New Friday series: LMSs that kick ass

I’m going to take a front-row seat, Janet. We’re not quite at the point where everyone is self-employed, earning a six-figure income through bloggings and tweets.

I’d add to your list that many a bad LMS decision has been a group effort, with vendors, marketeers, and unthinking client management getting together to saddle end-users with something none of the decision-makers ever had to live with.

Large organizations come in for a lot of bad press, some of it deserved — but they’re also where most folks work. 86% of people earning income in the U.S. are employees, rather than self-employed, and nearly half that 86% work for organizations with 500 or more people.

And as for “non-employers,” as the Small Business Administration calls them — 21% of all non-employer revenue comes from real estate, rental, and leasing (amazingly, not consulting), and another 16% from the high-tech, 2.0 world of construction.

Kia ora Janet

Okay, okay. So you have a bee in your bonnet about (some) LMSs and perhaps how (some) people think they know what these LMSs can do.

I’d say that the problem (the real problem) is that many (people) don’t know what they want in an LMS, no more than people know what they want in a database (or student management system – not the same as LMS).

often the buyers are duped, not because what they bought wasn’t useful, but because it wasn’t useful for the needs it was supposed to meet, and the vendor could/should have told them about that.

Some of this is ignorance and misunderstanding. Some of this is just sheer lack of vision about what’s really needed in an LMS.

But, okay, okay. I’ll wait.

I’m waiting

ka kite
from Middle-earth

Ken Allans last blog post..What is the Alternative?

AMEN SISTER! This should be a great series!

gminkss last blog post..Fun with Dick & Carey in the real world

Words written as only you could Janet. I can’t wait!

Dave, you are always there with your daily dose of reality. Did you know that you really have had a huge influence on me? You have. Thank you.

Hi Ken – The bee is there but it’s in my backward baseball cap. Perhaps just highlighting some of systems will give people a greater understanding of what an LMS can do. My hope is that someone will be able to look at a system and say, ‘great but I don’t need the talent management stuff,’ or ‘great this has the talent management stuff and the social stuff.’ Based on these comments, I only hope not to disappoint.

Deb – oh, you know me too well. Appears you’re not getting you daily dose of cursing at work.

Hi Gina-
I’m just reading you ‘Fun with Dick & Carey in the real world’ post. Excellent!

OK Glinda, you’ve piqued my interest. I’ll be back Friday morning looking for the first kick-ass LMS. Many of the people who read my stuff think what you said, “get freakin’ real already,” but I try to play both sides of the issue. I praise them when they do something useful or innovative, and I criticize them when they deserve that too. It’s not my fault if they deserve more criticism than praise (now climbing down from the pulpit).

Should make for fun reading.

P.S. How many times have you watched the Wizard of Oz? “Big, bad, green Emerald City” doesn’t jive with my memory of things. I thought Emerald City was the happy place (Tuck tuck here – tuck tuck there … That’s how we spend the day away in the merry ole land of Oz) – am I taking crazy pills here? (which movie does that last line steal from?)

Barry Dahls last blog post..New GI BIll to Punish Distance Students

Well I think Barry that you’re thinking of the movie not the book. See interpretations The Emerald City

Janet,

Sounds like a great idea. As someone who has been presenting on the merger between social media and formal learning (LMS and the like), I’ve been frustrated too. The conversation seems to be “how do I get away from the LMS and move to social media” when the real question should be “in what ways do both social media and LMS help me achieve my larger business objective?” This isn’t an either / or kind of question — anymore than it was with WBT and instructor led. They both have their place and should be part of an integrated strategy. Obviously, we’ve been thinking a lot about this given who we are and where our products are going, but it’s good to see smart folks like yourself beating the drum as well.

Dave

David Wilkinss last blog post..Learning 2.0 and Workplace Communities

“…using use cases and sandboxes over comparing features is how you’ll get the best fit…”

From your mouth to procurement’s ears.

In the pre-LMS days, I was tsar of computer-based training at Amtrak. We used a CBT system developed by Boeing, at a time when IBM’s IIS ruled the mainframe landscape.

IIS had lots of features but required astounding amounts of technical knowledge to make ‘em work. Goal Systems developed Phoenix as a front end to IIS and, by providing support that produced results for users, had a long and successful run.

In looking at any investment that’s going to require both money and effort, you need to cosider the required and the desireds. Try building a mini-example of what you want the thing to do.

I recall a Very Large Vendor’s product, sold to my employer and other divisions of a Very Large Firm. VLV provide two copies of the admin manual to each division. (I got three because I picked up a copy someone left behind.) Why only two? Was it hand-lettered to look just like a Xerox copy? Was VLV afraid we’d use the system and end up bothering the people laughingly referred to as customer support?

Hi Janet,
Thank you for putting this series together! I’ll definitely be interested in what you have to say. I’m especially curious to know if there are some LMSs that are good for selling courses to cutomers (and collecting their money ) rather than just serving employees.

Hi Mary Ellen-
There are LMSs that have e-commerce capabilities (acceptance of credit cards). In fact, our LMS KnowledgeBase selection tool lists 40 such companies. (one of those is Cornerstone OnDemand, featured today (Friday) for its social media features. Feel free to contact me for information beyond what is featured in this series. janetATbrandon-hallDOTcom