Learning management system (LMS) security features are an essential part of the software solution.
They help secure user privacy, protect sensitive information, and promote a secure online learning environment.
In this article, we’ll be covering seven key LMS security features and discussing their relevancy in connection with LMSs and other e-learning platforms.
We’ll deep dive into:
- SSL certificates
- Single Sign-On (SSO)
- Data encryption
- User roles
- GDPR
- Password requirements
- Data backups
Let’s see how they can help with an organization’s training programs.
Disclaimer: The information below is accurate as of April 12th, 2024.
Done right, a strategic training program plays a huge role in moving your organization forward. But how does engaging your learners actually impact your bottom line—what’s the corporate training ROI? That’s a more difficult question to answer.
Yes, studies continually show just how important training investments are for employee engagement, employee retention rates, and the development of new skills. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, 76% of employees stay longer at a company that offers continuous learning and development. It’s also true that companies that invest in their training budgets tend to outperform their competitors.
But simply throwing money at the idea of learning programs does not result in a tangible, positive impact. That’s what makes measuring your corporate training ROI so important.
📚 Related: Check LMS ROI Calculator
Measure your training ROI, and you go from thinking about the cost of training to evaluating the value of training. It’s a subtle but important distinction that ultimately leads to better, more strategic investments. It also highlights the financial benefits you’ll see with better-optimized training investments.
So, let’s dig in, starting with a definition of what we actually mean by corporate training ROI. Then, we’ll examine the benefits of training evaluation and how you can get started with data analysis to measure the result of the training budget you’re building.
A working definition of corporate training ROI
Any examination of return on investment (ROI) revolves around financial implications. That makes the initial definition of corporate training ROI simple. It’s the degree to which you get a positive financial benefit from your training. In other words, it attempts to connect your employee development programs directly to the monetary value your organization gains from better-trained employees.
As you might imagine, that’s a complex metric to measure. It’s why you’re reading a long-form guide, not just reviewing a short formula. It’s also why measuring training ROI tends to go beyond the financial impacts of those training programs.
Ultimately, it all comes down to measuring the effectiveness of training for your organization. Yes, financial yield and return matters. But if your training helps you achieve your business goals and drives better business results and value, your training program is likely successful.
Once you expand that definition, measuring your learning and development efforts’ business impact becomes much more realistic. Of course, you can still build a corporate training ROI calculator that helps you make that evaluation as tangible as possible.
Why evaluating the ROI of training programs matters
So, why does measuring the post-training outcomes of your L&D efforts matter? First, and most obviously, it’s the only way to ensure that the training actually leads to better employee performance. But that’s just the beginning.
Find the right evaluation model for your ROI calculations, and you unlock a number of benefits that ultimately help you improve both individual training courses and overall L&D strategy:
- Determine the effectiveness of your training materials in building new knowledge and driving better job performance.
- Ensure that the program costs for your L&D efforts are well-spent and not wasted on ineffective efforts.
- Justify your training budget to key stakeholders, executives, and organizational leadership.
- Identify where your training currently falls short and what you can do to build a better template for successful training and upskilling in the future.
Now, it’s time to walk through the methodology you can use, from data collection and identifying the right training ROI metrics to building an ROI formula that helps you optimize your training program over time.
How to measure the impact of your employee training and development
At its core, measuring your corporate training ROI comes down to measuring the impact of your training efforts. But that’s surprisingly difficult, considering that only 27% of companies have an established framework for measuring their training success.
Still, don’t let “difficult” seem like “impossible.” Instead, use these four steps to show the business impact of learning:
- Set the right goals, defining exactly what you’re trying to get from your training program.
- Collect learning data. Focus on metrics that specifically connect to the goals you’ve identified.
- Analyze your learning performance based on the data you’ve collected, focusing primarily on changes in employee performance before and after training.
- Connect the data you’ve analyzed to tangible business impact KPIs like sales, business growth, and customer satisfaction rates as much as you can.
Another basic way of evaluating the success of your training is the Kirkpatrick Model. First developed by Dr. Donald R. Kirkpatrick, it posits that employee learning should only be considered successful if it achieves success on four levels:
- Reaction, or the level at which participants react positively to the training in terms of relevance and engagement
- Learning, or the level at which participants acquire the right knowledge and skills for the intended outcomes
- Behavior, or the level at which participants change their behavior as a result of the training
- Results, or the level at which the training achieves the outcomes it was designed to accomplish.
That’s the general framework. Now, all you need to do is identify the metrics and create a formula that uses those metrics to determine exactly what return on investment your training is giving you.
The right metrics to benchmark your corporate training ROI
It’s impossible to measure the ROI of your training program without knowing what to track. The right learning management system can help you track a few learning metrics that you might not be aware of:
- Course completion rate, helping you assess how your courses are engaging your learners
- Learner proficiency tracked through the scores of tests and quizzes, as well as the average time needed for tests and the number of times needed to complete those tests
- User engagement, broken into specific numbers. Consider the number of active LMS users, percentage of completed courses, and percentage of users who self-enroll in courses.
- Learner satisfaction, typically tracked through surveys or polls you can run after a course or certification
- Instructor ratings and evaluations, which help you understand how your teachers are helping your learners succeed
- Improved productivity, largely achieved by comparing pre-training performance to post-training performance and comparing the results to a control group that hasn’t participated in any training
Each of these metrics has a role to play in training impact. Just as importantly, they help you build training benchmarks that you can then track over time. For example, you can track if your learner proficiency improves over time, how different sessions can lead to improved learner satisfaction and improved productivity, and so on. Of course, they also provide the basics for ultimately building a reliable ROI formula.
Creating a training ROI formula to optimize your L&D effectiveness
The basic ROI formula applies to training environments as well:
Training ROI = ((Tangible benefits of the training – costs of training) / costs of training) x 100.
In other words, it’s the positive outcome you get from the training with costs already accounted for, divided by those costs again to get the positive return.
Just what you plug into that formula, of course, can make all the difference. This is where the above metrics come back into play.
For example, you might be able to measure that employee productivity has improved by 20% for employees who have gone through your training program. You might also know that a 10% increase in productivity ultimately leads to about a 10% increase in sales. If your sales are $10 million every year, that means your training results in a $1 million increase in sales.
The second variable is the cost of training. Keep in mind that this cost should be holistic, including not just the cost of your learning management system but also the resources needed to develop a great training program. The total cost may be about $250,000 per year.
Now, it’s time to plug those variables into the ROI formula:
Your training ROI = (($1 million – $250k) / $250k) x 100 = ($3×100) = 300%.
In other words, every dollar you spend on training results in a $300 return on your investment in terms of company sales.
Of course, those calculations make plenty of assumptions. But if you really want to get down to business and evaluate your corporate training ROI in financial terms, this is where you need to go. Finding the right platform can make that process just a little bit easier.
Measuring your training ROI with the right LMS
Let’s be clear: no single digital platform can magically calculate ROI for you. The above process remains in place regardless of what system you ultimately choose for your corporate L&D program.
The right platform, though, can make a massive difference in helping you collect the data you need to make those calculations.
Take all of the above metrics as an example. Ideally, none of them should be manual on your end. Instead, your LMS should be able to collect them dynamically, putting out performance reports designed to help you judge your training efforts. That way, you only need to take a few extra steps to judge the true financial ROI of your training efforts.
With Docebo, you can get there. Book a demo now to learn how you can build great training programs and continually evaluate them to maximize their benefits and return on investment for your company.