E-learning for organizations using Learning Managmenet Systems (LMS) |Software as a Service (SaaS)

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Deployment on a Learning Management System (LMS)

Ideally courses which are organization-specific should be able to be deployed immediately in a cost effective manner. The easiest way to do this is to host the course (say a 'Sales Force training' course) on your e-learning service providers' Learning Management System (LMS) and all your salesmen (who are generally on the move) to view it through an Internet connection, in a simple browser like Internet Explorer. Thus no new software need be installed at your branch locations or on your salesmen's laptops. A browser is generally always present on any machine. It should alos be viewable via other mobile devices such as Android tablets, or Blackberry mobile phones.

Thus your course need not require any special "player", which needs to be installed on client machines.

Similarly, say you are an engineering consultancy organization with a large pool of engineers that you would like to train. Then, a course hosted on your e-learning service providers Learning Management System, can be taken by all your engineers in all your locations, on their desktops, laptops, PDAs, tablets, all over the globe , in different time zones, at their convenience. Can you compare any traditionally delivered course with this flexibility at a fraction of the cost?

At the end of a period (say every day, week or month), your e-learning service provider can give you the details of all employee activity on the Learning Management System. This includes data like employee name, courses taken, number of hours spent on a particular course or module, scores on the test and certifications attained. All this data can be archived for furnishing to higher management, or external auditors from regulatory agencies or ISO 9002 certification auditors.

Software as a Service (SAAS)- Cloud Based Learning

This is the new concept that is fast gaining acceptance. Previously companies used to spend a great deal of time, money, effort and staffing on building up their own proprietary Learning Management System (LMS), that used to host courses and track learner activity and performance. But why pay hundreds of thousands of dollars on such systems, when e-learning service providers can offer you the same LMS as a hosted (in other words a cloud based) service? This will completely free you from all the server and software upgrades, backups and maintenance headaches of "owning" such a system.

You can either ask your e-learning provider to deploy the courses that you need as an individual download (that resides on your learner's PC) or to host it themselves on an LMS externally. This saves you hundreds of thousands of dollars of costs every year and lets you do your main job peacefully.

For example, Abhisam Software can offer their courses as downloads or as a SaaS, using a Cloud based system, leaving you free of any headaches. Learners can access the courses via a variety of devices such as Android tablets, Blackberry smartphones in addition to the usual laptops and desktops.

Conclusion

e-learning is a technology whose time has arrived and companies, especially those in the Process Industries now have compelling reasons to adopt it, which was not the case a few years back.

If you are not considering e-learning for your organization, then you are losing an excellent opportunity to sharpen skills, increase productivity and thus increase the general skill level of your organization, at a fraction of the cost of traditional learning.

If you have any comments or questions, or you would like to know something more about how e-learning can help you train your employees better, or meet your organizational goals, please send us an email to sales@abhisam.com

We will be glad to assist you!