The market for corporate e-learning platforms is large, but the requirements are highly individual. One aspect is always the same: user-friendliness should be the top priority! Find out now which other 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 works anymore! Small innovative companies and large family-run businesses alike are gearing their corporate training toward digital measures in the long term. Whether microlearning, WBT, or video training – the variety of e-learning methods is vast.
But what criteria should you consider when looking for the right e-learning platform for your company? The following funnel will help you directly sort through the numerous requirements of a learning platform:
User-friendliness > Framework conditions > Features
Why user-friendliness comes first for e-learning platforms
An e-learning platform is a tool used by very different people: Whether Werner Köhler from the production department or Leonie Bachmann from marketing – every employee should be able to use the e-learning platform easily. And "easy to use" is the absolute minimum requirement! If your learners don't even know where to click next, your e-learning has already failed before it even started. Ideally, your e-learning platform is therefore not only "easy to use," but also fun to use!
Furthermore, the e-learning platform should not only be easy to use for the learners, but also for the course creators. Here, too, the skills and focuses of course creators and administrators vary greatly. Your e-learning platform is right for you if your current and future trainers can use it without any special "e-learning training" or a thick manual – and simply enjoy creating courses!
A corporate e-learning platform is user-friendly if
every learner can use it instantly,
every trainer can instantly create their own courses and content,
no thick manual is needed to use it,
everyone involved has fun using it.
5 framework conditions when choosing your e-learning platform
Next, let's move on to key fundamental questions that every L&D professional asks themselves when choosing the right e-learning platform for their 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 e-learning provider's support?
Answering these five fundamental questions will help you significantly narrow down the selection of suitable e-learning platforms for your company. Often, the first three questions are already resolved, as costs, server hosting, and integration with existing products are usually decided outside of the L&D department. Furthermore, these points often can only be clarified in a personal discussion with the provider.
Authoring tool or LMS?
Do you just want to upload content into 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 yourselves, an authoring tool is often necessary. Since an authoring tool frequently lacks user management, many companies look for multiple software solutions: an LMS for user management and an authoring tool for content creation.
How good is the support?
Most e-learning platform providers offer support: for technical issues, there is a phone number or email address you can contact. A few providers offer support that goes beyond traditional help desk assistance: Customer Success is the trend of not just winning customers, but making them successful in the long run. If you choose an e-learning provider with Customer Success, your company will receive personalized advice and ongoing support beyond technical questions.
Finally: Choosing the features
Once you have evaluated the e-learning platform providers on user-friendliness and certain framework conditions, you face the question of feature variety. We can give you the least general advice on this aspect, as every company has different goals and therefore the requirements for features vary greatly. Generally, however, you should avoid getting too hung up on highly specific features if possible, as this extremely limits your choice of an e-learning platform.
Still, it helps to keep the following core features in mind:
Interactivity: How actively can learners participate?
Scheduleability: How easily 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 feature 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 feature in the strict sense, but rather a method to make e-learning attractive.
Checklist: Choose now what is important to you when selecting an e-learning platform for your company!
User-friendliness, framework conditions of the platform, and finally the variety of features: What is particularly important to your company in digital corporate training? You can see everything at a glance on the checklist shown.
Conclusion
When choosing an e-learning platform for a company, user-friendliness, framework conditions, and required features should be evaluated in exactly this order.
A large variety of features alone does not make a good learning platform. The decisive factor first is that learners, course creators, and administrators can work with it easily. After that, companies should clarify fundamental requirements such as budget, hosting, interfaces, content creation, and support.
Only then is a detailed look at individual features worthwhile. Which ones are actually needed depends on your own learning objectives and areas of application. A clear prioritization therefore helps to narrow down the wide choice and find an e-learning platform that is convincing not just on paper, but actually used in daily work life.
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
What should companies look for when choosing an e-learning platform?
Important criteria include user-friendliness, budget, hosting, integration with existing systems, options for content creation, support, and the features actually needed. The requirements should be based on the planned areas of application.
Why is user-friendliness so important for an e-learning platform?
An e-learning platform is used by different learners, course creators, and administrators. Easy operation reduces technical hurdles and facilitates both participation in courses and their creation and management.
Does a company need an LMS or an authoring tool?
An LMS primarily serves to manage learners and courses and to organize learning processes. An authoring tool is required if you want to create your own digital learning content. Depending on the learning platform, both functions can also be combined in a single solution.
What features should an e-learning platform for companies offer?
This depends on the respective intended use. Key basic functions include options for interactivity, scheduled delivery of content, flexible adjustments, and the measurement of learning activities and results.
