The market for e-learning platforms for companies is vast, but the requirements are individual. One aspect remains the same: user-friendliness should be at the forefront! Find out now what criteria you should consider when choosing the right e-learning platform for your company – including a checklist for a quick overview!
Clearly: Without e-learning or blended learning, nothing will work in 2021! Both small innovative companies and large family-owned businesses are committing their corporate training long-term to digital measures. Whether microlearning, WBT, or video training – the variety of e-learning methods is extensive.
But what criteria should you consider when searching for the right e-learning platform for your company? The following funnel helps to sort the numerous requirements for a learning platform directly:
User-friendliness > Framework conditions > Functions
Why user-friendliness is the top priority for e-learning platforms
An e-learning platform is a tool used by very different people: Whether Werner Köhler from the manufacturing department or Leonie Bachmann from marketing – every employee should be able to operate the e-learning platform well. And "operating well" is the absolute minimum requirement! If your participants do not even know where to click next, your e-learning has already failed before it even started. Ideally, your e-learning platform is not only "easy to use" but also fun to operate!
Furthermore, the e-learning platform should not only be easy to use for participants but also for course creators. Here, too, the skills and focuses of course creators or administrators vary widely. Your e-learning platform is suitable when your current and future trainers can operate it without special "e-learning training" or a thick manual – and simply enjoy creating courses!
Conclusion: An e-learning platform for companies is user-friendly when
every participant can handle it immediately,
every trainer can create their own courses and content immediately,
no thick manual is necessary for usage,
everyone involved has fun with it.
5 Framework conditions for choosing your e-learning platform
Next, we come to important fundamental questions that every HR developer asks when choosing the right e-learning platform for the company:
What budget is available?
In which country should the platform be hosted?
How well should the new platform be integrated with existing products?
Are you looking for an authoring tool or a simple LMS?
How is the support from the e-learning provider?
Answering these five fundamental questions helps you significantly narrow down the selection of suitable e-learning platforms for your company. The first three questions are often already clarified since costs, server hosting, and integration with existing products are usually decided outside of HR development. Moreover, these points are often only clarified in a personal conversation with the provider.
Authoring tool or LMS?
Do you just want to upload content to an e-learning platform and manage the courses there? Then an LMS is a good choice. If you or your trainers want to create content themselves, an authoring tool is often necessary. Since an authoring tool often does not have user management, many companies search for several software solutions: an LMS for user management and an authoring tool for content creation.
Two in one: Authoring tool and LMS with blink.it
With the learning platform blink.it, you can easily create contents like quizzes, surveys, or exams. At the same time, you can manage your participants, view results, and leave comments. Just try it out yourself:
How good is the support?
Most providers of e-learning platforms offer support: For technical issues, there is a phone number or email address you can contact. A few providers offer support beyond the classic support: Customer success is the trend of not only acquiring customers but also ensuring their long-term success. If you choose an e-learning provider with customer success, your company will receive personal consulting and continuous support beyond technical questions.
In conclusion: Choosing the functions
After you have checked the providers of e-learning platforms for user-friendliness and some framework conditions, you face the question of functional diversity. In this aspect, we can give you the least generalized advice since every company looks for different use cases, and the requirements for functionalities are therefore very different. However, the general rule is: Try not to get too caught up in very specific functions because that severely limits the choice of an e-learning platform.
But it helps to consider the following fundamental functions:
Interactivity: How much can participants engage?
Planability: How well can trainers schedule the release of content?
Flexibility: How quickly can trainers make changes?
Measurability: How well can you measure the success of your e-learning? In addition to these typical functional requirements, many companies are currently looking for platforms that offer gamification: often a simple quiz is enough to support playful learning. Otherwise, gamification is not a function in the strict sense but rather a method to make e-learning attractive.
Checklist: Choose now what is important to you in selecting an e-learning platform for your company!
User-friendliness, framework conditions of the platform, and finally, functional diversity: What is particularly important for your company in corporate digital training? Download the checklist for free and barrier-free with one click and check off:
For download: Checklist for a suitable e-learning platform
We hope the checklist helps you in the search for a suitable e-learning platform for your company.
Extra tip: In addition to a prioritized list of criteria, it is always worth taking a look at success stories and practical examples. For the platform blink.it, we have documented three practical examples as an e-book: How do large companies implement blended learning with blink.it? For download: Successful blended learning concepts for companies
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Another important step in choosing an e-learning platform: Trying it out! Request a non-binding demo of the blink.it platform now and find out how well blink.it meets your requirements.
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