What is an LMS ?

Know why your business requires an LMS and how you can scale it for better opportunities!

The LMS market is expected to grow from $9.2 billion in 2018 to $22.4 billion in 2023 at a CAGR of 19.6%. More and more companies are inclining toward choosing the learning management System as their means of providing training to employees, customers, and partners. The statistics clearly show us how different industries are adopting learning management systems for providing training or helping with the onboarding process.

When we hear of training, our mind goes to the traditional mode of classroom learning but things are now changing and LMS is aiding to bring this change.

With LMS, companies can connect audiences and trainers from anywhere in the world in real-time and through recorded courses. The software aids in both cohort and self-paced courses.   

But what exactly is a Learning Management System and how does it work? Let us see:   

What do we mean by LMS?

An LMS, or learning management system, is used to create, manage, and administer the learning resources to provide seamless training or onboarding experiences.


It is divided into two parts: an admin interface and the user interface.


  • The admin interface is handled by the manager, who handles all the backend work like maintaining and distributing the courses.


  • Another part of LMS is the user interface that runs into your browser. Through which the user can know what courses are allotted to them. 


History of LMS

Teaching Machine, 1924

The history of LMS dates back to 1924, when it was first introduced as a teaching machine. The machine looked like a typewriter with a window, the questions were shown on the window, and you could answer those through the typewriter.


Problem cylinder-1929

This presented a problem to the student and then analyzed the steps they took to answer it


Adapting teaching systems, 1956

The first adaptive teaching system was launched, which adjusts and gives the questions according to the user’s level.


Desktop- 1970

HP introduced the first desktop.


TCP/IP- 1982

It is the basic communication language of the internet that makes all online courses possible.


First Software- 1990

Softarc launched the first LMS for the MacIntosh platform.


Open-source network- Moodle – 2002

The software was used for blended learning, distance education, and eLearning in schools, colleges, or workspaces. The administrator does the courses, and a single teacher is assigned, multiple classes. The network had 60,000 users and was used in 216 countries.


Private Cloud- 2008

The idea for cloud-based LMS came up this year, this enabled LMS to be completely online without the need to be installed in any system.


LMS hosted in clouds- 2012

Most of the companies adopted Cloud LMS and got rid of store in-house systems.


Cloud LMS in 2022

The LMS is equipped with all the tools to make it engaging and effective for the users, like gamification or live chats. The LMS is more versatile and user-friendly to provide a seamless experience for users.


What does a Learning management system facilitate?

  • Create : Build courses for your targeted audience.


  • Distribute : You can distribute your courses to a much larger audience. 


  • Monitor : You can easily track the progress of your audience and guide them for the better. 


Businesses of all sizes, from multinationals to small and medium-sized businesses, and from independent instructors to government bodies—everyone uses the Learning Management System for distributing courses and training programs. As such, LMS platforms can be used for various purposes that will help employees, customers, and partners to upskill.  


Uses of a Learning Management System

1. Train employees 

Your employees can be trained easily with the Learning Management System. You can create courses that are engaging and cost-efficient. You can also get insights into your employees’ progress and see how they are doing on a particular course.


2. Onboarding

With the help of LMS software, you will be able to onboard your employees easily without consuming much time. You can build a unique and unforgettable experience for the employees with an engaging course and hands-on resources. For new employees, it can be difficult to retain all the information about your company. Hence, with the software, they will be given access to the information easily and at any time.


3. Retain employee knowledge

It is difficult to retain employees with traditional training methods. The easy availability of Internet resources has also decreased their attention span. LMS provides you with a training platform for interactive and visually catchy courses, you will be able to draw their attention.


4. Train partners and customers

With the Learning Management System, you will be able to train your partners and customers as well to give them a better understanding of your product or service. You can easily prepare courses and circulate those among your targeted prospects or partners and customers.


5. Online Education

With the Learning Management System, you can provide seamless online education to students.


Along with helping in remote learning, the LMS has multiple other benefits for employees, partners, and customers. 


Types of LMS

An LMS, or learning management system, is used to create, manage, and administer the learning resources to provide seamless training or onboarding experiences.


1. Cloud-based LMS

A cloud-based model is provided to you by a third party and is usually subscription-based. The LMS provider will help you with the installation process, server maintenance, and everything related to the software. A cloud-based LMS will have different variations, so you can select the one that suits your requirements the most.


2. Self-hosted LMS

A self-hosted or locally employed LMS is sold as a licensed product. With this LMS, you’ll be responsible for the backup and updating of the software. You also have to contact your vendor to update your license after every version upgrade.


3. Private cloud LMS

This LMS doesn’t share resources and codes with other businesses. Installation, updates, and server are taken care of by the vendor, but you will have direct access to the LMS. You can customize it and integrate it with your current systems.


4. SaaS LMS

It means the software is a service wherein the vendor will provide you with the software and look after it. You can select the pricing and model that are suitable for you.


5. Open-source LMS

This LMS requires a completely dedicated IT team that will look after the LMS for you. But you have to maintain the software completely on your own, from installation to maintaining it.


6. Closed Source LMS:

It refers to an LMS whose code is not accessible or used by the general public. It is costlier to maintain and build as compared to the open-source LMS. 


TOP 10 benefits of using an LMS?

With the adoption of eLearning by many industries, LMS has aided in easing the process and helping businesses grow. So, what are the ways LMS can help you as a business:


1. Organize all the content in a single place:

Instead of all your resources being scattered all over the place, you can put them in a single place with the help of LMS. It reduces the risk of losing any important document and also eases your tasks of creating courses.


2. Easily track your employees’ progress:

An ideal LMS will help to track down the employees’ progress with many metrics. You can know if the employees have achieved the given milestone and if not, you can provide them with additional resources to complete the course. LMS also provides you with analytics tools to determine the areas of your courses lacking.


3. Save training costs

Training through an LMS is much more cost-efficient than organizing events in different locations. It saves you a lot of miscellaneous costs that go into organizing any training program.


4. Update the content easily.

You can easily update and change the content in your courses, which is not possible with the traditional mode of learning.   You can add and eliminate the content as you like for your courses.


5. Geographical boundaries don’t count

Training employees in different locations is no longer a problem. You don’t have to arrange for them to come to a single room. Also, your remote employees do not have to lack any skills just because they cannot be at a particular location. With the software, you can easily provide training to audiences globally.


6. Engage the learners :

Sometimes the training is not about adding skills for the employees, but sometimes it is about giving knowledge to employees as compliance or sales training. These training courses can be boring, hence, with LMS, you can make your training programs engaging.


7. Improve retention :

Employees now search for companies that help them grow and improve. Hence, if your employees find opportunities to grow in your company’s environment, they are going to retain. Providing effective programs for them is an amazing resource to reduce the churn rate.


8. Track results:

With the LMS software, you can easily track your employees’ progress and see which one of your courses is working or not. It helps in analyzing the metrics to learn about user engagement.


9. Self-paced learning:

With the help of LMS software, the employees will be able to learn at their own pace. The training programs can also fit into their busy work schedules.


10. Access to resources easily:

With the help of the learning management system, the participants can easily access all the resources given by your company. All the resources are available in one place, anytime, and are accessible with a single click.


LMS for effecting training programs

1. Partner training:

The software facilitates organizing content and arranging training for partners. It helps in training partners to improve their knowledge of the product or service. It also strengthens the bond between you and your partner to improve business opportunities.


2. Customer training:

With the LMS software, you can teach your customers about your product or services. They will be able to utilize your product or service up to its utmost potential.


3. Employee training:

Employees now seek opportunities to excel in the work field by acquiring new skills. Hence, the software makes it easy for organizations to provide training to employees to help them improve.


4. Compliance training:

A learning management system is an excellent way to provide compliance training as it will help make the training more interactive for the learners so they can retain the knowledge better.


5. Orientation

When any new employee joins, he is educated in his roles and how the company works. Also, various workshops are held if he expects to learn certain new skills.


Other than these, the LMS facilitates other types of training as well, which helps in saving costs and making interactive courses. 


What are the features of an ideal LMS?

It might be a daunting task for you to choose an ideal learning management system for your business, but there are certain ways to determine this:

  1. . The branding and interface should be customizable.


  2. . Webinars and training sessions to gather a large audience. 


  3. . Gamification makes the training program more engaging. You can also set goals and provide your customers with badges and certificates to motivate employees to complete courses. 


  4. . You should also check for the mobile-friendly interface to improve the mobile training experience. Most of the users now use mobile devices or tablets to have the training, and your LMS must provide you with a suitable interface. 


  5. . Integration is also an important feature of LMS. You must be able to integrate third-party tools in your LMS for better functioning. 


  6. . You should be able to add your customized scripts and plugins. 


  7. . Well-defined payment paths. 


These are the basic features of an LMS that you should consider while selecting an LMS. Moreover, you should analyze your business requirements and then decide what features you would require to make your training and onboarding programs progress.  


How do you choose an LMS?

Having an LMS will be useful when all its features are helping you to upgrade. And it can happen only when you make the right choice for your Learning Management System.


1. Prioritize your needs:

There is no such thing as a perfect LMS; hence, choose an LMS that will help you with the tasks you require to be completed. For instance, if you do not have a dedicated IT team, you must choose a cloud-based LMS.


If you do not have a big budget, you should choose an LMS with basic features after selecting the ideal one.


If you have multiple groups to teach, choose an LMS that will help you make multiple courses with a single platform.


2. Read the reviews for the LMS:

Before choosing your LMS provider, research and dive deep into their website. See the reviews on their website and also look for other platforms as well like G2. You can review the testimonials and case studies keeping in mind your requirements and also the affirmative points.


3. Try for free:

Many LMS provide a free trial for their software; make sure, while choosing your provider, you ask for the free trial. You can see how the platform works for you. You can make a list of all the LMS you have had a free trial for and note down all the pros and cons. Shortlist 3–4 LMS based on how they are fulfilling your requirements, and then choose one.


How does an LMS work?

The next step after installing LMS for your company is to build an academy to provide courses for your employees, partners, or customers. You must curate useful resources for them and help them upskill. The resources you will provide will also work as an amazing source for inbound marketing, wherein your customers will be attracted to your brand because of the knowledge you provide.


1. Create online courses:

The first step after having access to your LMS is to create an online course. Before launching your LMS, you must add all the online content to the platform; you can do it by either creating the content from scratch or adding the existing course materials from the internet.


You can add content in different media formats to give your users an excellent experience. You can provide your audience with a mix of videos, audio, texts, or presentations to make your courses interactive.


You can also include the online assets that you have, like YouTube videos or any webinars that you have posted before.


2. Organize your courses:

The next step is to organize your courses. This can be as simple as distributing content to a single department or as complicated as distributing your content to different branches of your company and people with different designations.


3. Deliver your content:

Next up is delivering your content. Once you are done with arranging the resources you have, it is now time to efficiently distribute your content to the ideal audience.


An LMS will help you distribute the content efficiently with the right tools. If you want your course to be distributed among selected audiences, you can do it with the help of a learning management system.


The software eases the process of registration or keeping your target audience in a single place. It also allows you to deliver mobile-friendly courses so you can distribute both cohort and self-paced courses as per your requirements.


4. Manage the users:

We have talked about managing the courses; now we also have to see how we can manage the users of your academics. To start with, there are three major types of users in any LMS:


Administrators - who configure and set up the LMS


Instructors - the people who curate courses


Learners - those who learn from the courses can be your employees or anyone who is your target audience.


Managing the users includes the following steps:

  • Adding all the users to your LMS


  • Assigning them the courses you have taken


  •   Interacting with them as an instructor


  •   Determining what content, they have access to


  •   Assigning them tasks and then contemplating the results


Managing the software also means utilizing it in the best possible manner. See what processes you can automate that will help you save your time and effort.


5. Track the progress:

One of the most important features of an LMS is that it enables you to track the progress of your learners. It doesn’t matter what your audience size is, an LMS will help you automate many processes.


It also helps in tracking the progress of the learners which helps you guide them better to excel. You can maintain their attendance, grades, enrollment statics, and total engagement with the course.


It also includes automated notifications sent to different users like courses completed or courses added. This makes it easy for the users to track down their tasks and complete them timely.


You can also prepare insightful reports through your LMS platforms, which include adding graphs and charts to present the data better.


LMS Vs CMS


While searching for your ideal LMS platform, you must have landed upon terms like CMS. And you must have got confused about what would be your ideal choice. Let’s resolve that as well:

A CMS is a content management system whereas an LMS is a Learning management system. CMS is responsible to store your content only whereas LMS gives you tools to distribute and promote it.  


So, make the right choice with the right software for seamless training, onboarding, and learning with Acadle.  


Why choose Acadle?

Acadle is one of the most agile and user-friendly LMS platforms that helps in curating interactive courses for your audience. Serving 100+ countries, the platform is the right choice for businesses for training, onboarding, and learning.

You should Acadle for your business for:

  • Easy to use


  • Budget-friendly


  • Can be set up within two hours


  • Available on phones and tablets


  • Easily customizable


  • Multilingual


To know more about what the customers have to say about Acadle and its services you can refer to G2.