfaces user-friendly when it’s easy to access the course, get learning recommendations after passing tests, add courses to their wish list and calendar. In other words, they’d love to feel a truly individual approach. For T&D specialist a user-friendly LMS interface is a system easily integrated with other HRM systems, allowing to test employees and assign courses in few clicks, providing instant access to statistics and customized reports. Lastly, if you’re still stuck choosing an eLearning provider, look for free trial periods. Many eLearning providers now offer these trial periods to get users acclimated with the interface to see if it’s right for them. Eduson offers a free 14 day demo: try all the features and explore the quality of courses first hand!