As the corporate training model continues to shift away from instructor-led, classroom-based training and toward an online learning (aka, eLearning) model, a growing need has emerged for companies to be able to customize the eLearning experience for a variety of audiences. While “public” eLearning portals work well for some types of training, they are not well-suited for the unique and dynamic needs that corporate training presents. This is especially true as the global workplace continues to increase in complexity, placing more demands on corporate training and workforce development efforts.
Fortunately, as eLearning technologies have continued to evolve, new offerings have emerged that provide eLearning administrators with the flexibility they need to meet the unique users of various types of audiences.
Learning Management System Options for eLearning
The core technology that supports all types of eLearning programs, including corporate training, is a Learning Management System, or “LMS”. An LMS is the software application used to build, deliver, and monitor eLearning programs. As your company explores the available options in LMS technologies, there are two primary choices you will be faced with:
Self-Hosted v. Cloud-Based
Under a self-hosted (on-premises) option, your company would choose to “stand up” the LMS application on your own servers. While this deployment option does give you a great deal of control over the application, this choice is typically reserved for very large organizations that have the capital investment available that is required for this type of deployment. They are also companies that have resources available (both labor and financial) to manage and maintain the system on an ongoing basis.
For small and medium-sized businesses (or increasingly for large organizations that prefer not to tie up their capital and resources) a cloud-based LMS, offered by a third-party vendor, presents a better deployment option.
In choosing a cloud-based LMS deployment, your company not only saves the capital expenditure, but it frees up your resources from the ongoing management of the system as this is taken care of by the cloud vendor. And most cloud LMS vendors offer their system on a subscription basis, which means that at any given time, your company is only paying for the specific features and capacity it currently needs.
Single Tenant v. Multi-Tenant
In the past, the only available LMS architecture option was “single tenant”. Under this approach, all of the software, hardware, and supporting resources are dedicated to one learning environment (one portal for one audience).
More recently, a second LMS architecture approach has emerged, known as “multi-tenant”. With a multi-tenant LMS architecture, a single application deployment can be used to “spin up” multiple instances of the application. This allows for the creation of customized eLearning environments to meet the unique needs of various audiences. In most cases, a new instance of the application (a new portal) can be launched in minutes (by your team, from a centralized console). And each new portal can have its own branding and unique customization elements to meet the needs of the specific audience.
Customized eLearning Use Cases for a Multi-Tenant LMS
Regarding corporate training and workforce development, there are a number of common use cases for customized eLearning portals, created through a multi-tenant LMS architecture.
Corporate Training Companies
Any company for which their business is in leveraging eLearning to deliver corporate training programs to their clients can benefit from a multi-tenant LMS as it allows them to launch a customized portal for each of their clients.
Customer Training Programs
If your company offers a product or service that requires any type of customer training and certification, a multi-tenant LMS would allows you to launch a private and customized eLearning portal for each client.
Channel Partner Training
For companies that rely on channel partners as a means to build and scale their sales efforts, customized eLearning portals provide a great way to segment and scale your training efforts and add value to the partnership.
LMS Portals for Customized eLearning Programs
LMS Portals offers a cloud-based, multi-tenant learning management system that allows our clients and partners to launch and manage multiple customized eLearning environments, all from a centralized administrative console. Each portal you launch can have its own unique branding and includes all of the supporting technologies to create an optimal eLearning experience.
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