Elearning Trends 2016: What You Can Do to Accelerate Your Learning Programs

New Brandon Hall Group Study Reveals Companies Want Better Integrations and User Experience to Fuel Their Training Performance.

In a new study, the research and analyst firm Brandon Hall Group found nearly half of the companies surveyed in 2016 are considering replacing their learning management system (LMS). Organizations are searching for an LMS to improve user experience (UX) and an LMS with more enterprise integrations.

Nearly 90% of companies surveyed by Brandon Hall Group said they want to make the change to improve their user experience (UX) and 66% of companies stated they are switching to an LMS with more enterprise integration capabilities.

To learn more about why companies are focusing on their UX and the integrations of their LMS, read the below excerpt from the Brandon Hall Group study:

User Experience is Critical

About 44% of companies are actively considering replacing the current LMS solution. This number is up 16% from 2015, so what is driving companies to change? An overwhelming 88% indicate it is the need for an improved user experience. The second most common reason is the need for an improved administrative experience (74%). Ease of use has always been near the top of drivers for change, but never with such authority.

It seems to be common sense that a system should be easy to use, but the stark reality is that many learning software applications are anything but. User experience (UX) is critical in learning, as this software is often the first interaction an employee has with the organization.

Also, in our increasingly virtual workforce, it can sometimes be the only connection an employee has with the organization. A bad UX equals poor engagement that can be difficult to turn around.

To put into perspective just how important UX is, 43% of companies say that an intuitive, user-centric interface is essential when buying new learning technology, and 40% say it is critical to their business.

Integration is Becoming More Important

As we see in Figure 5, the need to integrate with other systems is a big factor in why organizations switch learning technology providers. Also, 77% of companies say that integration capabilities are either essential or critical for their learning technology vendors to have.

The most common systems that learning technology integrates with are HRIS (37%), content management (29%), and talent management (28%). For many of these systems, organizations are finding it important, if not critical, that their future learning systems integrate.

As for the learning technology itself, more than two-thirds of companies say that the next learning technology they buy will be a suite of integrated technologies from a single vendor. So, despite the APIs and ease of integrations that come with the cloud, twice as many companies are interested in suite solutions than best-of-breed solutions that they must get to work together.

Download the full Brandon Hall Group report to see the learning technology trends for 2016, available exclusively from Docebo.