Learning Management Systems

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What are learning management systems?

LMS software, or computer based training software, helps educational institutions and businesses better manage their online learning programs—which can be an incredibly effective way to improve employee engagement and retention while increasing employee skill levels. Rather than having to manually manage and track all of the workflows that are invo... read more

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Buyers Guide

Last Updated: February 02, 2023

Learning management systems (LMS) automate the administration, testing, tracking, and reporting of learner progress through online courses. This guide will help you navigate the LMS software market so you're armed with everything you need to know in order to make an informed buying decision for your organization.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

What is a learning management system?
Common features of learning management systems
What type of buyer are you?
Learning management system pricing

What is a learning management system?

Creating curricula and learning programs to educate students and/or employees in specific areas of knowledge or to teach them certain skills.
Tracking the completion of such programs to ensure students and/or employees are staying on schedule.
Allowing students and/or employees to demonstrate competencies or gain certification in areas relevant to their role.
Providing analytics and reporting functionality to give organizations more insight into the success of their training or learning program(s).

Common features of learning management systems

Certification and compliance management	Includes setting up, tracking and managing certification programs for industries that require employee certification to perform a specific job duty. This also manages compliance training, which could be a need for any industry.
Learning management	Helps users organize and simplify training or learning administration, which includes processes such as distributing content, managing user information, scheduling and overseeing course enrollment.
Virtual classroom	Many LMS platforms include video conferencing functionality, enabling instructors to lead live, remote classes and trainings through the platform.
Course library	Some vendors partner with course content creators to provide a pre-made library of training courses for generic training needs, such as those on sexual harassment policies or management techniques.
Extended enterprise	Allows organizations to train or teach external users, such as channel partners or customers. E-commerce functionality may be included here, as well, to allow training courses to be sold externally.
Proficiency testing and reporting	Allows users to administer tests to gauge employee/student knowledge or skill. Analytics and reporting functionality helps determine proficiency and identify learning gaps.
Content authoring	Gives users the ability to author their own learning material and design and deliver courses within a LMS. E-learning authoring tools are often part of an LMS; learning content management systems (LCMSs) that facilitate the creation and storage of course content can be integrated into an LMS platform as well.
Mobile learning	Allows learners to access and complete courses on a phone or tablet.
Social learning	A set of features, including course ratings, course sharing and commenting, course discussions or individual learner blogs, that promote collaborative learning by allowing learners to interact with one another in the LMS.

What type of buyer are you?

Before purchasing a system, you should assess what kind of buyer you are. The majority of buyers fall into one of these categories:

Education-industry professionals. Perhaps the most obvious buyers of learning management software are those from schools and higher education: organizations where the entire purpose is facilitating the spread of knowledge. Many courses at university levels—and, increasingly, even at the K-12 levels—offer students access to syllabi, assignments and testing information via Web-based LMSs created specifically for the education industry. Education LMS products can be purchased on their own or as a core component of many K-12 software solutions, along with other applications such as school accounting and student information systems (SISs).

Corporate training professionals. LMSs also have a strong presence in the corporate training sphere. This is especially true in highly regulated industries where employees need to maintain specific certifications or licenses to comply with industry or government standards, such as aviation or food preparation. Just as there are LMSs designed specifically for use in schools and universities, there is also LMS software specific to the needs of corporate trainers, which might include functionality for performance reviews or ecommerce. Some LMSs for corporations even include a course library for continuing education. Corporate LMS products can also be purchased on their own, or as part of a more comprehensive human resources (HR) suite.

Learning management system pricing

LMS software is usually priced based on two factors: the number of users and the functionality included. The more people you have using the system and the greater the depth and breadth of functionality, the higher the price.

As an example, many vendors offer tiered pricing plans. With the first, most basic tier, buyers might pay a monthly fee so a small pool of users would have access to basic functionality and services, such as content creation, course enrollment and limited email support from the vendor.

As the price scales up, buyers can add more users to the system, while receiving more advanced functionality or services on top of what is provided at the lower tiers. These additional capabilities might include reporting and analytics or live phone support from the vendor.

In some cases, users can buy a license to own the LMS system in perpetuity. More commonly, though, users can expect to pay a monthly or annual subscription fee for the software.

Subscription pricing is more common with cloud-based LMS systems (where the LMS is accessed via Web browser), whereas perpetual licenses are more common with on-premise solutions (those installed by users on local servers). Most modern LMS products fall into the cloud-based, subscription-priced category.

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